Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 1:14 am on November 11, 2015
Tags: repository ( 18 )

Tis the Season for Snow

Edit: Please read this understanding we LITERALLY mean don’t submit a snow pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party that is 100% the same code as another one. If you have a new way to do it, or a functional change, that’s different. But if it’s a basic ‘this plugin makes snow show on your blog’ and it’s not different from the 21 I listed here, we’re probably going to reject it. We encourage innovation.

Every year about this time, we get people submitting plugins to make it snow on a website.

Besides the fact that making it snow can make your site inaccessible to people with visual issues, we actually have a lot of snow plugins.

No, we have a blizzard of them.

And unless your brand new ‘snow’ plugin does something in a magically new and different way, we’re not going to accept it.

We’re all about innovation and creating new ways to solve problems. That’s why we allow so many similar plugins in the first place. There are a hundred ways around design decisions, and we love how people create their solutions. There just aren’t that many ways to make it snow, though, and in the last two years, I haven’t seen a single new ‘snow’ plugin that didn’t do things another one already did.

If you’re going to submit a snow plugin, please make sure it’s significantly different from the ones we already have. Make sure it does something in a cool way.

To help you with that, here’s a randomly ordered list of only some of the plugins that make it snow. I picked the top 21. There are more.

Jetpack (has a let it snow feature)
Snow Flurry
Snow my WP
Screen Snow
WFS Let It Snow
Snow Storm
WP Snowfall
Ptis Cool Snow
Snowy
WP Super Snow
Simply Snow
Improved Let It Snow
WordPress Falling Snow Plugin
iCaughtSanta
Let It Snow
Xmas Snow
Snow My WP
Snow Storm
Falling Snow
Flake
Fancy Events Plugin (can make anything fall)

If you want to code this just for your own coding exercise, awesome. But for now, if it’s not terribly different than what we already have, please put it on GithubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/.

#repository

Archie22is 7:00 am on November 11, 2015

#word – I couldn’t have said it better myself
Rene Hermenau 10:56 am on November 11, 2015

I totally understand this decision from a pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party reviewer standpoint but it leaves a bad taste considering what could happen in future with other plugin requests. “Snow” only delivers 36 plugins which is much less than other plugin categories like “caching” or seo.

I just hope that such general refusals will still be considered very well in future otherwise we only have jetpack, Yoast and wooCommerce all over;-) Think you get the point.
- Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 3:14 pm on November 11, 2015
  
  Then make the pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party different. But I promise you that 100% of the submitted plugins for snowing are identical to one of those 21. Identical. The same JS and php.
  
  The point I’m trying to make is that IDENTICAL plugins aren’t helping the repository, or you. There are a lot of similar plugins, and that’s fine. But I am literally saying don’t be identical.
  
  Not kidding.
  
  If someone does it in a new and different way, I will gladly approve it. It’s just been two years since anyone has.
  - ArtissTheGeek 11:48 am on November 12, 2015
    
    This is slightly at odds to discussions I’ve had in the past. I’m passionate not so much about this issue but the problem of abandoned plugins. I believe there should be an easy for people like me, who’d love to take over some abandoned plugins, to do so. But when I’ve brought this up with you guys I’ve been told I just need to copy the original and create my own branch. That doesn’t help – you end up with duplicates and I’m unable to easily transfer the user base over.
    
    So, can I ask again, any chance of putting some thought on how to deal better with abandoned plugins? I’m sure I can’t be the only developer who would love to assist with this.
    - Marcel Pol 4:06 pm on November 12, 2015
      
      /offtopic
      
      I am not on the pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party review team, but have some experience.
      There are different scenario’s possible:
      
      There is a contact listed in that plugin. You can email the author, and request svn access. Only he can give that, through his admin interface on the plugin page.
      
      If the author cannot be reached, you can talk with the plugin team, to see what they can do. They might have a different way to contact. They can (but not must) give you admin access. They might request certain things for that, like an already updated plugin in a zip, to show that you can and will make updates).
      
      If the author doesn’t want to give you SVNSVN Short for "SubVersioN", it's the code management system used to maintain the plugins hosted on WordPress.org. It's similar to git. access, and doesn’t want to give up that plugin. Then you can just fork it under a different name if you want to.
      
      There might be more scenario’s, but these are ones I had experienced.
      - Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 7:28 pm on November 13, 2015
        
        99% accurate 🙂
        
        “They can (but not must) give you admin access.”
        
        That’s where things get messy 🙂 And yes, we do require an updated zip first.
    - Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 7:28 pm on November 13, 2015
      
      It’s off topic and no it’s not at odds with discussions about adoption. You’re not reading this properly.
      
      If your code is 100% the same as another snow pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party out there, please don’t submit it.
      
      Seriously. I’m not making an exaggeration. THESE SUBMISSIONS ARE 100% COPIES. If your plugin is a fork that does something notably different (like say it snows based on the strength of the snow in your blog’s physical location), then I’d happily approve it. That’s different.
      
      Stop thinking this is us trying to stifle innovation or even about preventing similar plugins in the repository. In fact, it’s us attempting to FORCE people to make similar, but different, code. Different.
      
      I swear to you, the code is 100% the same. In two years I have not seen something new with basic snow plugins.
      
      Now to answer your question… To be perfectly honest, I’ve talked to hundreds of people about taking over plugins. I do not remember the conversations with you personally. I also don’t see a single email from you to the support email about asking to take over a plugin, so I can only address this anecdotally.
      
      We _do_ allow takeovers of plugins now. We didn’t because we hadn’t sorted out a proper way of handling it. We did. A couple years ago.
      
      Right now if there’s an abandoned plugin you want to take over, here’s how it works:
      
      1) Fork the plugin and update it. Modernize it for 2015 (or whatever). Make sure it’s using good code, is secure, and would otherwise pass a new-plugin-check today.
      
      2) Email us and say “Hi, I want to take over plugin X (link). Here’s my updated version.”
      
      3) We will review the new code and, if it would pass muster, contact the original dev.
      
      At this point it gets messy. If they say ‘no’ that’s the end. If they say ‘yes’ then we hand it over. If they don’t reply, we internally have a longer conversation about what to do. In some cases, we decide not to hand over the plugin based on who the new author is or who the old author is or myriad reasons. It’s a bit of a judgement call.
      
      Some plugins are too important to hand over to just anyone. Sorry. Other plugins are used by too many people and the upgrade would break. And sometimes the plugin belonged to a beloved member of our community who has passed away, and we’d rather give it to someone closer to them.
      
      If you have further questions about the details of taking over someone else’s plugin, please email plugins@wordpress.org
Lara Littlefield 6:07 pm on November 13, 2015

I can’t believe there are a complete top 21 to choose from! Thank you for sharing!!
WebberZone 3:43 pm on November 16, 2015

Just too much snow plugins in my opinion. Am curious as to other plugins that you’ve noticed that are highly similar!
- Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 3:08 pm on November 17, 2015
  
  Bmi metric widgets are about the only other ones. Everyone else seems to be rather diverse in the design.

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