Title: Make WordPress Plugins – Page 16 – Resources for WordPress.org plugin developers

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 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/) [Josepha](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/)
6:38 pm _on_ April 30, 2019     
Tags: [make.wordpress.org/updates ( 15 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/make-wordpress-org-updates/),
[p2-xpost ( 88 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/p2-xpost/)   

# 󠀁[X-post: 5.0 Release Retrospective Wrap Up](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2019/04/30/xpost-5-0-release-retrospective-wrap-up/)󠁿

X-comment from [+make.wordpress.org/updates](https://make.wordpress.org/updates/):
Comment on [5.0 Release Retrospective Wrap Up](https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2019/04/26/5-0-release-retrospective-wrap-up/#comment-4477)

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/) [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/)
5:04 pm _on_ April 18, 2019     
Tags: [make.wordpress.org/community ( 9 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/make-wordpress-org-community/),
[p2-xpost ( 88 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/p2-xpost/)   

# 󠀁[X-post: The Get Involved table at WCEU 2019](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2019/04/18/xpost-the-get-involved-table-at-wceu-2019/)󠁿

X-comment from [+make.wordpress.org/community](https://make.wordpress.org/community/):
Comment on [The Get Involved table at WCEU 2019](https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/04/18/the-get-involved-table-at-wceu-2019/#comment-26795)

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/) [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/)
5:20 pm _on_ April 1, 2019     
Tags: [php ( 3 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/php/)

# 󠀁[WordPress To Move to PHP 5.6+](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2019/04/01/wordpress-to-move-to-php-5-6/)󠁿

WordPress 5.2 is due out at the end of April, and wit that release the _minimum_
recommended version of PHPPHP PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor)
is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially
suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. [https://www.php.net/manual/en/index.php](https://www.php.net/manual/en/index.php)
will be PHP 5.6.

> [Minimum PHP Version update](https://wordpress.org/news/2019/04/minimum-php-version-update/)

For most plugins this is a non-issue. While we recommend you update your “Requires
PHP:” version in your readme.txt, this won’t change the functionality of your code.
That field is a _minimum_ version, so if your code works with 7.0 and up, you can
set it to `Requires PHP: 7.0` and that will cover 7.1 and 7.2

Also keep in mind, this doesn’t change our [policy on PHP versioning](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2015/06/05/policy-on-php-versions/),
which is to say we still **do not** have an official version requirement for PHP
in your plugins. If you want to support 5.6 forever, feel free. If you want to require
7.1 and up, again, go for it.

You can use a compare to do the basic check:

    ```notranslate
    version_compare( PHP_VERSION, '5.6', '<' )
    ```

And remember the goal for your 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/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/)
or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. is “Don’t break things for users.”
Stop them from getting fatal errors, and don’t run your plugin if you know it can’t
work.

[#php](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/php/)

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/) [Josepha](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/)
10:29 pm _on_ March 29, 2019     
Tags: [make.wordpress.org/updates ( 15 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/make-wordpress-org-updates/),
[p2-xpost ( 88 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/p2-xpost/)   

# 󠀁[X-post: Weekly Digest | Week 13](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2019/03/29/xpost-weekly-digest-week-13/)󠁿

X-comment from [+make.wordpress.org/updates](https://make.wordpress.org/updates/):
Comment on [Weekly Digest | Week 13](https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2019/03/29/weekly-digest-week-13/#comment-4470)

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/) [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/)
3:01 am _on_ March 29, 2019     
Tags: [make.wordpress.org/meta ( 13 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/make-wordpress-orgmeta/),
[p2-xpost ( 88 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/p2-xpost/)   

# 󠀁[X-post: Block metadata in the Plugin Directory](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2019/03/29/xpost-block-metadata-in-the-plugin-directory/)󠁿

X-comment from [+make.wordpress.org/meta](https://make.wordpress.org/meta/): Comment
on [Block metadata in the Plugin Directory](https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2019/03/29/block-metadata-in-the-plugin-directory/#comment-8995)

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/) [Josepha](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/)
2:05 pm _on_ March 13, 2019     
Tags: [make.wordpress.org/updates ( 15 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/make-wordpress-org-updates/),
[p2-xpost ( 88 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/p2-xpost/)   

# 󠀁[X-post: Strengths and Challenges: Organization](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2019/03/13/xpost-strengths-and-challenges-organization/)󠁿

X-comment from [+make.wordpress.org/updates](https://make.wordpress.org/updates/):
Comment on [Strengths and Challenges: Organization](https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2019/03/12/strengths-and-challenges-organization/#comment-4456)

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/) [Josepha](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/)
10:39 pm _on_ March 1, 2019     
Tags: [make.wordpress.org/updates ( 15 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/make-wordpress-org-updates/),
[p2-xpost ( 88 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/p2-xpost/)   

# 󠀁[X-post: 5.0 Release Retrospective Kickoff](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2019/03/01/xpost-5-0-release-retrospective-kickoff/)󠁿

X-comment from [+make.wordpress.org/updates](https://make.wordpress.org/updates/):
Comment on [5.0 Release Retrospective Kickoff](https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2019/03/01/5-0-release-retrospective-kickoff/#comment-4453)

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/) [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/)
4:46 pm _on_ February 22, 2019     
Tags: [reminder ( 30 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/reminder/)

# 󠀁[Don’t Get Scammed](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2019/02/22/dont-get-scammed/)󠁿

There’s a company who regularly emails people telling them that for $50 or $100 
they’ll review your 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/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/)
or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. or theme and you’ll get 5 star ratings
on WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created
and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress
core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations
and organization. [https://wordpress.org/](https://wordpress.org/). They’ll tell
you that doing this will get you SEO and traffic and they’ll link to their domain
as proof of their success.

They’re lying.

Don’t fall for this. Never pay **anyone** for a review, it’s all a scam and the 
worst case scenario is that they actually _do_ write a review. Why is that worst?
Because if we find out you paid for reviews, we remove your plugins from hosting.

If you got a mail from a certain company offering a Valentine’s sale, know that 
we already know about them. They’ve been banned from here for years but we’ll be
monitoring reviews just in case they slip through.

[#reminder](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/reminder/)

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/) [Josepha](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/)
5:31 am _on_ February 6, 2019     
Tags: [make.wordpress.org/updates ( 15 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/make-wordpress-org-updates/),
[p2-xpost ( 88 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/p2-xpost/)   

# 󠀁[X-post: Strengths and Challenges: Follow Up](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2019/02/06/xpost-strengths-and-challenges-follow-up/)󠁿

X-comment from [+make.wordpress.org/updates](https://make.wordpress.org/updates/):
Comment on [Strengths and Challenges: Follow Up](https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2019/02/06/strengths-and-challenges-follow-up/#comment-4437)

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/) [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/)
8:13 pm _on_ January 28, 2019     
Tags: [guidelines ( 27 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/guidelines/),
[policy ( 5 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/policy/), [reminder ( 30 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/reminder/)

# 󠀁[Reminder about Behavior](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2019/01/28/reminder-about-behavior/)󠁿

This really shouldn’t need to be said however, based on three recent incidents, 
it is clear we need a reminder.

You are responsible for your own actions and choices. If you decide to do a thing,
you are assuming responsibility for the outcome and, like it or not, the repercussions
fall on you and you alone.

When you work with a team of people to support and maintain your 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/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/)
or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party., _everyone_ is required to follow
the plugin and forum guidelines. Choices made by the team will impact the group 
as a whole, for good or ill.

Recently a company was banned due to having never briefed their employees on the
plugin guidelines. This led to a new, un-monitored employee, egregiously violating
the guidelines, harassing and abusing the volunteers of the forums as well as the
end-users, who were just trying to get help with the plugin.

The company had been warned about this kind of behaviour before. In fact, they had
been issued a final warning. As this was a repeat of the exact behaviour they’d 
been warned on, their plugin was closed and the company prohibited from hosting 
anymore.

Sadly this isn’t the only time that’s happened in the last 4 months.

If you work with a team of people, the company/group is responsible for each other.
If one person in your group/company violates the guidelines, it’s the whole group
who will suffer as you’ve demonstrated an inability to manage your team. The same
is true if a rogue intern or SEO marketer spams the forums. They’re doing those 
actions in the name of the company, which makes the company accountable for their
actions.

Don’t hire random people from companies like Fourer to do your marketing. Don’t 
let people loose in the forums without making sure they understand the guidelines
and our expectations.

Abuse, name calling, harassment, stalking, and spamming the forum moderators is 
not permitted behaviour by anyone. Users are banned for this, and developers will
find their companies and all plugins similarly removed. We feel it’s unfair of people
to put the burden of monitoring and managing their team on the volunteers of the
forums and the plugin team. This is especially true of companies.

Please make sure the people who work with you understand not just the guidelines,
but the stakes. Quite often we find an enthusiastic intern is the cause of sockpuppeting,
or a well-meaning SEO consultant who took the wrong lessons to heart and made a 
readme filled with spam.

If we have to contact you multiple times about your behaviour, or that of the people
you’re working with, we’re simply not going to permit you to use our services any
longer.

[#guidelines](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/guidelines/), [#policy](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/policy/),
[#reminder](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/reminder/)

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