Title: support – Make WordPress Plugins --- # Tag Archives: support [ ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/) [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/) 8:32 pm _on_ September 12, 2016 Tags: [forums ( 6 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/forums/), support    # 󠀁[Forums Status Update (Sept 12)](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2016/09/12/forums-status-update-3/)󠁿 Subscriptions should be working again. Feeds have _moved_ and I’m really sorry about that. Hopefully we’ll get an nginxNGINX NGINX is open source software for web serving, reverse proxying, caching, load balancing, media streaming, and more. It started out as a web server designed for maximum performance and stability. In addition to its HTTP server capabilities, NGINX can also function as a proxy server for email (IMAP, POP3, and SMTP) and a reverse proxy and load balancer for HTTP, TCP, and UDP servers. [https://www.nginx.com/](https://www.nginx.com/). redirect in there sooner rather than later but basically it’s this: `https://wordpress. org/support/plugin/akismet/feed/` We’re using WordPress now, so any time you see a view you want to follow in RSS, slap `/feed/` on the end and it will _probably_ work. There’s also this URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org: `https://wordpress.org/support/ plugin/akismet/active` however, as you will notice, there is no ‘feed’ for it. Those are custom (non default WP) views and are all support threads with Closed and Resolvedt filtered out, then sorted by last reply. We’re working on feeds for those and the old 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. committer feeds. I want that back too. Right now, I suggest you use the per-plugin feed to get a list of your new bugs etc, and then subscribe to the post (or add it to favorites). Sadly, ‘cost overruns’ have been the story of this migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies.. We had hoped to be done with everything by the 5th, but that proved a gross underestimate. We know there are a lot of ‘smaller’ features everyone loves and have gotten used to making their lives easier that we’re now doing without. It sucks. Trust me here, the mods have ‘lost’ more tools than anyone else. This upgrade had to happen, though. Also the reason I’m closing these posts to comments when I make them is I have no additional information to provide. Historically, if I leave them open people will posts complaints and rants (which I can do nothing about save sympathize), bug report( which we either already know about, or should have been posted elsewhere), or ‘thanks’( which we all appreciate, but get spammy). And pinging me on SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform [https://slack.com/](https://slack.com/). The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at [https://make.wordpress.org/chat/](https://make.wordpress.org/chat/) won’t get you any answers more than I’ve posted. This is what I know as I know it. All I have for you now is a plea to be patient. This is a massive undertaking that for a long time was deemed impossible. But slowly, as we clean up the mess, things _will_ get better and the pros of the move will reveal themselves. Like having Akismet actually catch spam for a change. Please check [Support Forums: Meta Trac](https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=!closed&component=Support+Forums) before filing a bug report/complaint. And if you have suggestions for fixes, jump in and let us know! The bonus of being on bbPressbbPress Free, open source software built on top of WordPress for easily creating forums on sites. [https://bbpress.org](https://bbpress.org) now is that if there are plugins that can do what we need, we can actually use them! Thanks. [#forums](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/forums/), [#support](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/support/) [ ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/) [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/) 4:24 pm _on_ May 3, 2016 Tags: [forums ( 6 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/forums/), [guidelines ( 27 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/guidelines/), support # 󠀁[Handling Bad Reviews](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2016/05/03/handling-bad-reviews/)󠁿 Please note: This post was originally made in 2016, and some information is no longer accurate. There is a REPORT THIS POST feature now. If in doubt, go ask in SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform [https://slack.com/](https://slack.com/). The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at [https://make.wordpress.org/chat/](https://make.wordpress.org/chat/) Slack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform [https://slack.com/](https://slack.com/). The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at [https://make.wordpress.org/chat/](https://make.wordpress.org/chat/) in the [#forums](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/forums/) room In general, 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/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/) or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. Review team is **not** the go-to recourse for bad reviews.  Instead, we have a totally brilliant forum support team! There’s some overlap of jurisdiction of course, and some of us are on both teams, but the point here is you should go to the right group to get the right help. I’m also going to put this out there. You _will_ get a bad review. Most of the time, it will **not** be deleted. So before you get any further in this post, know that the way you chose to respond, in public, to a 1-star review of your plugin is your own choice. Our goal with the 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/) repository is to have a good place for _users_ to get plugins that fulfill their needs. The reviews are an extension of that, and should viewed as a way for users to educate other users on their experiences. Also a review is about an experience. If someone’s experience with your product is poor, that doesn’t make their review invalid. And to go back to that previous statement, the way you reactReact React is a JavaScript library that makes it easy to reason about, construct, and maintain stateless and stateful user interfaces. [https://reactjs.org](https://reactjs.org/) to those poor experiences is going to impact your reputation, and that of your plugin, a heck of a lot more than that review. Now, that said, we have a few ‘common’ types of problems with reviews. This post is going to help you handle them and explain when you should call for help, as well as from whom. Later on we’ll be adding it to our documentation, once it’s refined as best we can make it. Please remember, we _do not_ want to make a ‘rule’ for everything. That just invites people to play rules-lawyers and tip over everyone’s cornflakes. Here’s how you do it and when and why. ### First off… How to add a tag! 99.999999% of the time, you’re going to be adding ‘tags’ to posts. This is so easy, you may kick yourself for missing it. On a post, look on the right hand side, under** About this Topic** and you’ll see a section for **Tags** ![Tags are listed on the right hand side of a post](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/ files/2016/02/Screen-Shot-2016-02-24-at-8.11.50-AM.png) This is a free-form field where you can add any tag you want. Anyone can add any tag. The forum moderators have an easy way to know who added what, though, so keep in mind we do monitor that. If you want to add a tag to a post **and** reply, add the tag, press the Add button, and THEN come back to reply. It works better. TagTag Tag is one of the pre-defined taxonomies in WordPress. Users can add tags to their WordPress posts along with categories. However, while a category may cover a broad range of topics, tags are smaller in scope and focused to specific topics. Think of them as keywords used for topics discussed in a particular post. abuse ( that is calling moderators needlessly) is not okay. Be smart. Be thoughtful. Remember that every last member of the forum and plugin teams is a volunteer. We’re not being paid by Automattic to do this. ### The spam review This is easy. Don’t reply, just add the tag `modlook` to the post and walk away. The forum team will delete it. If you think it may not be obvious spam, add the tag `spam` as well. ### The sockpuppetSockpuppet A false online identity, typically created by a person or group in order to promote their own opinions or views. Generally used to promote or down-vote plugins en masse. review When a person (or group of persons) makes multiple accounts with the sole intention of leaving reviews on their own plugins (or leaving poor reviews on their competitors), this is called being a [Sock Puppet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_(Internet)). This behavior is expressly NOT welcome on the WordPress Forums as it is spamming. But it comes in two flavors: 1. Someone 5-star spamming their own plugin 2. Someone 1-star spamming their competition Both are bad behavior. Both will get plugins removed from the repository and a stern email from us. If you’re doing this, stop right away. Contact your team and tell them ‘Don’t do this!’ Also keep in mind, asking everyone in your company to 5-star review your own plugins is gauche. I mean, really. You’re stacking the deck on purpose and that’s not beneficial to anyone. Again, do not reply! Add the tag `modlook` **AND** `sockpuppet` to the post and walk away. ### The attack/troll review These are the worst. When someone attacks you and the review seems like all it exists for is to make you feel terrible, you’re going to have to take a deep breath and walk away. An attack is a troll, regardless of how the original poster (OP) feels, they’ve basically been a troll. They’re writing something they know will make you mad and hurt and angry, and they’re doing it _on purpose_. That’s a troll. And you shouldn’t feed the trolls. You won’t win, and you’ll just make yourself look bad. Again, do not reply! Add the tag `modlook` to the post and walk away. These are usually pretty self evident after all. ### The review that should have been a support post This includes the sub-genre “People who submit 1-star reviews in order to emotionally blackmail you for support.” We all get them. 1. Reply with a link to the support section of your plugin (or directions on how to get support, or even a note that you don’t provide free support) and remind them that next time, they should ask for help before reviewing. 2. See if you can fix the problem, but give it no more or less priority than you would any other support request. 3. If you can solve it, ask them to modify their review. If they go back to https:// wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-reviews/PLUGINNAME and scroll to the bottom, they can edit their reviews! You’ll notice we’re not telling you to tag the post? Right now we _can’t_ move a review into the support forums and vice versa, so there’s really no point. The forum moderators won’t do anything about it except say “Well, that does suck.” If we could move them, we would, but right now we technically don’t have that ability. ### The review about your premium/pro version If you upsell your plugin’s pro version in the free one, and someone leaves a bad review because the pro version they bought, on the basis of your free one, is bad, congratulations. The review stays. You opened the door with your upsell, encouraging them to do this, and that experience reflects on your plugin as a whole. If you _do not_ upsell, and there’s no direct link between the free and pro version, or the plugin having the issue is a premium only add-on, tag it `modlook` and someone will come take a look. ### The review about someone else’s plugin This one can be fixed! Reply and let them know it’s not your plugin, it’s the other one, and then tag it `modlook` and then use the tag `wrongplugin` (all one word) to let the mods know what’s going on. ### But I really need a plugin moderator! Okay. So you think you’re an exception? Use the tag `pluginmod` and a plugin admin will come take a look. Be prepared, though, as we generally will perform a full review on your plugin and any and all guideline violations will result in your plugin being removed until you fix them. Including using too many tags. [#guidelines](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/guidelines/), [#support](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/support/) [ ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/) [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ipstenu/) 4:47 pm _on_ February 26, 2015 Tags: [repository ( 18 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/repository/), support    # 󠀁[Getting Support Notifications For Your Plugin](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2015/02/26/plugin-support-notifications/)󠁿 When you have 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/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/) or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party., it’s important that you get notified when people have support questions. We have a way for you to keep up to date on these things and have since the [Great Plugin Refresh of 2012](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2012/05/19/plugin-directory-refreshed-what-it-means-for-developers/). But for those of you who missed the news or need a refresher, here we go. ### All Plugins We’ve always had a couple convenience views of plugin-committers and plugin-contributors, and these are still there as well. Committers are managed in on the Admin tab (i. e. people who have access to commit code via SVNSVN Short for "SubVersioN", it's the code management system used to maintain the plugins hosted on WordPress.org. It's similar to git.), while contributors are taken from readme.txt (which is why it’s important for you to use the proper WPORG forum ID, capitalization and all). **Example URLS:** [https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-committer/Otto42](https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-committer/Otto42) [https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-contributor/Otto42](https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-contributor/Otto42) Your username is case sensitive. **Otto42** will work, **otto42** will not. Not sure what yours is? Go to [https://wordpress.org/support/profile/](https://wordpress.org/support/profile/)( yes, that works for everyone) and look at the headerHeader The header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes.: ![Example of Otto's profile, his name is capitalized](https://make.wordpress.org/ plugins/files/2015/02/profile.png) The name in the grey header is capitalized, thus he must use a `capital_O_dangit`. _Otto fixed this, lowercase works, still, check your login name because I know some of you have weird spaces and stuff_ Since anyone can add you as a plugin contributor, I recommend following plugin-committer. The RSS URLs for this look like `https://wordpress.org/support/rss/view/plugin-committer/ Otto42` At this time, we don’t have email for this. ### Per Plugin Every single plugin allows you to follow it by email. Go to the Support Page for your plugin, scroll down to the bottom, and you’ll see this: ![Example of Email/RSS links](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/files/2015/02/Screen- Shot-2015-02-26-at-8.18.01-AM.png) RSS and email. Done. Even if there are _no posts_ you can register for those emails, so make that a part of your workflow. [#repository](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/repository/), [#support](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/support/) [ ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/nacin/) [Andrew Nacin](https://profiles.wordpress.org/nacin/) 8:51 pm _on_ May 19, 2012 Tags: [directory ( 15 )](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/directory/), support    # 󠀁[Plugin Directory Refreshed — What It Means for Developers](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2012/05/19/plugin-directory-refreshed-what-it-means-for-developers/)󠁿 Matt just [announced on the WordPress Blog](https://wordpress.org/news/2012/05/plugins-refreshed/)— and many of you have already noticed — a number of recent changes to 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/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/) or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. directory, profiles, and the support forums. Now let’s go into detail all of the individual changes, and what it means for plugin developers. ### Design refresh for plugin pages. We’re glad to see so many of you use the **plugin headers** [we launched in December](http://wpdevel.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/been-giving-a-lot-of-thought-to-how/). Now, we’ve provided a further refresh. We’ve made authors much more prominent and with bigger Gravatars and better placement, and cleaned up the styles for the ratings, support, and compatibility sections. There’s a great [before-after shot in the announcement post](https://wordpress.org/news/2012/05/plugins-refreshed/). ### Support is now integrated into your plugin page. In the past, creating new support topics for plugins has been special, and not in a particularly good way. It had this specialness by overloading the tags in the support forums to indicate that a thread was about a particular plugin. No longer. We’ve promoted plugins up a notch and given them their own area. So now, on your plugin pages, you’ll see a “Support” menu in the headerHeader The header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes., and you’ll see the topics for that plugin in that tab. You’ll also find a submission form at the bottom of that tab, to add new support topics specifically for your plugin. Topics about plugins made from here get a special sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. with links to the plugin, to the plugin’s FAQ page, and to the list of Support Threads for that plugin. While this section looks like it’s on the Plugin’s page, it’s not really. These support threads are actually in the same place they’ve always been, in the Support forums. What you’re seeing as far as the look and feel of that view of the support forums is just some clever trickery on our part. 🙂 Akismet, for example, will have it’s “support forums” at this URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www. wordpress.org: [https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/akismet](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/akismet). ### How to follow support threads for your plugins. You may want to take advantage of this by subscribing to the RSS feedRSS Feed RSS is an acronym for Real Simple Syndication which is a type of web feed which allows users to access updates to online content in a standardized, computer-readable format. This is the feed. for your plugin: [https://wordpress.org/support/rss/plugin/akismet](https://wordpress.org/support/rss/plugin/akismet). Email subscriptions are not available for these yet, but we will be adding them this week. For plugin authors who have been using them, the old convenience views of plugin- committers and plugin-contributors are still there as well. (Committers are managed in on the Admin tab, while contributors are taken from readme.txt.) We’ll be exposing these links in more places, but you can use them with URLs similar to the following: [https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-committer/Otto42](https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-committer/Otto42) [https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-contributor/Otto42](https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-committer/Otto42).( RSS feeds exist [for](https://wordpress.org/support/rss/view/plugin-committer/Otto42) [these](https://wordpress.org/support/rss/view/plugin-contributor/Otto42) as well.) ### Support statistics are now shown to users. You’ll notice a new area on the plugin page sidebar showing information about how many topics there are for your plugin, and how many of them have been marked as resolved. These are handy for users to see if questions are likely to get a response. You have had the ability to mark plugin support threads as resolved for some time now. It’s now really easy — you can mark a thread as resolved while making a post with a simple checkbox. Note that the user who opened the thread can also mark threads as resolved and unresolved. Threads that are marked “Not a support question,” such as suggestions or feedback, are _not_ counted toward these stats and do not need to be marked resolved. Statistics will be based on a rolling two-month period, based on when the thread was opened. Currently, the statistics cover threads opened in the last two weeks, and will continue to increase until it reaches two months, to allow you some time to resolve existing threads. ### Managing your forum with sticky topics. You can now make threads “sticky”  threads to the top of your plugin’s support forumSupport Forum WordPress Support Forums is a place to go for help and conversations around using WordPress. Also the place to go to report issues that are caused by errors with the WordPress code and implementations., just like the other forums 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/). (You’ll find a link “Stick topic to this plugin’s support forum” in the sidebar.) Threads marked as sticky will show at the top of your plugin’s Support tab. (They won’t be sticky on the regular forums.) We hope you find this handy for posting FAQs or other important information about your plugin. ### A new section for developers. Every plugin now has a Developers tab where you can find links for browsing the code in Subversion, the development log, and development versions. Here, you can now **subscribe to get an email whenever a commit is made to a plugin repository**, even if it isn’t yours. (You will of course continue to receive commits for your own plugins.) ### Favoriting plugins. As I’m sure you’ve now seen, plugins can now be favorited by logged-in users — and have been more than 2,000 times since we soft-launched this feature earlier in the week! When you favorite a plugin, [it gets added to your profile](https://profiles.wordpress.org/Otto42). And if you’ve also rated that plugin, your rating gets shown. We expect to do a lot more with all of this in the future — favorites, plugins, support, and profiles. Until next time, we hope you enjoy these changes as much as we do! _— written by [Nacin](https://profiles.wordpress.org/nacin), [Otto](https://profiles.wordpress.org/Otto42), and [Scott](https://profiles.wordpress.org/coffee2code)_ [#directory](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/directory/), [#support](https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/tag/support/)