Items discussed at today’s Support Meetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area.:
Instantbird for Windows works with the Slack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. IRC gateway
@zoonini and @jcastaneda were able to get Instantbird for Windows working. However it is very chatty with IRC status messages. Hiding those with styling won’t help those who use a screenreader so another way is being looked for.
A draft of a short installation document is being worked on and should be available in a few days. This effort is so that a11y Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) users can access the Slack channels and participate.
Reminder: don’t log into other people’s WordPress installations
This week there was a forum topic about a site that was compromised. The OP became convinced that it was due to a theme author logging in upon the OP’s request. It was a misunderstanding, but a good example that when you log into someone’s WordPress installation that way then you could be setting yourself for some real liability.
When providing support look, suggest, ask questions and gather data to help people. But don’t request and account to be able to log in and see the problem first hand. That’s going too far and could lead to trouble for the person helping.
Reporting sock puppets
If you report suspected sock puppet accounts please check the validity of those accounts first.
Sometimes people do have the same IPs because they’re connected via a VPN provider, a shared ISP or may be at a meetup with other people. Look at the user’s profile and posting history. If the account is valid then there may be good explanation.
In one case there was a meetup and it turned out a group of people decided to leave reviews. If you only look at IPs then you may be affecting legitimate forum users.
Offering something for reviews
It’s been occurring more lately: authors offering discounts on pro add-ons in exchange for 5 star reviews. That’s a good way for an author to get all of their 5 star reviews deleted.
- Asking people to review your plugin 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 or theme is cool. We want real and legitimate feedback.
- Offering to compensate people in exchange for a review of your plugin or theme? Bribery.
If you come across a plugin author doing that then please collect the details and take a screenshot. Web pages can be changed but a screenshot makes an unpleasant conversation short. Send the details to the plugins team but for themes please ping The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” the #forums Slack channel.
View today’s meetup transcript in the Slack archives. (A Slack account is required)
#weekly-chat
View upcoming meetings