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For all those of you who use Wordpress and their Plugins, this is for you. And Aguila, not our SAFFER Aquila is to blame!
Aguila found out that sometimes when we users ask for support we don’t necessarily get the response we want.
Here’s what happened:
AGUILA:
“Every day there is a update for this plugin!!!I have updated it about 20 times now in the last month!
Great plugin, but why not release the plugin when its done. ”
Posted 2 months ago #
In my books, this is a perfectly reasonable question. Of all the plugins I use, I too noticed the update rate and became frustrated by the number of the ‘All in one SEO pack’ updates that were required. Imagine how pleased I was and excited like Hiro (from Heroes did when he first succeeded to timeshift himsel to New York) to see that Aguila had been into the support shop and already started a thread about the exact issue I was there to ask about.
So as far as I was concerned, Aguila’s explanation and then question was appropriate. At this time I fully expected the developer to jump in and provide a rational response. But no!
Someone [below left] responded. So I responded too [below right]
[ID Witheld]
“As long as we’re using twisted logic, why not deactivate it and use it when it’s no longer being updated regularly?
If you’re happy to wait for it to be done, then you clearly don’t actually need the plugin now.
Maybe you should just react a little more slowly to the update notification instead”
Posted 2 months ago #
iScatterling
[ID witheld],“Quit with the sarcasm and patronising of us WP users.
We make or break the product and Aguila deserved a better reply than the one you provided.
If the updates are only language based then simply pin a note to edited…..”
Posted 4 hours ago #
Well - I couldn’t let that go by! The guy had simply dumped on Aguila and nobody from support does that. And if they were not support, then they really should not have bothered to respond. When we share a common problem and ask what we think are reasonable questions, we are entitled to fully expect and deserve a sensible answer. At minimum we could be provided with guidance on how to maybe better frame the question to allow others to respond accordingly. We are not all into tekkiegeekspeak so we cannot articulate correctly what we want to ask.
PART II
Last night while you were all snoring or clubbing, I was being a jolly darned good bore and reviewed my WP plugins. How great and activity is this for a Friday night? Mmmm I can see you all rushing to your laptops! Simply stimulating innit?!
Wordpress is truly a great product.
Now, I do not know how they do it but in my world, having a fantastic product like WordPress surrounded by an evergrowing userbase and increasing number of plugins each with their attendant upgrade releases and errors, could in commerce-world terms perhaps need a huge and unwieldly cost-prohibitive support structure.
So I presume if the plugin support at WP does not get provided directly by WP or by the plugin developer and his unit, then it is left to super or uberusers who know the product down to the last interger? Outsourcing the support to virtual problem resolvers is, I suppose, the only cost-effective answer to WordPress’s problem.
The vast array of plugins the guys at WP allow the indie mod developers to produce which provides our WP platform blogs with the nick-nacks, bells, whistles and importantly the functionality we want, is truly superb. The guys at Wordpress have given us users the keys to the WP Plugin store and we go gaagaa at the sheer volume of goodies available. The array of plugins available is astounding. I use too many. However, all this choice comes at a price.
Support - the quality or lack thereof
So there I was in the early hours of this morning searching WorPress’s support for help on a particular plugin. In this case I wanted help for the latest upgrade to the All in one SEO pack v1.4.3.3. And then I found the answer to a question asked by Aguila………
U P D A T E: By chance tonight I was housekeeping my Favourites lists and while reviewing entries beginning with “L”, I spied Lorelle on WordPress, so I paid the site a visit. I like Lorelle’s blog a lot. It is crammed with advice about blogging and Wordpress.
I came across a blog Lorelle wrote back in 2006 about Wordpress support and I think you should read it too.
Click here.
The blog lists how you must interact with Wordpress when asking them to help you. It is a really helpful article and in it, Lorelle answers my question about the support guys all being volunteers. This is fantastic and wonderful of all those people to offer their expertise to support a great product. But it does not excuse tone and type of responses I have read in WP’s support forums. They volunteered to give of their time and expertise and so I fully expect them to deliver in a professional and courteous manner.
If they are stressing out at the volume of queries, they should reconsider their options and ask themselves if they really are suited to the work. WP could begin to get a very bad rep for the quality of support. And that will be too bad.
Does WordPress have sensitive support or not?
9 comments ↓
I agree that the volunteers on the WordPress Support Forum, and WordPress.com Support Forum do need to take a break once in a while and tone down the harshness if offering support is wearing them down. But there are a different things going on here that need addressing specifically.
The WordPress Support Forum volunteers are not experts in all the WordPress Plugins or Themes that are available. Whether this was a mistake or not, this is how the development of WordPress “add-ons” evolved. Something about Open Source and all that, I think.
If a user is having an issue with a Plugin, they have to go to the source first. Yes, a lot of Plugins lose their owner’s support and interest over time. They stop upgrading them and supporting them. Others offer them without any support - use at your own risk. The result is that the users then turn to the forums and they can’t always help, though sometimes they can.
It’s tough, but there is no reason for the nasties that arise on the forums.
WordPress Plugin authors need the support of their users. The support can be to say thanks on their blog or on yours. How about giving them enough money to see a movie or take their partner out to dinner for one night? If a friend does something really nice for you, isn’t that the least you can do for them? That’s not much but it means a lot when you’re putting in 2-10 hours a day supporting your Plugin.
Also, blaming WordPress for a Plugin which requires a lot of patches or upgrades to maintain it, and the one in discussion is a conglomeration of multiple Plugins, not one, needs to be laid at the feet of the author, not WordPress. It isn’t the fault of WordPress that a Plugin or Theme author missed something or a vulnerability was found. These things develop at their own speed, not always in conjunction with WordPress development.
As it is, WordPress works great out of the box. You want to add goodies, you do so at your own risk. Right now, that’s how it is. I hope it changes, and it will, but right now, you want the goodies and gizmos, you better know how they work or not use them. They aren’t necessary, but they are your choice. Don’t blame WordPress when they don’t work or lose their support.
You’ve made some good points, but be sure and place blame appropriately.
Lorelle:
Many thanks for coming by and making such good observations and clarifying some of my posts shortcomings.
I think the update I added an hour or less ago clears up a few misconceptions I had about the volunteers.
In the main they all do a fantastic job and considering that it is unpaid and on their time is remarkable. The guys at WP have it made and from a P&L perspective are very fortunate to have this resource. I do hope they do get the recognition they rightfully deserve.
Apportioning blame? The irresponsible authors get my vote.
Especially if they offer no support at all and assume/take for granted that the WP volunteers will pick up the tab and provide non-expert support.
For this alone I think we can be most grateful and lenient of any frayed nerves, short tempers and terse, succinct to the point forum responses from the support desk.
I have to say, when I first started using WordPress I found some of the “terseness” at the support forum quite hard to take. It wasn’t that I didn’t know how to use the forums, it was because I had a whole new language to learn. It’s difficult to find what you are looking for when you don’t know the search terms you should use or how exactly to phrase your question.
Now that I know my way around the codex, I never have to ask a question but I can sympathise with those who are struggling to find help.
This is not to say that the work people do there is not absolutely fantastic and greatly appreciated, but maybe it would help if more people from the wordpress community dropped by to answer a question every now and then to pick up some of the slack. It’s everyone’s resource, and everyone’s responsibility.
Once we little users don’t need it so much, it’s easy to forget that it was our first port of call. Maybe providing a couple of answers every now and then would be the best thank you we could give.
cerebralmum:
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I like what you say about us user community paying back our thanks by going in and leaving some WP newbie with a helpful piece of guidance based on our experience on what to do.
Most likely some of us users will evolve into fulltime volunteer support crew.
And speaking of this, it strikes me that having all these volunteers to man the support desk is a neat way to filter out transient helpers from the golden nuggets who thrive/stick like doggie doodoo to a blanket and remain there for the longrun. Neat methodology!*
*[better than saying a non PC and apt to be misconstrued, "neat trick!"]
Hey Rob…in the immortal words of Shaggy “It wasn’t me”. You’re right, it was another user spelled with a G.
But in any event, good points raised and I’m glad you’ve also found Lorelle’s stuff useful. It’s definitely a first-stop for me when I get stuck on anything WP-related.
PS: You may want to check that link - tis going nowhere slowly.
I’ve been using WordPress for about two years, but a few days ago I decided to switch to a ‘paid plaform’ (TypePad) due to the fact that WordPress in general does not have great support.
Sure one can eventually figure things out yourself, or spend hours searching support forums and asking around,. But why waste time when you can get quick, friendly support from a ‘paid’ service?!?
Some of my friends say that it was stupid of me to switch from Wordpress to TypePad but so far i’m more then impressed with the change. I don’t think I’ll ever stop using TypePad.
Aquila:
Thanks for the comment. Which link? My 404? Yeah am pleased it’s better than yours. Heehee!
David:
Great to hear from you. OK so you are a TypPad newbie. Cool! It’s a great piece of kit and with great support WP have a benchmark to work to.
Just wish they’d hurry up and get there quickly.
Nice site keep it up!
http://www.dasofte.com
So far, I had not much problem with the WordPress support forums, because I don’t usually arrive there to ask help.
I always reach to the authors site, then google then go to the forum, which in most cases, step 2 already helps out.
I’ve asked support on the forums a couple of times, not very huge ones, but all have been answered, plus, answered in a nice manner
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