[wp-forums] Commercial support on the WordPress forums?

Fri Dec 28 16:54:37 UTC 2012

Wow. I send off an email, head out to do some shopping and look what
happens? ;)

Back to that topic: I think I'll just keep an eye on it. Closing it down is
not a problem, I was more concerned with that plugin author. If he
blatantly crosses into commercial support space then I'll do what Mika
suggests and reply politely but firmly.

If he get's it then we're good. If not then there's always the timeout room.

Thanks,

Jan Dembowski

On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 11:06 AM, Mika A Epstein <ipstenu at ipstenu.org>wrote:

> There's no way to only make a theme/plugin support topic only show in
> those forums, because we don't -always- want it to. Lots of times, an issue
> is far more complex and while it might turn out to become a theme/plugin,
> it may not be. Obviously there are some that are, but it's not a perfect
> system either way. At least if they're all over, we might see them and
> police them.
>
> Back to the original topic. It's OKAY to close the threads. If they've
> gone into commercial support-land, be nice, be polite, but be firm. Once
> they know where to go, like when it's a wordpress.com issue, tell them
> that one last time, and close the ticket. If they come back and act like
> children, put them in time out. It's a fast way to see who's
> unprofessional, too.
>
> (Sidebar: I do see requests to the plugins folks to remove mean
> comments/reviews. I usually tell them no, and to handle it professionally.
> If it's spam, that's one thing, if it's someone who just hated your
> product, it's time to step up and fix it.)
>
>
> Chip Bennett wrote:
>
>>
>> Drew,
>>
>> In this case, I'm more interested in identifying the non-WPORG-hosted
>> Themes/Plugins. Getting more hosted Theme/Plugin support questions into
>> their designated forums is always ideal (especially for the developers who
>> actually *monitor* their own forums); but in this case, I'm thinking of
>> how
>> to handle non-hosted code, commercial code, etc.
>>
>> Just thinking out loud, but I'd love for Theme/Plugin-designated support
>> topics to appear *only* in their designated forums, and not in the main
>> Themes and Templates/Plugins forums. If we could similarly segregate
>> topics
>> for non-hosted Plugins/Themes, it would a) make it easier to auto-respond
>> to those topics, and b) make it easier to triage the topics that do appear
>> in the general Themes and Templates/Plugins forums.
>>
>> And sorry if this tangent hijacks this thread too much; but the idea
>> started with thinking about how to auto-handle support topics for
>> commercial Plugins/Themes. If those topics could be identified up-front,
>> and then auto-responded with, "this isn't the right place for support for
>> this Plugin/Theme; go here instead", it might really simplify things.
>>
>> Chip
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 10:50 AM, Drew<xoodrew at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Chip:
>>> CMIIW, but we can still tag threads with plugin/theme tags, though that
>>> really only populates that plugin/theme tag listing. It would be nice to
>>> be
>>> able to move threads under the umbrella of a plugin or theme's support
>>> "forum".
>>>
>>> Jan:
>>> I think you did the right thing here. It's strange having to police the
>>> attitude in an exchange like that, especially when both user and
>>> supporter
>>> are in the ring, so to speak. As for your question about whether
>>> commercial
>>> shops can use the forums to support their plugins, that's a good
>>> question,
>>> one I'd like to have answered.
>>>
>>> Drew
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 7:52 AM, Chip Bennett<chip at chipbennett.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Related, and out of curiosity: is there any feasible way to *require* a
>>>> Theme or Plugin support topic to indicate the Theme or Plugin to which
>>>>
>>>
>>> the
>>>
>>>>
>>>> topic applies - and then *segregate* the topics accordingly?
>>>>
>>>> I know that the Theme/Plugin-specific support forums do this, but not
>>>> everyone uses them. Also, it would be a significant help to know at a
>>>> glance if a given topic applies to a WPORG-hosted Theme/Plugin, or not.
>>>>
>>>> Two potential uses:
>>>>
>>>> - A sub-forum for non-hosted Themes/Plugins
>>>> - Auto-responses for commercial Themes/Plugins (explanation for why
>>>> they're not supported, link to appropriate support forum, auto-closure)
>>>>
>>>> Just an idea...
>>>>
>>>> Chip
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Japheth Thomson<japh at envato.com>
>>>>
>>>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Good points, Jan.
>>>>>
>>>>> Customers often take a shotgun approach to support. Ask for help in as
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> many
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> places as possible in the hopes that one of those places helps
>>>>> quickly. Ultimately it's a bad idea, but people will do it regardless
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> of
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> what you tell them.
>>>>>
>>>>> I've been trying to encourage (by example) those who man the support
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> forums
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> to send users with ThemeForest theme issues to the theme's author
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> (rather
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> than ThemeForest support, who only help with actual marketplace
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> issues).
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> This is to help reduce the load on the support forums, while still
>>>>> providing a helpful response. Also, it puts the onus back where it
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> should
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> be.
>>>>>
>>>>> Really if an email address is the official line of support, then that's
>>>>> exactly where you should send the customer after support for the
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> commercial
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> code.
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>> Japh
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 29 December 2012 01:16, Jane Wells<jane at automattic.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 12/28/12 8:13 AM, Jan Dembowski wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm tempted to reply with "Guys? Take it outside and use the support
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> email
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> for that vendor" and closing the topic but I'm not sure if it's a
>>>>>>> commercial support issue or not.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Given that we routinely tell people that commercial code is not
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> supported
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> here, why is WOWsliders.com using the forums like this? Is that
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>> really
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> permitted or even a good idea?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If it were for a theme I'd point the user to the theme vendor's
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> support
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> page but that doesn't seem to be an option here exactly as the page
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> points
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> to an email address.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Trust your instincts. All the things you wondered whether or not
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>> they
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> would be okay, the answer is yes. That said, We could also loop in
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>> the
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> plugins team here.
>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>> >
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Japh Thomson
>>>>> WordPress Evangelist
>>>>> http://wp.envato.com
>>>>> http://twitter.com/envato
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>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> -- I've kinda got a thing for WordPress> http://www.drewapicture.com
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