[wp-forums] Helping out commercial products

[Mar Ventus]

Hi Andrew.
I think we've all had that dilemma at some point while helping out in the
forums. I also think it's kind of a personal choice, meaning, no one will
think less of you if you do or don't, and it's not strictly forbidden
(AFAIK) to do so.
On a personal note, the way I see it is that, given the enormous amount of
new threads posted every other minute or so, my time is better spent
helping out people for whom the wp.org forum is their only way of getting
any help with their issues. Premium theme users have, well, a premium
support system they can resort to because they payed for it.
On a probably slightly less personal note (meaning, I think people might
identify with this one to a greater extent), I don't think it is very
ethical for premium theme developers to advertise custom support as part of
their paid service and then expect us kind and wonderful mods and
contributors (heehee) to do all their work. This happens more than prem
devs care to admit, and for the most part, it seems to be the product of
a conscious choice more than an inability to handle demand.
I hope this is somewhat helpful to you, :-)

Marv



On Sat, Mar 2, 2013 at 11:44 AM, Christine Rondeau <
christine at bluelimemedia.com> wrote:

> I've done that. If I can see the error and have an idea of how to fix it,
> then I'll offer the CSS help.
>
> I usually recommend they contact the vendor when they install and the theme
> is broken. Or if they are simply a bit crazy and want to change everything.
>
>
>
> On Saturday, March 2, 2013, Andrea Rennick wrote:
>
> > I do have to jump in and point out that for basic css mods, a lot of
> > commercial theme shops do not help out with that and bump them
> elsewhere. I
> > know we do at Studiopress, because we just can't give out all that code
> to
> > everyone all the time. We'd need double the staff just to teach basic
> css.
> >
> > I have seen a few threads where the copy/paste response was given for a
> css
> > issue with "we can't see the code" and I thought that was kinda silly -
> > because it was css. Anyone could see it.
> >
> > Just hoping to bring an awareness because sometimes the user gets
> > ping-ponged.
> >
> > a.
> >
> > p.s - I'm talking about css issues here only
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Mar 2, 2013 at 7:41 AM, Jan Dembowski <jan at dembowski.net
> <javascript:;>>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > On Sat, Mar 2, 2013 at 6:04 AM, Andrew2.Nevins <
> > > Andrew2.Nevins at live.uwe.ac.uk <javascript:;>> wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > If a thread's original poster posts support for a commercial product
> > and
> > > a
> > > > moderator lets them know commercial products are not supported here,
> is
> > > > anyone else allowed to post to help out the original poster?
> > > >
> > >
> > > It's subjective IMHO (drinks more coffee and prepares to get this
> totally
> > > wrong) and sometimes can be alright.
> > >
> > > Quick fix: If the person helping is just doing "Hey I use that too.
> > Modify
> > > line 396 to look like this" then I think that's fine. This is just a
> > > quick tweak and as long as the OP is informed to seek aid from the
> vendor
> > > then they're not really interfering with anyone making a living.
> > >
> > > Deep dive: If the person helping out is requesting access to the
> person's
> > > commercial code and wants to do a deep dive into that code then I think
> > > that should be discouraged.
> > >
> > > Posting links to be able to download a theme or even whole files for a
> > > commercial product is really not cool. The author makes a living
> selling
> > > and supporting that code and we do not want to interfere with that on
> the
> > > support forums. In that scenario the OP needs to request support from
> the
> > > people that sold that product.
> > >
> > > In either case I don't think a moderator should do that as that would
> be
> > > contradictory to the advice we give out. ;)
> > >
> > > Jan "Café Bustelo is really good right now" Dembowski
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > wp-forums mailing list
> > > wp-forums at lists.automattic.com <javascript:;>
> > > http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-forums
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > --
> > Andrea Rennick, http://wpebooks.com and http://ronandandrea.com
> > Co-author of WordPress All-In-One For Dummies http://rml.me/aio
> > _______________________________________________
> > wp-forums mailing list
> > wp-forums at lists.automattic.com <javascript:;>
> > http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-forums
> >
>
>
> --
> **Christine Rondeau
> Bluelime Media
> www.bluelimemedia.com
> twitter: @bluelimemedia
> skype: bluelimemedia
>
>
> *
> ****
> *
>
> **
> _______________________________________________
> wp-forums mailing list
> wp-forums at lists.automattic.com
> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-forums
>