[wp-forums] Reviews vs. Support

[Otto]

On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 7:08 AM, Chip Bennett <chip at chipbennett.net> wrote:
> Yet another case-in-point:
> http://wordpress.org/support/topic/messed-up-database

Did you post the wrong link? That's a year old support thread, not
tied to a plugin at all.

Ahh, yes, you meant this one:

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/messed-up-database-1?replies=2#post-

I disagree that that is an invalid review in any way. The person says
that installing the plugin messed up their database somehow. Now, you
might think that they should have asked for help first, and you might
be right or you might not be, but regardless, that is their legitimate
opinion and they have the right to express it.

Here's the thing, before reviews were there, this person would have
given you a 1 star rating, not left any comment of any sort, and
disappeared forever. With this system, they can still leave the 1
star, but not they have to say why *and you have the chance to
respond*. People reading reviews will see "hey, he responded" and
that's their takeaway from that. Not that the plugin messes up
databases, but that the author sees problems and attempts to correct
them.

The power of the response is more useful than you know. Stop thinking
in terms of statistics and the number of stars you get. *All reviews
are legitimate*, if the people writing them have actually used or
tried your code.

-Otto