[wp-forums] Supporting Plugin Authors

[Michael B]

I think you've hit the nail on the head, a lot of plugins are released to 
the general public when there should be an emphasis on alpha and beta 
releases, and the caveats that go with those releases.
I think you are equally correct in the fact that perhaps more effort could 
be made by some to provide better documentation with the plugins. 
The ultimate question is how much development does an author want to put 
into the plugin. If the answer is not much, then they should be upfront 
about that on the download page, explaining a "buyer beware" type of 
statement.

One question though, where is this discussion carrying on at?


On 8/22/05, Lorelle VanFossen <lorelle at cameraontheroad.com> wrote:
> 
> I'm starting to hear a lot of whines from WordPress plugin authors about
> the demand on their time and energy to provide support for their
> plugins. I'd like us to talk about how we can help them. Currently it is
> the semi-official policy that if people need help with plugins, they go
> to the author first, search second, and last resort, ask on the Forum.
> But I'm worried about "plugin author burnout". We need these creative 
> folks.
> 
> We need to make it clear to plugin authors that clear and intelligible
> instructions need to be in a readme file and on a specific web page on
> their site. I think that plugin authors should "beta test" their
> instructions as much as their plugin to make sure they make sense. ;-)
> 
> And to be honest, some plugin authors get so jazzed about what they have
> done, they hype it all over the place, so everyone runs to it and then
> the author gets bombarded with support questions. It's great to have the
> fame, but there is a price to pay.
> 
> What can we do to help them out? Is there anything?
> 
> Lorelle
> 
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-- 
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Michael B aka miklb
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