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

[Chip Bennett]

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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> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > 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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