[wp-hackers] Advice on providing plugin support

Fri Jul 15 15:29:37 UTC 2011

Google site: searches work. e.g. here's a search for NextGen in the Media
Tags forum<http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=active&source=hp&q=nextgen+site:wordpress.org%2Ftags%2Fmedia-tags&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=db6309889c429145&biw=1024&bih=647>
.

Chip

On Fri, Jul 15, 2011 at 10:04 AM, Paul <paul at codehooligans.com> wrote:

> Chip,
>
> Yes yes, I'm aware of the wp.org support forums. All my public plugins are
> hosted at wordpress.org. But all that does is give the user a listing of
> topics related to that plugin. There is still no way to allow the user to
> run a secondary search for a topic within that plugin listing. Only the
> title/subject is display.
>
> For example one of my plugin, Media-Tags, have the forum listing
> http://wordpress.org/tags/media-tags?forum_id=10 I know of at least 3
> different topics related to using my plugin with the eShop plugin. But how
> can a user looking for support of the plugin related specifically to eShop
> filter the listing? The global search in the top right of the page is for
> all of wordpress.org.
>
> P-
>
>
>
>
> On Jul 15, 2011, at 10:24 AM, Chip Bennett wrote:
>
> > The WPORG support forums are a great solution, especially if the Plugin
> is
> > hosted by WPORG. Each hosted Plugin (and Theme, for that matter) has its
> own
> > dedicated forum, with its own RSS feed, which makes monitoring quite
> > simple.
> >
> > Also, if you can direct users to submit their support queries directly to
> > the Plugin's dedicated forum, the topic will be auto-tagged, and the
> subject
> > auto-appended, with the Plugin slug and name, respectively, which makes
> > searching considerably easier.
> >
> > FYI: to find your Plugin's dedicated forum, go to the Plugin's Extend
> > listing page, and look in the lower right-hand corner for the "Write a
> new
> > topic" link. If the forum already has topics posted, you will see them
> > listed under "See what others are saying".
> >
> > Chip
> >
> > On Fri, Jul 15, 2011 at 9:07 AM, Paul <paul at codehooligans.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Callum,
> >>
> >> Yeah, I'm in the same situation with my plugins. I host respective pages
> >> for each plugin where people can post questions. And I monitor the
> >> wordpress.org forums for items posted related to the plugin. For each
> >> release I update the page content with notes on new features and new
> >> functionality. But you know what? I found people/users really don't like
> to
> >> read. When a user comes to my site it is generally because they are
> stuck
> >> and possibly under a deadline. So they are scanning for answers.
> >>
> >> I thought about doing away with the comments and force users to post to
> >> wordpress.org forums. At least that way the information is housed
> within a
> >> single system. But as you mentioned it is harder to search. Another
> thought
> >> for my own site was to hack the comment form so that I can provide a
> >> dropdown where the user can select the version of the plugin. Then users
> >> would be able to filter the comments for things related to a specific
> >> version of the plugin. But my worry with this approach is the user
> >> submitting the comment will not bother to properly set the version. If
> you
> >> are like me you may get plenty of comments from users like 'I installed
> you
> >> plugin and not my site is broken. Help!!!' no other information is
> provided
> >> about which WP version, theme, other plugins, etc.
> >>
> >> I know there are some paid services out there how will help manage
> comments
> >> and provide some hand-holding. I've not investigated this because I
> don't
> >> make any real money off my plugins. So can't see adding out of pocket
> >> expenses to provide support. When I have time I triage the comments.
> When I
> >> have tons or client work I let then sit. Sometimes other users provide
> >> how-to replies that seem to solve the original commenters questions.
> >>
> >> I'd be interested in seeing other's comments.
> >>
> >> P-
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Jul 15, 2011, at 9:44 AM, Callum Macdonald wrote:
> >>
> >>> Holamigos,
> >>>
> >>> I provide support for a plugin I wrote. Currently I funnel the support
> >>> requests into a WordPress post on my blog, and ask people to post
> >>> comments with their requests.
> >>>
> >>> I'm now up to about 1000 comments between a few posts. It works ok, but
> >>> there's no way to search the archive. So, I get the same questions over
> >>> and over. I'm working on expanding the FAQ, but people seem to miss it.
> >>>
> >>> I also follow posts on the WordPress.org forum which are tagged with
> the
> >>> plugin. However, this suffers from the same problem, there's no way to
> >>> search the history.
> >>>
> >>> Ideally, I'd like to force users to search before posting a new
> >>> question. When they type their question, I'd like that to be used to
> >>> auto search the history, and hopefully, present useful answers before
> >>> they submit. A little like GetSatisfaction for example.
> >>>
> >>> Are you a plugin author? How do you provide support? Do you have any
> >>> recommendations? Does GetSatisfaction or another tool work for you?
> >>>
> >>> Thank you in advance for any advice offered.
> >>>
> >>> Love & joy - Callum.
> >>>
> >>> ==
> >>> Callum Macdonald
> >>>
> >>> UK mobile: +44 7968 378 810
> >>> Desk: +44 845 126 0875
> >>> www.callum-macdonald.com
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
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> >>
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