[wp-hackers] Advice on providing plugin support

Fri Jul 15 17:21:45 UTC 2011

Do you think most (many?) people who visit the support forum for a
particular plugin know that?
--
Travis Northcutt

On Fri, Jul 15, 2011 at 10:29 AM, Chip Bennett <chip at chipbennett.net> wrote:

> 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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