WordPress Developer Banned for Having Forced Optin?

[Robert Plank]

Hey guys,

Not sure if you know who the "MaxBlogPress" guy is -- he has some pretty cool plugins like Psychic Search, Favicon Pack, Multi Author Comment Notification, Stripe Ad, etc.

I have been watching him for a year or two, and thought he was a pretty cool marketer... mostly because he had a forced optin on all his plugins. They were free in the wordpress directory (searchable within your blog), but once you install it you have to "activate" it... enter your name and email.

The optin form redirects back onto your own blog, and you're on his list.

Lots of wordpress nerds thought that wasn't too cool, they kept saying "he's spamming me" ... "what are these emails from aweber.com" ... and kept rating his plugin down.

WordPress › Support Call to ban MaxBlogPress plugins
WordPress › Support A Second Call to ban MaxBlogPress plugins

My favorite is "there's no opt out process" ... really? You can't just register the plugin then unsubscribe?

I went to install one of his plugins on a new blog today, and all his plugins are gone from the wordpress directory. It looks like this happened within the last 48 hours.

All I have to say is with web apps, be very careful how much you're catering to the "information wants to be free" hippie crowd.

[mmurtha]

Hey Robert,

Thanks for letting us know.

That's a shame about them taking his plugins down off the site. He has some good ones too.

I hate to say this but I think we will be seeing a lot more of this stuff happening where the optins are concerned. More and more people are disgruntled about being forced into opting in, but most of all they are taking action in various ways.

[Mattk]

I use MBP ping optimizer. Will the plugins still work?

BTW, I had successfully unsubscribed to his plugin at one time. But, then I realized how much I liked it and subscribed again.

[Robert Plank]

Matt,

The plugins are still available on his site (simple google search for "maxblogpress" will find it) ... but you can no longer add them by searching right within wordpress, and you won't get the auto-upgrade notifications on the plugins page anymore.

[lerxtjr]

Bummer, I'll miss maxblogpress. We get it from all angles don't we? The general public, Google themselves and throw the FTC into the mix. Everyone wants to kill the guy offering good stuff because good guys that offer good stuff are "accessible" and take the beating in place of those who cannot be found and hung.

Meaning, all those "real" spam guys that you can't report and can't get rid of and can't track down to hang them at their finger nails, they laugh comfortably in a hammock with a martini in hand.

Hell with all of it. I think I'll thumb my nose to the whole thing and go skiing tomorrow. Now how many in corporate America are saying that tonight?

We still get some benefit out of what we do

[Mattk]

Originally Posted by Robert Plank

Matt,

The plugins are still available on his site (simple google search for "maxblogpress" will find it) ... but you can no longer add them by searching right within wordpress, and you won't get the auto-upgrade notifications on the plugins page anymore.

I wonder if he will offer upgrades to his list? Unless he is pissed at WP all together.

He will probably develop for Joomla now.

[Alan Petersen]

One of the problems of building your list off of freebie seekers. However I think he could have avoided a lot of aggravation by being upfront about the opt-in at the download vs. letting people download it, upload it, install it, activate it, and then find out you must opt-in in order to actually use it.

I can see how that would ruffle some feathers. Now the whole banning campaign is over the top. Don't want to opt-in...delete it and move on. But again, if he had required opt-in up-front at the download point it would have weeded out a lot of the "everything online should be free" peeps.

Yea and those who do opt-in and then complain he is spamming are just clueless as to what is spam. If you double opt-in, those emails are not spam. If they don't like them they should unsubscribe vs. whining or reporting those emails as spam.

[Robert Plank]

The only problem with having an optin before download is then it couldn't be listed in the wordpress directory (searchable within a blog)... the way that system works is direct download.

His plugins will still run in wordpress, but he is now missing out on a TON of traffic... people have to download the plugin directly off his site.

[Jeremy Kelsall]

I can see where people would think he was "aggressive" - I'm on his list and get hit at least once a day...we must have picked up one of his plugins somewhere.

If he is distributing the plugin to "non marketer" types, I could see where they might think it is spam - They don't know what opt-in - opt-out means.

[Karen Blundell]

I don't think you quite understand what the open source community is all about: it's not about high pressure sales. You contribute your work, your work gets known, appreciated, you get business from the viral aspect of being a contributer to a huge WordPress community. It's a goldmine if it's treated as such. And WordPress is very picky which themes and plugins are in their directory..trust me, I know because I have themes there and I feel fortunate, because I get good traffic from them. MaxBlogPress crossed the line and he paid the price.
The WordPress community members don't mind paying for premium themes and plugins, if required to get the job done, as long as they aren't spammed or have incessant nag screens. I dumped all-in-one-seo plugin in favor of Platinum Seo because of the huge nag screen.

[Mattk]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall

I can see where people would think he was "aggressive" - I'm on his list and get hit at least once a day...we must have picked up one of his plugins somewhere.

Yes, that is the reason why I unsubscribed the first time. This was before I realized how the IM game is played.

I ended up opting in again since I liked his product so much.

[SageSound]

I recently found one from MaxBlogPress that I really liked. It's an updated version of an older plugin from someone else. It's not on their site, only on the WP site. I was a bit taken aback when it forced me to opt-in to his list when I tried to activate it. There was no warning, nor an explanation, or anything. It made me wonder if I'd have to do that for every blog I put it on. Thoughts going through my head like ... am I going to get denied b/c I've already registered with this email addy?

So I don't have any compassion for him. There are good ways to handle stuff, and bad ways. He picked just about the worst possible way to do that.

I found another plugin that didn't work with it b/c it doesn't use the V2.8 plugin hooks. I posted a support ticket to ask if they plan to update it, and two weeks later got a curt reply saying I'm welcome to fix it myself. I read it and thought, "Yeah, right, and you think I'm gonna buy something from you NOW?"

The other plugin that didn't work with it ... I posted a comment on the author's blog and she asked me what plugin it was. I told her and said she might be able to update it to make it current, but she might charge a small "donation" for it. I said "Go for it!" She posted a reply the next day saying it was done and, per my suggestion, she's accepting $10 donations for it! I sent her $10 and got the code. Bully for her!

When I compared the source with the previous version, I saw that she basically rewrote the entire thing! Then I noticed how much code in the one from MaxBlogPress was dedicated to that infernal registration bit -- about 2/3s! And it made updating the thing virtually impossible. No wonder they didn't want to bother.

This gal has the right idea. She's got a really great forms plugin she's been developing that will have a "pro" version available with more features for a fee. Here's the relevant thread for the one she updated: Display Widgets WordPress Plugin

I found another plugin from a guy who was whining on his blog that he's gotten over 35,000 DLs, and has only made $200. "If people would just donate one lousy dollar ..." he lamented.

I've been a software developer my entire career, and I just don't get the "socialist" attitude prevelant in the Open Source community ... and why consumers are so loathe to support the people creating all of this freaking INCREADIBLE software!

They hate anybody who tries to make money, but they LOVE having IBM throwing millions of dollars at them for support. Money that IBM earns by charging fat service contracts for otherwise "free" software.

[GeorgR.]

mostly because he had a forced optin on all his plugins. They were free in the wordpress directory (searchable within your blog), but once you install it you have to "activate" it... enter your name and email.

The optin form redirects back onto your own blog, and you're on his list.

taking advantage of the WP community to get people ON ANTHER *****G LIST is not cool, especially if its forced. I am getting so much spam and i am so many lists...so i really, really cant say that this is a good thing [anymore].

As for MBP, yes i know them, using MBP Ping Optimizer myself but stopped using it. It did some weird stuff, it sent out multiple pings etc....furthermore i think its just an urban myth that you get "banned" by editing your posts/articles and multiple pings. (IF this even happens.) You can google a bit and you will find no real information on this - if it were the case 90% of all blog owners would be "banned" by pinging services once a post gets edited a few times. I say this is nonsense.

[rapidscc]

Well poor guy..Though we can say that what he did was
wrong, a part of me also wants to say that like most
marketers he was just trying to bring home the bacon..

there's a lesson learned here though..If we are to do the
same we should be very transparent. Let people know that
we are getting their email and let them have an option
to unsubscribe anytime.

My .02

[Angel Anderson]

Robert, thank you for the info

[Aaarrrggghhh]

I just went through this with one of their plugins yesterday and I too was really taken back when I was forced to subscribe in order to 'activate' a free plugin? Then, I just got friggin really frustrated that I had to go hunt down an unsubscribe!!! That is a HUGE frustration for me as I NEVER subscribe to anything unless I can plainly see an UNSUBSCRIBE or CANCEL readily available. Besides, it just wasn't a kewl way to handle capturing leads...nice plugins tho.

[andreasnrb]

WP.org plugins/themes are suppose to be free, opting in to use is not FREE.
Removing his stuff was the right thing to do. He can probably resubmit the plugins/themes after he changed them to adhere to wp.org rules.
Also you should be upfront with this collecting information stuff. Probably violates some privacy regulations forcing people to optin without them knowing.

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by rapidscc

Well poor guy..Though we can say that what he did was wrong, a part of me also wants to say that like most marketers he was just trying to bring home the bacon..

there's a lesson learned here though..If we are to do the same we should be very transparent. Let people know that we are getting their email and let them have an option to unsubscribe anytime.

My .02

Omar, I'm not going to say he was "wrong", but I will say he may have been too clever for his own good. He misjudged his market, at least with respect to the WP directory.

As was pointed out, most of the WP community has nothing against people making money for the work as long as they are upfront about it (premium themes, paid support, etc.). I tend to think that, had the opt-in been mentioned in the description of the plugin, he likely would not have had a problem.

The way MaxBlogPress handled this, it would be like writing out a donation check to a non-profit and then telling them that before you actually sign the check and turn it over, you'll need their whole member list so you can market to them.

I use the optimizer plugin, so I'm on the list. But the emails have long since earned a filter that lands them on the digital compost heap...

[scottgallagher]

what a joke. someone puts in their own personal time to make your life (or someone's life) easier with their software and this person gives it away for FREE, in exchange for permission to send some emails. In fact, using aweber, it's easy to get off the list, so you might get ONE email.

Are these people serious? They are actually complaining about this model? What, I will do all this for you, give it to you for free and you're complaining when I ASK to send you an email?

This ain't right....but then again, we really shouldn't get up tight in our panties over this, they're not likely buyers anyhow.

[DogScout]

Like his ping plug in
If I am busy, I just delete the email each day... takes 1 second.
oh well
BTW Robert, highly impressed with your coding skills!

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by scottgallagher

what a joke. someone puts in their own personal time to make your life (or someone's life) easier with their software and this person gives it away for FREE, in exchange for permission to send some emails. In fact, using aweber, it's easy to get off the list, so you might get ONE email.

Are these people serious? They are actually complaining about this model? What, I will do all this for you, give it to you for free and you're complaining when I ASK to send you an email?

This ain't right....but then again, we really shouldn't get up tight in our panties over this, they're not likely buyers anyhow.

Scott, you almost got it right. He's not asking, he's demanding. He's saying "I got you to download and install this free thing, now that you've done it, you have to give me your email to use it." In a way, it's like a hidden continuity ploy - you don't know about the continuity until after you've hit the buy button for the lead-in product. The only difference is that you pay with an email (and your time) instead of cash.

If you watch things unfold, you'll see list owners whining about people that subscribe, grab the freebie, then bolt. You can't win.

[Karen Blundell]

Originally Posted by GeorgR.

taking advantage of the WP community to get people ON ANTHER *****G LIST is not cool, especially if its forced. I am getting so much spam and i am so many lists...so i really, really cant say that this is a good thing [anymore].

As for MBP, yes i know them, using MBP Ping Optimizer myself but stopped using it. It did some weird stuff, it sent out multiple pings etc....furthermore i think its just an urban myth that you get "banned" by editing your posts/articles and multiple pings. (IF this even happens.) You can google a bit and you will find no real information on this - if it were the case 90% of all blog owners would be "banned" by pinging services once a post gets edited a few times. I say this is nonsense.

you are absolutely right...YOU DON"T GET PENALIZED FOR EDITING POSTS AND MULTIPLE PINGS...I do it all the time and my blog has been online since 2006...I have several top 10 positions in Google and no problems whatsoever...the newer versions of WordPress addressed the ping issues as well as other issues so you don't need many plugins that you used to need...

here is how I feel about the open source community contributors: if you don't want to contribute in the true spirit of what the open source community is all about, then don't..release your plugin or theme as a premium plugin or theme and charge for it accordingly. Don't bitch and complain that your free theme or plugin isn't getting enough donations...because then it's not really free is it?

[sashas]

I've used this guy's Max Blog Press Ninja Affiliate plugin and only have good things to say about him.

He has some pretty nice products..but this post just goes to show how non IM people see marketers as

[Elle Holder]

Huh, thanks for letting us know. I saw all the bad press he was getting on the WP forums a few weeks ago, and wondered what would happen.

I've been using one of his pluggins for the last few years, and yeah, I did find the over aggressive emailing kind of obnoxious. After a few months I just set up a rule to delete his emails.

[andreasnrb]

His plugins will show up in the wp.org plugin directory without the registration stuff removed and probably name change also. Its already in the works.
Don't mess with people and don't use licenses you don't understand =).

[kindsvater]

Originally Posted by Robert Plank

All I have to say is with web apps, be very careful how much you're catering to the "information wants to be free" hippie crowd.

How ironic, given that WordPress is free.

Presumably, you don't use WordPress, Google search, read news on Yahoo, etc. Otherwise - welcome to the hippie crowd

----

All MBP apparently has to do is include a notice before the download that email registration will be required to activate the plugin.

Considering there are thousands of WP plugins and MBP is apparently the only one using this tactic, MBP sticks out like a sore thumb.




.

[Emmanuel Inyang]

I've used some of this Guy's Plugins and I was really pissed off at the fight sight of the email Optin before the plugin would be activated. I can't argue that he has no right to do so If he wants to, besides, it's his work. But what's so hard about leaving a small explanation of what users should expect in the Read Me.txt?

However, I still use some of his plugins(the Ping Optimizer, I think) on a couple of blogs as I don't find subscribing to his List a big deal- I've found some of his emails useful to me.

Forced Optin may be a pretty cool marketing trick but I can bet with Half of my money that you'll only end up with an UNRESPONSIVE, SUPER LOW Conversion Rate List.

-Emmanuel.

[digigo]

I have to say, forced opt-in is too risky. The subscriber should know it upfront, not after they have go all the trouble downloading it.. and then get hit with a "opt-in or else". This reminds me of a case that this fellow designed sales page in a way, if the buyer backs out, and cancel the order form, the email he has already entered is put on the subscriber list..the purchase form is a two step process, first step is to enter this email ... he got a lot of complaints.. accused of spamming.. not to my surprise..

[pawan]

I used to develop wordpress plugin for my own personal use as there not used to be much good plugins catering the needs of marketers (there's still very few plugins for the marketers).

Later I started sharing the plugins and saw many people want it as well. That's how MaxBlogPress was born. Of course, I can't let it run, spend my time, pay for my hosting fee etc... with donations only. I need to create a business out of the free plugins. That's how the forced optin tactic was born.

I was still offering the plugin for free but it asked for free registration for building the list. I think that's the better way to do it instead of giving up and stop the development totally.

As of now, I have got some full time developers who work on these plugins. They are not some random freelancers who build crappy wordpress plugins. They get paid monthly salary and builds good wordpress plugins for the community.

I myself devote full time for the maxblogpress. If there's no way I can make this worthwhile, then maxblogpress will just be a history and I'll have to shut it down for forever.

Plugin registration is there just for making people give once chance to look at the newsletter. If you don't like the newsletter then you can unsubscribe anytime by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email. (I use aweber for managing my subscribers)

Here is more information regarding the registration thing:
maxblogpress.com/blog/76/maxblogpress-plugins-registration/

Reading some of the posts above I realize that many people take the forced optin as an offence. I think the main concern they have is that they don't know there's an optin form until they have installed the plugin.

We had such disclaimer in some of the plugins in the "other notes" section. However, I think that's not visible enough. I'll put much more visible disclaimer in the description section so the users can decide beforehand if they want to use the plugin or not. Any other suggestions?


Thanks to all the supporters of the MaxBlogPress who put their point forward regarding the plugin's optin registration:
wordpress.org/support/topic/175208

If you loved the plugins then please tell the world why it should be listed in the wordpress plugin directory:
wordpress.org/support/topic/315641

[andreasnrb]

Well I don't think disclosure is enough to be reinstated in the wp.org directory.
Using forced optin disclosed or not is a violation of the subjective part of the WP.org terms. The plugin should be self contained unless it depends on an external service Google Analytics, Akismet etc.
Your registration requirement is not required for the plugin to actually do its job.
Add a subscribe box to the plugins settings pages if you want to. Perhaps add a optional newsfeed to the dashboard.

And not making money on donations well welcome to reality. Its a well know fact that you don't make any money that way with WP. There are alternate ways to make money with plugins. The most prominent at the moment is Gravity Forms (which is GPL by the way). wp e-commerce another way, Akisment a third. There are a few discussions over at WPTavern.com regarding making money on plugins both in the blog and the forums.

You should also know that versions of your plugins without the forced optin will most likely make their way into the directory.

[Karen Blundell]

Originally Posted by pawan

I used to develop wordpress plugin for my own personal use as there not used to be much good plugins catering the needs of marketers (there's still very few plugins for the marketers).

Later I started sharing the plugins and saw many people want it as well. That's how MaxBlogPress was born. Of course, I can't let it run, spend my time, pay for my hosting fee etc... with donations only. I need to create a business out of the free plugins. That's how the forced optin tactic was born.

I was still offering the plugin for free but it asked for free registration for building the list. I think that's the better way to do it instead of giving up and stop the development totally.

As of now, I have got some full time developers who work on these plugins. They are not some random freelancers who build crappy wordpress plugins. They get paid monthly salary and builds good wordpress plugins for the community.

I myself devote full time for the maxblogpress. If there's no way I can make this worthwhile, then maxblogpress will just be a history and I'll have to shut it down for forever.

Plugin registration is there just for making people give once chance to look at the newsletter. If you don't like the newsletter then you can unsubscribe anytime by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email. (I use aweber for managing my subscribers)

Here is more information regarding the registration thing:
maxblogpress.com/blog/76/maxblogpress-plugins-registration/

Reading some of the posts above I realize that many people take the forced optin as an offence. I think the main concern they have is that they don't know there's an optin form until they have installed the plugin.

We had such disclaimer in some of the plugins in the "other notes" section. However, I think that's not visible enough. I'll put much more visible disclaimer in the description section so the users can decide beforehand if they want to use the plugin or not. Any other suggestions?


Thanks to all the supporters of the MaxBlogPress who put their point forward regarding the plugin's optin registration:
wordpress.org/support/topic/175208

If you loved the plugins then please tell the world why it should be listed in the wordpress plugin directory:
wordpress.org/support/topic/315641

Too little too late! you won't get my vote and I'll tell you why...you refuse to understand how an open source community really works...If you are not getting business from distributing your free plugins, then you're not marketing your services, creating premium plugins and selling them properly. It's not the WordPress users who have a problem. It's you. IMHO, you want the benefit of the WordPress.org traffic, but refuse to play by the rules...sorry, it just doesn't work that way.

What goes around comes around...when you give freely of your talents, you build TRUST with your visitors, and then people love you for it, and they will give you business.

[pawan]

Originally Posted by Mattk

I use MBP ping optimizer. Will the plugins still work?

Yes, it will still work Matt. The plugin has been removed from the Wordpress plugin respository but it is still available from our maxblogpress website. In fact we recently did a minor bug fix for the plugin and released it in our website.

[pawan]

Originally Posted by lerxtjr

Bummer, I'll miss maxblogpress. We get it from all angles don't we? The general public, Google themselves and throw the FTC into the mix. Everyone wants to kill the guy offering good stuff because good guys that offer good stuff are "accessible" and take the beating in place of those who cannot be found and hung.

Meaning, all those "real" spam guys that you can't report and can't get rid of and can't track down to hang them at their finger nails, they laugh comfortably in a hammock with a martini in hand.

Hell with all of it. I think I'll thumb my nose to the whole thing and go skiing tomorrow. Now how many in corporate America are saying that tonight?

We still get some benefit out of what we do

Marty, we are here and going no where. I don't think we have done anything wrong which makes us hide the tail between our tail and run away. Until now, I have never posted any comment to some of the very very few negative blog posts about maxblogpress or me because I think if I'm doing right stuffs then I don't have to fight to prove it. There's already hundreds of blog posts and people who love what we do.

But, I think this time negative poster has won with comments without any evidence. This is the first time I'm posting for such comments. People should now get prepared for all the negative myths being busted regarding maxblogpress.

[pawan]

Originally Posted by Mattk

I wonder if he will offer upgrades to his list? Unless he is pissed at WP all together.

He will probably develop for Joomla now.

Yes, I'm pissed off by this, But Matt I'll surely provide upgrades to all our maxblogpress plugins. However, the "MaxBlogPress Revived" plugin has been temporarily suspended until I get all these thing sorted out.

[pawan]

Originally Posted by Alan Petersen

One of the problems of building your list off of freebie seekers. However I think he could have avoided a lot of aggravation by being upfront about the opt-in at the download vs. letting people download it, upload it, install it, activate it, and then find out you must opt-in in order to actually use it.

Alan, there's readme.txt file provided with all the plugins where there is clearly written that the plugin requires one time free registration.

Those freebie seekers should read the given documents before complaining.

[pawan]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall

I can see where people would think he was "aggressive" - I'm on his list and get hit at least once a day...we must have picked up one of his plugins somewhere.

If he is distributing the plugin to "non marketer" types, I could see where they might think it is spam - They don't know what opt-in - opt-out means.

Jeremy, it depends upon when you are subscribed. Sometimes, we have discount event when I email each day to make sure all the people get noticed about the event. (Even then people create support ticket saying they missed the event and can we offer the discount).

Usually, we email at least once a week for "MaxBlogger Stories". It's a pure content based blog, where other bloggers shares their success stories. I don't think anyone should be offended by such content.

Also, I'm not putting a gun in peoples head to stay subscribed to our newsletter. There's unsubscribe link at the bottom of each and every email we send and the user can stop the newsletter instantly by clicking that link.

Unsubscribing from the newsletter doesn't make our plugin deactive. The user can continue to use the plugin without staying subscribed to the newsletter. What else they want for using a free plugin with free support?

[pawan]

Originally Posted by Karen Blundell

The WordPress community members don't mind paying for premium themes and plugins, if required to get the job done, as long as they aren't spammed or have incessant nag screens. I dumped all-in-one-seo plugin in favor of Platinum Seo because of the huge nag screen.

You might be talking about very very few people who can pay the money. What if someone don't have money to pay for the plugin?

I still get many requests from people who wants my paid plugin for free in exchange of a review blog post. (usually I have to say no). That's huge commitment than optining for a newsletter.

I'm sure, 99% people in the world will say, give me the software for free in exchange of optin for a newsletter. In fact they'll even agree for not being able to opt out ever.

Wouldn't you jump in if MS Office, Windows, Photoshop and all other paid softwares just ask for opting in for a newsletter in exchange for the software? I'll be surprised if you'll say no.

Max Banner Ads, Stripe Ad was initially designed as a paid plugin with a price tag. I later chose to give it away in exchange of newsletter subscription. There's thousands of users for these plugins. I'm sure if I had put a price in those plugins, those thousands of users would have never get benefited by the plugin and they'll happily subscribe for the newsletter for getting the price removed.

[pawan]

Originally Posted by iYingHang

I think maxblogpress plugins are nice but i just don't like the newsletter. No opt out. Anyway, I feel pity for him too.

There is always an opt out link in each and every email we send. Just scroll to the bottom of the email and you'll find the unsubscribe link. You can unsubscribe yourself instantly at anytime using that link. No need to email anyone, no need to contact support nothing. Just one click and confirm that you want to subscribe that's all.

I don't think anything can be made simpler than that.

[tritrain]

It's unfortunate (and maybe there's still hope!) that they couldn't find an acceptable compromise.

I don't like "sneaky" forced opt-ins that make it very hard to opt out. However, defaulting it to opt-in, to me, is not a big deal.

The programmer should be allowed to recoupe some for their time and creativity.

[Craig Desorcy]

Big fan of MBP ninja affiliate plugin. It's the only cloaking and tracking plugin
I've never had issues with.

Aggressive marketing? I'd say most are not aggressive enough.

I loved watching Pawan Agrawal do his thing. What a good thing he had
going until the crap hit the fan.

Was even telling other wordpress plugin authors to follow his model.
It can still be done, just needs a new approach.

It's interesting how people complain about emails as if they
have no control over getting off the list.

Looks pretty simple to me, join to get the goodies and get off the
list if you are not interested in updates and promos.

Craig

[pawan]

Originally Posted by tritrain

It's unfortunate (and maybe there's still hope!) that they couldn't find an acceptable compromise.

I don't like "sneaky" forced opt-ins that make it very hard to opt out. However, defaulting it to opt-in, to me, is not a big deal.

The programmer should be allowed to recoupe some for their time and creativity.

I don't get where is it sneaky? If you read the readme.txt file properly before installing the pluign then you'll find that it says the plugin needs one time free registration.

When you install the plugin, before activating, it again tells you that you will receive the free tips newsletter.

After, you hit the submit button there, you'll again receive an email telling you that you'll receive emails from us and do you want to confirm this or not.

After you click on that confirmation link.. and then AND ONLY THEN you receive the newsletter.

And when you receive the newsletter, there's always an unsubscribe link at the bottom of each and every email. You can unsubscribe anytime you like by following that link. It's totally automated and you can unsubscribe within seconds. What's so hard about opting out there?

[pawan]

Originally Posted by SageSound

I recently found one from MaxBlogPress that I really liked. It's an updated version of an older plugin from someone else. It's not on their site, only on the WP site. I was a bit taken aback when it forced me to opt-in to his list when I tried to activate it. There was no warning, nor an explanation, or anything. It made me wonder if I'd have to do that for every blog I put it on. Thoughts going through my head like ... am I going to get denied b/c I've already registered with this email addy?

First of all, if you look at the readme file before installation you'll find that it actually tells you that there's one time free registration required. It was even mentioned in the wordpress plugin repository if you navigate to the installation instruction. I don't blame this on you. Most people are in hurry and they don't find the time to read the instructions properly.

If you try to install this plugin in another blog using the same email address then the plugin will get activated instantly when you click on the register button. You won't even feel like there was a registration form. I have put great care in making sure the people don't face inconvenience while installing the plugin.

[pawan]

Originally Posted by GeorgR.

taking advantage of the WP community to get people ON ANTHER *****G LIST is not cool, especially if its forced. I am getting so much spam and i am so many lists...so i really, really cant say that this is a good thing [anymore].

As for MBP, yes i know them, using MBP Ping Optimizer myself but stopped using it. It did some weird stuff, it sent out multiple pings etc....furthermore i think its just an urban myth that you get "banned" by editing your posts/articles and multiple pings. (IF this even happens.) You can google a bit and you will find no real information on this - if it were the case 90% of all blog owners would be "banned" by pinging services once a post gets edited a few times. I say this is nonsense.

First of all, all the people have an option to decide if they want to use the plugin or not. I and my team put lots of efforts to develop those plugins and distribute it for free. If you see the another way around, wordpress is actually taking advantage of our effort to get new features for the wordpress for free. Well, I don't see that way, I see the win-win-win situation. For getting benefits someone don't have to lose anything for another one to gain. All people can get benefits without losing anything.

The forced optin is just an urban myth Look at the posts above.

[pawan]

Originally Posted by rapidscc

Well poor guy..Though we can say that what he did was
wrong, a part of me also wants to say that like most
marketers he was just trying to bring home the bacon..

there's a lesson learned here though..If we are to do the
same we should be very transparent. Let people know that
we are getting their email and let them have an option
to unsubscribe anytime.

My .02

Omar, it seems someone is spreading out the wrong myth. I DO let people know that they are going to receive emails and I DO let them unsubscribe anytime. Read my other replies above for more explanation.

[pawan]

Originally Posted by Aaarrrggghhh

I just went through this with one of their plugins yesterday and I too was really taken back when I was forced to subscribe in order to 'activate' a free plugin? Then, I just got friggin really frustrated that I had to go hunt down an unsubscribe!!! That is a HUGE frustration for me as I NEVER subscribe to anything unless I can plainly see an UNSUBSCRIBE or CANCEL readily available. Besides, it just wasn't a kewl way to handle capturing leads...nice plugins tho.

It seems you are talking about another person, not me or maxblogpress. You don't have to hunt down for unsubscribe. I use aweber for my newsletter. There's unsubscribe link at the bottom of each and every email we send. What can be easier than that?

[pawan]

Originally Posted by andreasnrb

WP.org plugins/themes are suppose to be free, opting in to use is not FREE.
Removing his stuff was the right thing to do. He can probably resubmit the plugins/themes after he changed them to adhere to wp.org rules.
Also you should be upfront with this collecting information stuff. Probably violates some privacy regulations forcing people to optin without them knowing.

How opting in can't be free?

Opting in to use is not Free. Then:
* Registering for another service should not be free. (There's hundreds of plugins provided by paid and free service which makes the user to sign up for their service)

* Donation button in the plugin should not be free. (How dare can they ask for donation for their hard work?. They should put an disclaimer saying they'll ask for donation if you use the plugin. Money is a serious no no)

* Banner or link to author website should not be free. (If they want exposure to their website they should use another easy method. Not waste days and do hard work in developing the plugins)

I can go on and on.. on such issues...

Now, let's get back to WP's rule, there's only 4 (the last one was recently added). Read it here:
WordPress › WordPress Plugins

[pawan]

Originally Posted by andreasnrb

Also you should be upfront with this collecting information stuff. Probably violates some privacy regulations forcing people to optin without them knowing.

Yes, I have been very upfront regarding newsletter thing. Read more about it here:
WordPress Developer Banned for Having Forced Optin?

[pawan]

It's funny to read the signature of most of the people who says putting an optin form is wrong. I have hundreds of things to say about that if they think just putting an optin form and asking for user permission to let them subscribe is wrong.

[pawan]

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

As was pointed out, most of the WP community has nothing against people making money for the work as long as they are upfront about it (premium themes, paid support, etc.). I tend to think that, had the opt-in been mentioned in the description of the plugin, he likely would not have had a problem.

John, thinking the same way I had put the registration required information in the readme.txt file. It was even visible while browsing the plugin in wordpress directory and read the installation instruction. It seems people usually don't read the instructions properly. I think it should be plastered in the very very visible way so even the blinds don't miss it.

[pawan]

Originally Posted by scottgallagher

what a joke. someone puts in their own personal time to make your life (or someone's life) easier with their software and this person gives it away for FREE, in exchange for permission to send some emails. In fact, using aweber, it's easy to get off the list, so you might get ONE email.

Are these people serious? They are actually complaining about this model? What, I will do all this for you, give it to you for free and you're complaining when I ASK to send you an email?

This ain't right....but then again, we really shouldn't get up tight in our panties over this, they're not likely buyers anyhow.

Thanks Scott. I hope everyone realize how much works needed to build a plugin and distribute it. It doesn't stop there either. People ask for support, people wants bug fix, people want new feature, people want it to be able to run in new version of wordpress.

We were doing all these things for free. We have forum in our own website just for providing support for these free plugins. Sometime we spend a whole day fixing the problem one to one for some plugin users.

I don't know why people ignores all the good things.