what to do when an author goes awol?

[Former Member]

Forum URL: alcryst.proboards.com

Please read this entire post so the wrong impression is not given.

Question for the staff:
What do we do when a plugin author goes AWOL? Here's my problem:

A lot of members create these fantastic, crucial plugins and then stop giving support for them. Therefore, we can't get the plugin to work. We can't ask another person/coder to help because they aren't in control of the plugin and we can't simply request that a new plugin be made because 1) most coders won't want to "encroach" on the previous author like that and 2) they see no reason because there's already an existing plugin with that purpose.

But what about when we need the function/feature that plugin provides, but we can't get it for lack of authors responding?

I myself have run into this problem several times with several authors.

I completely understand that authors are doing this for free; they are doing it from the goodness and kindness of their hearts. They do not owe us anything.

But at the same time, when they make a plugin, they're kind of making their claim to that feature--as in, "I made it, so no one else can/will." Or at least that's how it turns out. And when their plugin is an essential feature/function, they are making it so we can't use that feature/function at all, point blank, because no other coder is going to take over and they aren't helping us.

Then sites are hurting, we are lacking what some need.

So here's my question to you, staff. What are our options, in this case? When we need Support--not just we're being stupid and not following the instructions correctly, but as in there is a serious bug that only the author can fix, but simply isn't or won't or can't for their own personal reasons? What can we do? Because there are many plugins that have been rendered essentially useless for lack of author support and these are plugins that could greatly improve the functionality of many sites.

This is not meant to complain or tattle or carry any negative connotation. It's meant to display the problem and genuinely, sincerely ask what we should do. I appreciate the time and effort every author puts into their plugin and I'm not meaning to complain about anyone; that would be extremely wrong. But a problem does exist and it does need a solution.

[Ryan Roos]

It's really no different than apps for your cellphone. Right now all the plugins are free. We (ProBoards) don't control what authors do or don't do. It's completely up to them to support a plugin after it's been created or not. You seem to understand this already.

The reason that plugins are locked is because the authors themselves locked them. That's an option we give to authors so they can protect their work. If we didn't there wouldn't be as many people producing such great things. We have recently made improvements to the library in order to give more options for support. A new support link is part of the plugin page. Hopefully that encourages authors to support their work. The reality is many of these authors have lives outside of writing plugins and that can interfere with progress.

That's all part of the rating system though. A good author with a well support plugin will have a higher rating than a buggy plugin that has been abandoned.

There's no solution where we can support all these plugins that we aren't familiar with. This is a free market situation. The top plugins will rise and the others will fall. If there's a plugin that's not doing exactly what is needed then there's nothing stopping another author from writing a better version on their own.

Thank you.

[Brian]

Sept 30, 2013 8:53:03 GMT -8 ₪» ⅀ ƪ Ƒ «₪ said:

But at the same time, when they make a plugin, they're kind of making their claim to that feature--as in, "I made it, so no one else can/will." Or at least that's how it turns out. And when their plugin is an essential feature/function, they are making it so we can't use that feature/function at all, point blank, because no other coder is going to take over and they aren't helping us. 

Two plugin authors can create two different plugins that do the same thing. There should be nothing stopping them.

With that said, the best thing to do would be to request that someone make a new one if the older one is no longer supported and isn't working, and perhaps they'll add on some new functionality while they're at it. You'd just need to explain the situation in your plugin thread first.

[Tim Camara]

Not to mention that there's nothing stopping you from learning how to make plugins yourself. Everyone started out by not knowing how to do something they wanted to do. A little bit of perseverance and I bet you could be writing your own plugins that solve your problems exactly.

[Baller95]

I've never had issues with this but found it interesting as it could happen to me in the future. Though the admins have brought up some good points as well. I'd love to make plugins myself but I'm a noob at coding

[Tim Camara]

Sept 30, 2013 9:22:13 GMT -8 Baller95 said:

I'm a noob at coding

So was I, once.  

[Baller95]

Sept 30, 2013 9:25:33 GMT -8 Tim Camara said:

Sept 30, 2013 9:22:13 GMT -8 Baller95 said:

I'm a noob at coding

So was I, once.  

Good point. w3schools.com, here I come!

[Former Member]

Alright, thank you all for your responses. =)

[Former Member]

Tim Camara, I'm actually extremely interested in learning how to create plugins but I'm not really sure where to start. Right now, I understand basic CSS, UBBC, and HTML, basically just formatting/layouts--nothing more. Do you have any suggestions on where to start at a beginner level?

[Tim Camara]

For ProBoards plugins, you've already two of the three building blocks then. I'd recommend looking into learning a little bit of JavaScript, and probably some jQuery (a JavaScript library that greatly simplifies most parts of working with JavaScript on the web). Codeacademy has some great stuff to help you learn this stuff. Their JavaScript one is here: www.codecademy.com/tracks/javascript, and if you find you want to brush up on your HTML/CSS knowledge, they have a web fundamentals course here: www.codecademy.com/tracks/web. All of it's free and dead-simple to use.

[Former Member]

Thank you very much! I've been hoping to breach into plugin coding for a while now but have been rather at a loss of where to start. I appreciate the help. =) Wish me luck! ^^