Theme and Plugin Library Review System
Jul 15, 2019 12:45:39 GMT -8
bigballofyarn, Derek‽, and 5 more like this
Post by elli on Jul 15, 2019 12:45:39 GMT -8
I think this has been discussed before, but I would like to further that discussion and recommend improvements.
The Theme/Plugin Library review system is bad. Like, really bad. It allows users to submit poor-quality reviews without any oversight, or provide a chance for the author to respond. Hypothetically, a user who is spiteful of an author could also flood that author with low star ratings.
The result is that perfectly good themes and plugins end up with low star ratings, and nonsense like these:
And then there are these types, where the reviewer has a complaint that is not the author's responsibility to address (plugin authors can't be expected to support every theme in existence):
And reviews like this, where a question is posed, but the author has no way to respond:
I would recommend at least these two improvements:
One, create some kind of oversight. A type of moderation where a review has to be approved before being posted. This is common with online markets such as Creative Market and Amazon, and will reduce the number of nonsensical and useless reviews, as well prevent flooding.
Two, allow authors to respond. This can help with addressing questions, user error, and bugs. Some kind of notification that a review has been received would be useful, but not necessary. If the user was prompted to update their review once their issue was resolved, that would also be great.
I know v6 is the priority and there will be a store for themes and plugins in the future. My hope is that the new store will have an improved review system, but if the plan is to re-use the current one, imo changes need to happen first.
Thanks!
The Theme/Plugin Library review system is bad. Like, really bad. It allows users to submit poor-quality reviews without any oversight, or provide a chance for the author to respond. Hypothetically, a user who is spiteful of an author could also flood that author with low star ratings.
The result is that perfectly good themes and plugins end up with low star ratings, and nonsense like these:
And then there are these types, where the reviewer has a complaint that is not the author's responsibility to address (plugin authors can't be expected to support every theme in existence):
And reviews like this, where a question is posed, but the author has no way to respond:
I would recommend at least these two improvements:
One, create some kind of oversight. A type of moderation where a review has to be approved before being posted. This is common with online markets such as Creative Market and Amazon, and will reduce the number of nonsensical and useless reviews, as well prevent flooding.
Two, allow authors to respond. This can help with addressing questions, user error, and bugs. Some kind of notification that a review has been received would be useful, but not necessary. If the user was prompted to update their review once their issue was resolved, that would also be great.
I know v6 is the priority and there will be a store for themes and plugins in the future. My hope is that the new store will have an improved review system, but if the plan is to re-use the current one, imo changes need to happen first.
Thanks!
