Popular WordPress plugin tried to spam users' dashboards
github.com
github.com
Themes and plugins are a minefield with very little space between the mines.
Almost all themes in the theme repository are crippled versions of premium themes today. The same goes for plugins where a huge amount of the plugins in the official repository is just some kind of nagware trying to lure you into buying a "premium version" which finally unlocks the single feature you installed this plugin for. Then there are plugins which are outright broken and will never get fixed anymore and some are just filled with some kind of malware.
Oh, the aforementioned premium themes obviously come with a bunch of dependencies, some bundled plugins, theme frameworks and whatnot else.
Instead of fixing this hole mess, Automattic thinks we need the 27th site builder for WordPress and adds fuel to the burning piece of crap that the WP ecosystem has become.
Sad to see from the outside, glad I left it behind me.
1. The type mentioned here, where everything's about upsells and trying to get people to buy premium versions of seemingly 'free' themes and plugins (or what not).
2. The 'nickle and dime people for every cent' setup, where any theme or plugin, regardless of size seems to have a price tag slapped on it. XenForo and IPB have this problem, as does OpenCart.
It's depressingly rare to find a piece of software where the modding/addon/theme/extension community stays a place filled with passionate community members sharing things they're interested in/work on as a hobby rather than those trying to make a buck off everything.
I believe Autto/wp org has stepped up rules about nagware making it less intrusive, although some needs to be reported before they put the smack down. They also have rules about privacy and dependencies - but they are not pro active in hunting down issues where third party stuff is used and not really needed... it takes the community to call it out sometimes, and like the gdpr it's easy for plugin and theme authors to claim 'we need third party fonts and phone number for reasons that others do' - whatever they are.
I would love for the wp theme repo to show theme thumbnails as what they look like on default install - with the option to hover for a gif or click to see optional layouts built in, and optional layouts with extra plugins or builders / etc.
I spent some hours the other teaching someone how to help get a wp theme installed and setup and we found that every single one looked nothing like the advertised thumbnail, and they all required customizer options to be set and sometimes other plugins to become as advertised... which of course those settings do not follow to a different theme - so it's all a waste if it doesn't work out.
A business could be made that strips plugins and themes of nagware for a buck and probably profit easy.. along with fixing outdated plugins for a fee could turn quite popular.
100% agree that all these resources and updates put into the new editor / builder gutenberg thing has been a complete waste. They could of absorbed the site-origin builder or one of the others and been a year or more ahead of the game - it still feels like a beta and missing features, and it still does not play well with other themes and plugins like it could.
as a WP power user, year after year I feel that Automattic and the group of devs there do not really listen to the users, they make decisions and do things like this new 'click to confirm your admin email addy' BS - guten editor, and lackluster default themes -
glad there is a fork of WP - https://www.classicpress.net/
having a team working on an underscores_light-and-speedy for frameworks would of been a good use of resources for the community.. instead we get things that break heavily used add-ins..
luckily we can turn off features pretty easily (disable google fonts, xmlrpc, rest api, default editor) - it's extra sad when an update requires some of those things to be working.
To think of the hundreds of updates I have applied over the years that have not added any features that are needed - it's crazy.
The plugin ecosystem does make it worth using for me for lots of cool things... but the main core had been a hindrance for some years now, and the themes showing what they could be, instead of what they are, is an even bigger hindrance to what at one time was the best attractive thing about wp.. imho.
On the other hand, they quickly responded by removing the ad and apologizing publicly.
https://twitter.com/MariekeRakt/status/1200077958700044290?s...
It was the right move.
I hate this. It's about testing the waters, seeing with what you can get away and how loud the users will cry. Nothing about this was happened without a reason.
Automattic should just outright ban plugins that are using dark UI patterns like this.
One major issue is that most of the plugins should be released as GPL since WordPress is GPL licensed and the plugins extend its APIs. VCV Rack, a modular audio environment, is a good example where all plugins are GPL unless getting a commercial license from the core developer(s).
Another thing would be to encourage consistent documentation and support channels, rather than every plugin using its own forum and documentation site. Drupal is an excellent example of an ecosystem of GPL modules with the consistent backing and documentation channels.
The most egregious part of this was linking the "close" button to a sales page for the premium plugin. That is the kind of low-down dark pattern you only see on pirated sports stream websites.
Brilliant Yoast, so clever, just brilliant! /s