Happy 2013,
I recently deleted all my BuddyPress plugins from the WordPress repo. Many have asked why. The reason for their deletion is to provide better plugins. But first, a story…
BuddyPress Plugins
I have been hacking away at BuddyPress plugins since it was version 1.0. In that time I learned its inner workings and created a few popular plugins. All those plugins were free. You may ask why people give away free plugins. There are various reasons. In my case, it was a learning experience. Creating BuddyPress plugins is learning, solving problems. I like learning new things and breaking something down to figure out their inner workings.
As time goes on I developed new BuddyPress plugins to learn new things. Then you have a bunch of BuddyPress plugins to maintain. This pressure to maintain them built resentment. Resentment that you do not have the resources to keep them going. Resentment about support requests. The list goes on.
My BuddyPress plugins have been downloaded over 300,00 times, the revenue generated via donations has been a whopping fifteen dollars and zero cents from two separate donations. I’ve spent hundreds of hours on plugins, answering forum support, posting trac tickets and doing out reach via WordCamp, meetups and Social sites.
I can no longer afford the time to devote to quality BuddyPress plugins code without compensation. Those free plugins will die a slow death and rot in the repo. In my opinion this is bad for BuddyPress to have its popular plugins not maintained. What does it say about BuddyPress as a whole if its popular plugins die?
You can now purchase BuddySuite and BuddyMobile from my shop. Each license comes with support and updates.
Thanks for reading!
I agree. BuddyPress is already free, every single plugin doesn’t need to be. You guys work hard on them. I like the idea of bundling a bunch of little plugins into one big one – more convenient.
Congrats on the jump, Ryan. I hope the new model works for you – I agree that it would be great to have a system in place where plugin devs would be rewarded enough to actually support their products. Good luck!
Thanks Boone!
The updated mobile site…do you have screenshots of that? The one on this link (http://shop.taptappress.com/downloads/buddymobile/) looks very similar to what im curently running on my site. BTW I will be supporting you with the donation on your site. Just waiting for an updated version of the mobile site….thanks so much
Only one screen shot at the moment http://modemlooper.me/buddymobile-2-single-image-ui/
I wish I found this post earlier…
PS Thanks for the links to taptappress!
Dude,
$15.00 in total donations!?! I knew donations were generally sh*t for all of you, but now it’s been etched in stone with that little bit of shared information, and when we get rolling here that’s going to be changing from our end of things to all of you great developers as well, I promise you that.
We, for one, will gladly pay for your terrific contributions, hard work and efforts upcoming here!
Best wishes,
Kyle
Thanks, yeah donations suck for plugin developers. You have to charge to support development. Most free plugins are free because developer uses them personally and if they don’t need them anymore they die.
I don’t want to let my plugins die.
Hi modemlooper
I’ve been of those … freeriders, sad to say.
Your initiative is reasonable and I am considering to purchase.
I would have asked these questions at taptappress, but I can’t find any way to contact them.
At the taptappress site there seems to be no support forums set up.
Is this just because they are hidden when not logged in?
Another concern is that I can’t seem to find any security seal from
verisign or similar. How can I be sure that the site is not a scam?
Cheers
Mort3n
It’s not a scam. The forums are hidden until you are a member.
This is actually a relief. Not only does paying for a plugin give us some reassurance that the plugin will continue to be developed and supported, but buying a plugin from one of the people involved in developing Buddypress is as smart as it gets. I’ll buy, as soon as I can get a 1.7 beta up and running!
Thanks for your comment.
Hi Modemlooper,
Just wanted to say hello,
I have been looking for a few solutions to some BP issues I have been having,
And I think your plugins look like they will help
Very happy to pay to get my site how I want it…
Kind Regards
James
AKA The Fitness Blogger
cool, if you have feature requests, post them in my support forum.
Hiiiii Modemlooper.
I’ve been in search for the BuddyShare only to find that it is no longer on Buddypress. Is it available for sale on your site here or is it totally discontinued? I hope not because I truly need it asap even if I have to pay. Please let us know yay or nay. I looked at your buddysuite link but I didn’t buddyshare attached to it. If it is, I’ll buy it with a quickness