— Resolved

*Reads, removes modlook and sockpuppet tags*

I can sort of understand the modlook but if you use sockpuppet and modlook combined then that really is going too far. There is nothing here that indicates this is a fake review.

Using that tag will get my attention. I’ll audit all of your reviews and replies as a result and remove/block users as needed. And after reading this review, my reply is not going to go the way you hoped.

How author’s reply to a user’s feedback is so much more significant than any 1 star review. Your reply was to argue. Users and your customers will see that.

*Drinks coffee and gets serious*

Asking for admin access is what we do if a situation get to this point.

Not like I am going to destroy your site or something. We’ve don’t this for years and we’ve been able to help our customers this way.

I don’t care how long you’ve been doing that. Repeatedly asking for admin access here is how you get banned from this site. If you do that on your own site then that’s your business but you’re making a mistake.

Here’s what I reply with when I see that.

I’ve deleted your offer to login to your user’s site. I’m am 100% sure you mean well but please never ask for credentials on these forums.

https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/forum-welcome/#the-bad-stuff

Now for the why: The internet is a wonderful place full of very nice people and a few very bad ones. I’m sure everyone here is very nice however, by giving some ones keys to your house you are trusting they wont steal anything. Likewise the person who takes the keys is now responsible for the house FOREVER.

If something was to go wrong, then you the author may well legally become liable for damages, which they would not normally have been as their software is provided without warranty.

Please be aware that repeatedly asking for credentials will result in us asking you to repeatedly stop before escalating up to the plugins team.

And then I go back and review all of the authors replies AND reply to each one that way. The plugins team is informed when someone repeats that after being warned.

For volunteer support (and pro support for that matter) these steps work.

There are many ways to get information you need and accessing the user’s site is not one of them. That’s going too far.

• Ask for a link to the http://pasetbin.com/ log of the user’s web server error log.
• Ask the user to create and post a link to their phpinfo(); output.
• Ask the user to install the Send System Info plugin and get the data that way.
• Walk the user through enabling WP_DEBUG and how to log that output to a file and how to share that file.
• Walk the user through basic troubleshooting steps such and disabling all other plugins except yours, switch to the Twenty Fifteen theme, clear their cache and cookies and try again.
• Ask the user for the step-by-step on how they can reproduce the problem.

You get the idea.

Volunteer support is not easy. But these forums need to a safe place for all users, experienced or new. Accessing their system that way is a short cut that will get you into real trouble in these forums.

If someone needs pro support then you take it to your site. You do not support your customers here, that is not allowed. The only exception is that reviews about the “pro” version are allowed. You, the plugin author, made that possible when you upsell here.

*Finishes coffee*

This review has gone past the point of further discussion and my recommendation is that the author just refunds the user and moves on. If the user needs support as a customer then please take it somewhere else.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Jan Dembowski.