I just finished reading the whole thing and I must say that I am speechless. Strange that WordFence could not find a way to get in touch, they could have posted something on this forum just like you did.
Anyway, I will reach out to them and clarify that our code is safe to use, as I’m the only committer, as you can see on the Development tab.
Not sure why our plugin was mentioned, I will definitely look into it further with WordFence, as I want to get a better picture of what happened.
I wonder if this is the same guy, Victor something (I’ll have to dig around and find out) who once repackaged all our premium add-ons and started selling them as a software called Keyword Swarm. You can Google the name to find out more. We had to send DCMA letters to their hosting provider and publicize the issue left and right to protect our customers from getting ripped off.
Thank you for letting us know. I must admit that I never used Display Widgets (we are huge Visual Composer fans hehe) so I was not aware of such shenanigans.
Best,
Jason
You are welcome… They can be a “little” over zealous at Wordfence, and sometimes what is sometimes euphemistically called collateral damage can occur… Even as I greatly appreciate their plugin, even to the point of premium on some sites… I posted in the comments as John… In my opinion they should not have mentioned your plugin before contacting you… As you said, it was easy enough to post here, and anyway it is clear from the evidence here that you and this plugin are night and day different from what they are exposing… They should have easily seen that if that had bothered to look…
I agree. That is exactly the point I will try to make with them. Thanks for your kind words of encouragement.
We really stand behind our plugin, and are proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, both in terms of business model and user community. Sure, I can’t go to bars that sell drinks at $16 a pop, but what we’ve accomplished is worth more than that.
Thank you,
Jason
Wordpress is about community for me.. People like the person Wordfence exposed and $16 drinks are the total opposite of that…
Kind regards,
John.
Thanks much for clarifying so quickly, Jason. (And thanks, John, for asking)
I´m a long-term satisfied user of your plugin and I was pretty concerned when I saw that it was mentioned in this article. Big relieve to know that everything´s OK and this guy isn´t involved here…
I’m surprised that, while they did a great job at tracing the whereabouts of that other person, they did not consider the consequences of mentioning WP Slimstat WITHOUT checking with us first. As you can understand, this will be a big hit for our image and reputation. People on the “Internets” are quick to get a negative feeling about anything, these days.
As you will see on our support forum and by looking at all our reviews, we strive to stand behind our product, and although we cannot go to places that sell drinks at $16 a pop, we feel like we are contributing to improving the WordPress ecosystem, and that is worth much more than money.
Our business model, which we have painstakingly built over the years, allows us to sustain our development and support services. Speaking of which, I wonder if this is the same guy, Vas, who once repackaged all our premium add-ons and started selling them as a software called Keyword Swarm:
http://brettrutecky.com/Wordpress-detail/keyword-swarm-review/
We asked them to kindly remove any reference to our software as soon as possible, since it’s becoming a big concern for our users. Why would they want to hurt our fragile business model? This is not what we deserve after maintaining Slimstat for ELEVEN years (and counting).
Thank you all for your continued support.
Jason
Thanks for feedback (and a great plugin)… I’ve been replacing Google Analytics with Slimstat on 8-10 sites over the last weeks, and I’m very happy with it. I’ve just got burned with both the compromised 301 redirect plugin and Display Widgets so getting a little cautious.
Mark from WordFence actually claims trying to get in touch
In his email to Steph, Soiza mentions two other plugins. The notes to the right of each arrow are his:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-slimstat/ <– managed by Dino
https://wordpress.org/plugins/finance-calculator-with-application-form/ <– bought 2 days ago as we have a great concept on growing htis and really wanted the name “Finance Calculator” still needs the designer to jump on.
I have not been able to connect with the author of ‘WP Slimstat’.”
Mentions somewhere that he couldn’t find any contact info on your website.
Again, thanks for the quick response and your fine plugin 🙂
/Bjarne
@oldrup they could have easily posted a message on our support forum here 🙂 Being a small team, we try to minimize the channels used to get in touch with us. I hope that makes sense.
Jason
Check your email. We’ve been chatting. I need an urgent reply from you to my latest question.
Mark.
@mmaunder, please understand that unlike you, who do this for a living, for me that’s not the case. I hope you will appreciate how transparent I’ve been so far.
Best,
Jason
Was great chatting on the phone today. Much appreciated and we really appreciate you working with us.
Regards,
Mark.
Well…
Mark is still waiting for proff you are not a liar…
“Mark Maunder September 14, 2017 at 10:14 am
Hi. You need to urgently reply to the linkedin message I sent you. The data at this point does not look good. I need to verify your identity.”
And personnaly I think your real name is Mason, and not Jason.
@wplike75 and I personally believe your attention span is zero. Just scroll up a couple of messages to see Mark’s reply. Thank you for encouraging a positive and constructive communication among the parties.
Sheesh,
Jason
