Plugin and Add-on Ratings

  • JohninOz

    (@johninoz)


    10 years, 8 months ago

    I have an issue with WP star rating system

    I recently installed a Pro version of a plugin because it had a very high star rating. Then it wouldn’t work correctly on my website. Having read the author’s support Forum comments and asking for help myself, I realised for the past year the had hardly been a response to the purchasers questions. I received no response to my support request and can’t use the plugin.

    It is good that software producers get rated by users, but after a few years the producer’s interest in support for an old product can die off.

    If their support for their product dies off it should affect the Star rating of that product.

    If there is not already a system already in place I suggest products should be rated more appropriately; by deducting one star every six months to every product rating. If the software is still being purchased and users are happy with it the star ratings will soon rise. Older products not being updated, downloaded and rated will die off.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    10 years, 8 months ago

    In a sense, that’s already covered. For example, take a look at https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/ and the “Support” section in the sidebar there:

    336 of 490 support threads in the last two months have been resolved.

    The average star rating is exactly as it sounds, an average of the star ratings provided by reviews. If a plugin is generally unsupported, and in need of support, it will probably be rated low in several reviews, and therefore have a low average star rating.

    Please note that the directory at https://wordpress.org/plugins/ only lists *free* plugins, so the ratings/reviews there generally don’t reflect their commercial/premium/pro counterparts, nor should they.

    Thread Starter JohninOz

    (@johninoz)

    10 years, 8 months ago

    It’s great that you do moderating for WordPress and you all do a wonderful job.

    I see Jetpack is being supported and regularly updated.

    Take a look at Particles in Login Page it’s not been updated in awhile, 100+ downloads and only one person rated it 5 star. Probably nobody has downloaded it recently.

    https://wordpress.org/plugins/particle-in-login-free/

    If you used a rating system that reduces the star rating over time when it’s not being downloaded or supported, say one star every 6 months, it would be reduced to 4 Stars or less right now, which in my opinion is where it should be. Because no one wants it. That is not to say the plugin is no good, it just not popular or needed very much.

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    10 years, 8 months ago

    Yeah, but that’s not what a star rating system is for.

    1 person gave it 5 stars (it’s the plugin’s developer by the way, which is allowed), so it’s a 5-star plugin.

    If someone else tries it and hates it, they’ll give it a lower rating, and that will drop the average.

    In general, we’ll trust that when searching for this plugin, people will see “[5 Stars] (1)” the (1) meaning that there’s only 1 review.

    A great example of this is https://wordpress.org/plugins/limit-login-attempts/

    That’s an *amazing* plugin, it’s like an old friend you can always rely on. Some highlights:

    • Compatible up to: 3.3.2
    • Last Updated: 2012-6-1
    • Active Installs: 1+ million
    • 0 of 4 support threads in the last two months have been resolved.
    • 4.7 out of 5 stars

    Why such a high rating? Because it still works, because everyone still recommends it, because it has over 1 million active installations, and because it’s installed by default from more hosting providers than we can count!

    Sure, it may be abandoned, but does it deserve less than 4.7 stars? Goodness no! In fact, I’d love to tell some of those 1-star reviews that they’re using it wrong. 😉

    Some day, it will sadly stop working, the legitimate 1-star reviews will flow in, its average rating will drop, and it will lose favor.

    Until then, it still works, and it deserves all 4.7 stars it currently holds.

    Andrew Nevins

    (@anevins)

    WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support

    10 years, 8 months ago

    Isn’t the star rating just a way of quantifying someone’s experience with the plugin? A fantastic experience doesn’t mean the plugin is fantastic.

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    10 years, 8 months ago

    Correct, any plugin you love could certainly yield a 1-star experience for someone else, and any plugin you hate could certainly yield a 5-star experience for someone else.

    Reviews are subjective to the experience, and the average rating is a way to quantify that subjectivity.

    Andrew Nevins

    (@anevins)

    WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support

    10 years, 8 months ago

    I suppose it doesn’t really matter with free plugins. You just deactivate them and move on if it’s not up to scratch. The issue is when it turns serious as you buy something from the author. Although us moderators allow commercial reviews to be made on WordPress.org, I don’t think it’s sufficient to base a commercial decision from the reviews here.

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    10 years, 8 months ago

    Right, fortunately CodeCanyon has its own rating system. 🙂

    AGSoft

    (@agsoft)

    10 years, 7 months ago

    There’s no 100% user friendly solution to this. You’re going to have to do your own due diligence. Look at reviews, support threads(broken plugins annoy people, and annoyed people are very loud, etc etc. Don’t rely on one method because as seen above this doesn’t always tell the whole story.

    It really only takes a couple of minutes to avoid getting burned. Don’t complain on these forums about getting burnt.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

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