Title: Useless Last modified: September 3, 2016 --- # Useless * [Alex Spataru](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexandrubr/) * (@alexandrubr) * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/useless-134/) * Just another “hey, I have a pro version, you HAVE TO buy it!” plugin… Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) * Plugin Author [smashballoon](https://wordpress.org/support/users/smashballoon/) * (@smashballoon) * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/useless-134/#post-8066663) * Hey alexandrubr, * Thanks for your feedback. To clarify, there is **no purchase required** in order to use this plugin. We do offer a Pro version which has some additional features, but we have hundreds of thousands of users who use this completely free plugin without ever upgrading. You can use this plugin to display an unlimited number of Facebook feeds from multiple different Facebook pages throughout your website. * Like many other plugin developers I need to offer a Pro version in order to be able to devote the time to fully support users of the free version, and in order to continue to push out regular updates to this free plugin, as both Facebook and WordPress continually change. Unfortunately that means that I had to reserve some features for the Pro version as I can’t provide everything for free – otherwise I’d go out of business and the plugin would be abandoned. * The problem with completely free plugins is that they are rarely supported or maintained as they should be, which means that you as the user end up suffering. With a social media plugin which requires constant updates to continue working, and requires a good deal of support, we make sure to stay on top of updates and provide quick and effective support to our users, whether they’re using the free plugin or not. We unfortunately cannot do this entirely for free as it would take too much time and we have to put food on the table. **What would I like to propose, if you are interested, is that you could take over the support and maintenance of the plugin. That way we could make all of the features in the Pro version completely free! It would be a full-time job and so you’d need to quit your day job, and unfortunately we wouldn’t be able to pay you anything as the plugin would no longer be making any money, but if you are interested then please respond to let me know.** * I apologize again if you feel like this plugin is useless – I’m sure many people would disagree but I do respect your opinion. I’ve put countless hours into building and supporting this plugin completely for free and every time it get a 1 star review like this it really hurts. If you read the other reviews here then you’ll see how far above and beyond we go to help every single one of our plugin users, how much we care about their experience using our plugin (whether they’re using the free plugin or not) and how we aren’t just trying to make a quick buck but actually trying to provide a sustainable model to continue maintaining and supporting this plugin for free. * Thanks, and I hope you’re having a good day! * John * [lenwbrown](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lenwbrown/) * (@lenwbrown) * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/useless-134/#post-8066667) * smashballoon, thank you for your plugin. * But alexandrubr was correct, though a bit misguided. Useless is the right word to use. * However, it’s his 1 star rating and his reasoning that is useless. A rating is supposed to rate, not provide a platform for a bully who feels the need to feel better by giving random 1-star ratings on successful plugins like yours. * Again, thanks for the plugin. And as you said, hundreds of thousands don’t seem to feel this plugin is useless at all. Too bad this rating, like most all 1-stars I see, will never be changed. * P.S. – are you sure you want to hire him to support and maintain your plugin? Unless, of course, you really DO want to make it useless. Jus’ sayin’. 😉 * – Len * Thread Starter [Alex Spataru](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexandrubr/) * (@alexandrubr) * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/useless-134/#post-8066668) * Ok, let me clarify this: * I named my review useless because I managed to have a way better feed just by using Facebook API and a few clicks. * I’m not saying that the PRO version is useless, no! It’s a very nice plugin! What I don’t like is when people make such plugins which offer way less than the X platforms API offers with only a few clicks, just to promote the PRO version of the plugin… * It was just a waste of time for me. I know it’s written there that this is not like a pro plugin, but, c’mon, who reads an A4 size * Alex * [lenwbrown](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lenwbrown/) * (@lenwbrown) * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/useless-134/#post-8066670) * I understand your frustration, but this plugin states clearly what it does and does not do and you, like everyone else, made a conscious choice to download and install it. And everyone reads what a plugin does and doesn’t do before they decide to download it, right? 😉 * This plugin does what it states. This plugin gives the option to pay a small amount of money one time to do what it says it will do when that money is paid. But nonetheless, it does what it states. It does exactly what it says it does. * A review given for this plugin, on this site, should be for the thing or things the plugin claims it will do. One should never rate a plugin based on features that are clearly stated as not included in the plugin being rated. **That’s like firing someone for not being able to do something that they clearly stated they couldn’t do when they were hired.** * There isn’t a single thing wrong with working (very hard) to develop a plugin, offer it for FREE, and kindly ask that the user consider offering a one-time financial payment for additional features a user may like to also have. If that is unacceptable, there are an enormous number of other plugins that do similar things that can be downloaded. But be forewarned: many of them also require you to pay to unlock some of those features too. * Sure, photos are nice, as are other things about FB. But many, MANY people do not use FB just to share media. Many, like me, use it to share thoughts, business updates and general news. That is why hundreds of thousands use this plugin and are perfectly happy with that – including myself. * smashballoon made a hilariously clever point in another one-star review in which he said that it’s like complaining you didn’t get cheese on a sandwich you were given for free. * To elaborate, you got the sandwich. And it satisfied your hunger and therefore fully served its purpose. But if you want cheese, then you gotta pay for it or find someone else who is offering free sandwiches with cheese. * Plugin Author [smashballoon](https://wordpress.org/support/users/smashballoon/) * (@smashballoon) * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/useless-134/#post-8066671) * Thanks for the support [@lenwbrown](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lenwbrown/), and I’m glad you enjoyed my sandwich metaphor 🙂 * > Ok, let me clarify this: > I named my review useless because I managed to have a way better feed just > by using Facebook API and a few clicks. > I’m not saying that the PRO version is useless, no! It’s a very nice plugin! > > What I don’t like is when people make such plugins which offer way less than > the X platforms API offers with only a few clicks, just to promote the PRO > version of the plugin… > It was just a waste of time for me. I know it’s written there that this is > not like a pro plugin, but, c’mon, who reads an A4 size * Alex, if you already know how to connect to the Facebook API, parse the JSON response, and are willing to keep up with the API changes, then this plugin isn’t for you. If that’s the case then I’m confused as to why you downloaded and used our plugin in the first place. There are many plugins on the WordPress repo that I find useless as I could achieve the functionality with my own code, but I don’t leave negative reviews on them. * The plugin is intended for people who want an easy to use, customizable, and regularly maintained plugin to allow them to connect to the Facebook API and display their content. We had to reserve some features of the API for the pro version because of the effort involved in supporting this plugin. We receive about 15-20 new support tickets a day, which as you can imagine takes a lot of time to handle. A lot of those issues are related to Facebook settings or API issues, or users trying to achieve advanced functionality. Many of them are beginners and don’t have the technical ability to navigate the Facebook API as you do. * We offer this plugin for free to the WordPress community, and support it completely for free. Please consider than before leaving a negative review in future and perhaps show support and appreciation to the person behind a plugin rather than trying to knock them down. I’m sure you probably wouldn’t appreciate someone leaving a negative review on [your plugin](https://wordpress.org/plugins/woo-western-union-gateway/) simply because they could achieve the same functionality themselves. * Anyway, there’s not really much point continuing to go back and forth on this. Sorry that you didn’t find the plugin useful – if you ever change your mind and need support in the future then just let me know. * John * Thread Starter [Alex Spataru](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexandrubr/) * (@alexandrubr) * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/useless-134/#post-8066672) * Hey people! * Where the heck is the **freedom of speech** !? 1. I am a WordPress developer too! 2. I know you should be payed for your work **but not here, this is a free repository**! 3. If you wanna get payed (here) for this plugin you should let people **DONATE**, not limit them in order to pay! 4. I tried this plugin because I tought it might do something better than the plain API does and I was not satisfied, what’s wrong with that!? * [@lenwbrown](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lenwbrown/), did anybody ask you anything!? I see you reply to a lot of people with 1 star reviews. _[comment moderated]_ * The internet should be free for anybody and if they got a point, why the heck do you try so hard to change it!? This is my oppinion, live with it, say thanks for the feedback, improve (if there’s anything to improve) and that’s it! We don’t have to kill each other because I think that for my wasting of time you deserve 1 star! * [lenwbrown](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lenwbrown/) * (@lenwbrown) * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/useless-134/#post-8066673) * Free speech works in both directions. I reply to a few (certainly not a “lot” of) 1-star reviews because I feel it is necessary (that free speech thing). * Aside from vocal freedom there’s also the importance in helping others understand the differences when a review is and is not helpful. Not according to me, but according to the mods who often assert similarly, though far shorter than my verbosity. * And I think you forgot alexandrubr, when you eloquently stated “did anybody ask you anything!?” that, once again, free speech, as you happen to interpret it, should provide me the right as it does you. * I’m not putting you down. I don’t know you. I’m just disheartened that all too many people don’t actually “review” plugins but instead complain they didn’t get what they wanted and they didn’t read the information first to save them time. * I’d considered leaving a 1-star review for your WU plugin because it didn’t do what I thought it should. But then I realized that would be childish of me because I didn’t actually read the documentation first. Ok, I’ll hush up now and move on to the next review (or not). * Touché and good day. 🙂 Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) The topic ‘Useless’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/custom-facebook-feed/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=2700775) * [Smash Balloon Social Post Feed - Simple Social Feeds for WordPress](https://wordpress.org/plugins/custom-facebook-feed/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/custom-facebook-feed/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/custom-facebook-feed/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/custom-facebook-feed/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/custom-facebook-feed/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/custom-facebook-feed/reviews/) * 7 replies * 3 participants * Last reply from: [lenwbrown](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lenwbrown/) * Last activity: [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/useless-134/#post-8066673)