Darren Ethier (nerrad)

Quick question Tuscany. Are you using any special photo plugins (if so, they may have a this_to_int() function that’s colliding with mine.

Oh one more thing. You can check your options table for this key -> org_series_version. If the value is 2.3 then the import won’t work with deactivate and reactivation. Try changing the value to 2.2 WHEN the plugin is already deactivated (this will trick the plugin to think it hasn’t upgraded yet).

MAKE SURE YOU DO A DATABASE BACKUP FIRST… it’s not a good idea to go messing around directly with the database without that backup!!

Hi guys,
I do want to make sure things get fixed. There is an automatic import routine that might be getting skipped in your update process. Try the following steps:

1. Deactivate Organize Series.
2. Reactivate it (the import is triggered with plugin activation)
3. Clear any caching from any cache plugins you have installed (such as super-cache or w3-total-cache)
4. Visit the Organize Series Options page (this will regen permalinks – shouldn’t be necessary but just in case…)

Report back here if it fixes things. If not, then tell me what version of WordPress you are using and what version of Organize Series you are using.

Sorry for the problems guys. It just goes to show that no matter how much testing I do, sometimes things I just can’t anticipate happen (incidentally, I tested this on three blogs, each on different servers, before releasing)

1. “I expect a plug-in to warn me if it makes changes that impact my websites“. Oh that’s rich. Like I’m supposed to know how everyone is using Organize Series in their installs. That’s what the change-log is for. In the change-log you will have noticed that going from 2.1.7 to 2.2+ is a significant upgrade. I take pains to include anything in the change-log that I think will affect users BUT I can’t account for everything.
2. “…you supplied a new widget called the “Series TOC””. This wasn’t new, it just became deactivated for you because there was a change to the way Organize Series created the widgets. A change that in the long run is BETTER for users because it hooks more tightly into the WordPress Widget API. I also fixed a couple of potential bugs that were there
3. “My suggestion is to place a warning message, like many other plug-ins do, when you tamper with my commercial websites”. So I ‘tampered’ with your website? lol, me with my scheming mind thinking…hmmm…I’m going to throw this in so it messes up everyone’s website – especially that perrymyk’s website. Not only that, but you label your websites “commercial” as in “making money”. Wow. So you’re making money using all the great tools provided by developers here and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. BUT IF they are so vital, it might be wise to understand that when you are using free stuff, it is wrong to expect the developer of that free stuff to be at your beck and call when things break. Notice the disclaimer I put right at the top of the organizeseries.php file – “This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.” That’s why I decided to offer paid basic support. That way users, like yourself, who are benefiting financially from the usage of Organize Series, who can’t afford it to crap out on them, can gain the assurance that if something DOES go wrong, they can get timely help with getting things working again.
4. “even though you supply this basic version free of charge”. Just a correction. There is only ONE version of Organize Series and it is the full free version. I also make free and paid addons that extend the feature set of Organize Series but they are not separate versions of Organize Series. I’ve already stated in many places that I fully intend to keep on developing and maintaining Organize Series for the foreseeable future.
5. “…I saw 15 websites no longer working properly and that really upsetted me”Dude (or dudette), a word of wisdom for ya. If you have similar websites that you are upgrading, upgrade a plugin on one of them first and make sure all is good to go before replicating across all of them. Might make things less upsetting if something does go wrong.

Thanks for posting your resolution to your problem. I’m sure it will help others who may experience the same problem. I also hope my comments will give people pause to consider how they ask for help here on the forums and elsewhere ;-). Beginning with a thank you goes a LONG way, especially if it’s the first communication you’ve made regarding a particular plugin. A thank-you at least acknowledges the time and effort the plugin author put into making it and releasing it here on WordPress.org so anyone else can use it. Don’t call something “worthless” and expect a helpful reply. That’s the moral of the story.

“Don’t know why this plugin is still provided free here – it’s worthless…”

That was what prompted my comment about attitude. Put yourself in the shoes of a developer who has spent an incredible amount of hours, days even years working on something and making it available for users to download and use for free – a developer who is keen on working with people (for evidence look through my profile) when things aren’t working as they should and helping find out what’s wrong so they can be fixed and released. Then imagine coming across a comment from someone you’ve never heard from before posting in a public place that your work is worthless. I get it, you were frustrated – but it still comes across as bad attitude.

I ordinarily don’t even bother responding to posts (or emails) like this but hope that this thread will be informing for others who may go that same path. If you make a post on the WordPress support forums hoping that a plugin developer (or someone else) will respond then choose your words carefully – especially if you’ve never interacted regarding that particular plugin before.

Your airline analogy is irrelevant. You don’t buy a ticket for the ability to download and try Organize Series. Your analogy would be better if you had purchased a support package and then I didn’t respond to any support requests or deliver on what was promised.

If you read the docs on the plugin page (and organizeseries.com) you’ll see that I will still help with troubleshooting any suspected bugs but yes, anything beyond that I will charge for the support (My time right now is too valuable to do it for free). If you don’t like that, that’s fine. The code is documented inline and you can invest the time to learn it and figure out what you need to do yourself. That’s the beauty of open source and how I learned everything I do today with development. If YOU don’t want to invest the time in learning, or pay for the support (which saves you the time) then don’t use the plugin and move on. But to call something worthless is a kick in the groin to all open source developers who freely make their work available for people to use.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve typed up a reply like this and then deleted it because I end up thinking it’s not worth it and will probably get misunderstood or ignored. I’ve more then likely read much more into what you’ve posted then you intended with your choice of words (if so, sorry) but nevertheless it prompts me to post this so I have a linky to point to when other similar type of posts show up here and elsewhere.

Are you using PHP 5.2+ on your server? It’s required.

Is the WordPress version for the site Organize Series is installed on 3.0+? It’s required.

I’ve got organize series running on three different blogs hosted on three different web hosts and NO issues with the widget.

Your attitude doesn’t exactly leave me inclined to want to help find out what’s happening either…

So $49/yr isn’t cheap? What would you consider cheap (as in low-cost)?

Added the fix in Organize Series 2.2.3