redsand
Forum Replies Created
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Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WP-SpamShield] Tiny PHP Warning in error logs, not a big dealHi @philmeadows,
Thank you for reporting this. We are aware of this issue, and are currently working on a fix. We expect to have a patch out within a few hours.
Thanks for the kind words! 🙂
– Scott
Forum: Reviews
In reply to: [WP-SpamShield] Auto Update IssuesLast auto-update totally bricked site. Plugin author would rather argue about it than accept responsibility. Terrible experience.
Related Support Thread: Newest two versions causing major errors
Hi Ron,
I’m sorry that you had a negative experience. I’m not sure how you feel that we didn’t take responsibility. If we cause an issue, we fix it, and quickly. We’re extremely careful, and run rigorous pre-flight checks, but unfortunately sometimes an unforeseeable error can occur. We did fix the issue within two hours of the initial report we received.
Based on previous interactions that we’ve had on WP Tavern, I’m not entirely surprised at your response.
It’s one thing to report an issue or request support, and another thing entirely to lash out at developers. The latter is unfortunately not constructive.
I hope you have better experiences going forward. Take care.
– Scott
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WP-SpamShield] Turn off auto-updates?Hi @abigailm,
To be clear, we never dismiss a user’s concern. Your concerns always reach our ears, and we take that seriously. I understand the frustration it causes. If I gave you the impression that I was dismissing your concerns, then I apologize because I have not communicated clearly. I hope you would see that we bend over backwards to help our plugin users.
I did not say that we will never add the feature you ask. We just don’t do it lightly and we can’t make that decision quickly. Every feature addition/deletion is a decision made based on research, data, and weighing pros/cons for the entire body of plugin users.
I was pointing out that there is already a solution to your concern, and it’s in our documentation. Before adding a new feature, we want to help users resolve any current issues first.
That’s why you may not realize it, but it’s still a support issue. For example:
No, I have had problems on sites due to the background updating of your plugin on multiple occasions on multiple sites because of the need to clear caches on update, something that you also have documented as necessary. Usually I find out when someone writes to me about a form not working.
That’s not a common issue. Under normal use and proper (even default) configuration, you shouldn’t have to experience any issues like this. We’d have people at our front door with proverbial pitchforks if that was a common issue. That’s a matter of configuration, and we can help users fix issues like that. As you mentioned, yes we do say in the Troubleshooting Guide that caches should be updated when changes are made to a site.
That is there to make sure that all potential issues are eliminated during Troubleshooting. It’s probably overstated a bit, but with proper cache configuration, it doesn’t need to be done manually. We use WP Super Cache on a high percentage of the sites we manage (including our own), and it never has issues. Proxy/WAF/CDN services like Cloudflare need proper configuration as well. That’s why we want to help you resolve existing support issues on your site before moving forward with feature requests.
Anyway, if you ever change your mind, we’ll be happy to help. Take care and best of luck. 🙂
– Scott
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [Jetpack - WP Security, Backup, Speed, & Growth] Can’t use Jetpack CommentsHi @nyssamccanmore,
On your WP-SpamShield settings page in the WordPress dashboard, at the bottom, does it say “COMPATIBILITY MODE”? If so, then this is a WP-SpamShield issue, not JetPack comments. It does work with JetPack comments if Compatibility Mode is not enabled, but we’ve been working on a few improvements, and we may have a workaround for you. If you submit a support request at the WP-SpamShield Support Page, we will be happy to help. (We just ask that users take a few minutes to run through the Troubleshooting Guide first to make sure there aren’t any other technical issues in play.)
– Scott
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WooCommerce] errors and message on website : service unavailable@riaanknoetze You’re welcome! 🙂
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WP-SpamShield] Turn off auto-updates?Hi @abigailm,
I’m not here to argue. However, I don’t appreciate being misrepresented, so I will clear up a few things.
Scott, as I noted above, I tried to submit a support request on your site at the link you provided and there was a long form to fill out, and after I filled it out and clicked “submit”, the form was rejected.
On the support form, the requirements for submitting a support form are clear, and users click a check box to show they understand this. If the requirements aren’t met, it will let you know. There are far more plugin users out there than there are of us, so it is fair to ask users to spend a few minutes of troubleshooting before submitting a support request. The only way we can provide free support is to do this. If it does not accept your for on the first try, it is nothing personal, and it is not arbitrary. You just need to spend a few minutes troubleshooting first. That is completely fair.
In any case, I am not seeking support, I am making a suggestion, and based on your response to this and other threads I prefer to keep my suggestion on an open forum where others can see it.
If you are asking for a change to the plugin, this is seeking support. You have posted on the support forum. It does not help development move forward if we can’t have a two way conversation.
…your use of forced auto-update- particularly without clearly documenting it and providing users with a means to opt-out in the setting menu – is in itself a serious security problem.
Contrary to what you have said, the plugin’s auto-update functionality is well-documented, and there already is a way to opt-out. This is explained fully in FAQ 16: Q: Can WP-SpamShield do Automatic Updates?
Calling it a “security problem” could not be further from the truth. Being that WP-SpamShield is an anti-spam and security plugin, just like an anti-virus, anti-malware or other security program on your computer, it is extremely important for us to do regular updates, so you may find that this plugin has more releases than some other plugins.
I think you may misunderstand the purpose and functionality of an anti-spam plugin…by nature, it has to be frequently updated, and auto-update is a necessity for this.
You call it a “security” issue, yet this plugin is one of the few major plugins that has never had a security vulnerability. You probably use quite a few on your site that have. Check them against wpvulndb.com and you might be surprised. We go over code with a fine tooth comb.
The auto-update feature was added as a result of many, many, many requests for it. By comparison, we do not receive many requests to remove it or disable it.
You pushed out two updates that causes hundreds or maybe thousands of websites to go down. In the first case, the problem was a conflict with Wordfence, which is one of the most widely used WordPress security plugins, with well over a million installations.
You overestimate the number of sites that had an issue. We received a total of less than 20 support requests today (including both our site and the forums here. There are almost 200,000 users of this plugin. That’s not to say that there wasn’t an issue, but it did not affect everyone. We fixed it within a couple hours.
That’s also ironic that you mention Wordfence…they’ve had a similar issue more than a few times, and the issues in that plugin did affect nearly everyone.
…the events of last night are a breach of trust as to the quality of your programming and pre-testing.
It’s easy to say things like that when you’re not the one developing the code. Again, this statement could not be further from the truth. We have an extensive pre-flight regimen. I guarantee you that we are tougher on our plugin in pre-flight than most plugin devs. However, we are humans. Plugins and code are developed by humans. Unfortunately despite the best of efforts, sometime things happen that we can’t foresee. It does not happen often with us.
Unfortunately your plugin now falls into that category (history uf buggy updates).
Because of one update? That is a bit unfair and inaccurate, don’t you think?
Normally, I would not spend this much time on a response, but I think given our track record of excellence and our high-level of support for the plugin, your comments were a bit unfair, and deserved a fair rebuttal.
If you have further issues with the plugin, your are free to contact us for support. We are always willing to help. We solve problems…that’s what we do.
– Scott
- This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by redsand.
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WP-SpamShield] something knocked off the rails after updateNo problem! 🙂
Got your support request. Thank you. That’s immensely helpful. Look for an email from us in a few minutes.
– Scott
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WooCommerce] errors and message on website : service unavailableJust an update: The WP-SpamShield issue was fixed in version 1.9.9.8.4.
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WP-SpamShield] Newest two versions causing major errorsHi @fpmsummer,
We dug through our site’s logs and found your raw POST request info. I’ve asked Steven to email you so please check your email. Be assured, we’re going to help you with this issue.
– Scott
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WP-SpamShield] Newest two versions causing major errorsSeriously? These errors are not errors the Troubleshooting Guide can fix.
Please don’t assume that. We do tech support on tens of thousands of sites, and it’s not always what people think.
No matter what the issue, we’re going to have to run through those steps. (Whether it’s you doing them, or us doing them.) Please follow them. It only takes a few minutes to work through the guides.
You do have a choice. We are very good at what we do. Let us show you. 🙂
We’ll get you taken care of.
– Scott
- This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by redsand.
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WP-SpamShield] Newest two versions causing major errorsHi @fpmsummer,
In my first response, I asked that you submit a support request at the WP-SpamShield Support Page. If you don’t do that, then it makes it tough to solve issues. There is a specific issue on your site that is not on every site, and to get to the bottom of it we need specific info.
if you go ahead and submit the support request, we can resolve issues quickly.
– Scott
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WP-SpamShield] White screen of death after updateUpdate: Version 1.9.9.8.4 has been released with the fix. Everything is working fine now. Please see the changelog for details.
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WP-SpamShield] something knocked off the rails after updateUpdate: Version 1.9.9.8.4 has been released with the fix. Everything is working fine now. Please see the changelog for details.
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WP-SpamShield] Newest two versions causing major errorsUpdate: Version 1.9.9.8.4 has been released with the fix. Everything is working fine now. Please see the changelog for details.