Need an idea

[Otto]

I'm looking at the Plugins section of wp.org now, and I'm trying to figure how to make it more useful for plugin authors.

Current thoughts:

1. When looking at a plugin, make the forum topics about it not hidden in the bottom right corner. Perhaps spread them across the bottom, or have their own tab or something.

2. Let plugin authors see topics for all their plugins on one screen. Probably a separate tab only visible to authors.

3. No idea. Suggestions?

[Ryan]

The ability to add direct links to support pages for the plugin.

Many of us don't want to provide support on WordPress.org, so a direct link back to our own support forums in the sidebar would be handy.

[greenshady]

I'd like to see something like Ryan suggested since I was told by one of the moderators that I can no longer link to my support forums in the WP.org support forum topics.

I'm fine with the current visibility of the topics though. I just subscribe to the feeds. But, going with option #2 with a feed for all topics would mean I could get rid of about 15 feeds and just subscribe to one.

[chipbennett]

I'd like to see something like Ryan suggested since I was told by one of the moderators that I can no longer link to my support forums in the WP.org support forum topics.

Wait - what? Seriously? What is the possible justification for prohibiting plugin authors from linking to the support forums they provide for hosted plugins?

Okay, an idea for you, Otto: if this "rule" is now being enforced, scrap it immediately!

And, the one thing I would most like: a single, aggregated RSS feed for all wp.org support forums for my plugins.

[Utkarsh]

Wait - what? Seriously? What is the possible justification for prohibiting plugin authors from linking to the support forums they provide for hosted plugins?

Because those forums are only for paying members of ThemeHybrid??

[chipbennett]

Because those forums are only for paying members of ThemeHybrid??

I still don't see the problem. I thought paid support was the Officially Sanctioned Business Model For All Things WordPress Related?

[chipbennett]

Otto:

Here's another idea, though it is wp.org related, and not extend/plugins related:

Can you rename this page from "Domains" to "Trademark Policy"? It would make it a lot easier to point people to it, and for people to find the trademark policy ("Domains" doesn't inherently imply trademark).

[Alphawolf]

Although not really extend/plugins related, but a possibility to mark support topics "solved" or "invalid" would be nice. Nothing's worse for a plugin author than a topic titled "Plugin is broken" or "This plugin crashes your site!!!1" on the plugin page that is 2 years old or so.

Or probably just limit the listed topics to a certain time range, e.g. showing topics from the last 2 months only. Most topics older than that would most likely be outdated (?).

[Idealien]

• A "dashboard view" for all of a developer plugins with recent stats for them.
• Configurable notification (rss, email, tweet) for new support requests / posts
• Version specific ranking / stats
• More granular tags (admin? 95% of plugins would have this)
• Ambitious: Hosted demo environment for each plugin similar to what themes get with theme preview - where developer could provide a theme, content, etc that would highlight the features.
• Less text heavy!

[C3MDigital]

• A "dashboard view" for all of a developer plugins with recent stats for them.
• Configurable notification (rss, email, tweet) for new support requests / posts
• Version specific ranking / stats

I second the dashboard view idea. Once the new WordPress.org profiles are ready it would be awesome to have a dashboard widget (core plugin) that tracked all your activity across wp.org including support forum topics for theme authors, plugin authors and volunteers who provide support on the forums as well as users asking for support. Special options could be available for plugin and theme authors that tracked stats, versions, etc.