No more third-party add-ons in forums
In a blog post today Derek Jones announced that EllisLab would no longer allow third party developers to use the official EE forums to host and support their add-ons. Instead they are encourage to self host the add-ons or use the best platform out there for add-ons: devot:ee.
I’m sure some will find this move harsh. After all, a lot of people visit the forums and developers have been posting add-ons to the forums for years. In fact, it’s how a lot of our professional add-on developers got their start.
But if you’ve ever visited the thread for a popular add-on you know that it can go on for pages and pages—maybe even hundreds of posts. This is makes it nearly impossible for add-on developers to provide real support which then makes it a frustrating experience for the add-on users. Additionally, a single thread could have multiple versions of the same add-on posted (although a lot of developers are great about updating the original top-of-the-thread file) leading to confusion.
So, a slight adjustment for the community? Definitely. But I think it’s a great move; it’s better for both the developers and the users.
This doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t promote or announce your new add-on in the forums. You can use the new Community News forum:
We encourage you to tell people about your add-on on the Community News Forum, and answer questions people may have about its purpose, but you must provide your own hosting and support for your add-on. We are confident that this is a win for you and the community.
Don’t forget that devot:ee offers free hosting of your add-ons. And if you want to sell your add-on, devot:ee is about as a close to a turnkey EE add-on software storefront as you’ll likely get.
Read Derek’s entire blog post: Third Party Add-on Policies for the New Forums
Posted on Jul 19, 2010 by Ryan Irelan
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iain — 16:40 on 07.19.2010
I think I get the logic behind this, and have mixed feelings, but I do feel I need to get this opinion off my chest:
Third party development has (in my eyes) kept ExpressionEngine afloat over the last two years.
Now that feature lockdown is over with the release of 2.1, I have my fingers crossed for great things to come out of Ellislab. I hope that the era of freely available add-ons is not at an end, and the fostering new developers entering the product marketplace does not come to a halt.
Now, off to review support platforms for feature requests/support…
Euan — 00:17 on 07.20.2010
I personally think it is a good idea, particularly now devot-ee is well established.
I am certainly more in favour of the changes for commercial add-ons and that anyone offering anything commercial should have their own hosting/support provided. Gives additional creditability.
Emmanuel — 23:23 on 07.20.2010
I personally think this is not a smart move.
Sure, developpers can / will put their addons on Devotee or/and host them on their own. But they won’t be able to support them as easily. No way they can take into account bug reports, feature requests, etc.
No more communication between users and developpers? weird.
george — 12:08 on 07.21.2010
I don’t think removing add-on support from the EE forums will make it more difficult for developers to offer add-on support. This takes away only one line of communication between the developer and the user. Developers can still use email, IM, and even Facebook and Twitter for support.
Seeing how devot-ee is now the de facto official add-on repository for EE, I think it is appropriate that the EE folks stop allowing developers to post and support their plugins on the EE forums. I think it’s even better that EE keeps promoting devot-ee as the one-stop-shop for add-ons.