Each Plugin should have it's own thread, complete with a download, full description of the plugin, and the versions of MyBB it's suitable for.
The Author of the plugin would then be able to answer queries easier, instead of trolling through hundreds of threads.
A team of testers should be recruited on a volunteer basis, to report back which plugins work with which themes, any bugs could then be ironed out, before the plugin is released.
The same should be done for themes.
Both themes and plugins should be verified as working properly.
As a new person I find the support for plugins and themes a bit slap dash, this is one area where MyBB could learn a lot from the phpBB3 official site.
(2013-01-06, 02:30 PM)Spangle Wrote: [ -> ]Each Plugin should have it's own thread, complete with a download, full description of the plugin, and the versions of MyBB it's suitable for.
The Author of the plugin would then be able to answer queries easier, instead of trolling through hundreds of threads.
There's no requirement for a theme or plugin to be released on the forums. Providing their theme or plugin is freely available they can host it on the mods site. If we make it a requirement it would become very complicated and stressful when reviewing submissions. We're already forcing users to upload their submissions to the mods site if they wish to release it on the forums, forcing them to create a thread first puts us in a infinite loop..
(2013-01-06, 02:30 PM)Spangle Wrote: [ -> ]A team of testers should be recruited on a volunteer basis, to report back which plugins work with which themes, any bugs could then be ironed out, before the plugin is released.
The same should be done for themes.
Both themes and plugins should be verified as working properly.
As a new person I find the support for plugins and themes a bit slap dash, this is one area where MyBB could learn a lot from the phpBB3 official site.
That's a whole lot of man power. It's hard enough for staff to volunteer their time towards MyBB, let alone a team of volunteer testers to be
dedicated to testing each submission. It would mean a lot more time before submissions are approved. Is it not true that the community are the testers themselves? If something's wrong, report it to the author. We don't need to create a new team to test submissions. If someone wants to do that, they can feel free. I haven't seen a single person interested in volunteering to test every new submission we receive on every theme... There isn't anyone who would want to do that. Heck, I wouldn't want to do that even if I was paid.
(2013-01-06, 03:06 PM)Nathan Malcolm Wrote: [ -> ] (2013-01-06, 02:30 PM)Spangle Wrote: [ -> ]Each Plugin should have it's own thread, complete with a download, full description of the plugin, and the versions of MyBB it's suitable for.
The Author of the plugin would then be able to answer queries easier, instead of trolling through hundreds of threads.
There's no requirement for a theme or plugin to be released on the forums. Providing their theme or plugin is freely available they can host it on the mods site. If we make it a requirement it would become very complicated and stressful when reviewing submissions. We're already forcing users to upload their submissions to the mods site if they wish to release it on the forums, forcing them to create a thread first puts us in a infinite loop..
(2013-01-06, 02:30 PM)Spangle Wrote: [ -> ]A team of testers should be recruited on a volunteer basis, to report back which plugins work with which themes, any bugs could then be ironed out, before the plugin is released.
The same should be done for themes.
Both themes and plugins should be verified as working properly.
As a new person I find the support for plugins and themes a bit slap dash, this is one area where MyBB could learn a lot from the phpBB3 official site.
That's a whole lot of man power. It's hard enough for staff to volunteer their time towards MyBB, let alone a team of volunteer testers to be dedicated to testing each submission. It would mean a lot more time before submissions are approved. Is it not true that the community are the testers themselves? If something's wrong, report it to the author. We don't need to create a new team to test submissions. If someone wants to do that, they can feel free. I haven't seen a single person interested in volunteering to test every new submission we receive on every theme... There isn't anyone who would want to do that. Heck, I wouldn't want to do that even if I was paid.
The phpBB3 site manages to do it, and does it well, as for contacting the authors, some of their sites are non-English, Edson Ordaz has a site but it's in Spanish, so how do I get help with his plugin ?
I can't even find out when he last came on this site !
Have you asked for volunteers ? all that would be needed is to test them on a variety of themes, and the 1.6 version, having a plugin and theme validated would add a lot of prestige to the plugin, and to the author, personally I think you are being a little narrow minded, something like this may even take pressure off your team support wise.
(2013-01-06, 03:06 PM)Nathan Malcolm Wrote: [ -> ]Is it not true that the community are the testers themselves?
I think this is part of the problem. If MyBB is going to allow plugins to be released on their main website. I don't think the user-base should be the beta testers. I think they need to be distributed in such a way that, 1. they are safe, 2. Theres a specific location for support for each plugin.
If MyBB was a paid software I may agree but it's not. And, even if it was there would still be third party sites which MyBB has no control over.
If you don't trust the plugin or can't get support you could always just not use the plugin...
(2013-01-06, 03:51 PM)Alex Smith Wrote: [ -> ]If MyBB was a paid software I may agree but it's not. And, even if it was there would still be third party sites which MyBB has no control over.
If you don't trust the plugin or can't get support you could always just not use the plugin...
But he's not talking about third party sites. Thats a different issue altogether. "Just" not using the plugin is not a great option against another forum software that does distribute plugins in a more precise way.
Its all about making the end user happy. If they're not happy they eventually move to a different software and MyBB loses a user. Look at the bigger picture and how that might effect MyBB in the long run.
If other forums do stuff that people want, those people will eventually change forum softwares.
Then I say fine pay the bill to have someone work full time to check every plugin as it comes through the door and test it. You make it sound like MyBB is a paid software has some sort of obligation to people. They already provide one of the best forum solutions for free why should they be expected to make sure the plugins for it are perfect? They didn't make them they just provide easy access to them.
(2013-01-06, 04:04 PM)Alex Smith Wrote: [ -> ]Then I say fine pay the bill to have someone work full time to check every plugin as it comes through the door and test it. You make it sound like MyBB is a paid software has some sort of obligation to people. They already provide one of the best forum solutions for free why should they be expected to make sure the plugins for it are perfect? They didn't make them they just provide easy access to them.
Im comparing it to phpBB3 (Free)
(2013-01-06, 03:16 PM)Spangle Wrote: [ -> ]Have you asked for volunteers ? all that would be needed is to test them on a variety of themes, and the 1.6 version, having a plugin and theme validated would add a lot of prestige to the plugin, and to the author, personally I think you are being a little narrow minded, something like this may even take pressure off your team support wise.
You're free to apply to be staff at anytime.
http://www.mybb.com/about/apply
phpbb also has a whole team dedicated to it. If enough people apply for one here I'm sure they'll do the same. But people have to take the initiative of wanting the job instead of just complaining there isn't one.
I'll test all plugin submissions, not a problem. If theres a list for volunteers for this put me on the list.