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Supporting The Masses (without losing your mind)
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Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)
August 26, 2012
Technology
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Supporting The Masses (without losing your mind)
WordCamp Chicago, 2012
Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)
August 26, 2012
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Transcript
How to Support The Masses
Without losing your mind Tips and tricks to keeping it
all in perspective, while still giving people the best experience possible when it comes to support.
Who Am I? Mika A. Epstein (a.k.a. Ipstenu) Over a
decade of supporting technologists, programmers ... and grandmothers
I have the BEST IDEA! It starts with you and
your dream (or desire).
I assemble my code
And it’s awesome!
YAY! Version 1.0.0!!!!!
Wow! People are using my plugin!!!
Not everyone likes it...
http://wordpress.org/support/ view/plugin-committer/YOURHANDLE
Do I want to help them? Do I want to
spend my time doing support? You don’t have to! But....
What’s in your README? • Are there alternate support methods?
• Email, other forums, UserVoice? • Is there no support? • Is there only paid support?
Unless you clearly state otherwise on your plugin page, users
have a reasonable expectation that you will provide free support in the WordPress.org Forums.
Is it really my problem? Valid complaints? Reasonable requests? Not
RTFMing?
Okay, I’m going to help! • Can I reproduce it?
• Have they tried turning off other plugins? • Have they tried using the default theme?
Oh! It’s a conflict!
Should I fix it? • Is it a security hole?
• Is it in the scope of your plugin? • Is the other plugin/ theme behaving badly?
•Be honest •Be direct •Consider patches from users •Ask for
help If you can’t fix it...
What about requests? My users want special features. Well ...
Okay.
It totally needs a unicorn! Yeah, I know it’s an
RSS plugin, man, but think about it! UNICORNS!
JUST SAY NO!
Keep sight of your scope • What problem did I
want to solve with this plugin? • What logical extensions can be added? • What can be easily added? • What can I add and still support?
But I want the unicorn!
You can still say no.
It’s okay to ... • walk away • say no
• get mad • give up • ask for help
It’s not okay to... • blame them (even if it’s
their fault) • be mean • accept abuse • ignore them*
Tips So what should I do?
Document It What it does What it doesn’t How it
works Support options Known/common errors
If you make a BIG change ... DOCUMENT IT!! REMEMBER!
Take Time Think before you answer Study the error reports
Test possibilities Take time for yourself
Be this guy! Walk away from the computer once in
a while
I have a life! It’s ...
Don’t Attack! They’re not attacking you Don’t bite the users
Passion makes people seem aggressive Strong opinions can be misread easily in text!
Don’t be this guy http://xkcd.com/386/ What do you want me
to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!
EOL What if I’m just done with this plugin?
Warn them! “This is no longer supported.” Push a final
version to notify users. Alerts in the admin screen
Hand off? Give it to someone else. Ask someone to
take it over. Email wp-hackers. Post in the forums.
The End