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Your software is anything but simple. Really. For me, it's been issue after issue after issue. Some of them were resolved, like the buddypress plugin, but others, not so much - those issues I've neglected to post because, quite frankly, your support absolutely blows ass:
- With the buddypress plugin issue, what was the first response? "Check your error logs" ... uh duh. Really? Re-installl to sort out corruption issues. Seriously? Of course I did all these things, and I all got was "it's on your end, not ours". Are you kidding me? Turns out, it's on YOUR END. I cannot believe that I paid for support that amounts to "it's not us, it's you".
- I searched the forums for another issue, which it turns out someone else was having, and you were quite rude and defensive in your replies, telling the OP that you aren't "dumb enough" to make the mistake you guys made, and then, when you realized it was your fault, you didn't even apologize to the guy. Wtf?
- Your support forum is littered with issues, most of which are basic issues that shouldn't even be issues. Seriously, using your plugin makes me feel like a beta tester. Browsing your paid support forums only adds to that feeling.
- I did not feel welcome, at all, on your support forums. I felt like an idiot. This is NOT GOOD guys, not good at all. You need to get some people on board who know how to talk to customers and use them.
The above points had me resolving the issues I had on my own. If I have to say one good thing about this experience, it's that I've learned some CSS. that being said, there's no way I'm going to use this buggy software on a website that is the face of my company and that's going to be seen by thousands of people. I need something that's going to work without extensive modifications. I'm moving on to another forum solution, sadly. I'm sorry I wasted my time and my money here.
I'm sure you're going to either ban me or flame me, I don't care which, because it's my last visit here, so flame away. I hope that this at least opened your eyes to some very real problems that you guys have and hopefully you'll be able to set your egos aside and fix them. But who knows.
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I am not going to flame you. I am content in most respects to know that at the end of the day the positive comments we get far, far outnumber those like yours and that we have users who have been with us for several years and work with us repeatedly to help improve and grow the plugin.
I also know from my own experience that it is easy to get frustrated and angry over an issue that seems big and important and hard to resolve. I, personally, have had a similar experience over the last week in fact with PayPal and have been forced to phone their support line three times because I was unable to complete simple every day tasks. And did I get an explanation or an apology? Forget it. And would I use them if there was a viable alternative. Absolutely not. Yet thousands of people use them every day with no such issue.
You clearly have been unfortunate in finding one or two issues that seem unique to you. I mean using BuddyPress without Notifications turned on? Would you not call that pretty unique? (And we have yet to determine of this was even an issue of course).
As to me being 'rude' and 'defensive' then I guess I know what thread you are referring to and I totally refute that I was either. I do not mind criticism in the slightest and try and learn from it but please do make it valid.
I do hope you find what you need and are looking for.
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YELLOW
SWORDFISH
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I´m on 50%
Yes.... SimplePress is not a "easily" working forum, specialy if you want some customizations... you need to know some coding and css... and if you look a the forum there much issues....
When a web dessinger make my site he adviced me to put Bbpress instead SP, he told me that SP is a bit like frankestein.... nowadays i agree with him.... but this "frankestein" have much features to be a great forum than bbpress.
But to be honest is the most powerful forum on WP... thats the reality... yep, maybe is difficult to handle and to edit for those ( who like me ) dont have any idea on coding and css...
Since i started the forum i have lost much time making it work ok.... thats no funny, but there´s no alternative if you want a powerful forum as i told before... I have lost MUCH time trying to make work and custimizing it....
I understood all that questions and took the decission to help on the forum and try to improve the SP plugin giving ideas to the SP team...
You are here, you have you silver membership... come on dude give it a chance an just fix what you need
Maybe, on the future someone creates a new forum plugin for WP with all those options that users are claiming...but until that day arrives.....
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You know there is a fine balance between a satisfied and not satisfied customer. For some it only takes one issue and things immediately become negative. For others getting past issues to end up with what they want is all part and parcel with the task of actually running a website - a job that so many people believe is simple and takes care of itself!
There ids also a fine balance between what a member might see as a major issue which to others is totally unimportant. Our job is to try and understand this! Prior to Version 5 of Simple:Press everything was set up as options to turn on, off or set. And the main two criticisms of users was that it was very hard to customise and there were too many options. With V5 we introduced themes and plugins making it easy to customise and allowing us the opportunity to probably halve the options. And then some users asked for more options instead of customisation! In other words you can't please all of the people all of the time.
It is also not really fair to make comparisons between SP or anything else. They are all different beasts. The main problem is that we are a very small team - just two people producing the code. We do not really make any money at it yet I am here at 7 on a Sunday morning answering support questions just like I was at midnight last (Saturday) night. I take that responsibility seriously and we do our very best to ensure things work as they should and that our users get what they need. And when, every now and then we are wrong, we fix it as best and as quickly as we can.
Whether it is 'simple' or not is another matter. As I say on my small bio - it started out that way and only became complex because users kept asking for new features. That is just a straight fact! But I am actually truly amazed that every now and then - although quite regularly - I encounter a website with a Simple:Press forum installed and realise that it is a website whose owner has never asked us a support question yet clearly had no problem setting it up and using it and - in many cases - adding their own customisations.
As a user who, over the years, has helped set up and operate web sites with forums, galleries and often some sophisticated processing then all I can say is that I have yet to find that magic application that just works, never lets me down and never requires looking after from day to day.
Enough or before I know it I will be writing an autobiography and nobody wants that!
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YELLOW
SWORDFISH
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I had to admit that Simple Press is easy one time you understand the way it works... for me became more dificult for the language... is very very difficult to my sometimes understand things...
I´m happy with SP, i know is difficult to improve with only 2 persons and not much money and time...
Most forums cost around 149$ per year simply for installing it... here you have SP for free..
I will keep supporting SP...
and just a little quote
People is never happy... no matter what you do... always is gonna be a unhappy customer ...
thanks for creating SP 🙂
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