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Will The Communities Plugin Be Updated and Supported?

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Team WPMU,

Looks like this plugin hasn’t been supported or updated in a while (Changelog notes its’ good for WP 3.9) — is this plugin going to be supported or will it just fade away?

I have an actual need for this kind of plugin, but as it stands now the plugin doesn’t really function very well (CSS issues, not responsive, no index, no invite capability, etc).

Having a “behind the scenes” wiki, message board, etc — a private intranet — is valuable for a number of businesses, yet, we see very little done with this plugin to capture it. Much like EasyBlogging, great ideas are not being pursued and maintained. I can see this being expanded to capture calendars, project management functions, taskers, etc. Again, this is a space very few have entered that has the potential for tremendous value.

Before I spend time and effort on this, as I did for Easyblogging, I would like to know WPMU’s plan for this plugin.

Thanks,

Rob

Mon, 14 Dec 2015 18:25:41
  • Vaughan
    • Ex Staff

    Hi Jetmac,

    Hope you’re well?

    I’m afraid this plugin is no longer being developed, we will of course update where security issues are reported, but unfortunately, we will no longer be developing this plugin any further with new features or anything.

    Sorry, I can’t help you further in that regard.

  • jetmac
    • Recruit

    Vaughn,

    Thanks for the quick response.

    Sad to hear this, as it is a plugin I’ve been eyeing and trying for quite some time, but it just needed that extra finish and polish to be useful.

    Again, just as with Easyblogging, I firmly believe that WPMU is dropping a potentially powerful and game changing plugin. I can see something like this morphing into an exceptionally capable intranet tool that could be implemented inside of a standard wordpress site. There is a need for this, I assure you.

    I have a lot of feature requests for this, if WPMU ever changes it’s mind.

    Shame, really.

    Are you guys going to clean up your plugin list? There are several plugins that you have stopped supporting for the most part. Would be nice if you simply removed them from the main listing so members wouldn’t get confused about what you are, and are not, supporting.

    Thanks,

    Rob

  • Vaughan
    • Ex Staff

    Hi Rob,

    I will certainly mention this to the developers, but I can’t make any promises.

    With regards to cleaning up the plugin list, i’ll speak to our marketing guy and see what he says, it might be something that’s already on the agenda when the new dashboard is completed.

    Cheers.

  • SorenJensen
    • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

    <I agree with Jetmac

    This plug in is really interesting. if you need a simple community/group function and do not want to go full buddypress.

    I have a project like that right now, and would like to use this plug in…. but it is not future friendly

    Sad!

  • Tony G
    • Mr. LetsFixTheWorld

    As a new WPMU subscriber it certainly looked to me like a few of the plugins were outdated but there’s no indication whatsoever in the plugin pages. That’s really disturbing. I know this needs to go through Marketing but how tough is it for someone to decide “we’re not supporting this product, let’s stop advertising it like we are”? C’mon now, on the project page, right under “Version 1.1.9.9 – Changelog – Translations“, just add a line “This plugin is no longer supported“. Now how tough is that? As a former Product Marketing Manager for a software company I believe I can say with some experience and authority that, as a start, that’s all that’s necessary, and it’s quite easy. :wink:

    If I hadn’t of stumbled onto this thread I wouldn’t have known the status of this plugin. I came here to find comparisons between this and other more robust plugins, like the full Forum and Wiki plugins. I’m building a site where I was thinking about offering a Lite version which offered this Community plugin, and then for a more robust offering I’d offer the others.

    So yes it looks like it does have its place, but as a newcomer I couldn’t claim with any experience whether it’s actually suitable for the purposes. Based on the shape it’s in, the fact that there are so many issues, and that WPMU offers better alternatives, (as that former Product Marketing Manager guy) I’d have a hard time disagreeing with a decision to deprecate this offering so that more time can be focused on the better ones.

  • Alex Stine
    • System Administrator

    Hello all,

    Hope everyone is having a great day!

    I would just like to assure you that no one has forgotten about this. :slight_smile: We really appreciate the time you give to leave us feedback. I have passed your feedback along. :slight_smile:

    Have a great day! Cheers,

    Alex :smiley: