Auto-installing other plugins is TERRIBLE

Hi @willc,

Thank you for sharing your honest feedback, and we apologize for the confusion.

To directly address your concerns, the options to install MonsterInsights and OptinMonster as additional plugins are only available in our?Setup Wizard?and only if the options?shown in the screenshot seen here https://a.supportally.com/i/aPOf21 are left checked during the setup process.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused. Our intention is to provide useful companion plugins that serve specific purposes. When a specific option is selected and the corresponding plugin is not currently installed, we have text below the options that relate to that particular plugin.

Our goal is to provide helpful starter tools for popular and related needs, while also giving you the option to uncheck or uninstall them if you are already using alternative solutions.

I’m not sure what beginner course you’re referring to. Please could you provide more details on this?

I see. Based on your own screenshot, you can see how that is misleading. Only in the fine print at the bottom of the checklist (an anti-pattern) does it mention those plugins being installed.

You can understand how someone is led to believe these other plugins are automatically installed without their consent.

The course I was automatically signed up for is called “WPBeginner.” I didn’t consent to this, unless that too is buried somewhere in your plugin setup? But wouldn’t I have had to enter an email address if that were true? How did you get my email address?

Here’s a snippet of the email:

Hey there,

My name is Syed Balkhi, and I’m the founder of WPBeginner.

We’re the same folks behind some of the most popular WordPress plugins in the community, such as All in One SEO (AIOSEO), MonsterInsights, WPForms, and many others.

On behalf of my entire team, I want to take a second to let you know we are truly excited and grateful that you decided to use All in One SEO (AIOSEO) on your site ??

In case you’re wondering, you’re receiving this email because you opted to receive helpful website & growth tips from us when setting up the AIOSEO plugin.

I should note that this “welcome” email arrived moments after going through your setup.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by willc.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by willc.

I just logged in to my admin dashboard to find out this unwanted plugin had been installed on my WP and taken over my dashboard pages. I don’t know which other plugin installed it, but this is a virus not a plugin.

How do I know that you didn’t steal my information and my customer’s data!

This is absolutely not acceptable! I will make sure to let the community know to stay away from anything to do with this predatory plugin!