Once a good plugin…

Why did you give it a 5-star rating then? ??

You’re right, I didn’t notice that WordPress didn’t save the change ??

Fixed and verified the feedback ??

C.

Thanks for the feedback @crossi72,

Unfortunately, our understanding of a ‘good plugin’ in the context of regulatory compliance differs from your own. You define ‘good’ as ‘free’, while we define ‘good’ as ‘compliant’.

We introduced the Compliance upgrade with the (admittedly aggressive) full splash screen to attempt to communicate to Cookie Notice users that they are at risk of not complying with the latest clarifications to existing data privacy laws (as well as new laws coming into enforcement w/in next 18 months).

These clarifications include ‘Prior Consent Rules’, which state that consent is invalid if cookies are set / sent prior to consent being registered. This means your site must have an Autoblocking script in the site header (can be done manually in the free version).

Also included is a requirement to record ‘Proof-of-Consent’, which instructs data controllers (e.g. the business behind the website) to store consent receipts in a machine-readable standard. This means your site must maintain a database of records that can be exported in case of a regulatory audit.

Cookie Compliance provides the Autoblocking and Consent Logs services, in addition to consent analytics and many more UI/UX customizations, for a monthly subscription because these services generate API and data storage costs.

While any ‘real solution’ you are able to find that does not provide Autoblocking and Proof-of-Consent storage may be ‘free’, it is in all likelihood not ‘compliant’.

Wishing you and your customers the best of luck in your search.

Hi @humanityco,
I know how much effort is needed to maintain a plugin (I’m a plugin author) but you made a big mistake: even if you want to make money from your plugin, you can’t invade your users’ dashboard with fullscreen upsell messages because a lot of websites are built by professionals and maintained by their customers.

What you think has been the reaction of those customers when they have seen your message?

Can you imagine how many support calls from scared users received the professional how have built website using your plugin?

I appreciate the freemium business model that powers many plugins, but there is a clear limit: the plugin can’t change the rules of the game with a simple update, if you want to follow this path you have to abandon your plugin and create a new one, with a different business model, as other author have done.

Nothing personal in this, I can only give you my thanks for your work in the past years, but at the moment your plugin is a 1-star product (as it was a 5-star, as stated in my previous review.

I hope you will correct your upsell policy, so we can go back to our enthusiastic reviews!

C.