@central4allgmailcom I hesitate to get involved in your frustration with the www.remarpro.com plugin directory, however, I just want to say that there is no doubt in my mind that you know why the plugin directory is free and you’ve set out on a personal mission to push for something you very well know the reason why it does not exist.
The mods have pointed out to you that you can:
A. Give a bad review on an aggregator’s site
B. Post your displeasure with a plugin on your own blog or wherever you publish and slam the plugin developers for their inaction.
C. Request a refund from paid plugin developer.
D. File a dispute with your credit card provider, since the plugin developer did not fulfill the terms of service.
That being said, I have purchased paid plugins and I have gotten support from support staff who don’t really know how to give proper support. But that doesn’t mean they failed to give support, that just means they aren’t experienced enough in software development or have the resources to really support their product.
True, there is no one place to review paid themes or plugins that are independent of the aggregators, but that is not www.remarpro.com’s responsibility. What I suggest is that you be the one to start the reviews site for these plugins using the freely available WordPress CMS that you can download and install. Many people, out of frustration, have started incredible companies, because no one else took action. So, I suggest if you want to start a reviews site yourself where you list all pro version of plugins and have people rate, review, or comment on them, then you should take the initiative and do that yourself.
As you are well aware, www.remarpro.com is an open source project managed by the WordPress foundation. The software is free. The theme in the theme repo are free. The plugins in the plugin directory are free. Adding any review or commentary on paid software distracts from the invaluable service you benefit directly from.
Sure, you’re free to complain here as you’d one and share your frustration, but I urge you to redirect your energies to solving the problem you seem to be is actually a problem and go from there. It’s pointless to push for reviews of “paid” software in an environment that is completely free and snark at volunteers who are just trying to manage their everyday tasks, aside from the other contributions they make.
I have been a WordPress user, coach, trainer, and consultant for 15-years. Not once have I ever needed www.remarpro.com to provide me with a review of paid plugins. Why? Because I know how this works and I respect the values and mission of the foundation. I would never expect them to have to hand hold you outside of their core mission.
That being said, I hope you are inspired to do this yourself and we’ll all applaud you at WordCamp US when you introduce it as a concept. If you really feel there is a need, then go right ahead and develop it yourself. Tens of thousands of others have and they’re not here arguing for something they could do themselves. Very easy to set up a Reviews site with a paid WordPress plugin, so invest your time and energy in solving the problem instead of asking others to solve the problem for you outside of the scope of their mission.
