WordPress is not Your Enemy Facebook so Update and Support your Plugin

I think it’s safe to say that this plugin has been abandoned by FB.

There were some plugins that did FB integration but which didn’t need you to be set up as a developer (I used to develop one) but they are pretty much all dead in the water due to the continually changing policies imposed by FB which frankly make it more trouble that it’s worth.

https://developers.facebook.com/docs/wordpress/

Facebook for WordPress Plugin

The Facebook for WordPress was an officially supported tool to help WordPress developers integrate Social Plugins and publish Open Graph stories.

The plugin is no longer officially supported by Facebook but is maintained by the developer community.

Related Links:

The Facebook for WordPress Plugin (wordpress.com)
Github Repository
Other Facebook plugins for WordPress

But to contribute to their GitHub repository you still have to sign up to their licensing agreement :

“We require contributors to sign our Contributor License Agreement,”

“You accept and agree to the following terms and conditions for Your present and future Contributions submitted to Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”). Except for the license granted herein to Facebook and recipients of software distributed by Facebook, You reserve all right, title, and interest in and to Your Contributions.”

So it’s hardly maintained by the community as FB basically control it…

So it’s hardly maintained by the community as FB basically control it…

Of course they do.. it’s THEIR CODE.. They CAN certainly have a say so of who/how they allow folks to contribute.. I don’t accept pull requests to my repos JUST ’cause and apparently neither does Facebook..

Soooo ummmm IF you want to be a contributor to their repo, you need to sign their agreement.. What’s the BIG deal here?? Agreeing to a T & C doesn’t mean that it’s NOT community maintained.. It means they have STANDARDS for whom they allow to contribute.. I’m not seeing the “issue” here..

If you don’t want to sign the agreement, then fork their repo.. maintain your own changes, but understand that without the T & C, you can’t contribute it back to their repo.. Again.. this seems to be a NON-ISSUE..

A Non-issue? The issue is the plugin is broken. It has a lot of bugs that need to be fixed. I just clicked on Github and the last post in that forum was from 10 months ago. We as WordPress users have a situation where Facebook abandoned their plugin and punted it to Github. The problem with that is it appears now no one is working on the bugs. It is the WordPress community and ultimately the visitors to out websites that are the ones being punished.

The other issue is that WordPress is not some niche product. It is running millions of websites all over internet. Facebook certainly have the right to abandon their plugin and we have the right to point that out. No one here can force them to update their plugin. I really do not understand why they would choose to it but I suppose they have their reasons. They never want users to leave Facebook.com if it at possible and maybe this is just their way to try and keep people there. Who knows.

I do not dispute that this plugin has bugs..

Personally I moved on because there’s just WAY tooooo many “how-tos” out there telling me how to add likeboxes to my site, sharing plugins like AddToAny to add like/recommend buttons, I can easily create my own follow chicklets, and there are other plugins and tutorials to help me add Facebook login functions if I need it.. So I personally DON’T need this plugin fixed by Facebook or anyone..

That said you are taking what I said in my last post OUT OF CONTEXT..

A Non-issue? The issue is the plugin is broken. It has a lot of bugs that need to be fixed. I just clicked on Github and the last post in that forum was from 10 months ago. We as WordPress users have a situation where Facebook abandoned their plugin and punted it to Github. The problem with that is it appears now no one is working on the bugs. It is the WordPress community and ultimately the visitors to out websites that are the ones being punished.

I get the plugin is broken.. That’s NOT what my last post was about AT ALL..

So yes I did use the phrase “non-issue” in my last post, and before you apply that ONE phrase to mean the bugs with this plugin (which is certainly NOT what I said OR implied..) let’s be CLEAR that what I was speaking of has NOTHING to do with the bugs in this plugin, but how Facebook chooses to manage their own Github repo..

What is a NON-ISSUE is that Facebook is perfectly within their rights to REQUIRE the signing of a T & C to contribute to their repo.. They don’t HAVE to accept ANY pull requests from anyone who will not comply with that requirement..

That doesn’t stop ANY community member from forking their Github repo and working on bug fixes.. So YES, you’re darn skippy, I see this as a NON-ISSUE.. If a community member forks the Facebook repo, and makes the necessary bugfixes to their fork, I can go download THAT repo to get ’em regardless as to whether or not Facebook accepts those changes into their master repo… Why oh WHY do I NEED the Facebook repo at that point???

I can also take the plugin to my OWN developer and have the fixes made for me.. The point is there are options.. Facebook is not OBLIGATED to fix this plugin..

For me I am all about finding a solution.. If a community member provides that, that works for me as this is often how things work in open source solutions.. are you merely stuck on the point that FACEBOOK should make these fixes, and that unless you get ’em from the FACEBOOK repo, any community member fixes are not acceptable???

The issue is the plugin is broken. It has a lot of bugs that need to be fixed. I just clicked on Github and the last post in that forum was from 10 months ago. We as WordPress users have a situation where Facebook abandoned their plugin and punted it to Github. The problem with that is it appears now no one is working on the bugs.

Ya SURE about this???? Did you look at the master repo and the forks of this repo??? Because I sure do see work extending from March, 2014 through December, 2014. While this isn’t the most active repo I’ve ever seen, it’s certainly not what I’d call dead or inactive..

There are open pull requests in the master repo and of the 169 forks of this repo several have fixes posted as well.. So I’m not sure how you came to the conclusion that “the last post in that forum was from 10 months ago” or even that “it appears now no one is working on the bugs”.. I just forked the Github repo and incorporated the 5 outstanding pull requests submitted to the Facebook repo along with code fixes from other folks that were NOT submitted to the Facebook repo.. When I get some time I’m gonna test my consolidated fork to see if they address some of the issues as a matter of curiosity..

Regardless… sounds like unless you can find a solution to fill the gap, you will have to seek the services of a developer to get the issues you are having addressed..

But forked repos on Github do not solve the problem here – the plugin in the official WP repositories is broken and hasn’t been updated for 11 months. People are still downloading it, encountering problems and when they post support issues they get no replies. So until FB either pass over control of this plugin to someone else, or remove it and allow people to upload their own forks, this problem is not going to resolve itself.

But forked repos on Github do not solve the problem here – the plugin in the official WP repositories is broken and hasn’t been updated for 11 months.

It really doesn’t matter if the “official” Facebook repo code is broken.. if the fixes can be located in the forks of the “official” Facebook repo, then what is the issue???? you also appear to be stuck on the point that FACEBOOK should make these fixes, and that unless you get ’em from the FACEBOOK repo, any community member fixes are not acceptable.. DO you REALLY have to see it in the “Facebook” repo??

People are still downloading it, encountering problems and when they post support issues they get no replies. So until FB either pass over control of this plugin to someone else, or remove it and allow people to upload their own forks, this problem is not going to resolve itself.

Since Facebook has made it clear that they are NOT supporting this plugin, you are NOT gonna see that happen.. So you can sit back and wait for the “mythical” Facebook unicorn to appear, or you can look for fixes posted by other community members that might solve your issues..

and BTW, there is NOTHING stopping anyone from taking their own fork of this plugin and creating a master repo on Github and nothing to stop anyone from submitting and NEW plugin to replace this one.. It just ain’t happened yet, so you can either look for posted fixes in forks of this plugin or continue to wait for a unicorn to appear..

Trust me I’m not waiting for any unicorn.

It really doesn’t matter if the “official” Facebook repo code is broken.. if the fixes can be located in the forks of the “official” Facebook repo, then what is the issue???? you also appear to be stuck on the point that FACEBOOK should make these fixes, and that unless you get ’em from the FACEBOOK repo, any community member fixes are not acceptable.. DO you REALLY have to see it in the “Facebook” repo??

What I’m trying to point out is that this plugin is still here, it is still downloadable, it is broken. People are posting issues and no-one is replying to them. For those people (who maybe don’t understand about Github and forks) the problem is not going to go away. Unless FB hand over this plugin so that when it is patched the end users get an update, or they remove it from the repository the unhappy users are going to keep piling up.

Still it will all come to an end in about 30 days anyway….

I am the OP and I moved on the very next day. I found reliable solutions well-supported and that are updated after I started this thread three months ago.

Steve expressed my thoughts as well just a few minutes ago. Few people know about Github or forks or how to use them so that really isn’t an option for most people.

People on WordPress click on plugins then “add new” and they see the official plugin from Facebook and trust that simply because it is the official Facebook plugin. The same applies to updates.

This buggy plugin is causing a lot of problems unnecessarily. They need to remove it, update it, or hand it over to someone who will keep it updated. No reason to keep something that buggy around.

This buggy plugin is causing a lot of problems unnecessarily. They need to remove it, update it, or hand it over to someone who will keep it updated. No reason to keep something that buggy around.

BUT that is REALLY more of an issue for the WORDPRESS admins to resolve..

People on WordPress click on plugins then “add new” and they see the official plugin from Facebook and trust that simply because it is the official Facebook plugin. The same applies to updates.

Anyone downloading plugins BLINDLY (even those from Facebook) without doing some due diligence is GOING to run into issues.. and anyone who wants this plugin is gonna have to learn how to use Github or find another option.. removing it from the repo is a complaint/decision for the WordPress admins..

Anyone downloading plugins BLINDLY (even those from Facebook) without doing some due diligence is GOING to run into issues.. and anyone who wants this plugin is gonna have to learn how to use Github or find another option..

You say this like this is reasonable and/or acceptable. It’s not. The plugin doesn’t work? Fine. Need to download it off Github? Fine. But to leave the plugin in the WordPress plugin repository while really, the “updated” plugin is elsewhere is sloppy and deceptive. A company like Facebook should definitely do better. Just because WordPress CAN remove the plugin doesn’t mean they should be the ones who have to do it. Facebook needs to own up and clean up their mess. I’m not sure why you’re so defensive of Facebook when they’ve clearly slacked off here.

Guess I have to google Github and try to understand all this…. sighhh

Just because WordPress CAN remove the plugin doesn’t mean they should be the ones who have to do it. Facebook needs to own up and clean up their mess. I’m not sure why you’re so defensive of Facebook when they’ve clearly slacked off here.

hahahahaha.. Really?? that’s what you got from my posts?? I’m a Facebook defender??? hahahahahaha…

I’m not defensive of Facebook at all.. I have CLEARLY stated that the plugin is BUGGY, but if people want THIS plugin (as opposed to MOVING ON and finding another solution — plenty of them out there..) then they have will LIMITED options IF they INSIST that THIS PLUGIN is the ONLY one they want to use.. Facebook has left the building.. Facebook ain’t comin’ back folks.

So I’ll say this again:

Anyone downloading plugins BLINDLY (even those from Facebook) without doing some due diligence is GOING to run into issues..

This is true of ANY plugin.. Before you download something to use on your site, you should be doing some due diligence to make sure it WORKS with your site.. (check the support threads, check the version compatibility, look at the last time it was updated..) Not doing this is a path to trouble.. PERIOD..

You want the plugin removed from the repository??? Then contact WORDPRESS and let them know it’s BUGGY, UNSUPPORTED, and NEEDS TO BE REMOVED FROM THE REPO.. It’s pretty simple.. Because if Facebook hasn’t done that, the WORDPRESS admins certainly WILL (and can) remove a plugin that is problematic and abandoned.. (and they have in the past done just that when properly notified) Whining that Facebook SHOULD do it is a nice sentiment.. Guess what?? they apparently AREN’T GOING TO DO IT.. So if it bothers folks so much that this plugin is still here, then step up and report that to the folks who CAN do something about that.. ’tis all..