May 31, 2008

Louis Gray has written an interesting post reminding us that developers are people too, and I think there some good messages in it that relate well to WordPress.

We talk all the time about appreciating readers and developing in a way that makes it easy for people to pick up and use, but it is also very useful to think about the people behind the plugins and themes.

Louis makes the point that many of the startups are individuals who are coding as a hobby. For these people it will be nice if they make some money but in many cases they don’t make much more than their hosting costs, if that. This sums up the majority of WordPress developers.

My guess is that most WordPress developers spend maybe an hour an evening, maybe even two, at most, and possibly a few hours at the weekend, and work a normal job during the day.

What that means is that one e-mail asking for help or one comment asking why a plugin doesn’t work can remove any hope of getting done what they wanted that evening.

The other side, of course, is when authors are criticised for a new release.

I have noticed that WordPress users, no more than anyone else I’m sure but it is here my experience lies, are quick to rush to judgement about changes. WordPress 2.5 showed us that people will make their minds up from screenshots alone. When it comes to a plugin or theme that an individual has spent a lot of time on, especially if she has asked for input along the way, responses like these could be very demoralising.

The community behind WordPress is what makes it great and that shouldn’t stop, but everytime you download a new plugin or theme, or consider writing about one, give a thought to the person behind that work.

In the spirit I want to give thanks to the following individuals:

Ronald Huereca for Ajax Edit Comments.

Kaspars Dambis for Baltic Amber Admin Themes.

Kates Gasis for Sideblog.

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