The last release of Stop Spammers was released Monday. After a day and a half it was downloaded about 400 times. The donate link sends the user to Amazon where I can see the number of clicks. The Amazon stats are delayed a day or so.
I carefully wrote, what I thought, was an earnest appeal to buy my book with the link. I politely allowed users to turn off the appeal once they had read it.
So how many clicks did I get from the 400 or so downloads?
Zero!
I expect it will be downloaded about 5,000 times in the next couple of weeks, but I don’t expect any significant clicks on the Amazon link.
There will be no more updates to any of my plugins. As much as I enjoy programming, I can’t keep fooling myself that there is a future in writing WordPress plugins.
That’s all folks.
It seems counter to the whole WordPress approach to charge for a plugin. Most plugins are short and easy to write. I have a few that WordPress refuses to host because they have some strange rules, but maybe for the next release I can try out codecanyon.
Sure, there’s plenty of future in writing WordPress plugins, it’s just your delivery that’s wrong. Instead of releasing them for free and hoping someone buys a book that they may not have an interest in reading, why not release them on a marketplace where you can get paid for them? Try checking out https://codecanyon.net …there are simple wordpress plugins there that have generated hundreds of dollars for their authors. I pay for them there all the time happily.
Thanks,
I have been making changes to the plugin, but so far only minor stuff. I am not ready for a new release.
I’ve thought about the premium idea, but I can’t think of a feature outside of the core functionality that would justify it.
Last, the book is not marketing. It is a collection of Science Fiction stories that I wrote. It is getting great reviews. 99¢ for Kindle version? Can’t beat the price.
Keith
Hi Keith, Firstly – thank you so much for creating this awesome plugin. Blocking these spammers has been SOOOO useful. Secondly, I already read too much internet marketing stuff so am not keen on buying a book. BUT I do think you should charge for this plugin and I’d be the first to pay. Or may offer a few premium features? If not, maybe even add a donate button on the plugin? I’d donate as you’ve provided so much value and your work deserves it
theres a saying, the loudest mouth gets the food. Rayner has a point …
Keith, i understand the frustration of no one buying your book, but i will advice that you insist on a backlink from the domain where the plugin is installed, you can code it right in and i dont think anyone will lose a fortune by giving you a backlink, but as long as you dont insist no one is kind enough to do it, my 2 cents š
don’t get mad at me. I thought it was a problem on your site and wanted to let you know.
I am not a fan of IP banning, there are still people out there who have no other option than using an ISP who hands out IPs via DHCP so you never know if your next IP will be good or bad.
Besides that, Tor proxy is not a spammers tool, it helps people get onto sites they are otherwise disallowed to access so they too can’t be choosy!
Right now I am going online via a 3G card – no other option and this won’t change for a couple of months. Now how is it my fault if the IP I’ll get tomorrow has been used by a spammer?
Anyway, I heard your opinion and its yours to keep – none of my business.
No, people coming from a spammer IP should not be given any information.
Evidently the proxy server that you used is a favorite of spammers, and it had hundreds of events in SFS. If you decide to use a spammer’s tool then you were denied correctly.
The plugin works by hooking the email validate. If your IP or email is found in a database then it is invalid. There is no need to explain things to the spammer.
It is unfortunate that you were denied, but if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.
but it should tell me that. I was told that I need to input a valid email š kinda confusing…
The proxy’s IP was on the Stop Forum Spam db and my plugin would not let you in.
Keith
btw. earlier on I was using tor proxy and could not comment. I was always told to enter a valid email? Obviously the email I was using was the same but my IP was different… you should check what is going on here…
@Keith:
here is the article I promised, its in Romanian and generally about how to combat spam mentioning your plugin and this page.
it was published in two locations: https://zice.ro/informatii/spam-si-anti-spam-cum-ne-aparam-noi-pe-zice-ro/ and as a guest post over here: https://wptuts.ro/2011/05/spam-si-anti-spam-%e2%80%93-cum-ne-aparam-noi-pe-zice-ro/
Kudos for the plugin. On the topic of donations – I have a few pages on my family website that have a ‘donate’ button but it is labelled ‘Buy me a beer’. I regularly get donations of a couple (UK) pounds; and (US) dollars. It is nice just to know that my info has helped; and a bonus to have someone give me some money to buy me a beer. I guess if I had put the info into a book, then I too would like to have it bought, especially if a ‘loss leader’ of a plugin is offered. But it is no guarantee. Maybe the way to make more money is to offer upgraded/pro versions of your free plug-in?
I was pleased to find this plugin as one of my sites has been hit with many spam registrations. Your method looked like a good one. I downloaded it two days ago, planning in activate today. Before doing so, I clicked the link to this site, and found your message. To great disappointment. If your plugin does what it claims, it will be worth more than the price of your book. However, personally, I’d rather pay you directly for your work on the plugin. That’s the direct value. If you’re asking people to buy your book as a way of thanking you for your work on the plugin, you’ve misdirected the value. I think it’s great you write books, and I’ve checked it out on Amazon. Looks pretty interesting!
Also consider that plugins are like the millions of apps people write. Why not charge a dollar or two or five, and make your plugin the best? I’ve spent more than five dollars of my time messing with spammers. I’d suggest trying that approach before giving up completely. That’s just my personal opinion. Right now, I hesitate to activate the plugin and test it because you have declared no more updates or support. Keep writing too. Just my two cents…
I agree that zero is especially harsh. Your considerable talents would probably be better spent elsewhere.
My comment wasn’t meant to convey the idea of “you shouldn’t complain”, but more of the “this is the only thing that sort of keeps me from exploding.” If only I were better at crafting words to match my thoughts.
By the way, thanks also for your post about the ISS flyover. I found an RSS feed on the NASA site providing flyover times and sky location for my own city. Very cool.
I appreciate the effort. At least now I will have one sale (34 cents profit) from programming this month. I never expected much, but I never expected zero.
Now I have nothing to complain about. I’ll have to think of something else.
Thanks,
Keith
Keith,
Looking at the log / stats in the plugin, it’s been extremely helpful. I don’t read enough these days (I’ll blame that on being the father of 4 little ones), but I picked up the very inexpensive Kindle version of your book. I hope to give it a read on vacation next month.
I think you are accurate with the “nobody” answer. Not sure why that is, but I think that’s the case. I started a lot of freeware/shareware stuff through my 25+ years coding and I’ve made very (very) little. I guess deep down, I hoped I would make more if for no other reason than to show that my time was worthwhile. The only thing that keeps me coding for public projects (and assorted freeware stuff) is that I love doing it. When I’m dead and gone, I would have at least had the opportunity to do what I love.
For the record, I hope that you find great success on this side of that veil. Thanks for your effort.
>>write an article about the antispam solution
That is the best kind of link for SEO. It is golden.
Thanks,
Keith
I can’t spam my footer with irrelevant links so I decided to write an article about the antispam solution (combination of different plugins) we are using on my multisite installation, naming all plugins, linking to them and mentioning your private page (this one) as well.
It will be published later this week.
A link is great, and I thank you.
Links are quite valuable and I will be very happy to get it.
Keith
I said: Iād love to buy your book but shipping to Europe will cost me a fortune
which means yes, I am aware of your printed book, but I am not going to pay 8.99 for a book and 20 for shipping š
I’ll see if I can add some links in for you… I saw the ones you proposed, will have to check which ones fit best.
I didn’t really require that everyone buy the book, and I guess there is no Amazon.ru. (Just to be clear, there is a print version of the book, not just Kindle versions.)
I was complaining that out of thousands of downloads of my various plugins, as of today, there are zero sales of the book.
For those that won’t or can’t buy the book, or are not native English speakers, a link to one of my websites would be just as welcome, and probably more profitable to me in the long run.
Keith
hey Keith,
I really appreciate your plugin (SFS) and your responsiveness on my multisite/wpmu request.
I’d love to buy your book but shipping to Europe will cost me a fortune and I dislike reading if its not on paper, so yeah, don’t you have a book I can buy FOR you instead of from you? You can use this email to send me a wishlist if you want?