Title: Developer Got Too Greedy
Last modified: November 21, 2024

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# Developer Got Too Greedy

 *  [marcfairlee](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marcfairlee/)
 * (@marcfairlee)
 * [1 year, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/developer-got-too-greedy/)
 * Well it was a cool free plugin then suddenly the developer got greedy and removed
   so many features (especially the auto import extension because that is the most
   important feature for me) and put them behind a paywall. Can’t blame him though,
   but I am very disappointed and will not give any money.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  Plugin Author [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/)
 * (@tobiasbg)
 * [1 year, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/developer-got-too-greedy/#post-18150923)
 * Hi [@marcfairlee](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marcfairlee/),
 * Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback, I really appreciate it!
 * I’m really sorry that you are disappointed here. Please let me clarify a few 
   things: **No features in the free version of TablePress were removed!** More 
   than two years ago, I did however indeed discontinue and retire separate “TablePress
   Extension” plugins, which were available as additional add-ons on the TablePress
   website. I invested a lot of time into these but having them as separate plugins
   was an additional maintenance burden that is now gone after integrating them 
   directly.
 * This affects the mentioned “Automatic Periodic Table Import” Extension whose 
   updated counterpart in TablePress Max since then has been heavily improved, in
   terms of reliability and stability! In the newest release, it even support email
   notifications when there are failures, as well as different import intervals 
   for tables!
 * **But**: I’m standing by my claim that I will never break the existing Extensions
   on purpose! This means that the long-retired “Automatic Periodic Table Import”
   Extension should actually still work! In most cases, there’s a problem with the
   underlying WordPress Cron system on your site and server, so that I recommend
   investigating that.
 * Again, I did not remove any features from the free version! Two years ago, I 
   did however decide that some features that were available separately, as additional
   add-ons, should receive a new home in the TablePress premium versions, which 
   now allow me to continue working on them and improving them continuously.
 * Thanks again for taking the time to provide feedback. I hope this clarifies the
   situation around the retired Extensions a bit and maybe you can reconsider you
   opinion of TablePress.
 * Best wishes,
   Tobias
 *  Thread Starter [marcfairlee](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marcfairlee/)
 * (@marcfairlee)
 * [1 year, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/developer-got-too-greedy/#post-18186413)
 * Hi. I don’t blame you, everyone needs money. I just said that if you decided 
   to put a free extension behind a paywall, there’s no guarantee you wouldn’t put
   anything else that was free behind it later. There are so many cases like this,
   ironically. That said, I will continue to use it until you decide it cannot be
   used anymore in the updated version or until it stops working anymore. Your addon
   is great though, thank you.
 *  Plugin Author [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/)
 * (@tobiasbg)
 * [1 year, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/developer-got-too-greedy/#post-18187412)
 * Hi [@marcfairlee](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marcfairlee/),
 * Thanks for getting back to me, I really appreciate it!
 * I can see what you mean here, and I understand that there have been cases like
   that before, but I can assure you that this is not going to happen.
   Yes, I did
   switch the free Extensions to paid feature modules, but I have not and will not
   remove features from the free version of TablePress that’s on wordpress.org! 
   The Extensions have always been separate, and the increased maintenance burden
   of offering them separately was just too much. With the free version of TablePress,
   I do not foresee such issues, so there simply is no reason to change how they
   work. I’ll much rather try to show users how valuable an upgrade to a premium
   license is over forcing them by removing features.
 * With all this said, I hope that you can maybe revisit your rating and focus on
   the quality of the still available and fully supported free version of TablePress.
   Thank you!
 * Best wishes,
   Tobias

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/)
 * Last activity: [1 year, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/developer-got-too-greedy/#post-18187412)