Title: Plugin abandoned ?
Last modified: August 27, 2020

---

# Plugin abandoned ?

 *  [clipper87](https://wordpress.org/support/users/clipper87/)
 * (@clipper87)
 * [5 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-abandoned-56/)
 * Let me first say that this plugin is based on a fantastic concept. To date I 
   have not found any alternative. The bad news is that for some reason the developer
   [@barrykooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/) no longer updates
   it. I have been chasing him for almost 2 year’s now to get something fixed on
   one of the paid options I use to no avail. I also chased him to get some kind
   of confirmation that the plugin was still being worked on as it had not been 
   tested against recent versions of WordPress. See [https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-abandoned-49/](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-abandoned-49/)
   For some reason that triggered a fast reply and the next week he posted v4.4.3(
   14 months after the previous update) containing “small minor fixes and tweaks”.
   I doubt that anything actually changed in the code. I think it was merely a meta
   update to make the plugin look as if still being worked on altough I did notice
   some posts here that referred to issues after the 4.4.3 update. Not sure what
   to think of that because meanwhile WordPress evolved as well. Take a look at 
   the issues brought up here; no replies except at times from [@hchouhan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hchouhan/)
   who to my knowledge is not involved in the development; at best he gives answers
   that basically can be found in the manual, for all the rest he points to the 
   developer [@barrykooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/). IF 
   the developer [@barrykooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/) 
   himself replies the tactique is to divert issues to a private mail message. From
   my experience it ends there. I don’t inted to offend anyone here but I -like 
   many others- deserve far better [@barrykooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/)

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  [cmply](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cmply/)
 * (@cmply)
 * [5 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-abandoned-56/#post-13276003)
 * I agree with this. I was in the exact same boat and shared a similar experience
   here:
 * [https://wordpress.org/support/topic/beware-no-tech-support-for-paid-extensions/](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/beware-no-tech-support-for-paid-extensions/)
 * Their two paid plugins (MailChimp Lock and Download Page) began to conflict with
   one another after a WordPress update.
 * I was told it was too difficult to fix and was just issued a refund without any
   further explanation.
 * It’s unfortunate as it really was a great solution while it was working. If they
   are able to fix the issues, I’d renew the plugins.
 *  Plugin Contributor [Barry Kooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/)
 * (@barrykooij)
 * [5 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-abandoned-56/#post-13322302)
 * I just wanted to reply to this for anyone else reading this so they can also 
   read our side of the story.
 * Because there are two users here with separate stories, I’d like to address them
   both separately.
 * [@cmply](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cmply/) had an unfortunate conflict
   of 2 of our paid extensions. While we did try to resolve the issue, we were unable
   to do so. We have given this user a full refund of their purchase and explained
   to them in detail that it is, unfortunately, technically not possible at the 
   moment to resolve the issue.
 * [@clipper87](https://wordpress.org/support/users/clipper87/) bought one of our
   extensions that he is using on his website. He purposed a new feature for the
   extension, which I think sounded like a good addition. I told them that I’m willing
   to add this new feature in the future to the extension. Unfortunately, I didn’t
   have time to add this new feature yet because of other priorities. Please note
   that this is concerning a new feature to a paid extension. I’ve also given [@clipper87](https://wordpress.org/support/users/clipper87/)
   an extra free year on the extension to show I’m sorry for not having the time
   to build the new feature yet. I’ll contact you privately via email to issue a
   full refund so you can search for a different solution.
 * I’d like to close this thread by clearing some other things up.
 * > no replies except at times from [@hchouhan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hchouhan/)
   > who to my knowledge is not involved in the development; at best he gives answers
   > that basically can be found in the manual, for all the rest he points to the
   > developer [@barrykooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/).
 * This is simply not true. [@hchouhan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hchouhan/)
   has been working for Never5 for years now, helping people for all of our products
   on the w.org forums and in our premium email support.
 * > IF the developer [@barrykooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/)
   > himself replies the tactique is to divert issues to a private mail message.
   > From my experience it ends there.
 * I’m not sure what you’re trying to imply here but you act like there’s a big 
   scheme going on. While in reality, it’s WordPress official rules that we need
   to ask people to contact us privately when the question is regarding a premium(
   not on w.org hosted) website. And it doesn’t end there, we help and answer hundreds
   of people monthly with their websites and their purchase. Respectfully, we sell
   a reasonably large amount of extension and plugins every month, if we would ignore
   all of our customers, don’t you think the forums would be full of people asking
   for help?
 * I hope this explains more for others reading this post. To clarify, Download 
   Monitor is still maintained and developed.
 * Kind Regards,
 * Barry Kooij
 *  Thread Starter [clipper87](https://wordpress.org/support/users/clipper87/)
 * (@clipper87)
 * [5 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-abandoned-56/#post-13323108)
 * The truth of the matter is somewhat different I’m afraid:
 * I am using 2 paid extensions and for one of them (mail lock) there’s 2 issues
   that as far as I’m concerned are to be considered technical issues:
 * 1. After clicking on the mail lock “download” button the download starts but 
   there is no way to show a message or redirect to some page to confirm the download
   has been initiated & taken care of. Right now just continues to be displayed.
   Adjusting this behavior with some code imho is a very small undertaking.
 * 2. The styling of the Download button has a problem on mobile if the label is
   longer than the word “Download”
 * And then there is indeed a feature request for a double opt-in to avoid that 
   people enter bogus email addresses so they don’t waste my time when trying to
   follow up on their download. It is true that no commitments were ever made about
   implementing this. While unfortunate, the lack of this feature never lead me 
   to think that the plugin is abandoned let alone spread rumors about it being 
   abandoned.
 * The release history [https://wordpress.org/plugins/download-monitor/#developers](https://wordpress.org/plugins/download-monitor/#developers)
   was what started worrying me and others as the last update was april 3rd 2019.
   
   Wordpress.org thereafter started signalling that the plug may have been abandoned/
   no longer maintained as it had not been tested with the last 3 versions of WordPress.
 * It was only per my public insistence in this forum that the plugin got a so called
   meta update june 8th with undisclosed “fixes and tweaks”.
 * Another thing that started worrying me was the lack of reply/action via private
   email for support requests.
    I’m not trying to imply anything here so let me 
   just share the following timeline of events which again lead me to think the 
   plugin is being abandoned:
 * – The last private email about my issues I sent to [@barrykooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/)
   was on june 8th. He replied that he’d do a meta update and get back to me the
   next day for my other issues in that email.
    – The meta update materialised but
   I did not hear from @barrykooj until june 12th [@barrykooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/)
   telling me that he had not forgotten about me. – Nothing futher happened. – June
   24th I emailed [@barrykooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/)
   to get a status update but I did not get a reply. – July 14th I emailed [@barrykooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/)
   again to get a status update & asked if this plugin was still being worked on.–
   I did not get a reply.
 * Today august 27th -almost 3 months late- I replyed to [@dyin](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dyin/)
   that I suspected this plugin was dead in the water based on my experiences.
 * Basically I’d like to just get on with things: I have repeatedly stated that 
   this plugin is unique & great and I’d be happy to pay for it for many more year’s
   to come.
 * I look forward to an email from you [@barrykooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/)
 *  Plugin Contributor [Barry Kooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/)
 * (@barrykooij)
 * [5 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-abandoned-56/#post-13323235)
 * [@clipper87](https://wordpress.org/support/users/clipper87/) I think we mostly
   differ in expectation what is considered to be included in a premium extension.
   Point 1 in your last comment is something that is not included in the basic plugin
   and therefor something we can’t code for you. If you say
 * > Adjusting this behavior with some code imho is a very small undertaking.
 *  this might be true but this depends on the rest of your website. As we have 
   stated you are free to modify our code in any way you want, we can also refer
   you to a third party to create this for you if you are unable to do so yourself.
   We just don’t do custom client work, this is outside of our scope of development
   support.
 * Regarding point 2, this is most likely because of your theme as we apply minimalist
   styling to our products so they can adopt theme styling. This is something we
   normally don’t mind helping out with so I think this question got lost in discussion
   regarding your other feature requests.
 * Again, you say you’re not trying to imply anything but you do spread news that
   Download Monitor is (or might be) abandoned.
 * I understand that you want to get on with things. The lesson I personally learned
   here is that I should have been more clear in letting you know a feature is not
   supported and refunded your order earlier. I’ll email you the financial details
   later today but I will refund your current business with us so you can move on.
 * For me this closes the case, I hope it does for you as well and it will stop 
   you from hooking into other support post suggesting things that are untrue.
 * I wish you the best, I will ask a mod to have this post locked.
 * Kind Regards,
    Barry Kooij

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘Plugin abandoned ?’ is closed to new replies.

 * ![](https://ps.w.org/download-monitor/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=3198936)
 * [Download Monitor](https://wordpress.org/plugins/download-monitor/)
 * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/download-monitor/#faq)
 * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/download-monitor/)
 * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/download-monitor/active/)
 * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/download-monitor/unresolved/)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/download-monitor/reviews/)

 * 4 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Barry Kooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/)
 * Last activity: [5 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-abandoned-56/#post-13323235)
 * Status: not a support question