Soooo Frustrating

I had high hopes for the Visitors Online plugin by BestWebSoft, but it turned out to be way too complicated to use. The plugin shows live visitor counts, which is great, but the data structure is a huge issue. It gives you the option to make changes in the settings, but if you actually use that feature, the whole thing breaks. There’s a list of “allowed variables” you’re supposed to be able to edit, like removing bots, guests, or max visits. However, if you delete too many—especially if you try to remove everything except “visitors online”—it stops working and just shows zero visitors.

The only way to make changes without breaking it is to remove one or two things at a time, saving after each change. Even then, it still breaks if you remove more than three items. You also have to constantly clear your cache and reset the settings just to keep it running. I don’t understand why the plugin says it allows these changes if doing so causes it to fail. I just wanted a simple live visitor counter, but this plugin makes it way too hard.

Bottom line: It’s not worth the hassle. The plugin doesn’t even work with its own rules.