Marketplace MOD Update Voting

[Bluto]

There should be some ability, button, etc for each item that the previous buyers could click on when a developer has not updated their module for the current version of the IPB software.  Since you're not offering older versions of v4 and you advise everyone to upgrade at each cycle, there would be no reason for a mod to only work an older version, ie v4.3.  So, with that being considered, there should be a button for existing buyers that they can click on when a developer is several versions behind in updating their MOD and / or the MOD doesn't work on the current version.

Let's say a developer has abandoned a project that I purchased, when the "abandoned" MOD gets, let's say, 6 votes from existing buyers, the system hides the MOD from public view or disables the ability to be purchased - but is still downloadable for the previous buyers.  When the button is clicked by a previous buyer a warning could pop-up that says something like "make sure to give the buyer time to update the MOD" so those rage voters don't vote the MOD off the marketplace 2 minutes after a new release.

Showing the "votes" should be displayed to notify potential buyers that some previous buyers have voted for the mod to be removed.  This would be in-case the purchasers were few or purchased and never used the mod - those purchasers wouldn't be visiting the mod page too often.  It would also be good to reset the vote count after a new upload.

It will then be up to the MOD developer to upload a new version or contact IPS to re-activate their item.

The marketplace shouldn't be a jungle where anything goes as far as developers not updating their MODs.  There are some great developers who constantly update their MODs, but the ones that are just interested in putting something up, charging for it, and then not supporting the MOD shouldn't be able to continue selling their non-working outdated MOD, template, whatever, on the IPS marketplace in my opinion.

Having the ability for the community of previous buyers to police the marketplace would keep the developers who aren't updating their paid modules, in check.

[The Jimmo]

I like this idea where users can "rate" the effectiveness of the version of the plugin and this will stay in the history of the versioning as well. Once the contributor uploads a new version then this "vote" resets for that version. If possible, there can be an overall rating on how the file is effected by each vote on each version.

Hiding it though with votes is taking it a little extreme.

[DesignzShop]

This would work if only the people who purchase the product can do the rating but in all honesty this is not an answer. The answer would be to put a drop down selector in for developers with the version number to select from and make selection required when submitting or updating a file. That select field could then be added to the top of a Marketplace ad and a big stripe across the top that says This file is for specific version xxx or if it's up to date have a big bar that says this product is good for the current IPB version.

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Having the ability for the community of previous buyers to police the marketplace would keep the developers who aren't updating their paid modules, in check.

This is the wrong way to look at this imo. Developers don't need policing, they need the proper tools for guidance from IPB. This is truly as easy as adding a version selector and a highlighted field in the ad displaying what version(s) the product is good for

[DesignzShop]

Scratch above to this below

Add a history update to each file. many people have no clue when a version is released nor could they remember a date when that occurs down the road. Something that would tell the IPB version release date and when the file was updated for that IPB version would be good. This shows how fast developers update their stuff from version to version too. On top of this, if they're one of them developers that take months to update files then this would also give a little additional insight to the provider.

 

There's a lot more than this that should be addressed about Marketplace also. I hope someone from IPB makes a thread in the future asking what could be improved from the end user and developer standpoints. Input from both sides here is important and it's about time imo to address some of these issues.