CTA Featured Threads & Portal [Paid] 2.17.0
- Thread starter Paul B
- Start date
Anthony Parsons
Well-known member
You just gave me a near heart attack... registered.
Last edited:
Anthony Parsons
Well-known member
At a rough guess... take a look at the reviews and amount of them... a popular mod. @Jaxel disappeared and stopped supporting his portal, then took lots of money to develop an update, yet hasn't been posting updates or staying in touch with those who paid, let alone anyone here... so people moved to this, just like I have... and its taken over as "the" portal add-on to use, as it is well supported.
@Jaxel may come back with his update... but he's burnt a lot of britches here now due to his lack of support and updating people with what's going on.
I will be "undeleting" the resource at some point, purely to make it easier for people to search for and link to it and to avoid a drop in sales due to it not appearing in the resources.
From now on though, the dedicated site is where it will all be happening in terms of updates, information, feature reveals, support, etc.
Not to mention it allows potential customers the ability to test the front end functionality.
From now on though, the dedicated site is where it will all be happening in terms of updates, information, feature reveals, support, etc.
Not to mention it allows potential customers the ability to test the front end functionality.
Anthony Parsons
Well-known member
Was going to say... not advertising here as a resource would be a huge decline.
I'm still weighing up whether that more than offsets having to deal with fewer idiots.but with no update here on xf.com less and less people will find out that this add-on exists.
I haven't decided yet.RegisteredWill you be making updates a download now on the new site or will you still continue to e-mail them?
I may switch to download though as the distribution list is way too big now.
I was so close to scrapping this add-on.
Just an hour ago I had a message drafted stating that development would cease.
It is only due to the advice and support (and constant nagging) of a trusted friend that I have decided not to. So thanks go to @Chris D, as always.
As you may know by now, a <redacted> individual, who breached the terms of the license, rated this add-on 1 star, but only after I had refunded them in full, eight months after purchasing.
This person handed over their account on the support site and the add-on files to a third party, without my knowledge or consent.
Naturally I was not impressed with that but the person in question didn’t see an issue with it and instead blamed me for not understanding.
Over the next 24 hour period this person spammed me on two different sites and by email with about 40 messages.
Eventually I refunded them in full and no sooner had I done so, they posted a 1 star rating for “poor support”.
Way to go you <redacted>.
If I was to post what I really thought of this person, I would lose my job, so I’ll leave it there.
Naturally I reported this rating as invalid as not only was my support not poor, it was simply a revenge rating.
The fact that this person waited until receiving a refund, to which they were not even entitled to, before rating 1 star speaks volumes.
Disappointingly, a couple of staff members decided the rating and “review” is valid and should therefore not be deleted.
I have often disagreed with how what I deem to be invalid reviews are handled, so this is not a case of double standards when it comes to my own resource.
I myself have deleted 1 star ratings for less than this.
Unfortunately there is no policy in place when it comes to moderating reviews, so it’s purely down to opinion. Not mine, obviously.
I subsequently removed the resource in protest at this ********, ****ing nonsense decision and had no intention of continuing with development.
I have been known to be impulsive at times… Principled, but impulsive.
I defy anyone to justify a 1 star rating for this add-on though.
Prior to this it was the highest rated add-on, for both paid and free resources.
Granted, maybe not all of the five star ratings are deserved, but it is definitely worth more than one.
So, because of all that, I was all set to wrap things up and call it a day.
In some respects I was quite relieved as this add-on has been in continuous development for over 8 months, with every spare moment spent on it, and I was looking forward to some time off and wanted to see if my Xbox still worked.
Then my good friend Chris annoyingly just made a lot of common sense and I couldn’t help but agree with it. *******!
Primarily he made me accept that I was letting down all of my customers due to the actions of one irrelevant individual.
So although it goes against every fibre of my being in restoring this resource, I am doing so for existing and future customers.
If I was to leave it deleted I know that development would cease as I would have no incentive to continue.
I truly believe there has been a massive failure in how ratings and reviews are moderated on this site since they were implemented.
I have often complained about it. The inconsistency above all else is just dreadful.
However, I will suck it up and move on.
Just an hour ago I had a message drafted stating that development would cease.
It is only due to the advice and support (and constant nagging) of a trusted friend that I have decided not to. So thanks go to @Chris D, as always.
As you may know by now, a <redacted> individual, who breached the terms of the license, rated this add-on 1 star, but only after I had refunded them in full, eight months after purchasing.
This person handed over their account on the support site and the add-on files to a third party, without my knowledge or consent.
Naturally I was not impressed with that but the person in question didn’t see an issue with it and instead blamed me for not understanding.
Over the next 24 hour period this person spammed me on two different sites and by email with about 40 messages.
Eventually I refunded them in full and no sooner had I done so, they posted a 1 star rating for “poor support”.
Way to go you <redacted>.
If I was to post what I really thought of this person, I would lose my job, so I’ll leave it there.
Naturally I reported this rating as invalid as not only was my support not poor, it was simply a revenge rating.
The fact that this person waited until receiving a refund, to which they were not even entitled to, before rating 1 star speaks volumes.
Disappointingly, a couple of staff members decided the rating and “review” is valid and should therefore not be deleted.
I have often disagreed with how what I deem to be invalid reviews are handled, so this is not a case of double standards when it comes to my own resource.
I myself have deleted 1 star ratings for less than this.
Unfortunately there is no policy in place when it comes to moderating reviews, so it’s purely down to opinion. Not mine, obviously.
I subsequently removed the resource in protest at this ********, ****ing nonsense decision and had no intention of continuing with development.
I have been known to be impulsive at times… Principled, but impulsive.
I defy anyone to justify a 1 star rating for this add-on though.
Prior to this it was the highest rated add-on, for both paid and free resources.
Granted, maybe not all of the five star ratings are deserved, but it is definitely worth more than one.
So, because of all that, I was all set to wrap things up and call it a day.
In some respects I was quite relieved as this add-on has been in continuous development for over 8 months, with every spare moment spent on it, and I was looking forward to some time off and wanted to see if my Xbox still worked.
Then my good friend Chris annoyingly just made a lot of common sense and I couldn’t help but agree with it. *******!
Primarily he made me accept that I was letting down all of my customers due to the actions of one irrelevant individual.
So although it goes against every fibre of my being in restoring this resource, I am doing so for existing and future customers.
If I was to leave it deleted I know that development would cease as I would have no incentive to continue.
I truly believe there has been a massive failure in how ratings and reviews are moderated on this site since they were implemented.
I have often complained about it. The inconsistency above all else is just dreadful.
However, I will suck it up and move on.
Steve F
Well-known member
Well I hope you feel a bit better after that post
, as for the review anyone who knows you can see that isn't the case.Glad its back and you are sticking with it
0ptima
Well-known member
Although I do not use this addon, I have been following it for a while as I may need a portal one day. Becoming the overall top rated XF addon in 8 months is simply an amazing accomplishment which was due in part to the phenomenal support you provide to your clients. Keep it up!
Martok
Well-known member
There are two add-ons on my site that I value above all others. They are excellent and the support for these is outstanding. The add-ons are Featured Threads and Xen Media Gallery. I would have been absolutely gutted if there was no more Featured Threads development.
Paul, I am glad that you have been persuaded to continue with the development of Featured Threads. A big thank you to Chris for his part in this.
I can understand your frustration, anger, dismay and no doubt a range of other emotions that you've had when you received a 1 star review from an individual. You have worked very hard on this add-on over the last 8-9 months. The development has been just amazing in that short period and your support has always, without fail, been superlative. This is clear from the many 5 star reviews from other users of Featured Threads. The 1 star review from this <insert word of choice> individual is completely unjustified. I would say though that from other interactions and behaviour across the forums, I know what I think of this <insert word of choice> individual and I put no credence in their review. I'm sure I'm not alone in this either.
Regarding reviews of resource, I agree with you that there are unjustified ones for various resources. Maybe they should be moderated. In this case I believe it probably should (though that's my opinion as a user, I'm not a moderator here). However, it can soon be a slippery slope from moderating unjustified reviews to moderating reviews that are low-scored that don't fit compared to others when there may potentially be a justified reason for the low score. Also as you said yourself, there are high-scoring reviews that probably aren't justified either, so if there is moderation at one end then there should be at another.
I do think that the Resource Manager and the way reviews are done here needs to be looked at. Firstly, should someone who no longer owns an add-on (as in the case of this <insert word of choice> individual) be allowed to review an add-on? You can't review a resource that you don't have, so why should you be able to review an add-on for which you have had a refund? Another thing to consider - I could download 20 add-ons now and immediately give each one a 1-star rating without even trying them, just making up some rubbish to put in the review (e.g. didn't work, broke my forums etc). Is that justified? Definitely not. Would these be moderated?
From a user's perspective, when it comes to reading reviews, I look at a range of them. If I come across an add-on that has a lot of high ratings and then a 1 star rating from a <insert word of choice> individual or a small number of people, my first thought isn't, "Oh dear, I'm concerned about this add-on and the support". My thoughts are that this individual or small number of people are the ones with the problem, not the author. I'll put no weight whatsoever in what they say, dismiss the reviews as being <insert word of choice> and consider what the vast majority have said. Again I'm sure that's the thoughts of many others too.
Regarding the development of Featured Threads, I'm glad that you will be continuing this. I always look forward to new features and the privilege of being able to beta test some of these. However, I would like to suggest for your own sake that you may want to slow things down a bit. You've pretty much said that you spend all of your free time developing Featured Threads. I know you have a lot of things still on your list that you'd like to add-in and no doubt we'll see more of these added in the coming months. Maybe though you should spend some time on your hobbies - your running, your XBox (shame on you, should be a PS4
). Development of Featured Threads would still continue, but there's no hurry to get out the next version. Featured Threads is already pretty fully-featured and there's more to come with the next version but I'm sure that we can wait a little longer between releases if it allows you to have some time to yourself. Anyway, that's just my tuppence worth.
Paul, I am glad that you have been persuaded to continue with the development of Featured Threads. A big thank you to Chris for his part in this.
I can understand your frustration, anger, dismay and no doubt a range of other emotions that you've had when you received a 1 star review from an individual. You have worked very hard on this add-on over the last 8-9 months. The development has been just amazing in that short period and your support has always, without fail, been superlative. This is clear from the many 5 star reviews from other users of Featured Threads. The 1 star review from this <insert word of choice> individual is completely unjustified. I would say though that from other interactions and behaviour across the forums, I know what I think of this <insert word of choice> individual and I put no credence in their review. I'm sure I'm not alone in this either.
Regarding reviews of resource, I agree with you that there are unjustified ones for various resources. Maybe they should be moderated. In this case I believe it probably should (though that's my opinion as a user, I'm not a moderator here). However, it can soon be a slippery slope from moderating unjustified reviews to moderating reviews that are low-scored that don't fit compared to others when there may potentially be a justified reason for the low score. Also as you said yourself, there are high-scoring reviews that probably aren't justified either, so if there is moderation at one end then there should be at another.
I do think that the Resource Manager and the way reviews are done here needs to be looked at. Firstly, should someone who no longer owns an add-on (as in the case of this <insert word of choice> individual) be allowed to review an add-on? You can't review a resource that you don't have, so why should you be able to review an add-on for which you have had a refund? Another thing to consider - I could download 20 add-ons now and immediately give each one a 1-star rating without even trying them, just making up some rubbish to put in the review (e.g. didn't work, broke my forums etc). Is that justified? Definitely not. Would these be moderated?
From a user's perspective, when it comes to reading reviews, I look at a range of them. If I come across an add-on that has a lot of high ratings and then a 1 star rating from a <insert word of choice> individual or a small number of people, my first thought isn't, "Oh dear, I'm concerned about this add-on and the support". My thoughts are that this individual or small number of people are the ones with the problem, not the author. I'll put no weight whatsoever in what they say, dismiss the reviews as being <insert word of choice> and consider what the vast majority have said. Again I'm sure that's the thoughts of many others too.
Regarding the development of Featured Threads, I'm glad that you will be continuing this. I always look forward to new features and the privilege of being able to beta test some of these. However, I would like to suggest for your own sake that you may want to slow things down a bit. You've pretty much said that you spend all of your free time developing Featured Threads. I know you have a lot of things still on your list that you'd like to add-in and no doubt we'll see more of these added in the coming months. Maybe though you should spend some time on your hobbies - your running, your XBox (shame on you, should be a PS4
). Development of Featured Threads would still continue, but there's no hurry to get out the next version. Featured Threads is already pretty fully-featured and there's more to come with the next version but I'm sure that we can wait a little longer between releases if it allows you to have some time to yourself. Anyway, that's just my tuppence worth. 
HenrikHansen
Well-known member
Exactly. When we use the review system
- We look at the range of reviews
- We look at who have reviewed, is it someone I know?
- We look at the reason for the stars given, is it a lot of features, code quality, customization options, support or something else.
Neither 1-star and 5-star reviews given without much description are not very worthful to me.
And a lot of editing of reviews, I do not think that will be necessary. We can easily just based on the information above.
Dakis
Well-known member
You can try it on the demo site http://support.cliptheapex.com/Wish i could try this.
FredC
Well-known member
**** the ratings Brogan.. Take pride in the facts...
Fact 1, CTA Featured Threads and Portal is the new premiere portal solution for XF.
Fact 2, CTA Featured Threads and Portal is the most actively developed add-on on the XF Forums.
Fact 3, no single plugin is all things to everyone.
Fact 4, nobody but nobody provides the level of support for their product as CTA Featured Threads and Portal customers get.
Fact 5, people trust you.. That can no longer be said about another portal developer. And trust is important. Trust fuels loyalty and you have a ton of loyal costumers...
Now with that being said I can sincerely appreciate this discussion and shows me clearly that I will need a strong policy going forward as to how to handle rating abusers. As in my case people will be rating other peoples life's work. I can see that easily turning into a mess like this daily by a multitude of various people.
Fact 1, CTA Featured Threads and Portal is the new premiere portal solution for XF.
Fact 2, CTA Featured Threads and Portal is the most actively developed add-on on the XF Forums.
Fact 3, no single plugin is all things to everyone.
Fact 4, nobody but nobody provides the level of support for their product as CTA Featured Threads and Portal customers get.
Fact 5, people trust you.. That can no longer be said about another portal developer. And trust is important. Trust fuels loyalty and you have a ton of loyal costumers...
Now with that being said I can sincerely appreciate this discussion and shows me clearly that I will need a strong policy going forward as to how to handle rating abusers. As in my case people will be rating other peoples life's work. I can see that easily turning into a mess like this daily by a multitude of various people.
Last edited:
Similar threads
- Question
