I think we cover it well in 5.:
Free/Freemium/Premium plugins are all welcome in the ClassicPress Plugin Directory, but must be clearly identified as such in the description. Software-as-a-Service must be categorized as a Premium plugin.
- Free - completely free, un-crippled, and not soliciting in any way.
- Freemium - some functionality free, but some requiring payment to the plugin developer.
- Premium - paid, with no functionality available otherwise.
Since we accept Premium, I see nothing wrong with accepting Trialware too, after all, it’s just a Premium Software you have the chance to test…
What I totally agree is that we can’t be arrogant like WP and not send head ups out when removing software, unless as you say, it is a security breach, in which case the software should be temporarily unavailable for download but still the author should be contacted.
But you know, you can contact as much you want when the plugin dev’s have no-reply emails as contacts listed (which they very often do).
WP Team is very quick with making assumptions, both in forum as well as plugin review. Kind of a side effect of having 50 k plugins to keep an eye on I guess but also because in 99% of the cases, they are actually doing things right, and the author is just saying they didn’t get any email, probably because they didn’t read the inbox or as said, have the wrong email added in the plugin contacts.
This is what we need to avoid. Perhaps open communication here in the forum is best (specially when the email fails), so we have both proof that we did initiate contact, and also its not obscure as of why things get removed, if they do get removed.
Like:
- initiate email
- wait 5 days
- if no reaction, initiate forum post, with a @mention
- if no reaction within 24 hours or so, go thru with the required actions such as plugin removal.
Of course this would only apply to minor violations. A major violation or security issue should be taken down immediately, and everything else should come after.