Mika Epstein explains why the plugin emails sent to developers (who have plugins in the WordPress.org repo) are anonymous. The bottom line: plugin reviewers were finding themselves targeted in rather terrifying ways, including death threats and credible threats against their safety at upcoming WordCamps. 😲
Mika explains how bad this got for our volunteer reviewers:
“2019 was the worst year on record for categorical abuse of the members of the team. It’s difficult to express without violating confidence (and in some situations, legal cases still pending) exactly how bad… Because of the attacks on people’s safety and out of a desire to protect their health and well being, we have chosen to make all emails from the Plugin Review Team anonymous.”
The fact that these completely appropriate steps needed to be taken — and that some plugin developers were making threats — predictably brought sadness and some rage to our community, which I share. 😡 Brad Williams summarized my feelings well:
“I honestly can’t believe the WordPress plugin review team is still voluntary. Think about how big an industry premium plugins have become and free WP.org plugin listings are (for most) a requirement to gaining users and promoting their paid products and services.”
It’s fine to be passionate about your plugin and your products — many people make a living off of their plugins in the repo. But not treating others with common decency and going so far as to criminally threaten to harm people is completely unacceptable. 🙅♂️
