BuddyDev

We are changing, and we want you to be part of it

Have you noticed that we have improved our support drastically recently? Well, For the last two years, we did not do it properly and It feels good to be back and doing what We should have done long ago. In other words, I just want to apologize for our lazy support for last 2 years. In last two years,.

A lot of things have happened. Sometimes, I just did not feel like working at all. Personal tragedies, professional setbacks and financial issues, It seems I have seen almost everything. Anyway, Things have changed for good. I am more energetic, much more happy and feeling good now. I will like to thank my colleague and good friend @anusharma for helping me and standing by me in all these testing times. I am not sure where things would have gone without her constant motivation. I am fortunate to have her as my colleague.

Now, Let me tell you about some changes we are going to implement on BuddyDev as well as in our working ethics.

Change that will matter:-

1. A New revamped BuddyDev website to reflect our motto & goals

On Sunday, 25th March, we will be revamping BuddyDev website and implementing the first phase of our planned changes. There is a whole new site that we have developed for a few months. It is supposed to make things easier for everyone and I am hopeful that you will love it. We have focused on information accessibility as much as possible. Here are a few screenshots:-

The site is fully functional, the only issue remaining is to fix it for the IE browser. Can you guys suggest about the minimum IE version we should support?

2. We are changing the overall support experience

  • The goal is to provide the professional support in a real time bound manner( which we haven't been doing for so many months )
  • Increase community participation by rewards
  • Build a knowledge base for most common things asked normally( The docs site is ready and integrated

3. Changing the pricing model:-

  • The membership model will change from Tuesday. We are removing 3 membership options and changing the basic prices ( there will be a $30, 30 days membership though )
  • You can buy individual themes/plugins and all purchase will include Β support via priority private ticket system.
  • Existing members plan will work until they expire( We have other ways to cover any extra for you)

4. To apologize for our mistakes and to show you that we care:-

  • We will refund your 100% membership fee if you want( Β We have been doing it in past too )
  • We will give you 1 month extra membership cover if you don't want a refund
  • If you have sent me a mail in last two months for anything I haven't replied, Please pardon my mistake and shoot me another mail. I have seen a few mails related to free access but I was not able to reply to a few of you. If Β you still need that, please shoot me an email at brajesh at cosmiccoders.com

5. Action Plan:-

  • 6 Hours Reply guarantee on forum( that's the maximum, Β we will try to minimize it to 30 mins)
  • We are converting blog into 4 major sections and we will be posting regularly( 3-4 posts) a week. Make sure that you are subscribed to the updates
  • For critical issues, we will be available on skype to help anyone who needs instant support.
  • We will use all social channels effectively to reach you, understand your requirements and assist you to the best of our ability
  • There are a few more things which I will let you know on Tuesday after the update.

6. Goal:-

  • I have set a sales target of 8000 sales in next 6 months. To achieve that, we are mending our ways, and we will be doing our best to win you hearts.
It is all about creating a positive experience on BuddyDev. Thank you all for being the part of BuddyDev community and I hope that the things will get better now. Will you like to be part of the change? What do you want us to improve? Do you have any questions about anything, please let me know in comments, I am always around.

11 Responses to We are changing, and we want you to be part of it

  • Congratulations on making positive changes towards better services and products at BuddyDev! If the past two years were your "slow" times, then wow! I can only imagine how many more awesome products you'd be offering now that your game is "on"! πŸ˜€

    As to minimum IE version supported, I would suggest IE 8 per results of the 2014 BuddyPress Survey http://mercime.github.io/buddyPress-2014-survey-results/ Most of the time, fixes for IE8 resolve some issues found in IE7.

    Wishing you all the best, as always πŸ˜€

    • Thank you Mercime πŸ™‚
      I am looking forward to contributing back to the community again. certainly, I have worked on a few major plugins/themes which we will be lining up soon πŸ™‚

      Thank you for the advice on IE8, adding it now πŸ™‚
      Congratulations on building that awesome survey result. That's just awesome. I did participate but could not check the result. It is just awesome Mercime πŸ™‚

  • I would skip IE8… Windows XP is dead and supporting such an old crappy browser is taking too much resources. I would strongly recommend IE9 and up…

    • Thank you for the comment and the suggestion Rug.
      We have already added a graceful degradation for IE8 and having better support for IE9 & up πŸ™‚

  • And before I forget it: please update the BP Chat plugin. I know that I am not the only one that really needs a good mobile first chat plugin for Buddypress πŸ™‚ make it a premium plugin maybe with addons. Kind regards

    • Hi Rug,
      I will be on it just after Tuesday. And in next 2 weeks we are putting a system where you and the whole BuddyDev community will decide the priority of any update/new plugins and we will follow that πŸ™‚

  • I am really proud of you Brajesh. I would also like to say that maybe you should consider mentoring a few other developers because there is strength in numbers and if there are others that are willing to be mentored then there would be several others to help out with the support forums. I have tried to help as best I could but if one has more knowledge of the work you do, then it would be easier to help provide support. Anyway congratulations my friend.

    • Hi Ben,
      Welcome back and thank you for the comment. It is so nice to see your comment πŸ™‚

      The mentoring idea is awesome, i will certainly think about it. Not sure how to do that though .
      You have been an awesome contributor and a great asset for the community, thank you for all your help πŸ™‚

      • Hi Brajesh,
        Thanks again for the kind words. The mentoring idea is just sharing your ideas with like minded developers that are willing to help provide support so you have others to help with the support forums. Nobody knows your code better than you but if there was a way to educate a few, then it would provide a valuable resource to your community so that the ones you mentored could help provide assistance. That way it would help free you up to develop more awesome plugins. Anyway you are the best developer I am privileged to know and I am so thankful for the kindness and generosity you have shown me. You are truly an inspiration.

  • Looks like I landed on the site on the right day. πŸ˜€

    Development is hard and support is tough on the soul!

    I wish you all the best as you've got some awesome plugins that I didn't find elsewhere.