We are closing the WordPress.org plugins repository for the free PeepSo Foundation today, and are switching the updates to be served from our own servers – the same way we serve updates to our paid plugins. Why? Well, we’re glad you’ve asked…

We have never been very happy with the WordPress repository, as we found their rules to be convoluted, poorly defined and too open for interpretation – that includes both the Plugin Guidelines and the way the support and review forums are moderated by them. We managed to navigate this landscape for quite a few years, however something recently changed.

WPEngine vs WordPress

The catalyst for our action has been the recent falling out between WPEngine and WordPress.org / Matt Mullenweg. We won’t bore you with the details, as many articles have been written about this. Just the fact there is a legal battle going on would not be very worrisome on its own, however:

• We learned that WordPress.org in fact does not belong to the WordPress Foundation – it’s a private website of Matt Mullenweg.
• There was a series of unsettling actions from the WordPress.org side, including banning developers, disabling plugin updates to client sites, and even taking over an entire plugin.
• We have thus lost our trust in the WordPress.org platform, the WordPress Foundation itself, and most importantly the man who seems to wield the ultimate power in the entire ecosystem.
• In the recent weeks we have also had PeepSo suspended without a warning for issues that were already fixed and released.
• Later we were actually warned that our plugin will be suspended because of issues found in other plugins. That’s right, PeepSo was not even at fault. Btw, those issues were already fixed too.

All of the above and more is leading us to an inevitable decision of leaving WordPress Plugins Repository. It’s just not worth all the trouble. Nowadays it also feels like one of those jack-in-the-box toys. We’re just waiting for it to finally pop and throw an unjustified tantrum.

Or you know, make their own PeepSoW… Those familiar with ACF and SCF situation will know.

What impact will it have on my site?

We do not expect any negative impact on your websites. In fact, since all updates are now served from one place, the update process of PeepSo plugins will be much easier as there won’t be a delay between free and paid plugins showing available updates.

Since we are no longer constrained by the WordPress Repository Plugin Guidelines, we are free to consolidate our codebase and bring commercial features into PeepSo Foundation, and have them disabled with a license key, rather than have to break everything up into separate plugins. We will definitely look into that, and expect a performance improvement once we do.

Action Required on Your Part!

It’s nothing complicated. It might seem like a lot of steps, but it’s just a very detailed description of: remove old PeepSo and install new PeepSo. That’s it.

These are the steps to follow:

1. Back up your website.
2. Make sure the backup works. Yes, really. We recommend backups before every update, it’s just good practice.
3. Go to the backend of your website > Plugins > Installed Plugins
4. Find PeepSo plugin.
5. Deactivate PeepSo plugin.
6. Delete PeepSo Foundation plugin.
7. Go to PeepSo.com > Your Profile > Purchases
8. Download PeepSo plugin
9. Go to the backend of your website > Plugins > Add New Plugin > Upload Plugin
10. Upload the downloaded zip.
11. Activate PeepSo plugin.
12. Update the other plugins to the latest version.
13. done.

From this moment on all updates will be served from our servers. Painless, right? 🙂

Reactions have a cache in a specific path, for example: wp-content/plugins/peepso-core/assets/reaction.svg – since we’re changing the directory with this update from peepso-core to peepso you might experience (not necessarily have to) reactions not rendering properly. All you have to do is to go to backend > PeepSo > Manage > Reactions and unpublish and then publish back any of the ones you’re using. That’ll trigger the refresh and new path to take effect.

Here to help!

Should you have any more questions and concerns regarding this, please do let us know. We’re here to help. Just contact us.

What else is new?

Text fields in user profiles are now fully searchable. We were able to finally find a way of doing it properly.

Making sure that PeepSo and other plugins are all working fine on latest versions of WordPress, fixed issues with translations, mailqueue list and more.

Please check our changelog for all the changes that come in this release.

Make Your Community Mobile

PeepSo now offers a seamless solution to transform your PeepSo-based community into a powerful mobile app. No third-party integrations needed.

Everything you need to create, manage, and grow your mobile community is built directly by us for You and Your Community. Imagine the unlimited access to Your Community in the palm of your hand.

See Pricing

Brought to you by Matt Jaworski

I am a professional nerd with **over fifteen years of experience** in the field of Open Source web development. Before [PeepSo](https://PeepSo.com) I was a contractor and have helped build successful businesses around the world, including USA, UK, Germany, Indonesia, and Malaysia. A couple of years leading up to founding PeepSo, I was involved with JomSocial – a social networking extension for Joomla. Stepping up from the role of a contractor to a business owner, I became [PeepSo](https://PeepSo.com) founder and Chief Technology Officer. I strive to build beautiful, fast, and functional software that **empowers users to build their own digital tribes with full autonomy and freedom** often not available on mainstream social networking media. In 2023 we spun off a new company to launch [Awedesk](https://awedesk.com) – a complete ticket-based client support solution for WordPress. I also created [ListoWP](https://LIstoWP.com), a modern to-do plugin for WordPress which is now evolving into a project management tool.