To me the purchase of a plugin should not reset reviews or installation count, as those metrics provide value to the plugin owner. But, fundamentally altering the plugin use case, should cause reset.
In this case @Cosmic.Steve did not just add new functionality, there was a name change, indicating full blown alteration of plugin purpose, plus, pdf generation is not an additional feature to an icon plugin.
But if an entity bought a plugin and really did just change branding and added new functionality, then no, reviews and installation counts should persist.
To be honest, the fake reviews tell the entire story, the intention was to cheat and deceive for a competitive advantage. Although the pdf creation may provide real value, it should not be allowed to keep reviews and installation counts from a completely different plugin. But if an entity bought a plugin with high install count, lots of positive reviews and moved it from free to paid and added legit additional features or kept it free and created freemium model, then, yes, keep reviews and installation counts.
This has been a part of the Bubble marketplace since the beginning and the Bubble team have been notified about it many times.
Some of the largest Bubble agencies regularly used this acquisition strategy with Plugins and Templates to grow quickly. That plus fake reviews have been a known issue for a long time and unfortunately it is hard to prevent on most platforms, not saying it can’t get better on Bubble though.
It would be surprising if they make many changes now since it runs deep through the ecosystem and could possibly tank some Gold agencies’ Plugins. But interested to see what their stance is or if they have one here.
Plugin marketplace is slop and has always been slop. Glad Emmanuel is deprioritizing it and hopefully it will go away entirely when the AI Agent is integrated with the Plugin Editor.
Having already apologized for the fake reviews and requested their removal, an install reset is not an option on the table. I legally purchased this plugin for its asset value, and that financial investment cannot simply be wiped out. At most, we could discuss reverting the plugin to its original “Heroicons” version.
By the way, I am not a “large agency”, but a solo developer with no funding other than my own time, so this investment was not trivial for me.
Now, If I were to rename the plugin “Heroicons + PDF” right today, with zero paid options and only a limited number of free PDFs per month for everyone, would anyone actually have anything to complain about?
And what if, in 6 months, I added paid options only for the people who need more than the free monthly PDFs? Who exactly would I be harming, or what rule would I be breaking?
Not likely, just with ai app generators vibe coding your way as an inexperienced non technical person will not result in high quality plugins. AI can not one shot a high grade bubble plugins, nor could non technical user articulate their needs well enough to get a plugin working as well as it needs to be.
I mean, that’s true if you are building highly technical and useful plugins, but I suppose for some simple things people might use them for AI could make easily enough.
I think what we will be seeing are a new kind of plugin, soon enough, that is not like the typical simple types.
This thread has flagged real issues, and they are generally correct. We’re working on a marketplace revamp this summer focused on rankings and plugin info that reflects the value of a plugin. This will help users find the best plugins for their product and reward developers who build and maintain great plugins.
What about the hundreds of fake reviews on zeroqode plugins?
This comment reminded me of the arguments I have with my wife. After we’ve spent hours discussing something and everything has finally calmed down, she’ll suddenly say, “You know what’s funny? Because one time…”
Yeah, all true. These are well-known issues Bubble condones because inflated metrics make the ecosystem look bigger than it is — more plugins, more “activity,” more reasons to build on Bubble. But nearly all the numbers are contrived and don’t survive scrutiny.
It’s the same playbook as the “Gold” agency program: Bubble credentials shops of wildly uneven quality, those shops milk customers, and Bubble takes a rev-share cut of the outcome. The incentives run exactly backwards from a healthy marketplace.
The tell? A lot of the bigger names have quietly exited the Bubble ecosystem and rebranded as “AI app” experts suddenly with no memory of ever having shipped a Bubble app. At least outside Bubble’s umbrella they no longer get to trade on the parent company’s implied endorsement, so their claims have to stand on their own.
You can say sorry all you want, but it’s just words at this point, mate.
I bare all the REAL reviews from my plugins, even if they’re bad. They’re there for a reason, for us to improve and ensure other customers know what they are getting into.
My plugins aren’t the best, and I know that, but I would never fake reviews. Huge for me.
for me.