Groom the Beta Testing plugin tab

[desrosj]

There are several plugins found on the Plugins > Add New page under the Beta Testing tab that should probably be removed.

The following were into WP Core and are no longer used:

• Better Code Editing
• Shiny Updates
• Lazy Loading Feature Plugin
• Application Passwords

A few others are obsolete or have been replaced by other efforts in Core (mainly Gutenberg):

• Front-end Editor for WordPress
• Customize Posts
• Customize Snapshots

The ​Performance Lab plugin should also be added to this page as it's an ​ongoing effort by an official Core group.

[desrosj]

Also, the Reactions plugin has not seen any updates in 6 years. I think that this is a third priority to remove, though. The ones listed above are either now in WordPress Core, or replaced/endorsed with other functionality.

[Ipstenu]

Just to clarify here, since it will be asked: The plugins team DOES NOT remove those unless the owners/core team asks.

All you have to do is email plugins@ to ask us to remove it, or to close the plugin (we intentionally disable the ability to close them if you're a beta to prevent an accidental takeover). Same for adding :)

[dd32]

Listing: ​https://wordpress.org/plugins/browse/beta/

Last time this came up, it was pointed out that some should remain as they were being used to iterate on further ideas post-merge. But a quick glance seem to say no, they're not.

I think a better idea is to simply add a "AND updated in the last 3 months" to the beta category.. that would take care of expiring unused plugins from the list, even if they're technically maybe still going to be used.

Reading the Slack conversation linked above, it sounds like a similar thought process played out there, but instead something along the lines of "If it hasn't been marked as tested-up-to a recent version of WordPress, reach out to the plugin authors to suggest closing it".. I think just hiding it from the listing achieves the same goal though.

[dd32]

Further to that, the Beta listing is already sorted by last-updated DESC, so updated plugins near the top.

Limiting it to plugins updated in the last 4 months (12 months / 3 releases a year, ~4) would limit the display currently to Gutenberg, Two Factor, and Preferred Languages.

It could be extended out to 12months and still have those 3 plugins actually..

(Plus Performance if/when that is added)

To me, it seems reasonable to just set a month cutoff, rather than playing with tested-up-to version numbers.

[desrosj]

All you have to do is email plugins@ to ask us to remove it

Sorry! It was my understanding that the plugins listed for beta testing was controlled on the WP.org API side, not the plugin moderation side.

While I am a member of the Core team and I think the request is reasonable, I was also hoping to discuss the request publicly and allow other team members and contributors to share what they feel should be listed here. If others feel strongly that never-merged feature plugins should remain (sorted to the bottom), I wouldn't object.

My goal with this ticket was not to close any of the plugins out on behalf of the owners, only to unlist them from the beta testing page. This will hopefully better direct contributor attention to the plugins that:

a) align with the project's current priorities
b) reflect where the core team is actively investing their time and efforts
c) are realistically going to be considered as a part of Core in the future

Last time this came up, it was pointed out that some should remain as they were being used to iterate on further ideas post-merge. But a quick glance seem to say no, they're not.

I'd say some of the plugins have continued to iterate (Gutenberg, Auto-updates), but the older ones definitely have not, and some have even updated their GitHub repos or readme files to indicate the plugin is no longer needed (Application Passwords, Better Code Editing).

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to desrosj:

The ​Performance Lab plugin should also be added to this page as it's an ​ongoing effort by an official Core group.

Right. Since there was an ​official release a while ago, I went ahead and added it to the Beta and Featured listings.

[dd32]

In 13139:

Plugin Directory: Limit the 'Beta' listing to plugins updated within 12 months.

Fixes #6316.