Hi Alec.

I am not suggesting removing all data when a plugin is deactivated and deleted.

Web Dorado, for example, has it as an extra feature. You need to manually request for data to be deleted and you then get a warning about how serious that is.

There would have to be a warning to novice users who did not understand the consequences.

Kevin

No problem Girish. Glad you found it useful.

I don’t think you have understood my article.

For example fully configuring our video player is a lot of work (not our fault, online video is complex). Of course it works out of the box but there are a lot of extra features.

If someone decided to delete the plugin and reinstall, having to configure all of those settings manually again would be a very poor user experience. So for this “delete data and settings” to work for users and not against them, WordPress.org would have to agree to include a process for deleting plugins with choices:

* keep data and settings
* delete data and keep settings
* delete data and settings (full delete)

As WordPress.org plugin support team seeks primitive solutions these days (the target audiences seems to be completely non-technical simpletons who have no business trying to manage a self-hosted CMS of any kind), Otto and Mika have decided that plugins should delete all data and settings all the time. As I mentioned above, that’s a colossal simplification and really user unfriendly. Until that changes, there is no good solution. If you want to protect a plugin’s settings while uninstalling it for awhile, the only safe way is to delete the plugin via FTP.

Too much simplicity sucks. Too much simplicity is for simpletons.

Yeah I definitely think this is a change that needs to come from the top. Plugins and themes leave a lot of garbage behind when you stop using them. It needs to stop.

Great comment Toni. I am glad I am not the only one who is concerned about the amount of garbage being left by WordPress themes and plugins.

Sounds like you will suffer from plugin bloat more than others if you are installing so many plugins. I’m surprised you haven’t learned how to install WordPress yet. It’s not that difficult. If you ever struggle with that and need a point in the right direction, drop by Rise Forums and I’ll walk you through the process. :)

Eliminating plugin garbage would dramatically reduce the WP Support Forum load. (It would decrease my visits.)

The most basic argument for complete plugin removal in WordPress is due to people like me: the dangerously adventurous or particular “developer”, amatuer, that is comfortably literate solely with the front-end of WordPress. One camp loves to try new things, the other wants to do something specific and has to try several similar plugins to find the right one. I belong to both camps. Even worse, both camps rely on plugins to do everything, even coding and database management, blindly thru the admin interface.

I’m extreme. I use an obscene amount of plugins in MultiSites. I even use MultiSites to put active plugins into smaller groups to reduce the workload and plug-in conflicts. I’ve done this for years. In the past I accepted that my entire set-up would eventually explode or disintegrate. All I can do is rebuild. As if infected with a virus, backups are not useful. I’ve mastered the game pretty well, with help I’ve keep the same installs for years now. But now I face the necessity of a clean reinstall to eliminate the garbage – I have no knowledge of installing WP, even with paid WP support and fierce desire to learn, it’s looks like a learning curve I don’t have a solid block of mental time for.

Plugins dominate my WP experience. Make it and break it. Empowering, so epic, and devastating, soul crushing.