Don't Back Down

Recently I have received a number of comments about how MT-Notifier appears to be working fine, and then suddenly stops functioning. The most often factor in this change is a larger number of subscribers. That is to say, things are working fine with a few subscribers, but as that number increases to hundreds, so to do the apparent failures of the system.

Let me say that I don't know what causes this. I haven't seen the problem personally, and I know of at least one installation that has a very large number of subscriptions that continues to work fine. This would lead me to believe that it's a resource issue. Specifically, I think that much of it may have to do with the use of the PluginData table.

This table is designed to store settings in Movable Type. That is, to allow a plugin to keep some information that it might need to access later. It is my opinion, due to recent incidents, that this table is designed for basic settings only. As the size of the table grows, the processing of the table becomes much more inefficient and eventually just seems to stop functioning altogether (in reality, it's just really, really slow).

Unfortunately, adding a number of subscriptions to MT-Notifier then has the effect of killing the notification function. When it began, the MT-Notifier record was relatively simple, but as features have been added, the storage has become more complex, contributing even more to the problem.

Please realize that this is purely conjecture. I've done some work on other systems, which were very overloaded because of the use of PluginData (though not specifically with MT-Notifier) and removing this table from the equation has fixed the issues. I have not looked at any of the systems that are reporting problems, but because of the (increasing) number, it seems as likely an explanation as any - especially when nothing else has changed in the interim.

Where does this lead? To the next version of MT-Notifier. I have planed for a while to create separate tables for MT-Notifier to use, as that will speed processing dramatically (as well as significantly lessen the complexity of the code). That's not really the issue.

The issue is that I am having an increasingly difficult time dedicating time to the development (and, more specifically, maintenance and support) of plugins. I'll be straightfoward with you - much of it is because there is no financial reward in me doing so. As such, I need to do things that generate income, and I have a difficult time putting those things off in favor of something that does not do so. I hope that makes sense to most of you.

That leaves me with a decision to make about the future of MT-Notifier.

One option is to run a Dropcash-style campaign to raise a particular amount of money. This is probably my least favorite method, because quite frankly the amount would be so large that it wouldn't be worthwhile - essentially I'd be charging for my time up-front. With little idea of the specifics involved, I'd probably estimate that effort pretty badly. Even if I was accurate, the amount would probably be somewhat prohibitive.

The second option is a form of licensing. There are at least three ways to proceed with this. One is a smaller licensing fee for all users. The second is a free "personal" version, with inherent limits and then a third option is to only require licenses for commercial users, with higher fees being charged. Because of the management issues involved, I'm leaning towards the first option. First, the fees are smaller - meaning more licenses. Second, I don't have to worry about managing two different versions, or figuring out who is and who is not a commercial user.

The third option is to provide the software for free but require a subscription of some sort for any support issues. This also appeals to me, as it means that if you can use the software as-is, that's great. But if you need help installing it or getting it to work or troubleshooting or whatever, that will cost. Others could provide this service as well, which diminishes the appeal to me - why pay my rates when you can pay someone else much less, for instance.

The final option is to simply not develop MT-Notifier any longer and let someone else take it up (if they should be interested in doing so). I believe that it is licensed in such a way that this would be doable for just about anyone, whether I decide on this avenue officially or not. This requires me to give up my "baby". Not sure how I feel about this option.

As a result, I think I'm leaning mostly towards a small licensing fee per installation. But I'm not sure. I realize that many scenarios require a payment of some sort. That's the point. I am at a point where I cannot dedicate the time without some form of financial reward involved. That means either that needs to happen, or I need to move on to other things. I'm curious about your opinion. Any thoughts out there?