WordPress and its Various WordPressness
The following is likely not to be proof read, corrected and what have you. Every now and then we can all use a good rant, and for now I’m going to go on about WordPress (and its various WordPressness).
Disclaimer: I am a WordPress user. A loyal one, and I love WordPress. I am biased, but then again so is everyone. If someone tells you they’re neutral, they’re just trying to lean you their way 
First, the things going on between Matt Mullenweg (one of the head WP developers) and the writers at Wisdump I need to address. I was away this weekend (WordPress saved me with letting a post out on Saturday) and came back to all of this, and here is the order, if you haven’t read nay of this:
- “Franky”, a writer for the oh-so-in-the-hole Wisdump wrote this article. To me, this article just says that Matt is a hypocrite and WordPress should become a charity. This article was actually totally, 100% hypocritical, but that’s something I’ll save for later. It says some other stuff, but again, back to the time line.
- I’m not totally 100% sure, but I believe David Krug, the head Splashpress minion for Wisdump slipped in “Dog, eat your dog food” before Matt replied next.
- Matt replies, sort of. To Franky, Matt “calls him out“. Originally I thought it wasn’t like that, but in an attempt to think of another description for it, it really is.
- Franky apologizes, for some reason, kind of. This post kind of threw me off guard.
First Off
The recent events of WLTC not promoting sponsored themes seemed to stir some stuff around in the world of blogging (see, I didn’t say blogosphere! Oops…). Matt supported them. A sponsored WordPress theme is when the author sells links on it to make money. They are basically spam links.
It kills me that Franky calls this an “honest living”. How can it be honest when you’re exploiting an open source app by taking advantage of the community for your own good? Using WLTC to promote the theme for your own monetary benefits is honest how?
I have released two free WordPress themes, with another one in the future. They were both promoted by WLTC, like many others. Neither had sponsored links, just one link back to me. I made absolutely no money off these themes, and that wasn’t my intention. I’ll be straight with you, I do it for the traffic in hopes out of the 2,000 or so viewers of the post, maybe 10-20 will become readers.
Now, Franky says Matt’s hypocrisy is even furthered by the default blogroll links leading to the Automattic teams respective blogs. Matt’s indirect response to this:
[...] any financial benefit I have had from my years of work on WordPress has nothing to do with the blogroll. This site has been free from any advertisements for close to two years. The purpose of the blogroll was to provide some friendly defaults to introduce people to the concept of editing the sidebar on the links page. Nothing there was ever paid for, done with the intention of gaming search engines, or for financial gain. Maybe it’s time to retire the blogroll, but that’s a separate discussion and I don’t want to mix people who volunteered their time to create free and open source software for the world with the guys promoting casino sites. I think it distracts from the real issues — let’s deal with the spammers first.
Can you argue with that response?
Now, David’s short post, which is to me link bait and there for the purpose of traffic. He says “Dog, eat your dog food”.
Initially, that could rattle some brains, but his point is if Matt supports the removal of sponsored themes from WLTC, then why should Automattic get free links on all default WP installs? Matt put that one to rest, but this is what I have to say:
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
Don’t call Matt a hypocrite, don’t stick your Splashpress sponsored nose into the open source business of WordPress and don’t attempt to use Matt Mullenweg, who is basically the face of WordPress, as leverage for traffic. UNLESS you get off of the software and move to an alternative.
If you have such a moral dilemma with the creators, move on to a company with an app that is ethically satisfying, to you.
Franky’s Voice
Last Wednesday I wrote about your blogging voice and how it changes from where you write. Who is Franky, really? From what I gathered, he’s just another Splashpress writer. What Matt was saying, I think, is who is Franky to call him out. Then again, who am I to call Franky out? Franky used Wisdump as his voice, and it provides a much better base to a post than say his deserted personal blog.
Writing on Wisdump, which was the former work of Paul Scrivens, basically uses Scrivs voice. Well, a little less than half his voice. Paul raised that blog to almost 8,000 readers and now it sits at the 3200 that have forgotten to unsubscribe.
So Who am I in all of this?
What place am I in to have an opinion in all of this? Well, I am a WordPress user. A contributer to the WordPress community. Someone who has released free WordPress themes without sponsored links. Someone who has written for Wisdump, and knows the differences in readership to that of anywhere else.
So what do I want out of this? First, to get it off my chest. I’d also like for this to be read by the participants of said post exchange, and possibly a reply. Angry responses I welcome, as long as it’s in the way of good discussion. And I’m not done yet.
WordPress and Digg/SBS/Viral Traffic
To lightly touch on the subject of WordPress blogs and large, burst like quantities of traffic, usually from a Digg or other large social bookmarking sites (SBS):
When a WordPress blog goes down, and users say “surprise, WP blog down” or “A WordPress blog up? that’s a first” the ignorance troubles me.
It’s not the software, it’s the owner of the site, people. Enable WP-Cache and get off BlueHost, you’ll be fine. If you think you might be dugg, email your host and tell them not to screw you over with some downtime. Even submit your stories yourself so you know they’re active.
In conclusion, I believe I have an interesting perspective on this, but in the end this is a rant. If I’ve said anything that might be regretted, I’ll deal with it, but I highly doubt it.
Update: Oops, forgot something. Franky said he was hurt by Matt’s reply several times. Certain replies come to mind:
- GTFO the internets
- go cry
Unfortunately this isn’t some game or IM, but a thicker skin should be applied before walking out into the land of calling out people, especially someone like Matt who has something to his name and a lot of respect in the community.
Leave a comment
John Stevens
July 16th, 2007 at 9:12 AM
I find this interesting, without knowing who the characters are you mention - except for Matt Mullenweg.
I commented on PhotoMatt’s post without knowing quite how fraught this whole thing was.
What seems to come out of it is the hysteria and deception of those who thought they had an easy line to moneymaking and the considered voice of those who have actually been abused.
Although it may not seem like it in the heat of the moment, the truth appears to almost everyone in the end and the jackals slope off.
The whole episode has been a good thing to weed out the parasites and snake-oil salesmen from something which has a deservedly high reputation, on the back of which they were hoping to ride.
I still do not, and do not care to know the people concerned with the seedier exploits, but they have done nothing but shoot themselves in the feet.
Have a nice day everyone, as I am informed people say in America.
Mark
July 16th, 2007 at 10:39 AM
IMO, Krug’s “Dog” post may have been what you say but I believe it was more of an attempt to divert attention and provide Krug with something that in his delusional mind would be an excuse for his behavior. Something along the lines of “Matt did it, so I did something too.” See what he said at Martin Neumann’s Blog.
This other sponsored theme deal, is bad business when some try to exploit it as John says above.
Franky’s just a “bit” player in the whole scenario…
David Krug
July 16th, 2007 at 11:37 AM
What’s hilarious is I’ve never released any theme, sponsored theme or otherwise.
My pingomatic experiment was a social experiment to increase natural backlinks. Nothing evil there. Perceived evil possibly but I take responsibility for my actions.
franky
July 16th, 2007 at 1:45 PM
I’m Franky. I’m a nobody who loves certain open source platforms. Wordpress being one of them.
I first must correct you. I have never mentioned anything about the blogroll, actually I have no problem with the core members benefiting that advantage. Heck, the have spent many many hours on creating and maintaining wordpress.ORG.
But now, wordpress.ORG isn’t that much open source [spirit] anymore. Just compare Automattic’s reign to Joomla or even Postnuke. Both are (forks and) foundations. Foundations where the community rules.
My apology? An apology because I wrote on a site using spammy tricks. I do not agree with that kind of tricks and felt really humble after Matt called me out. If I were aware of the pingomatic train wreck I’d never have written for Wisdump.
Honest living? It all depends on the nature of sponsored links. I have seen absolute awesome sponsored designs with only on link. 98% of the themes in the theme viewer are crap, and that is not related to them being sponsored or not.
I know several designers who release sponsored themes, and I’ll be the first one to defend those people because theit themes are rock solid.
They create awesome themes and also have a rather high price. I’ve never seen any adult/casino/whatever link of them in a release package either.
franky
July 16th, 2007 at 1:46 PM
Btw, I like your Cutline style.
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