Comments for Weblog Tools Collection

Comment on WordPress Theme Releases for 11/19 by ankurya

ankurya — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:53:25 +0000

New themes are god for starters but difficult for people who already have an existing site..will still give them all a try

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http://mobilania.com/

Comment on The New P2 Is Awesome by ankurya

ankurya — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:50:31 +0000

i would definitely give it a try

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http://mobilania.com/

Comment on Is Automattic Evil? by MattAlgren

MattAlgren — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:41:02 +0000

This post is disappointing. Why didn't you just ask why Automattic is so awesome and get it over with? It would be more honest than suggesting that people who don't have WordPress-certified knee pads are big meanies who think Mullenweg is evil.

And the response, of course, is predictable. Rather than honest discussion about what Automattic is doing right or wrong, people have been led (quite well) to just label the company as "good", which is some jim dandy positive buzz for Mullenweg and his crew. I suppose that's what happens when 95% of your posts are WordPress-centric.

Personally, I think WordPress is a great product. I'm not a fan of putting all my security eggs in one basket, so I stay clear of Akismet, and I have no use for most of the other properties. I use Disqus rather than Intense Debate mostly because of personal preference, but a little bit of the original decision was because I'd rather encourage Disqussion than the flame war evoked by Intense Debate's logo.

Anyway, I hope you'll approach future posts with a bit more honesty.

Comment on Is Automattic Evil? by Brian Carnell

Brian Carnell — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:02:06 +0000

Not sure if WP is evil, but this article was definitely stupid. Not a single example of someone calling WP "evil." As other posters have said, I suspect you think vociferous criticism of this or that decision is the same thing as calling WP "evil."
My recent post MacLeans on Albino Killings in Tanzania

Comment on WordPress Wins Best Open Source CMS Award for 2009 by David

David — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:23:48 +0000

The award is nice, but I think Wordpress should be more focused on enhancing security and speeding up/slimming the platform.

It's so easy to have fun and add cool new features like a color-coded text editor and image editor, but if you're really going to be professional about this, security and speed should be Job Number One. I want Wordpress to be ROCK solid and FAST. Unfortunately, this is not the case and there are sites I create where I have to use alternative CMS packages.

Comment on WordPress Wins Best Open Source CMS Award for 2009 by Peng Zhang

Peng Zhang — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:24:35 +0000

Big hooray! I am so happy for the WordPress community, and thank you Matt and the team.

Comment on Is Automattic Evil? by Briefcases

Briefcases — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:17:36 +0000

It is a shame that people have to bash such a good guy. Where would blogging be without the free wordpress platform? I guess people are just jealous of him or just naturally overly critical of anyone in the public spotlight. I don't know much about automattic, but it sounds like they are just trying to make a living while they continue to help the wordpress community. I don't see anything wrong with that.

Comment on Is Automattic Evil? by Jeffro

Jeffro — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:25:34 +0000

Would love to see those links pointing towards evilness. The more examples the better. I want to understand why people would think the company or the person to be evil.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time I checked, no one was banning anyone for charging for their plugins. Matt has stated he has no problem selling themes or plugins. He thinks some models are better than others but to this day that I'm aware of, he has not demanded anyone take down a plugin or theme that is for sale.

I mentioned in the article that Automattic is a huge contributor to WordPress and they have turned alot of their commercial services into free, GPL plugins. Pretty stupid of a company to do from a common sense standpoint because you are releasing code to enable others to compete directly against you, with your own code. What is the evilness in that?

What is your point with Automattic receiving venture capital funding? They have been able to pay people to work full time on WordPress and contribute resources to the project with that funding.
My recent post New York Matt Mullenweg Interview

Comment on Is Automattic Evil? by Jeffro

Jeffro — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:19:58 +0000

Nah, I know criticism when I see or hear it. Even if it's tough criticism. But when it consists of bashing, consistent bashing, there is no criticism achieved. Plus, I've heard people just refer to both as evil with no criticism. That's just the way they think of either Matt or Automattic.

He doesn't lead Automattic, he is one heck of a BBQ taste tester though. Toni Schneider is CEO of Automattic and handles the decisions their. I'm sure Matt has input, especially with acquisitions but I'm sure Matt doesn't pull all the weight at the company.

I'm part of that fictional and non quotable community. So are you, and everyone else using the WordPress software. I have no problem with the way the project and the site is run. The stuff between you and him is not personal, just business related. Personally, I think his two requests have merit. He has not demanded that you stop your business but rather change a few things because of the reasons he outlined. Considering that this was all over a few links being removed from a website, not sure it's such a big fuss.

My recent post New York Matt Mullenweg Interview

Comment on Is Automattic Evil? by Jeffro

Jeffro — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:06:29 +0000

Automattic doesn't release updates, WordPress.org releases updates for WordPress. Don't take this the wrong way but if you're a consultant with clients that pay you to upgrade their sites when it's needed, I see no reason to complain since you are being paid to do it. Just imagine if WordPress had an automatic upgrade so you could make money without the whole upgrading shindig!

My recent post New York Matt Mullenweg Interview

Comment on Is Automattic Evil? by Jeffro

Jeffro — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:01:20 +0000

There are those who contribute to the cause because they want to with no financial benefit. Those that do this for financial benefit shouldn't be developing for free but rather charging for their time or work. Pushing donations to developers I guess is a good thing, but if those developers are in it for the money, just charge upfront and never rely on donations as a financial support model.
My recent post New York Matt Mullenweg Interview

Comment on Is Automattic Evil? by Jeffro

Jeffro — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:58:40 +0000

I was actually hoping for those that stand by their claims of either or being evil and then telling me why they feel that way. I'm about sick of hearing it so I wanted them to come out of the woodwork so I could chat with them.

My recent post New York Matt Mullenweg Interview

Comment on Is Automattic Evil? by Jeffro

Jeffro — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:50:36 +0000

We know that is not the case. They are backing the Azure project but are not moving their stuff towards it. If they did however, I would judge based on the outcome, not on the history of both companies.
My recent post New York Matt Mullenweg Interview

Comment on Is Automattic Evil? by Jeffro

Jeffro — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:49:30 +0000

Just in case,
My recent post New York Matt Mullenweg Interview

Comment on Is Automattic Evil? by goofydg1

goofydg1 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:28:43 +0000

I don't understand how people could characterize them as evil with all the WordPress has brought to the digital world. Its been a very good relationship.
My recent post Twitter Updates for 2009-11-19

Comment on WordPress Theme Releases for 11/19 by Hawtin Abstract Art

Hawtin Abstract Art — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:13:37 +0000

Nice I really like the new folio template, I will have to try that out. I am wondering though about the wpClassifieds, does it require extensions to have that capability? It looks like it is equipped with everything that it needs. I'll try that one out too. Thanks for the recommendations.
My recent post If you register your site for free at

Comment on Is Automattic Evil? by wank

wank — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:03:59 +0000

This. I could probably point them to a couple of links arguing for the evilness of Automattic, if they wanted it to look as if the article were founded upon a genuine debate, but then I wouldn't want to inflict the inevitable flood of indignant fanboys upon anyone

Evil's a strong word. I have serious reservations about some of Automattic's business practices: charging for commercial use of their own plugins whilst effectively banning other plugin authors from doing the same does seem to me strangely at odds with the central ideals of open source, and the dictatorial 'your code MUST be free because WE say so' attitude is something I still find very hard to reconcile with the concept of… well, freedom. GPL wasn't designed as a tool to maintain monopolies and keep down potential rivals — pretty much the opposite, in fact — but Automattic are not above using it as such. It's not evil — they have a duty to their investors to make as much money as the can, and, let's face it, when did the 'community' ever give them thirty million dollars? — but it's often disappointing.

Comment on Is Automattic Evil? by John

John — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:06:41 +0000

Personally, I think automattic is evil. So I will go and build my own blogging platform and create my own plugins and build my own community and it will be good because I'm not evil.

Comment on Is Automattic Evil? by @joelgoodman

@joelgoodman — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:44:20 +0000

Are you kidding? Automattic could have chosen to go the way of TypePad an locked down everything, but instead they open a lot of their projects up for the community to have. This "all or nothing" mentality doesn't make sense in the case of separate entities under a company umbrella.

No one is obligated to give their assets and hard work away to a community. And, IMO, even less obligated when they have been generous enough to do that with some of their projects.
My recent post As Of Late

Comment on How Do You Do That? by Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:13:19 +0000

Denzel – thanks, but doesn't quite do what I (and others who have requested it) need it to do. The fantasy plugin would allow people to upload their own image, then people would rate it 1 to 10, with each rating automatically advancing the user to the next image.

Free (and incredibly difficult to install) script here: http://destiney.com/php#Destiney_rated_images as an example. If I could write the plugin I would because I've seen many people in wordpress forums ask about this functionality.