All posts by Matt

Plugin Authors Get No Love

WordPress

One interesting thing in the whole adware themes discussion is the people claiming if we require GPL it’ll kill the number and quality of themes out there, that the best themes have ads in them, that they couldn’t make themes if they weren’t getting the SEO gaming money, et cetera and so on.

There are two types of WordPress add-ons, themes and plugins. Are there any similarities?

  1. Plugins are just as hard or harder to write and design as themes.
  2. All plugins in our directory are required to be GPL or compatible.
  3. Plugin authors almost never get links on the front-end of a blog.
  4. I’m not aware of any plugins that bundle advertising with the intention of gaming search engines, like themes are.

Despite all of this, the plugin ecosystem around WordPress is flourishing, especially since we made the plugin directory, and hundreds have been added. It seems any of the doomsday scenarios people are expecting to happen to themes would have happened to plugins years ago. If ad-bundled themes really are better, a suggestion I find insulting to all those who volunteer their time for WordPress, then maybe they should start their own theme directory with only adware themes and they should get a ton of traffic.

(And just to respond to the title, I think plugin authors get tons of love, and hopefully we can help them get more with upcoming revisions to the plugin directory.)

Showing Arrogance

Asides

Matthew Mullenweg Continues to show his arrogance — “WordPress isn’t even true XHTML or XML script or code, It’s PHP Script. and this is why it is so easy to hack. From what I’ve gathered, Blogger is a True blue XML Blog. For those that don’t know this, PHP script, is the same script that is used by your PhpBB message boards. and anyone with any kind of good computer knowledge, knows that PhpBB is *very* easy to be hacked. VBulletin is a classic example, as is InvisionFree.” Work has already begun to ensure version WordPress 3.0 will be in True Blue XML.

NYC Meetup Update

Asides, WordPress

Based on the comments on the last entry I think we’re going to kick off the April 11 meetup at Bryant Park at 6:30, and if needed migrate for drinks at 8 PM when the park closes to someplace like Heartland Brewery on West 43rd. How’s that sound to the New Yorkers in the audience? Update: Scott says “The northwest corner of the park is the most accessible (south of the Starbucks, east of the Verizon shop). Plus that’s where the coffee is.” That’s where we’ll meet. I’ll be in a beige overcoat and green shirt.

Dave Chappelle

Uncategorized

Glenda and I just ran into Dave Chapelle in the new mall on Market Street in San Francisco. That’s pretty neat in and of itself, as he’s a funny dude, but what struck me more was how darn polite he was.

We got to the escalator at the same time and we stopped to let him on but he insisted we go first even though his friend was already ahead of us. Once we were on the escalator we realized who he was, confirmed by someone on the opposite escalator saying his name in surprise. I dorked out and snapped a quick photo with my Blackberry. As we started to walk away he called out and I turned around and tried to figure out why in the world Chappelle would be calling us, it turns out Glenda had dropped her parking ticket and he picked it up and gave it to her.

So not only was he polite and unassumming, he saved us $30. Someone’s mother raised him right. I don’t know what he was doing hanging out in a mall in San Francisco with a skateboard, but I sure hope he had a nice night too.

Premium Gas

Uncategorized

I had twittered about giving my car premium gas after it passed 100,000 miles, and Christian Montoya emailed me this note which I think you guys might find interesting:

I just wanted to let you know that this is a dangerous thing! The difference between regular, plus and premium gas is the octane rating… 87, 91, and 93 if I remember correctly. Every car has its own rating, and I am going to guess that your car is 87 or 91. A lot of people think that giving a car a higher grade of gas is a way to give it “extra treatment,” but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. The higher octane rating means that the gas *burns hotter*, and if you give an 87 octane car 93 octane gas, you are making the combustion process burn much hotter than what the engine is designed to handle, making the car wear out much faster! If you gave your car premium gas every day it would wear out sooner than expected, and giving it premium gas even one day (like a birthday) is not a present at all. If you want your car to last as long as possible, stick to the octane rating it calls for.

I hope this helps! From a reader (and engineer) to you… no more Premium, okay?

Update: Be sure to check out the comments, a ton of great feedback.