Smilies debate going on

[Otto]

FYI, WordPress 2.9 has a minor debate going on over here: http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/10145

Basically, they replaced the old smilies with new ones from this plugin:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tango-smilies/

The change got pushed to wp.com early, with some annoyed people chiming in:
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/new-smilies

I noticed it on my test blog when it got updated, and I've made a plugin for 2.9-rare users to undo the damage:
http://ottodestruct.com/blog/wordpre...assic-smilies/

At this point, I'm of two minds:

1. Put the smileys back and have some form of vote or something to determine this. Just replacing something that's been in there since almost the beginning (matt checked in the graphics himself 4 years ago) without any debate sucks rocks.

2. Smilies shouldn't be in the core anyway. If there can't be consensus on what set to use, remove them all. Let plugins do it. Package a default plugin if you like, but the normal case for customizations that are based on opinions is that WP leaves them to plugins.

Not sure which I like better. I do know that I think the new smilies are ugly as hell, and I'm using my own plugin to eliminate them on my sites currently. I was more than a little annoyed when I updated a site and found that it now had these hideous graphics on it. A WordPress upgrade modified my actual content. Not happy about that at all.

[andrea_r]

Agreed with #2 - love smilies to death (obviously :D ) and have always wished that the management thereof was... better. A nifty plugin woudl be great. then I can pick my own, add more, delete some - whatever.

[Martin]

For default smilies they should have kept the original.

[Cais]

Just my thoughts ... for the default smilies they should keep the format as GIF, the Tango/GNOME smilies are in PNG format.

There are still enough older (read: lte IE6) installed browsers being used that the PNG transparency issues in these older browsers should be addressed; or, is the core getting backward compatibility code for images added as well?

[BinaryMoon]

So am I the only person who likes the new smileys?

I agree that WordPress shouldn't be changing our content without our permission but I do think this is a bit of a "mountain out of a molehill" situation. However I also agree with those who think smileys should be removed and replaced with a plugin. I always thought it was strange that WordPress had smileys built in.

[Dan Schulz]

Sorry everyone, but I need to rant a bit...

<rant>

What's this about "permission" being needed? It's Matt's project, if Automattic wants to make a change to WordPress, it's their right to.

If you don't like what they're doing, take advantage of the GPL, fork WordPress and call it something else.

Either that or use a Plugin to change the appearance/functionalithy to match your needs.

Seriously - we're not entitled to this kind of pampering because we don't own the project.

</rant>

[Otto]

Dan: This is a community, not a dictatorship.

[itsananderson]

My thought is that updating to newer smileys would be nice. Totally removing the ability to have the older ones isn't cool though. Even if it has to be done in wp-config, it should be possible to keep the older ones.

[Dan Schulz]

Dan: This is a community, not a dictatorship.

Yes, it is a community. A community that was developed around an individual's idea for a product that was forked from another open source project.

Just as this forum is a community. However, the forum is owned by Jeff. If Jeff were to decide he wanted to ditch vBulletin for say... SMF, would he need our permission to do so? Of course not - it's his site. Just as WordPress is Automattic's product.

Just because a community evolves around a product, service or idea, the community is not automatically entitled to ownership of the offering. At the end of the day, it's the people who make the decisions that decides what happens, not the community members. What the community can do is decide if the changes are positive or negative, and then act accordingly (either by continuing to use the offering, or switching to something else).

It's that simple.

Now, that being said, communities that are developed around open source projects have a larger amount of influence than those that grow around closed-source projects simply because they can actively contribute. As a member of an open source community, if you don't like something, you have a few choices.

• Do nothing and accept it.
• Become involved in the active development of the project.
• Quit and do nothing (or use something else).
• Fork the project, create your own version wih the changes you want, and offer it under your own brand name (like Matt essentially did with WordPress).

Only with the last option do you actually take an ownership stake in the project. And when you own the project, you get to call the shots. If people like what you've done, they'll start using and contributing to your project. If they don't... well see the list above.

[chipbennett]

Dan: This is a community, not a dictatorship.

Once again, the point is proven that (for better or for worse), WordPress is NOT a community project. It is an Automattic/Matt Mullenweg project.

Perhaps a more beneficial debate to take place would be one that centers around how WordPress can (or whether it should) become a true community project.