MaxBlogPress Plugins Removed From WP Repository

[chipbennett]

I haven't had a chance to respond yet, but just noticed that Pawan left the following comment on my blog post regarding the MaxBlogPress plugins:

And finally, I don’t have a problem with you supporting your work though subscriptions to your email newsletter. I have a problem with you forcing users to register and to subscribe to that newsletter after they have downloaded, installed, and activated the plugin. Either make the newsletter subscription opt-in optional at that point, or else require the registration/email subscription as a prerequesite for downloading the plugin in the first place.

Once users have taken possession of your plugin (i.e. once they have downloaded it), you no longer have any right to compel them to do anything in order to use it – including registering or subscribing to an email newsletter. On the other hand, you are fully within your rights to require registration and/or email newsletter subscription as a condition for downloading the plugin in the first place.

The difference might seem subtle, but it is critical.

I thought deeply on this and now decided to make the optin form optional. We are working on all the plugins to reflect this new change.

I am glad you acknowledge that the registraion form is critical to support all the free developments we are doing and we don't imply everything forcefully. Ok, the registration form may seem forceful but I look it as a way of paying in some other medium, which means users must pay in that medium to get access to the plugin. I had also put a way out for the users if they didn't like my newsletter.

Anyway, I'm now making the optin form optional so it won't be problem for the users.

So, wow - did I just get MaxBlogPress to change course completely?

Was it our comments-thread debates all over the internet? Was it having his plugins yanked from the repo? Was it the realization that the fork of one of his plugins has already had almost 1,500 downloads? Was it the release of a plugin to circumvent his registration/subscription code?

Who knows? Regardless, I'll be interested to see his new implementation.

And then, what becomes of my plugins? Oh well, at least I learned a lot through the process!

[Ryan]

And then, what becomes of my plugins? Oh well, at least I learned a lot through the process!

You get brownie points! Or at least you do from me anyway!

I think it's quite honourable that you went to that much hassle, despite announcing that you had no idea what the hell you were doing. It's a lot of work figuring out this sort of stuff if you haven't done a lot of it before, and you seemed to be doing it purely to be helpful which is just terrific :)

[andreasnrb]

Who knows? Regardless, I'll be interested to see his new implementation.

And then, what becomes of my plugins? Oh well, at least I learned a lot through the process!

What about me teaching you? Learning is good and you learned stuff about PHP most devs don't know.
Don't underestimate the value of knowledge =).

[chipbennett]

You get brownie points! Or at least you do from me anyway!

I think it's quite honourable that you went to that much hassle, despite announcing that you had no idea what the hell you were doing. It's a lot of work figuring out this sort of stuff if you haven't done a lot of it before, and you seemed to be doing it purely to be helpful which is just terrific :)

I appreciate that! Brownie points are nice, but finding a way to be helpful is even nicer.

What about me teaching you? Learning is good and you learned stuff about PHP most devs don't know.

Don't underestimate the value of knowledge =).

Indeed, I had a great teacher! ;)

And, the end result is, should I find an opportunity to meet a need with a plugin, I have a bit more confidence now that I might actually be able to implement it.

Ultimately, though, I would think that the biggest story here would be Pawan's decision to make the registration optional. Whatever his reasons were, that's a pretty big change of direction!

[andreasnrb]

Yup. He adapts to the market =)

[chipbennett]

And a question of philosophy/principle:

If the MaxBlogPress plugins were removed from the repository because of the forced registration/email subscription - but then that registration/email subscription was changed to be optional, should the plugins be allowed back into the repository?

My initial answer is: it would depend on the implementation.

It seems, though, that Pawan has emailed Mark (Repository Moderator), and got the following reply:

Hi,
The plugins will not be relisted.
There are no changes that can be made, they are not going to be relisted.
-
Mark

What are your thoughts?

It seems to me that a one-strike-and-you're-out rule is being applied here, when no such rule exists.

Wouldn't the more-correct approach be to say, "let me see the changes you've made, and then we'll decide"?

This is the second decision of Mark's in the past couple weeks that I have disagreed with.

[andreasnrb]

Hmm there seems to be a lot of unwritten rules.
I don't really like that.

[Ryan]

Either not enough rules, or that poor Mark guy is horridly over worked and needs a hand approving and removing plugins.

[Ryan]

Here's the list of rules for the plugin repository:

* Your plugin must be GPL Compatible.
* The plugin most not do anything illegal, or be morally offensive (that’s subjective, we know).
* You have to actually use the subversion repository we give you in order for your plugin to show up on * this site. The WordPress Plugins Directory is a hosting site, not a listing site.
* The plugin must not embed external links on the public site (like a "powered by" link) without explicitly asking the user's permission.

Perhaps the one I highlighted is sufficient to have it kicked out for good. It breached that rule (albeit a subjective one) and so has been given the permanent boot.

The more I think about it, the more I agree with it. If the developer did something "morally offensive" once, it doesn't mean they won't do it again, even if they did fix it.

This is getting into grey territory here IMO. I'm not sure I would say anything wrong was done at all, just something that some may or may not consider the best solution.

[andreasnrb]

Well one time is no time two times is a habit or how the saying goes.