Timeline for Convince plugin authors to do their support here
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 28, 2010 at 1:10 | comment | added | Lemon Bacon | @MikeSchnikel "Might you not gain more in positive exposure than you will loose in control?" Perhaps once well established yes, but in a market dominated bu the likes of StudioPress (now part of the copy blogger group) etc and the likes of ThemeForest and other marketplaces its getting harder to get established. Take away the ability to make anything proprietary (ala GPL) and all you have left going for you is constant innovation, superior support and community.When that support and likewise the community is fragmented and beyond your control you have just lost 2/3 of your potential advantage. | |
| Nov 16, 2010 at 11:45 | comment | added | MikeSchinkel Mod | @Ash G - I hear you about the control issues. I think this is the issue all corporations are struggling with related to social media frankly. However, I ask the rhetorical question: "Might you not gain more in positive exposure than you will loose in control?" Something to consider... | |
| Nov 15, 2010 at 0:04 | comment | added | Lemon Bacon | @all "Where not being GPL does come into play would be with competitors and there is something to be said for having proprietary parts of code or designs." -- There are some who will view this as this start of a GPL debate. This is not my intention. This is not a statement defining my theming companies stance on GPL. This is not an invitation for a flame war or a debate on the merits of GPL. This is not the proper venue for such a discussion | |
| Nov 15, 2010 at 0:01 | comment | added | Lemon Bacon | @Jan Fabry Leaving the GPL or not debate out of things and assuming at worst the designs are not GPL but everything else is or at best everything is GPL, in either case community is everything. This is where GPL has its strength. IMO its the only way to be successful as a business running partial/full GPL. As such protecting that community and avoiding fragmentation is critical. This holds true for themes and plugins (I don't have plugins as of yet, but will likely do so in the future) | |
| Nov 15, 2010 at 0:00 | comment | added | Lemon Bacon | @Jan Fabry GPL or not you can't stop people from pirating your themes so in my opinion GPL is a non issue when it comes to development. Yes you could sue, but we have seen how well that works for the Music industry. Where not being GPL does come into play would be with competitors and there is something to be said for having proprietary parts of code or designs. (to be continued due to lack of space) | |
| Nov 14, 2010 at 23:55 | comment | added | Lemon Bacon | @MikeSchinkel "Is there a way to combine them and get the best of both worlds? Can you do some things on your site and some here? Can you (we) use the SE API to enable this?" My worry here is fragmentation, scalability and control. Re control: eventually as things grow I'll have staff hired to help with support I would then have to have them register accounts with SE and provide support here as well. Should something go wrong and I have to fire a member of the support staff I can remove their access from the support forums, I can't do that with SE | |
| Nov 13, 2010 at 12:25 | comment | added | Jan Fabry | @Ash G: Indeed, a premium theme will almost never be a good fit for Stack Overflow. I assume you can only "guard" your images and CSS, and your support, from free redistribution under the GPL? And I can also imagine that building a (separate) community is even more important for a premium plugin or theme, as this only adds value to the package. Do you also have premium plugins (where, I believe, it's even harder to split out non-GPL stuff - but IANAL, so correct me if needed)? What's your opinion on people asking for support here on premium plugins/themes? Is that a threat to your business? | |
| Nov 13, 2010 at 5:23 | comment | added | MikeSchinkel Mod | @Ash G - Those are great reasons not to have support here, can't really argue with them. On the other hand, you'll miss out from having people here getting exposure to your products. I'm here rather than blogging for the same reason. Similarly I've used Meetup.com rather than my own site because of how well that site markets my group to prospective members. So I'll ask: "Is there a way to combine them and get the best of both worlds? Can you do some things on your site and some here? Can you (we) use the SE API to enable this?" I don't know the answers, but figured I'd post the questions. | |
| Nov 13, 2010 at 1:32 | history | answered | Lemon Bacon | CC BY-SA 2.5 |