Terrence started off his most recent post with this quote:

I believe very strongly that one of the most important things a man possesses is his honor. There is a certain way to do things in life. A code to live by, if you will. It includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the following: don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal, be loyal, and have respect towards women. I feel that if you were to follow those simple tenets, you would be considered a good, honorable man.

There are reports that the main WordPress.org website was caught spamming. Google gives each site a value called a 'PageRank' that indicates how "important" it is on the web. A site with a high PageRank linking to another site can boost the value of the other site on Google searches. In any case, since every default installation of WordPress links back to the main WordPress website, the PageRank of Wordpress.org went up to an astounding 8.

With this great PageRank, the project manager of WordPress decided to create hidden links to 120,000 pages on the WordPress.org website which then linked to websites trying to sell stupid crap.

The project manager was paid for rendering these services. In essence, he whored out the high PageRank on wordpress.org which was generated in good faith for money. This is wrong.

"This isn't spamming"

I'm quite surprised by people who say this isn't spamming or that it isn't wrong. One of the Wordpress people wrote that this isn't spamming. He then uses a parochial definition of spam that basically boils down to "nobody actually had to deal with the mess."

So an analogy ... if a chemical company is polluting in the remote wilderness where nobody lives, is that still not a harmful thing?

Google enforces the spirit of the law. When you create a LINK to something, there is some implicit trust. I link to Terrence and Yush because I trust them not to write stupid crap that inflames the masses. I also want Google to know that Roy knows these people. Linking is the most critical part of making the web work (which was why there was this whole hubbub about Autolinking). When you do something stupid like hiding divs with links to bullshit articles, you are undermining the spirit of the Web.

When people linked back to WordPress from their default installation, they proudly wanted to show that they appreciated the project. They did not want the Googlejuice to be used for money.

It's all about the money, stupid

I run Tabulas pretty much on my spare time and money. I do not make money off of it - Google AdSense nets me roughly $220 a month, and there are roughly $500 in server fees. I don't mind paying the difference when paid (patron) accounts on Tabulas don't cover the fees - a cursory glance at any random Tabulas account makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Sure, I bitch about the lack of support for free services and the unrealistic expectations from time to time, but that does not change the fact that I violate the trust of my users when I whore out the site.

If Matt needed funds, he should of asked for a donation drive. Or he should of appealed to the community. Why engage in shady tactics which are so clearly wrong for money? It makes me very skeptical that he's doing it for the community, but rather for some other monetary purposes.

Act like a big man

I run Tabulas. I feel that this has taught me a lot about the way I'm expected to carry myself. Tabulas only exists because of the implicit trust between the users of Tabulas and myself. They trust me not to resell their e-mail address or go looking through the databases at their private entries. There have been times I have wanted to delete people's accounts, but I've never done that.

Tabulas defines my life, but my life does not define Tabulas. Tabulas is very much owned by all the users as much as I own it. In essence, it has outgrown me to a certain extent.

Matt acted like Wordpress was his. He decided at his discretion that engaging in shady tactics for money was OK. The ends do not justify the means here. Once you give something to a community, it is no longer 'yours.' It is theirs as well.

We all make mistakes

This is in no way a personal attack on Matt or anything Wordpress-affiliated, but I just feel the need to speak out on this subject. We all mistakes from time to time, but the fact that a mistake of this level was commited really sullies the reputation of the project.

I've commited many mistakes in my life when it comes to Tabulas, and I've learned from them all. Hopefully Matt learns from this mistake as well.

To anyone who is keeping up with this issue, it may seem like I'm jumping on the "hate mob" bandwagon, but I really am not. When 6A launched their new pricing structure, I was supportive. When LiveJournal was bought out by 6A, I was happy for them. When Yahoo! bought Flickr, I was happy for them.

The free web is a two-way street

I know that running these sites is very time-consuming. It's even tougher when you don't make money on it, and all you get are complaints or "questions" through your personal e-mail or blog. A lot of people simply do not realize how much work it is to run these sites; this is why I am quite dissappointed when I see negative reactions whenever sites get bought out. Do you really think Brad from LJ or the Flickr team would sell out their babies just to make millions of dollars? They sold them because that's what they thought was good for the project. The users would not support them, so they had to become a part of a corporate machine so the machine would support them.

I have had plenty nights where I've contemplated just throwing Tabulas on eBay and ridding myself of the burdens. Cash in my chips and move on with my life. But I don't.

If you are a free user of any free service, please consider sending financial support to your favorite website. Don't misconstrue this as an attempt to get more people paying for Tabulas. But a fundmamental misunderstanding that many web users have is that running these sites is somehow paid off by advertising. They are not. And the reason why sites end up getting shut down, bought out, or completely commercialized is because people are too selfish to donate a few dollars to their favorite sites. You realize a site with 10,000 active users could pay off all server fees (roughly) with a $2 donation from each user... once a year? But everyone thinks "somebody else will do it" which causes the problems.

Conclusions

What Matt did with WordPress.org was flat-out wrong. He engaged in tactics that go against the "spirit of the law" of the web (ironic that he writes a semantic web project yet he goes around trying to butcher up the value of a link). However, I know that what he did wasn't out of entire selfishness; a lot of it has to do with the fact that he probably doesn't get any financial support from the users of WordPress.org. I just wish he didn't engage in shady tactics to achieve those ends.

Not all web developers are out there to make a quick buck. We work because we believe in our sites. Don't leave us high and dry, users.