Ric

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MacManx,
I did post a reply on my blog, but as you said I may still post here, I must disagree with you.
I did approach Matt via email first, but perhaps I lack eloquence.
I think this should be public so as to be democratic.
However, I am willing to listen to your suggestion to settle this. I will be available for a conference call for all the seniors involved if someone wants to set it up (Matt has my number)

Amused,
Thank you for the considered reply. Sorry I got hot under the collar.
Now it is my turn to come over to your side of the fence: In some ways you are right. In fact, Matt pointed out some similar arguments when I first contacted him.
Let me explain each in it’s own part:
1) Yes we do buy domains – to give to Open Communities. Because we control HOW these domains are used (for example we require no SPAM), we can be viewed as black hats.
2) WordPress.Com already exists. People will type in dot com habitually – I can not do anything about this. Because of that, we should use the domain for something.
3) I am different from phishers cuz I buy the domains from the squatters so that other people may use them. At Matt’s request, I have posted a declaration that we are not affiliated with WordPress development (yet).
4) It is against the bylaws of the OpenDomain program to sell a domain. This was set up so we would not be ‘tempted’. If we could sell the domain, logically it should go to the highest bidder, and that way we can donate the most money to ww.wp.xz.cn. Of course the highest bidder might put up something really bad.
5) You are very right not to trust me. I have never broken my word, but I have no clue who you are or your intentions, so I offer no promises. I did offer the domain to Matt, but of course there are strings attached. I DO trust Matt, even though I really do not know him, but I have to make sure what happens to the domain. For example, the blogging software B2 became abandoned and eventually Matt made WordPress. We want to make sure this does not happen with WordPress.Com

Why can I not ‘give’ it to the community like I am trying to do? I invite any WP developer to join in developing the site. We can make our discussions democratic and public. We can have an Open book, so everyone can see where the money comes from and where it goes. Not only that, we are willing to take the backseat and let the real WP community drive the site (We are Microsoft developers, and though the WordPress software is easy to use, we have no business playing with Linux)

How about that?

Dear Amused,

I TRY to be open minded and accept all input, but your ignorance puts me to the test. I set up the OpenDomain program specifically to help protect from Squatters.

1) I can give several examples of domains that we have given to the Open community.
2) None of our domains have ANY type of revenue – no ads, no pop-ups, nothing.
3) The average cost of each domain is $3800. This is my own personal money. You have hidden you identity, so I can not know if you have done ANYTHING for WordPress.
4) It is obvious you know less about Open Source than I do (not very much). In my opinion, people donate as they see fit. Some people are great coders, some people can test, some do great on documentation. Because I got burned a few years back by squatters, it is my ambition to help in my way – by giving domains.
5) I bought this domain off an obvious squatter less than one month ago. You had the chance to buy this yourself, but did not.
6) We are offering for the WP community to help drive this site. I can just simply setup a hosting service, or advertising, or even pr0n if I wanted. Instead, I am trying to help.

To prove I am honest I can put it this way:
I have NOT hidden my identity or my intentions. If any member of the development team would like to use this WordPress.Com as intended by the OpenDomain program, I will let any democratic community use instead.

So, I am not AMUSED.

Sorry to everyone else for the rant, but I DO NOT LIKE BEING CALLED A SQUATTER.

Ryan,
NOBODY knows ‘free’ is a bad business model than me. Trust me, I know.

We were looking into the model that wordpressblogs and blogthing have set up – Instant WordPress blogs supported by advertising. Another great idea is what Podz does – free installs on a client’s server in the hope they will contact the WP Pro for more work in the future.

I thought the whole idea of Open was that people could contribute in their own way. Anyone can set up a server, generate revenue, and donate as they see fit. I do know why ww.wp.xz.cn or anyone else has set up commercial support for WP yet, but there has been plenty of requests for it. We are NOT WordPress experts, but we do have experience in business ventures. WordPress dot Com gets a large amount of traffic because people expect it – we should not throw that away.

That is the crux of my point: WordPress.Com already exists. I think we SHOULD use it, and it SHOULD have a different function from ww.wp.xz.cn. Setting up a commercial site for WP is a GOOD thing. I am looking for help and advice from the community on setting it up. I can even let Matt use the domain as he sees fit as part of the OpenDomain program or even a democratic board voted by WP developers.

One of the weird things of the internet is that people form opinions without all of the facts – or even without even so much as emailing the person in question (me!)
Please see my reply at
http://wordpress.com/archives/2005/01/26/about-wordpresscom/#comments