BuddyPress.org

I’m conflicted.

1. I’m happy there are multiple solutions for Ning users to import their data into BuddyPress.
2. I wish that everyone’s efforts were on making this a near-perfect option in the core package.

I firmly support Boone’s option because it aligns with my personal beliefs, but I appreciate that there is another option for people with beliefs that are different than mine.

Putting code behind the paywall just makes it hard for me to celebrate its success as much as I feel like I want to.

I’ll ask politely that this topic not turn into another debate please.

I believe in solutions – paid or free, it doesn’t matter. People have different needs. Those involved in the BuddyPress community have varying amounts of time that they can spend in the forums or writing plugins, etc. Permitting each other that kind of freedom is where true creativity flourishes, not under some kind of unspoken mandate of the collective. It’s time for the premium theme market and premium plugin market to be treated equally. If you purchase a beautiful WordPress theme that took weeks of design, creativity, and theming, nobody bats an eye. Code is poetry in this same sense. When someone writes a new plugin, his freedom to choose whether or not to sell it or give it away for free is really far more important than the plugin itself.

Even though we sell premium plugins, we also have loads of free resources and tutorials on our sites and promote all kinds of solutions, both paid and free. If I personally write a plugin, I like to give it away for free. That’s because I’m not a real programmer and I don’t have the ability to provide decent support. However, I fully support the right of extraordinarily talented people like Aaron or Andy or Boone to be paid for writing for BuddyPress or to give it away for free. All that to say that I’m grateful to many people in the BuddyPress community for their hard work, and it is none of my business how they are compensated or not compensated for it. I simply enjoy learning and building together. I’m sure that if we could all meet up and have a beer somewhere, we’d have far more mutual respect for the talents and liberties of others.

Amen, brother.

I would say freedom of choice is good