Michel Fortin’s latest blog article titled “Is WordPress Making a Wrong Move?” is reprinted here. [Read the Article]


Michel Fortin’s latest blog article is reprinted here.

Is WordPress Making a Wrong Move?

Sherman Hu is not only a friend, but he’s also a fine marketer, a savvy businessman and the creator of WordPressTutorials.com. And I love what he’s done.

He offers hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of videos, tons of articles and a cool community of people who want to learn how to make the best use of their WordPress blogs. Commercial or not.

I’m also a member and his videos have helped me greatly, and I highly recommend them. But apparently, WordPress doesn’t.

Here’s the story…

Matt Mullenweg, lead developer at WordPress, claims they sent Sherman a cease and desist letter, asking him to stop violating WordPress’ trademark and intellectual rights – apparently for using the word “WordPress” in their domain name.

(But it’s more than that, and I’ll come back to that later.)

Now, something seems dreadfully wrong, here. First of all, WordPress’ interpretation of the law is somewhat skewed… And perhaps biased, too.

I’m far from being an intellectual property lawyer, but the premise of it all is to protect WordPress’ brand and good name. But when you read what they said over at WordPress as to why they are doing so, you can sense that something smells a little fishy.

Don’t get me wrong. I love WordPress. It’s the best blogging platform I’ve ever used, and I recommend it highly. And I love Sherman’s videos, too. They’re absolutely fantastic, and they’ve helped me out a few times to customize my own blog.

But something about this whole situation doesn’t make sense. See, the story is a little complicated. In short, WordPress is attempting to flex their legal muscles to implement their trademark policy and protect their name from being used – or in this case, misused.

But Michael Campbell makes some pretty compelling points on his Internet Marketing Secrets blog. And I agree with them.

For example, the trademark in this specific case protects the software, or the name or the business (to prevent others from using the same name, taking customers away and losing its commercial value).

But in this situation, it particularly does not extend to training materials, which fall under “fair use” of the law.

If it was a violation, that would stop courses, private schools and tutorials of all kinds, including the “For Dummies” and “Idiot’s Guide” series of books, from existing. But you see, it’s not. And that’s why tutorials exist.

Edited: Again, I’m not a lawyer. But there are exceptions to this, where tutorials cannot use the trademarked name unless given written permission.

But I can see why Matt is doing this.

He’s trying to protect the value of the WordPress brand and, according to Matt, “stop scammy and snake oil” sites. That’s commendable. Especially since WordPress is open source and such an awesome blogging software that can be misused and abused by a few unscrupulous people.

But here’s what makes me scratch my head…

Clamping down on scammers is one thing. But accusing Sherman as being a scammer simply because he uses copywriting and affiliate marketing to sell his courses? That is another issue altogether.

Some hints were made as to their reasoning. According to Campbell, WP said that they find “affiliate marketing distasteful.” That’s a strong statement, if you ask me. And also that Sherman is “taking advantage of a lack of good documentation in Open Source community software.”

Windows is sufficiently documented, isn’t it? But it doesn’t stop publishers to print books on how to use it, or computing magazines offering how-to tips, tutorials and tricks for using and maximizing Windows.

Edited: Ditto, here. I was wrong. Windows may have approved these companies to use their name or sold a license to use it. I commend WordPress for protecting their rights. But to enforce those rights on websites that use a trademark simply because, apparently, they appear “scammy” is not a great move.

In my opinion, such libel could hurt WordPress in the long term, if not from the simple backlash this will create.

But admittedly, this seems a lot less venomous and hypocritical than Weblogs, Inc.’s Jason Calacanis accusing PayPerPost.com of being a “cancer” to the blogosphere.

But it could be similar. Apparently, Calacanis is accusing PayPerPost of a lack of transparency, when PPP is somewhat of a competitor to Weblogs.

So when you think about it and look at the whole situation a little closer, WordPressTutorials.com is indeed taking advantage of WP’s lack of documentation. However, they are a legitimate business selling a much-needed product. Not a scam.

But admittedly, they are offering a product that could eventually be offered by WordPress (specifically the company behind it, Automattic), who may want to cash in on the tutorial market potential.

Fine. But here’s what I find interesting.

The only two sites that got slapped since the installation of WP’s new policy many months ago were WordPressTutorials.com and WordPressVideos.com – two tutorial sites. Not software, not services and certainly not scams.

They are much needed, too, since WordPress – by their own admission – deeply lacks usable tutorials or documentation. (Currently, their tutorials are comprised of a strictly written Codex without any graphics or multimedia, which is pretty hard to navigate let alone understand, and with a language that can be quite intimidating for the newbie).

Granted, WP eventually clarified their position stating that their contention is with the use of the domain name only. (But that’s not true since they also made defamatory statements against Sherman by labeling him a scammer and that they hate affiliate marketing, in the process.)

That said, there are hundreds of sites with the word “WordPress” in it. And some of them ARE indeed outright scammy, like comment-spamming software and such.

So, why didn’t they get a notice, too?

Edited: Someone pointed out to me that there are 167 such domains. Many are owned by WordPress, others are community sites, and some of them are potentially questionable.

That means, up until recently, only “tutorial” sites got them. And when WP was questioned about this move specifically on one particular blog, Matt commented they might send a letter “to those sites, too.”

Can you start to smell the fish, here?

Creating tutorials and courses on how to use something is fair use. Period. There are exceptions, sure. But this one is not one of them. WordPress is free, after all. And there are many, many third-party tutorials and resources out there for other types of software and services, like “eBay For Dummies,” etc.

Edited: I’m somewhat wrong, here. There’s a difference between trademarks and copyrights. Not all trademarks can be used without the permission of the owner. But creating tutorials does fall under “fair use” of the copyright law.

Understandably, tutorials are more respectable than… um… scams, especially those with professionally done, comprehensive and helpful videos – like Sherman’s, for example. But WP still labels them as “snake oil salesmen.”

So perhaps Matt is afraid that such sites may be mistakenly associated with WordPress? And since they use good old-fashioned affiliate marketing, this misperception might cause people to lose interest in WordPress or think less of it?

Maybe.

(If they were to think badly of anything, it would be of Matt’s attempt to protect the sanctity of WordPress by crushing a potential competitor. Or so it seems. So this may simply be a case of big fish trying to eat little fish to dominate the blogopshere pond.)

Edited: Matt did clarify that he does not intend to enter that market. But the potential is still there, if he ever wanted to penetrate it. (And it’s great potential at that.)

Here’s what really irks me, though.

According to Campbell, the folks at WordPress said this interesting tidbit:

“If Sherman Hu [WordPressTutorials.com] or Brandon Hong [WordPressVideos.com] had spent their time contributing to the Codex or support forums instead of trying to sell WP snake oil and taking advantage of a lack of good documentation in Open Source community software, I bet they would have made a lot more honest money by now.”

What? To say that “contributing to the Codex” (a wiki-based tutorial site to which the public freely contributes) and the “support forums,” all for free without being paid a dime for their specialized knowledge (and considering that WordPress’ own tutorials are hard to understand, it is indeed “specialized” in my estimation), will help him make “honest” money?

Sorry. But that’s a bit presumptuous, if not insulting.

Specifically, this is an insult to direct marketers, small businesses, entrepreneurs and, yes, copywriters. Mr. Mullenweg seems to be inferring that the only way (i.e., the only “legitimate way”) to make honest money in this world is by working in a job, working with corporate America or working for free.

And that all entrepreneurs – especially those who make money with their knowledge rather than their time – and in particular those with salesletters and affiliate programs are scam artists.

(That means large “legitimate” companies like Amazon.com, one of the pioneers of affiliate marketing, fall in the same category. And keep in mind, many large corporations have started as small-time entrepreneurs.)

Is it to protect WordPress’ brand? Is it because WordPress wants to cash in on the tutorial market? Perhaps.

Edited: I must clarify that Matt may simply want to stop the use of the trademark “WordPress” on a site to prevent what might appear as an endorsement. Especially a site that does not reflect WP’s standards or image.

But something Matt said recently lit a lightbulb in my head. Let me quote Matt directly, who said in comment #19 at Andy Beard’s blog:

Whether they are spammy or not, their sites look *exactly* like the people selling “mass posting” to “thousands of niche WordPress and Blogspot blogs” software, which is spam.

Therefore, WordPress’ contention is the fact that Sherman Hu’s and Brandon Hong’s sites (who are both of Asian descent, by the way) use – watch out, goodness forbid – salesletters.

Yes, those very things we copywriters get paid handsomely for. And yes, the same instruments that even some corporations use, large and small.

Bottom line, sacred keepers of the open-source trust imposing their anti-business views is one thing (even while trying or potentially vying to make money themselves, which smacks of hypocrisy). And to frown and look down upon small business people like you and me for not making “honest money” is similar.

But this is not the case, here.

To attempt to stop legitimate, non-competing businesses whose products greatly support them, and to classify them as illegal or distasteful ones by opinion, and not by law – and even seemingly attempting to resort to extortion – is a whole other issue. And this could very well come back and bite WordPress “where the sun don’t shine.”

Edited: I was a little too strong, here. I apologize. WordPress has every right to defend their trademark. I don’t question the action. I only question the motive, particularly based on comments made.

That would be a sad day, because I really love WordPress.

As do many others.

Moreover, to pick on two sites of a very specific nature, who are completely different and far more respectable than the very sites WordPress claimed they were going after – and by the same token ignoring other sites that are indeed scams and snake oils – smells wrong, to me.

(And it’s borderline slanderous.)

Edited: In here I’m referring to lumping legitimate sites into the same category as true scams.

See, up until now, they didn’t go after the ones that were scammy. They went after the ones that “look” scammy. (Specifically, those that “look similar” to scammy sites, since many of them use salesletters, too.)

My thinking? WordPress should stop. They should apologize. And maybe they should join Sherman’s affiliate program and link to it from the currently poorly maintained, hard-to-understand and, “honest money-making” free Codex.

At least until they come out with something better. That’s called “innovation.” Or call it healthy “competition.” But in the end, that’s just good business.

What do you think?
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About the Author
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, author, speaker and consultant. Watch him rewrite copy on video each month, and get tips and tested conversion strategies proven to boost response in his membership site at http://TheCopyDoctor.com/ today.

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