Eric Mann 1:29 pm on March 26, 2013
Tags: gpl ( 6 ), wordpress.tv ( 337 )

Curious about the NOT GPL tag I saw…

Curious about the NOT GPL tag. I saw it applied to a recent WC Providence video (http://wordpress.tv/?p=17789&preview=true), so I wanted to take a peek at the (unpublished) video and see why it was tagged as such. On a first glance I don’t see any huge, in-your-face issues … so I wanted to follow up here and ask why it was applied and what exactly it means in this context.

The only real reason I could see is that the speaker discusses a few (potentially) non-GPLGPL GPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing https://wordpress.org/about/license/. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples. resources for beginners (like ThemeForest). I’m not sure this is worthy of blocking the video as not GPL, but wanted to follow up here for a second opinion.

Also, the speaker quite clearly tells the audience at the beginning – “and this will be up on WordPress.TV soon.” If we’re blocking videos based on specific GPL-related issues, have we pushed out our criteria to the various WC organizers so they can follow up with speakers? It’s a huge disservice to tell people a video will be available and then blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. it later.

#gpl, #wordpress-tv

Andrea Middleton 1:48 pm on March 26, 2013

WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. speakers are not supposed to promote any person/site/company/service that doesn’t embrace the WordPress license, and WordCamp organizers all know that very well. It’s unfortunate if WordCamp speakers don’t get that message as well as they could, and we’re moving towards asking all speakers to sign an agreement that will make sure they at least understand the basic guidelines. But if a WordCamp speaker promises something that doesn’t follow the guidelines, then I think the disservice is in the other direction.
- Eric Mann 1:50 pm on March 26, 2013
  
  OK, thanks for clarifying. While I personally disagree with that, I can live with it for the purposes of moderation. Will keep it in mind moving forwards 🙂
- Jerry Bates 5:29 pm on March 26, 2013
  
  I seem to recall seeing on Teh Twitterz that TF officially rolled out the 100% GPLGPL GPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing https://wordpress.org/about/license/. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples. option. Is that true, and if so, are we clear to publish these vids?
  - Andrea Middleton 4:27 pm on March 27, 2013
    
    Sorry, I’ve been lagging because it’s complicated to direct people to a site (TF) which has a 100% GPLGPL GPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing https://wordpress.org/about/license/. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples. option but is not 100% GPL itself, if you know what I mean. So the site itself has split-license themes galore, and so if a user sees them recommended in a WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. video, they’ll go there with the expectation that they’re “all clear” for GPL, but they’re not, necessarily.
    
    Do other people share this concern, or is it just me?
    - Eric Mann 4:53 pm on March 27, 2013
      
      No, I share that concern as well. If we’re going to say things need to be 100% GPLGPL GPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing https://wordpress.org/about/license/. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples. to be included in WP.tv videos, then I’d say a site that allows split licensing (as TF does) would fail to meet that criteria.
      
      That said, I’d also argue TF is still a valid resource for GPL material. So I’m on the fence as to whether or not we should exclude videos (particularly those listing resources) merely because they mention TF.
    - Jerry Bates 5:11 pm on March 27, 2013
      
      I can see where you come from on this. My question (and I need to watch one of these to see for myself) is just how much of the talkis about TF? Are we talking a one name mention, or several slides/minutes on how to find a theme on TF.
    - philerb 7:42 pm on March 27, 2013
      
      Definitely a concern and it’s important to make the distinction. A lot of the “alright, the TF thing is cleared up” (and I’ve been guilty of this as well) has been in the direction of the TF authors who can now contribute to WordCamps, but the conversations have been more generalized and unclear. I also realized that I mis-spoke in my meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. last night about this (thankfully I can edit that out of the video and I’ll make sure to update our members) when we were talking about themes and the commercially-listed theme shops on wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/.
      
      I go back to this comment from Matt during the discussion … http://www.designcrumbs.com/automatically-blackballed#comment-430 … that essentially says if the theme author chooses the GPLGPL GPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing https://wordpress.org/about/license/. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples. option, they’re cool, but TF still breaks the guideline.
      
      As Jerry said, we should probably review the videos and get a sense for how each one mentions them and go down the list and decide what’s cool and what’s not. It’s a tough call – I’m hesitant if they mention as a place to get themes, because we don’t want to advertise them without huge disclaimers that only certain things are 100% GPL … maybe it’s ok if they’re mentioning a particular author or theme who has chosen the GPL option, but other than that no go?
    - Michael 3:52 pm on March 29, 2013
      
      The videos I reviewed were mixed in endorsing and a simple mention of TF.
      
      The problem I have is some of these videos were older and TF was not an issue at the time of recording. Maybe these videos can be grandfathered in.
      
      It is difficult to mention a commercial site that sells themes without endorsing it, even as a simple mention. My opinion is that WordCampTV may not be the place for these endorsements.

Welcome!

Get Involved

Let’s Talk

Learn More

Curious about the NOT GPL tag I saw…

Welcome!

Get Involved

Let’s Talk

Learn More

Share this: