WordPress Elite? Anyone Used It? Alternatives?

Hum,

Seems a bit “spamalicious” to me too.

I’d stay away from it.

Avoid them at all costs. They encourage search engine spam, and they have employed the use of spammers to promote their $147 bundle. If you really want what they offer, just install the freely available copy of WordPress from this site and install all of the freely available plugins and freely available themes that they offer with their highly-priced bundle.

https://www.ads-software.com/download/

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Plugins

https://themes.wordpress.net/

But is there anything that lets you manage 10 sites from a single admin (different sites on different servers)?

If you’re using WP as a CMS rather than a blog, it does get cumbersome to log into each one individually.

And how is that you can create a private code project off an OpenSource one?

Any examples of their SE spam? They can’t be doing very well if they still have PR 0 for a site created in August (the last PR toolbar update was in October). A lot of these spammy sites seem to be all hopes and no results (thank the lord).

But is there anything that lets you manage 10 sites from a single admin (different sites on different servers)?

There is no known way to manage multiple WordPress blogs from one interface. And, if the developers can’t figure it out, then I highly doubt that this company has been able to accomplish such a thing. The closest that you will ever get to such a thing is with WordPress MU.

If you’re using WP as a CMS rather than a blog, it does get cumbersome to log into each one individually.

WordPress was never meant to be used as a CMS. There are better systems, such as Drupal, for that.

And how is that you can create a private code project off an OpenSource one?

WordPress and most of its plugins and themes have been licensed under the GPL, and the GPL allows for free use, distribution, and alteration of the code. There is a strong possibility that poweryourwordpress is distributing “WordPress Elite” with plugins and themes which are not licensed under the GPL and carry strict non-distributive licenses. Unfortunately, no one has been willing to investigate this.

Any examples of their SE spam? They can’t be doing very well if they still have PR 0 for a site created in August.

Their SE spam isn’t doing well, because I highly doubt that they have had any sales.

A lot of these spammy sites seem to be all hopes and no results.

Exactly.

WordPress was never meant to be used as a CMS. There are better systems, such as Drupal, for that.

No, Drupal is not much better than WordPress for using as a CMS. The default designs are just awful, it’s not as well integrated with RSS, it’s not as flexible. Above all, it doesn’t have the nice permalinks option (or else didn’t when I checked). In the end it’s not very good from a usability or SEO standpoint. The same can be said for the other OS CMSs such as Mambo.

Also, wordpress is officially billed as a publishing system, not just a blog. There are many CMS-style plugins for WP, such as “static frontpage.”

At any rate, I’m using it as a CMS and a simple “you shouldn’t be doing that” isn’t very helpful.

I don’t see why it would be impossible to create a single admin interface for multiple installations. Why hasn’t it been done? Maybe in part because of attitudes like yours.

“There is a strong possibility that poweryourwordpress is distributing “WordPress Elite” with plugins and themes which are not licensed under the GPL and carry strict non-distributive licenses. Unfortunately, no one has been willing to investigate this.”

I have seen all they do, all that they offer, and they do NOT violate anything at all. I am not associated with them in any way whatsoever but I can absolutely assure you that they are not doing anything underhand – if they were I would have made noises about it a few months ago when I was invited to take a look ‘behind the scenes’.

By the way, GPL only allows you to distribute the code if you make it free–charging for it is out of the question. That’s the whole point of OpenSource. Anything else is forking the development.

My guess is that the WP Elite people’s arguments would be that they aren’t actually touching the WP code, they’re just building a sort of accessory that feeds into it but is no more dependent on the underlying code than a web browser.

I will say it again.

From what I have seen, WP Elite is NOT BREAKING THE GPL.

“they do NOT violate anything at all”

So they have, for instance, Semiologic’s permission to distribute the Semiologic plugins?

Even if they do stay within the legal boundaries of the GPL, aren’t they violating the spirit of it by using a GPL project as the basis for a closed-source software project?

I have no idea, but given the interest that was bound to be generated, I guess that the guy did his homework.

Question: Someone contacts me and says “Can you install WP for me ?” I say “Yes, that ￡20” and they pay me. I even install some extra plugins. Have I broken the GPL ?
Answer: No.

The question was about WP Elite, and I have answered to the best of my knowledge as casting legal doubt on companies is not on.
If you want a wider debate about the use of GPL software, i suggest you blog it.

OK, I just checked out Drupal again, and I guess they do have nice permalinks and a few nicer designs now. But I swear I didn’t see any of that when I first checked them out over a year ago–and once you go with a system, you go with it; it’s too much work to retrofit from WP to Drupal.

Besides, Drupal and the other similar systems are intended more for community sites. There’s a lot of stuff in there that would just be bloat if you were just doing a simple content site with RSS feeds and user comments.

By the way, GPL only allows you to distribute the code if you make it free–charging for it is out of the question

That’s not entirely true…
see: https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
[quote] “You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.”

I understand your concerns about veering into libel or harming someone’s livelihood. So let me just make this clear: I am not saying that they are violating the GPL. In fact, I just said above that they probably have an excellent argument for not touching WP. I’m just wondering how this thing is set up in its specifics since they don’t offer a free-trial download and their website does not exactly inspire confidence. And no, questions of propriety should not be off-limits, especially when a business is skating so close to the limits of propriety in its own marketing materials.

This is very relevant to the community so I think it does belong here. What are the guidelines for what isn’t relevant to these boards?

Question: Someone contacts me and says “Can you install WP for me ?” I say “Yes, that ￡20” and they pay me. I even install some extra plugins. Have I broken the GPL ?
Answer: No.

You’re not distributing software in that case! You’re just providing installation services. The GPL was designed to encourage just such a transaction, building a cottage industry of service providers. But it was not meant to set up a cottage industry of private software development for distribution.

By the way, GPL only allows you to distribute the code if you make it free–charging for it is out of the question

That’s not true at all. You’re allowed to charge a fee for a GPL product. You just can’t restrict what someone does with that product once they pay for it.

Even if they do stay within the legal boundaries of the GPL, aren’t they violating the spirit of it by using a GPL project as the basis for a closed-source software project?

If someone abides by the letter of the law, then the law has no recourse for violations of the spirit of the law. If the GPL is important to you, and you feel this is an example of an abuse of the GPL, then avoid the product.

I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. I haven’t used the Semiologic theme, but in order to make it fully compliant with WordPress’s GPL license, Denis needs to make his product available under the same terms as the GPL. Denis can still sell his product, for as much as he wants, but he may not prohibit his customers from giving their paid-for copies to their friends at no charge.

https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#DoesTheGPLAllowMoney
“Does the GPL allow me to sell copies of the program for money?
Yes, the GPL allows everyone to do this. The right to sell copies is part of the definition of free software. Except in one special situation, there is no limit on what price you can charge. (The one exception is the required written offer to provide source code that must accompany binary-only release.)“

WordPress wasn’t designed to drive multiple sites. WordPress MU can handle multiple blogs inside a single database, but that’s not exactly the same thing as a unified admin interface for multiple sites. My vhost plugin might be able to fake what you’re looking for, but again you’re not exactly using the right tool for the job. Unfortunately, I don’t know what other tools are available for this kind of problem.

“Also, wordpress is officially billed as a publishing system, not just a blog.”

It’s actually billed as a “personal” publishing system, that is, a blog.