Showing Arrogance

GaMerZ | April 11th, 2007 @ 7:51 am

any site can be hacked easily if you have the knowledge, be it asp, php, or jsp.

No matter how secure a website is, it is still prone to hacking.

Alex | April 11th, 2007 @ 8:07 am

Haha, that’s quite funny. He later goes on to say that ‘Wordpress.com is NOT spam free’, when Plagarism Today said that it is VIRTUALLY spam free. Must have misread it.

In all honesty, Matt, I don’t think you show any arrogance. The fact of the matter is that WP is one of the most original and breakthrough OS software packages today, and without a doubt, the best blogging package.

Donncha O Caoimh | April 11th, 2007 @ 8:10 am

Hahaha. oh dear, give me a minute while I dry my eyes. hehe.

Josh S. | April 11th, 2007 @ 8:18 am

Hilarious!

Robert | April 11th, 2007 @ 8:43 am

Good ole drive-by bloggers. Gotta luv em for the entertainment value.

grandMasterkrust | April 11th, 2007 @ 8:43 am

He sounds informed

Jan | April 11th, 2007 @ 8:44 am

What the frack is True Blue XML? And if PhpBB is coded in an unsecure way — what has this to do with WordPress-coding?

Code-security is not a matter of language alone, but of the way programmers do their job (imho).

Guy R. Vestal | April 11th, 2007 @ 8:45 am

Quite the bitter little splogger he is. I noticed that he has everything under the sun for sale on his splog, even paid links. Personally, I have never heard one ill word about WP, but I can’t count how many folks have complained about blogger.

Aaron B. Hockley | April 11th, 2007 @ 8:47 am

That excerpt isn’t even the beginning… folks need to read the full post for greatest amusement.

It’s scary that this guy is serious.

Dan Jallits | April 11th, 2007 @ 8:53 am

I commend you for posting this. Most would not.

Tom | April 11th, 2007 @ 8:54 am

Ah ah ah, so pitiful populist arguments. “I know I was there”.
I know he wrote piece of bullshit : I read them.

adam | April 11th, 2007 @ 9:13 am

from my own experience, i would have to guess that he violated license terms on the artwork used in most of his themes. GPL headers, icons, and bullets are very hard to come by.

Jay | April 11th, 2007 @ 9:19 am

Keep up the arrogance, Matt, it sure beats ignorance!

Norman Gerre | April 11th, 2007 @ 9:29 am

His post is so incomprehensible in its criticism that I don’t even understand your response. Do you mean that well-formedness will be enforced?

Dave | April 11th, 2007 @ 9:51 am

Erm… Given the level of technical incompetence and outright aggressive stupidity that exsudes from his entire post, I really don’t know if it even deserved a link and the ensuing attention…

Dave | April 11th, 2007 @ 9:58 am

I think I’ve become a Wordpress snob, as I subconsciously don’t tend to read blogger.com blogs.

Matt Wilcox | April 11th, 2007 @ 10:00 am

Um, what?

Does he realise that the PHP generates the XHTML? Or that PHP and XHTML are separate technologies that do different things? Or that something needs to process the XML into XHTML, and that something will be XSLT or PHP? Or that his grammar is terrible?

Dougal Campbell | April 11th, 2007 @ 10:01 am

Uhhhhhhh, yeaaaah. Right.

What a clueless crank.

For those of you who haven’t done so already, click through to the article and read the whole thing. He rambles from point to point, comparing apples to oranges, showing his ignorance of the underlying technologies, and never really going anywhere with his argument (which is bogus to start with).

Kris | April 11th, 2007 @ 10:04 am

Uh-oh, Matt. You’ve inspired the ire of a 12-year-old.

Arun | April 11th, 2007 @ 10:08 am

Really?

Robert Accettura | April 11th, 2007 @ 10:17 am

So what does he use? XML with XSLT transformation on the client side?

Good luck with comments using that system.

Geoffrey Sneddon | April 11th, 2007 @ 10:17 am

What? You mean WP will finally have an XML serialiser? :p

Jordan Ryan Moore | April 11th, 2007 @ 10:21 am

I’m afraid he’s exponentially more ignorant than you are arrogant. I don’t understand how he can think because phpBB was written in PHP, it automatically makes every other PHP application “hackable”. Using this logic, if a single application written in C/C++/C# is hackable (of which there are plenty), then all applications written in C/C++/C# are hackable and should be avoided. Now, apply this logic to every language, and you’ve run out of options for secure applications.

Radioactive Jam | April 11th, 2007 @ 10:30 am

“True Blue” - sorry but my first thought was K3.

Actually my first thought was “huh?” because I’m a total fan of WordPress and WordPress.com. Also Akismet.

Probably you don’t need me to tell you this, but you’re doing fine. Me, I like what I see now, and I’m looking forward to what lies ahead.

Anthony | April 11th, 2007 @ 10:52 am

Very angry individual over there. Keep fighting the good fight, I love WordPress and wouldn’t use anything else to run my blog.

Richard Flynn | April 11th, 2007 @ 10:55 am

Um, I don’t get it. Maybe I’m not very well informed about these things. How can XML on its own power anything in the same way as PHP can? Isn’t XML a file-format for storing data? I know that you can do some pretty cool stuff with XSS (and have been playing around with some fairly simple things myself), but surely that’s not nearly as flexible as a real scripting language like PHP?

Or am I being seriously dense and not getting some late all-fools’-day prank?

Jordan Running | April 11th, 2007 @ 11:04 am

He continues on the comments (in reply to a different Jordan, incidentally): “Thanks Jordan, I never claimed to be a programmer… But Still stand by my statement… matt didn’t create Wordpress, he stole or whatever the new buzz word is, the code and adapted it for his use and is profiting off of it. If I were the owner of the Original code and I knew what he was doing, I’d sue his ass in court for profits. and I’m sure Matt’s making a nice wad of cash…..on a piece of stolen PHP code. How charming and Original.”

Wow.

Patrick Havens | April 11th, 2007 @ 11:19 am

I’m going to play dumb and assume that all he said is true. That You are an arrogant SOB and I’ll ignore all write ups about Wordpress that portrays differently.

Blogger still is used by almost every single spam blog I’ve run across. I have seen a couple Wordpress run, but those are on private servers… and Akismet had them listed.

steve cooley | April 11th, 2007 @ 11:19 am

What a moron. It’s not even worth going into. He’s just wrong, and we’ll leave it at that.

Lloyd | April 11th, 2007 @ 11:28 am

“…matt didn’t create Wordpress, he stole…”
Is he from the same blue planet as I am?

Jason D- | April 11th, 2007 @ 11:33 am

Hah! When I read the post on “The Populist” site I figured the guy for 15. It’s sad when a 34 year old writes such incoherent drivel. My favorite is:

“Greetings! Welcome to the Populist Blog! This Bog is a Political, News, Headlines, Humor and Misc Blog. You can find Populist Defined Here A very Famous Populist is Lou Dobbs - Official Website”

Bog indeed!

Lazy | April 11th, 2007 @ 11:39 am

same codebase (php) doesn`t mean same security holes in source, or? ..and php is old, xml is newer, there`s no question which code is easier to hack.. and phpbb is no state of art.. or am i totally wrong?

Joel | April 11th, 2007 @ 11:44 am

I tried to follow the link to see why this guy has his panties in a knot. But when the page finally loaded, it crashed my browser (Safari 2.0.2). I did have the pleasure of hearing you speak last year at BayCHI. And you projected a centered intelligence and openness; pretty much the antithesis of arrogance.

Alan Kellogg | April 11th, 2007 @ 11:47 am

Cognition is not his strong suit, is it?

Bradford Knowlton | April 11th, 2007 @ 12:09 pm

The irony that he mentions the Google buyout of Blogger, but due to his “newness” (On Blogger Since February 2007) in the game doesn’t remember any of the problems blogger had years ago. I tried using blogger back in the spring of 04, a full year after Google had acquired them. There were huge outages and problems.

http://www.9mmfilm.com/news/2004/08/blogger-issues.html

Part of the reason why I setup my own hosting and testing out open source projects like phpNuke etc.

Keep up the great work, and don’t let the phonies get to you

Bradford Knowlton
http://x86Virtualization.com/

Jayson Joseph | April 11th, 2007 @ 12:15 pm

ha ha
Funniest post I have seen in a while!

We programmers needs to be more communicative it seems

charles | April 11th, 2007 @ 12:37 pm

where is his post? all i see are ads.

Andy Hume | April 11th, 2007 @ 1:30 pm

Yeah, not even powered by XML script. I hope your head is hung in shame.

Nitin Badjatia | April 11th, 2007 @ 1:44 pm

Yea, Matt, you are one arrogant SOB. I mean your arrogance has provided me (and thousands of others) with open source blogging tools…and you have the audacity to give them away! Shame on you…

Stephanie | April 11th, 2007 @ 1:52 pm

I just read the article, and here’s my take:

To each his own. Let him rant on all he wants, and people who like WordPress, and have seen all of its features can continue using it.

I haven’t had any troubles with WP at all during the year or so that I’ve used it.

He was referring to WP.com, though, which I decided not to use because I didn’t like a few things about it…hmm…

ceejayoz | April 11th, 2007 @ 2:02 pm

Wow, what on earth?

Someone that misinformed on how blogging software works shouldn’t be allowed to pontificate on it.

Mark Jaquith | April 11th, 2007 @ 2:10 pm

matt didn’t create Wordpress, he stole or whatever the new buzz word is, the code and adapted it for his use and is profiting off of it. If I were the owner of the Original code and I knew what he was doing, I’d sue his ass in court for profits. and I’m sure Matt’s making a nice wad of cash…..on a piece of stolen PHP code. How charming and Original.

Clearly a well-researched piece of writing. Prepare for the resulting massive WordPress-to-Blogger exodus of 2007.

Kyle | April 11th, 2007 @ 2:26 pm

Ah yes, everyone knows that the technology you choose decides the hackability of your product. It clearly has nothing to do with the popularity or codebase.

Jonathan | April 11th, 2007 @ 2:30 pm

Sheesh! That guy needs to learn English. I recognized the letters and some words, but the way he mashed them together was almost comical.

John | April 11th, 2007 @ 2:51 pm

Hilarious!

Kimberley | April 11th, 2007 @ 2:56 pm

Herm, he’s got some ego issues of his own, I’d say. Plus, his site is HIDEOUS. Doesn’t matter where you host your site or what ground breaking content you have, if your site is as hideous as that guys — and the majority of Blogger sites, really — nobody is going to stick around long enough to read it. Who wants to view a page that makes your eyes bleed? And he can’t lay out a Benjamin for one year’s worth of hosting somewhere? So, basically, he’s complaining about something he’s getting for free? Really? I hope he has a day job to fall back on because I’m not seeing great things for that business of his. And I’m not just saying this because I’ve been with WP for years without incident. Or because I can change my layout quickly and painlessly with WP and if I get stuck there’s tons of support out there. Or because spam isn’t something I even have to think about with WP. Or because I came to WP from Blogger years ago out of sheer frustration. I say that because I am an arrogant WP user who thinks she’s better than him. And that, friends and neighbors, that is the best gift of all!

Sam | April 11th, 2007 @ 3:20 pm

Man that’s funny. Check out his update once you blogged about it too!

Stas Sushkov | April 11th, 2007 @ 3:31 pm

Just another blog geek! Maybe cyber community should invent a word describing these guys, cause geek is not really suitable. Geek has nothing with money!
Matt, keep going on. You and the rest of team did a great job.

n3wjack | April 11th, 2007 @ 3:59 pm

Yep, from those comments you can really see this guy has some serious programming experience.
I love the PHP analogy though. So it’s the language that’s insecure right… hmmm, I wonder what Windows is written in. I hope that language isn’t used to much either then, being so insecure and all…

Michael | April 11th, 2007 @ 4:03 pm

Goodness, what a terrible, foul-mouthed link *that* was. And he claims that *he* isn’t elitist but has absolutely no qualms about ripping somebody else apart with language fit only for sewage.

Markus Mayer | April 11th, 2007 @ 5:23 pm

Fun read. Sounds like somebody is seriously pissed because you guys shutdown his splog. Good for you. Doesn’t sound like getting rid of him was a mistake.

There’d be so much to reply to that guy to try and educate him, but I am sure he wouldn’t want to hear (I think people already tried).

AhmedF | April 11th, 2007 @ 5:45 pm

Oh lord - why are people compelled to shout out mis-information as fact?

Good thing we have Blogger’s trueblueness to save us, whew.

JJ Halloway | April 11th, 2007 @ 5:50 pm

It’s funny how nowadays everyone on the web thinks he/she is a coder, a photographer, and a web designer.

That guy only embarrassed himself by talking about things he has no idea about.

But then again, Matt, you got to do something about WordPress source code. Everyone knows how spaghetti WordPress is on the inside, I admit it’s good on the outside (UI etc).

Alistair | April 11th, 2007 @ 6:18 pm

I’m not sure about everyone else, but I find that quite funny. The link between the XHTML/XML not being ‘valid’ and PHP/hacking is fantastic, I’m still chuckling about it.

Bodhi Goforth | April 11th, 2007 @ 6:43 pm

Hi Matt,

Many many thanks for the chuckle and of course for WordPress.
You Rock!

In gratitude,
Bodhi

Jeremy Ricketts | April 11th, 2007 @ 8:05 pm

You’re above linking to lame-asses like that Matt. I know you don’t know me but come on brother… don’t give those type of people any more air-time than they deserve. Which in that guy’s case is probably none.

ben | April 11th, 2007 @ 9:00 pm

Work has already begun to ensure version WordPress 3.0 will be in True Blue XML.

…as a reaction to this guy, or was this planned some time ago? If it’s the former, puh-leeze don’t bother. If it’s the latter, what are the advantages?

Tony | April 11th, 2007 @ 9:00 pm

I tried to leave a comment on his blog about open source and all that jazz, but in safari, clicking on (or tabbing to) any of the form fields makes them disappear. I guess that’s ironic…

Jason | April 11th, 2007 @ 9:04 pm

that’s some funny stuff right there

Dana Huff | April 11th, 2007 @ 9:20 pm

For the record, Matt, I think WP is awesome, and I have also tried both Blogger and WP, as well as MT. WP is the best. You were awesome in your restraint. It’s hard to resist not being defensive.

Soccer Dad | April 11th, 2007 @ 9:25 pm

That’s silly. The language doesn’t make apps easy to hack - bad coding does. Anyone who has used both WordPress and phpBB know they aren’t even in the same universe in terms of application security.

Len | April 11th, 2007 @ 10:17 pm

He has pulled the post down but you can still read a cached version here.

michel v | April 12th, 2007 @ 3:27 am

I’m so glad the next WordPress releases will finally implement True Blue XML!
(Even though as a wannabe ecologist I would push more for Green XML, that uses less trees and saves the DOM children.)

If I were the owner of the Original code and I knew what he was doing, I’d sue his ass in court for profits. and I’m sure Matt’s making a nice wad of cash

Hey that’s me!
So Matt, got any cash? I was thinking of buying that remote island in the caribbean…

Anthony | April 12th, 2007 @ 3:29 am

Down with elitist bloggers like Matt.

Scott | April 12th, 2007 @ 8:27 am

“â€�"…matt didn’t create Wordpress, he stole…”
Is he from the same blue planet as I am?”

He must be referring to Matt using the old B2 code after the dev ceased working on it. But the B2 code is long gone from the Wordpress codebase from what I can see. It only lives on in my “b2_” prefixes in my table.

m0n5t3r | April 12th, 2007 @ 8:36 am

people, you’re way too serious… it was just a good troll, and it’s a shame the author is such a coward and took it offline

Mike | April 12th, 2007 @ 11:24 am

I think this post would be better with just the link and the citation with nothing added. It speaks for itself, especially once you read the full cached version. He made another post on the subject, which is equally stupid. Good thing he let us in on the secret info that WordPress is PHP, I was blind all this time, you guys really pulled a fast one on me.

Historic Stork | April 12th, 2007 @ 12:02 pm

Thanks for the cached version. It makes so little sense that my head is spinning. I’ve got that feeling that I have to say something…just don’t know where to start.

anyway, THANKS FOR WORDPRESS!!!

Gemma | April 12th, 2007 @ 3:18 pm

Seems like so much blood, sweat and tears has gone into the WP script and yet you guys still offer it to us completely free of charge.

I have been using WP on my own server for quite some time and I haven’t had any problems. [Have I just invited trouble to my doorstep?]

There will always be people happy to critisize things that others do, it’s in some people nature. Looks like you have the right attitude towards such people though

Gemma x

Mike @ Emerging Earth | April 12th, 2007 @ 8:06 pm

What a n00b.

Steinar | April 13th, 2007 @ 2:45 am

Who is this “populist” guy anyway? Based on the look-and-feel of his blog and his grammar, he appears as being a 13 y old kid just migrating from a PS3 to a desktop computer .. Ignore his ramblings, they are not even worth commenting.

I have recently spent a a couple of weeks evaluating different open-source blog and forum packages compatible with an Apache/Linux server environment. WP is by far the best package I’ve looked at and tested. It is feature rich, open, has a great and living user community and is easy to set up, use and administer. Keep up the good work!

Layla | April 13th, 2007 @ 1:22 pm

Heh! I used to be on b2evolution and was hacked this past July 2006. Never AGAIN! When I put up a new site in Nov. of 2006 using WordPress, there have been two attempts-unsuccessfully. Obviously they did not know what they are doing OR although WordPress is PHP based you know what you are doing. I am pleased with WP-infact I love it! I am looking forward to the upgrade. I would love to see a site that is totally hack free-if possible.

I lost a lot when I was hacked. Will never go through that again. I keep backups of course. But hackers are EVIL and whatever you do Matt to improve WP it is completely appreciated!

Eric | April 13th, 2007 @ 1:39 pm

Sometimes the truth hurts…

:-).

Titel | April 14th, 2007 @ 3:57 am

True Blue XML, hah. Real bloggers use SQL.

Excellent example for Tim O’Reilly’s initiative for a blogging etiquette:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070412/wr_nm/internet_etiquette1_dc_3