Friday, September 23, 2005

Thanks, Movable Type

So I may have to close BoRCom now. Seems MT likes to re-write their policies without letting anyone know. I am beyond angry right now, I am raging right now and my next call will be to my lawyer to get a clear definition and validation that I am not in the wrong.

I contacted MT in August to ask them about a bulk price. I currently have 5 licensed copies of MT, not counting the personal one for this blog. I have also purchased two installations over time so I've dumped well over $500 into MT. I haven't minded, for the longest time now I've done nothing but sing the virtues of MT and the company itself. I have introduced people to MT who have gone on to purchase their own licensing.

I have followed the MT license policy to the letter. While I do have a large amount of blogs on roleplay, I have not made one cent off of it because I do not charge for the blogs. Not a penny. People tend to ask me "why do you do this?" and I have no answer other than "because I like it." There are enough services out there who charge or use codes or have some sort of hidden catch, I do not. I offer a F R E E blog, that's it. There is no FTP access, there are no bells and whistles but there are free blogs.

I pay the dedicated server monthly at EV1
I pay for the domain registrations
I pay for each and every MT license / upgrade
I charge nothing for a blog
I ask for nothing in return for a blog
I accept donations but that's supposed to be ok

(very long and angry ranting inside) When MT came out with 3.2 I was very excited. I wrote them what I thought was a clear email asking about a possible bulk license for my remaining domains, I was looking at around 6 more licenses. Yes, six or so that would then be offered as parts of roleplay, just on different domain names - some people like different names. This would still be free, I wrote the them to see if I could possibly de-fray some of the costs.

Except from my first email to them:

What I was wondering is, do you offer a bulk licensing option? I'm looking to purchase between 6 and 8 unlimited personal licenses and even with the discount you guys are offering, that's a lot of lettuce. I just tried my 3 updated keys and all 3 came back as not in the system or redeemed already (which I'm not sure is accurate) so I'm looking at a top of $552.00 and that's more than this gal has.

My domains are all 100% free. They get the blog and my help and my piddly templates I've designed all without catch. My little gift to the internet to keep people writing (I'm a teacher by nature) and I wish I had that sort of money to lay out but alas, I do not.

Excerpt from what I received back:

Thanks for contacting us. You can purchase one unlimited personal license to cover all the weblogs you are creating. If you can let us know the e-mail address you used to receive the keys, I can look into getting you a discount code to purchase the license.

I'm sorry, did I say I wanted multiple blogs on one domain? I thought I was clear.

An excerpt from my reply:

Below is the response I received which doesn't even address my question.

I understand how busy you all are but is it too much for a relatively old time and loyal customer to expect the question to at least be read?

Which was answered with:

I'm sorry that the answer you got wasn't satisfactory. I think perhaps my colleague mistook the distinction between "weblogs and "domains".

MT can handle multiple blogs with different domains, as long as all of the blogs and domains are on the same server, as Movable Type can only publish locally on the server where it resides.

If you don't want the domains to "mix" at all, I'd recommend separate MT installations. If the blogs are all on one installation of Movable Type, the blogs themselves would be separate, but URLs to your comments and trackbacks (mt-comments.cgi and mt-tb.cgi scripts) will point at the one domain that Movable Type is installed on. The only way to avoid this is to install MT on each domain.

Three people who read this and are well-set in the business world all said it was a poorly worded and vague reply that still did not answer my question about bulk licensing and made it sound as though one installation was good for the entire server.

Being the honest person I am who genuinely loves (loved) MT, I wrote back with:

It seems wrong. One unlimited installation is valid to use on say, ten completely different domains as long as they are all on the same server? Wouldn't that be a server-wide license rather than a per-domain license? It sounds wonderful but how would you guys make any money off of it?
This was September 2nd.

On September 14th I received the following reply from the Manager of Technical Services, which I just read today:

Ginevra forwarded me a copy of a follow-up email she sent to you asking for clarification of how you're using the software, because from your description of your sites and a review of blogsofroleplay.com, it appears you are using Movable Type to provide a hosted weblog service, rather than for personal use only.

The Personal licenses do not allow the software to be used to provide hosting services to others or to provide any type of service bureau service; or for any non-personal use. You can view the terms for the Unlimited Personal license here:

So for MY freakin' efforts in trying to do something nice for people for NO CHARGE (yes, it really does happen even in America, people DO do things for free), I get accused of license violation.

From the MT licensing page:

Do I qualify as a "Personal User?"

If you're an individual whose blogs don't support a commercial endeavor, you can use the Personal Use license. (Incidental revenue such as Google AdSense, Amazon Associates fees, PayPal tip jars, or other similar programs which aren't the main purpose of the site are allowed under the personal license.)

This is exactly what roleplay/realplay does. Always has, always will. Donations are never required and nowhere on the site, in public or hidden away, is there ANY mention of charging for service.

How dare they accuse me of license violation.

I'm really disappointed with MT, I feel like I've lost a friend. Maybe I am a crazy person who wants to give things to people for free, for the simple intrinsic reward of seeing people who would otherwise not write, write. Just because I'm crazy does not give MT the right to accuse me of being a thief or a license violator.

Hell, I went to THEM to ask about a discount on what would have been another couple of hundred bucks I wanted to pay MT to finish out the domains so I could then LOSE MONEY on them as people continue to blog for free. I feel like as with so many startup companies, they've grown to the point where the people who have been around for a few years don't count, the small fish customer is disposable and customer service is no longer the priority. This makes me sad. It's pretty obvious they never bothered to even look at the site and rather than try and work with a devoted customer, they accuse.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this next. I will NOT close BoRCom, no way. I may, however, stop with MT. I have a purchased license for Expression Engine that doesn't have a problem with my offering F R E E blogs to people so I could offer that on one domain. The server itself has Fantastico which comes with WordPress, b2Evolution, pMachine free, Nucleus, pLog and Mambo. It would be a lot more work for me to offer a choice of software upon creation but if this is how it has to be, so be it. I can put the money I was going to use for more MT licenses into other software.

Why does this always happen? A company hits big and all of a sudden they just don't care anymore. To accuse me of all people of license violation is just plain messed up considering I have been LOSING money on every blog that's created on Roleplay. Try and do something nice for people and get accused of being a thief.

An excerpt from the main page of one of the BoRCom domains:

There are no hidden catches or required codes with any of the BoRCom domains. This is twofold. In adherence to licensing laws we do not charge for our blogs. What BoRCom adds as well is our promise to you to never subject your blog to mandatory banners or ads. You may post ads on your blog if you wish but many people find them intrusive and we want to offer sanctuary for people who just want a nice looking blog. You may upload and store images to your blog, we have no set limits as long as it stays within reason.

This is from my terms of service:

In accordance with MT licensing, all blogs are free. Users may not resell their blogs.

Yah, I'm a real law breaker. I could have just installed one licensed copy to all the domains and shut up but nooo, I have to be honest and go to them to try and work something out and I get screwed for it.

Thank you, Movable Type. Have a lovely day.

1. “it appears you are using Movable Type to provide a hosted weblog service, rather than for personal use only.”

   You’re not making a bean off it, it’s not a commercial venture, you’re not registered as an educational institution not not-for-profit.

   Personal Unlimited Plan:  Unlimited weblogs, unlimited authors (in big bold letters on their give us money page - I couldn’t find the agreement itself)

   “The Personal licenses do not allow the software to be used to provide hosting services to others or to provide any type of service bureau service; or for any non-personal use.”

   Wait… What the heck does unlimited weblogs, unlimited authors mean, then?  Licencing for schizophrenics (one person, many, many authors?)

   Bleh.

    on  09/23  at  03:40 PM

2. I don’t provide hosting.

   There is no ftp access
   There is no server access
   They cannot create their own blogs
   They are a sub-directory off the domain, not their own.
   I am not a company
   I charge nothing
   It’s no different than giving free blogs to friends, which unlimited allows for.

   Why does it sound like you’re siding with them?

   WebKittyn  on  09/23  at  08:33 PM

3. (was meant to read “nor not for profit")

   Hell no.  I just couldn’t work out what the bolded bit meant when the licence allowed for unlimited users and blogs.

   If they meant webhosting with a blog, that would make sense n the context of the contract, and I know that’s not what you do.

   If you’re allowed unlimited authors, and unlimtied blogs on one licence (as you have), then I can’t see how they can say boo to you.  You look entirely legit to me.

    on  09/23  at  09:35 PM

4. Lemme get this straight… They want to tear you down (which they can’t because it’s your server) because you give out blogs?

   Ok… you can have multiple authors. Well you do. They’re all extensions as you said… I think I calling a Corporate Lawyer would be recommended. I (purveyor of the elusive big lawsuit payola) would try to find a way to make money from this injustice. I don’t see you as wrong… I just think you’ve not found the proper representative at MT yet.

   Mayhaps a call to a consumer advocate action hotline ("Shame on You") may be needed? In the meantime, I say keep doing what we’re doing. The main problem is adding server wide licensing. They’re not clear on this because I think THEY don’t even know.

   Darkstar  on  09/24  at  07:38 PM
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