I got a free T-shirt in the mail recently. It is a very nice, forest green, American Apparel shirt, with the line “Code is Poetry” on the front – and the WordPress logo on the back.

The shirt arrived because I responded to a Twitter message from Matt Mullenweg about a month ago, which said simply, “For people who want t-shirts: email me address, t-shirt size, and gender.” I love WordPress, use it exclusively to develop websites, and as such, have great respect for its founder (Matt Mullenweg). I had no idea what his Twitter message was about – but I wanted a WordPress shirt, so I went for it!

The shirt also came with two pencils, several stickers, and an official-looking certificate, proclaiming that I, Karl Fundenberger, am one of the Three Most Important People in WordPress, and that I am entitled to a lifetime of free WordPress, to be used at my discretion for life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the four freedoms of the GPL.

I had no idea what this was about! Surely I couldn’t be one of the most important people in WordPress. I have been using WP for about five years now and have set up dozens of blogs – but I have never written an official theme or plugin. I haven’t saved WordPress from demise or promoted it to millions of people. There must be something more to this, I thought.

Naturally, I went online. I first found this photo of a very similar assortment; green shirt, stickers, pencils, and certificate. Fortunately, the photographer linked to an interview with Matt Mullenweg and Chris Pearson.

First, a note on the GPL. WordPress is software released under the GPL (the GNU General Public License), which guarantees that it can be distributed and modified for free. It also requires that any theme or plugin developed for WordPress must carry the GPL. You can sell themes or plugins, or give them away – but you must guarantee your users the freedom to modify and distribute your themes and plugins.

Chris Pearson has a theme called Thesis, which is not a GPL theme. It violates the license of the software it is built upon.

Mullenweg called him out on this. He asked him to change the theme. Pearson refused.

Bad call, Chris Pearson. WordPress is wildly successful, largely due to the fact that it is GPL software. There is a huge community of people working to make WordPress better, all the time!

In the interview, Pearson says he could change the theme to GPL, and it might not even affect his business. But he just doesn’t like the GPL. At one point, he claims he is “one of the three most important people in WordPress,” despite the fact that Thesis accounts for only a tiny fraction of global WordPress downloads and traffic.

The certificate I received in the mail is a very clever jab at Chris Pearson. It’s not true, per se, but it’s still pretty empowering to see my name on a document with Matt Mullenweg’s signature on it. I may not be one of the most important developers or users of WordPress, but the community at large, respecting and taking advantage of its license, is what makes WordPress possible.

Mullenweg is letting users know that Thesis violates the GPL, and asking them to try out other premium themes; offering them suggestions, and even offering to buy them a copy of a theme if they promise to switch away from Thesis. For a free software that practically “sells” itself on features and usability, this is a fantastic marketing campaign. For one, I’m even prouder to be a die-hard WordPress user. I am proud to know that Matt Mullenweg will stand up for his software and for the GPL. And I am so glad I have never even considered using the Thesis theme.

Chris Pearson, you’re looking pretty foolish right now.

For more, read Mullenweg’s blog.