For the past two months, I have openly discussed my career-changing decision, to Drupal or not to Drupal. My employment with my current organization remains stable for the foreseeable future, but they will no longer be using Drupal in a year. My open discussion has led to some interesting thoughts, feedback, assumptions, and an overwhelming amount of appreciation for the work I have contributed to Drupal, and the understanding that I can no longer continue to contribute to Drupal in my “free-time.”

Not surprisingly, my posts triggered some discussion about possibly monetizing some aspects of the Webform modules. I need to state that…

The best way to clarify my stance on “paid” modules is to define what I feel a module is in the Drupal community.

What is a module?

I use the term “module” in this post, but I am talking about any collection or package of code in the Drupal community that accomplishes a task. A package of code in the Drupal community can be anything from module, theme and could even be a complex patch.

What is a collaboration?

Our “tasks” are not simply developing modules or themes in the Drupal community but the whole “kit and caboodle” around the software and community. The Webform module’s success as we know it would not exist without people’s feedback, testing, documentation, and general contributions. Likewise, the Webform module wouldn’t exist without Drupal core’s Form API. The hosting and testing infrastructure that the Drupal Association provides for the Webform module is part of this collaboration. The community-run events help inspire people to get involved. A Drupal module, like Webform, is a massive collaboration. We are all linked and interdependent on each other to produce something massive.

What is freedom?

Society would be nowhere without the ability to share our ideas and collaborate. People with great ideas...Read More