Is primothemes/websharks a robobusiness??

[coralatlas]

Although the cosmetics and marketing suggests otherwise and the software seems to work and is maintained up to now .... there is a lack of human life in the business model .... which is very troubling

Not quite sure what this means? Is web sharks one developer with two part time email clerks?

An automated robo-business that will die when the developer no longer exists.

should users who are successful with s2 etc hire their own programmer as back-up?

[glbrent]

There is a lack of Human Life in the business model

I'm not sure I really agree with you. Sure, It probably is a small business with a few nerds hacking away. That's how my business is too. However, they have done a great job developing this plugin. It is so open to API and database administration. I still get the warm fuzzy about how much I can do with this software. Yes, maybe you need to know php to do certain complicated things, but it has saved me so much money compared to how much I could have been spending to hire a programmer to develop my membership site. I'm sorry you are troubled but I've looked for about a month around at a bunch of the different membership site plugins for wordpress and this is the BEST! Once you have your site up and working like you like it, what's the big deal?

[Cristián Lávaque]

Thanks for the kudos, glbrent!

coralatlas, this is a serious business, maybe not with lots of employees, but planning to be here a long time. Even if that didn't happen, the source code is open so it can be maintained by your personal developer in the future if we were to disappear for some reason.

Here's a post Jason posted about a year ago about this:

Hi Bess. Thanks for the kudos, and the great question.

WebSharks, Inc. is a team of 5 here in Loganville, GA / USA; with over 10 years experience in web development. I am the Lead Developer ( Jason Caldwell ) Zend® Certified / PayPal® Certified.

s2Member is being promoted through a relatively new venture of ours @PriMoThemes.com, which we also have big plans for ( look for significant changes to PriMoThemes.com over the coming weeks and months ahead ).

The free version of s2Member ( available through WordPress.org ) is the framework for s2Member Pro, a commercial product available at s2Member.com. s2Member is supported in a variety of ways; one of which is it's commercial counterpart at s2Member.com.

The s2Member Framework ( the free version ) is, and will remain, open source, so that everyone is free to adapt it, modify it, fix it, and/or contribute to it; so long as you remain within the terms of the GPL.

This HUGE benefit ( GPL ) has been missing for a long time; and it's very important for developers working on client projects. As a developer, you can Hook into, Filter, or even modify most of the files directly if need be. We recommend using Hooks/Filters ( there are now over 200 Hooks/Filters spread throughout the s2Member Framework ). Using Hooks/Filters to integrate your own processing routines, has the added benefits of (a) better organization, and (b) hassle-free upgrades in the future.

Even with the s2Member Pro Module ( which IS commercially encoded in two different flavors: ionCube® & Zend® Guard ), we've worked very hard to maximize compatibility, and your flexibility to tinker with Hooks/Plugins. The s2Member Pro Module generates simulated ( self-verified / proxy ) IPN responses that interact with the free s2Member Framework; furthering your ability to extend s2Member Pro in various ways; even without having direct access to the source code for the Pro Module.

Should we decide to abandon the development of s2Member ( not likely ), it's framework will remain available to anyone who would like to continue its development. It is GPL after all. In addition, because s2Member is built on top of WordPress, and it's integrated seamlessly with Roles/Capabilities already built into the WordPress core framework WITHOUT introducing any new database tables... you are free to move your entire database of Users/Members at anytime you need to.

If you would like to contribute to the ongoing development of s2Member, please consider making a donation... or better yet, just purchase yourself a licensed copy of s2Member Pro.

In future versions of s2Member ( with some features being exclusively available through s2Member Pro ), you will see partnerships being formed with other online services. Which will ultimately extend the reach of s2Member and increase it's level of support. There are some other cool things in the pipeline, but we'll save those as a surprise Look for the Changelog with each new version we release.