1) I was invited to speak at the May Day event. I did not place myself on the schedule. Even if I did create the time myself, I wouldn't have any reason to hide that. At any rate, the presentation did not cover my services. It focused on Drupal and why it's an ideal candidate as a software platform for unions. No one wants to go there to hear a sales pitch.

2) You are free to knock Drupal as much as you please. I happen to think it's a great platform. I've been using it for 5 years and it's served my clients well.

3) I build websites for a living for unions. That's how I make money. I am not ashamed by that. I'm proud of it and I love doing it.

4) Why would I talk about the plight of Nigerian workers or any other topic I know nothing about? I'm an expert at building websites for unions with Drupal. That's what I know best. I help unions communicate on the web. It's no different than having a workers' comp attorney talking about workers' comp insurance.

5) Acquia did not "bring us" Drupal. Drupal has been around since 2001. Acquia was formed about 3 or 4 months ago. They are one of hundreds of companies that provides services using Drupal as a platform. Drupal is owned by the community. That includes you. You are free to contribute to the project. Anyone is. It's owned, essentially, by no one.

6) Drupal doesn't have employees. It's all volunteer.

“I build websites for a living for unions. That's how I make money. I am not ashamed by that. I'm proud of it and I love doing it."

First may I say thank you for Union Island and Second Life. It is a great concept and I enjoyed it very much. I have not responded to Mr. Dondley because the above statement settles my differences with Mr.Dondley. Also I did not do so because he should know I do not need a history lesson on who and what drupal is. I am quite aware who created Drupal,what it is and how it is a very nice tool for the type of sites Steve prefers. I to prefer Wordpress but not being in the same class as Mr Dondley in web building proficiency I don’t put much stock in my opinion on web design. I feel with my limited knowledge that Drupal is a great tool. My issue is with the way Mr. Dondley is marketing it and himself. He is not hawking it, as I like to call it, as a great web building tool but he is attempting to add a marketing ploy that gives Drupal a “Spirit of Unionism” connotation. His site “Union Proud for Drupal” is an example of his marketing ploy.. Since Mr. Dondley wants to market Drupal to further his business by having us believe “Labor should support Drupal” and not "web sellers should support Drupal” then I must ask what have the creators of Drupal done for labor. What has the Drupal Association done for labor? What has Acquia done for labor? Let us ask what Union Dries Buytaert is in or was in when he offered Drupal to the world. Although Drupal itself is not a commercial venture the Drupal Association has sold memberships to many and the newly created Acquia is indeed a Commercial venture involving Dries Buytaert. You cannot ignore the connection between the two. The businees world does not.Would you also have us believe the Board of Directors of the Drupal Association is not compensated like any other board on a non profit.Mr Dondley presents himself in the same way. Instead of presenting himself, as he admitted above, as a web builder out to make money by selling web site to Unions he would have us believe he is a friend and supporter of organized labor. Perhaps he feels that this manner he is furthering the Union cause. I feel that by ignoring the Rank and File and pandering to the Union hierarchies he supports only his business.

While I find Mr Dondley to be a talented person judge solely from our online contact and by seeing his work I must say he is not a supporter of Unionism but a person aggressively promoting his web building business to his target market which are Unions. Mr Dondley does not support the core of what is Unionism and that as you are aware is the Rank and File worker. Any support he does offer to Unions is to the Union hierarchy whom he supports as he courts their business. The only two sites Prometheus Labor Mr Dondely has provided to a rank and file worker are Union review and UBC Newsroom. Both grew in to nothing more than propaganda sites that scour the internet stealing the work of others and posting it to their sites. The owner of Union Review is now an employee of the Teamsters where he is building and maintaining web sites that Censor their members and restrict content from the members. You will find the discussion of this in another place on this site .Before Dondley built Union Review for Negri he expressed concerns that the Unions he panders to for business would be upset about a rank and file web site that could possibly be critical of Union Officials and jeopardize his ability to sell them web sites .Judging by Negris refusal to allow any Union Official to be challenged such as Ron Taylor and PATCO it seems they have reached a compromise. It confirms my only issue with Mr. Dondley and that is his first priority is a buck. He insults the Rank and file worker by insisting we are not intelligent or civilized enough to be trusted discussing Union Business and he by his own admission wants to keep “Dirty Laundry” behind closed doors so that Union Officials can control their possible illegal actions and continue to do “Business as Usual” .Engaging in ,supporting and agreeing to policys that supress the Rank and File is NOT in any way a support to the workers.

In regards to Drupal. Yes it is an open source tool that is furthered by contributions of the community. But to say it is not a commercial venture one has to wonder. Businessweek seems to disagree. In regards to Buytaert “Seven years on, as he tries to turn his idea into a successful business” “Buytaert is among a handful of innovators who are building businesses and products aimed at other companies”” Buytaert will try to make money through sales of related support services.” While the concept of Drupal continues as a “a project that draws together software developers from around the world who collectively tinker with and add features to the content management system made available for free” the movement is now to promote Drupal for the purpose of making a dollar. The good thing about this is that in its quest to make Drupal payoff Acquia will make Drupal a better product. But a product it is and it is generating Millions for those who have made it a “Commercial Venture. Mr. Dondleys marketing niche is Organized Labor. We in Unions should flock to Drupal and support this “Future of Labor Communications” Which by the way is a catchy slogan but hardly the truth. So as a Union member I must ask that if Union members money is to be funneled towards companies that are out to make a profit from the use of Drupal then I must ask why should we, What has Drupal done for Labor. We all like to use the catch phrases “Buy Union” and “Look for the Union Label”. I see that this does not apply to software and tools such as Drupal. Do we not as Union members have a duty to not only buy the Union made t-shirt but the Union made programs similar to Drupal. Before we support Drupal so those that are “Experts” in its use can make money off labor should we not look for the Union Label. If they are not out there than should Labor endeavor to lend support to startups that are in Labor. You say Drupal has no employees. Well Acquia most certainly does. Their investors most certainly do. The Drupal Association certainly does. Prometheus Labor certainly does. Did you ask which Union Mr Dondleys employees are in when you invited him.So are we in Labor involved in a movement to organize these companies? Should we not scrutinize all their associations to see if they are Labor Friendly? Should we support a “Tool” who has investors that financially support credit checking the ill? Did Mr. Dondley finish his presentation at Union Island discussing how Labor should organize this booming industry? Or should we restrict ourselves to trying to sign Mexican truckers as they cross US borders while at the same time condemning them as the scourge of the earth as did the Teamsters.

I took your enticement to go to Union Island on May Day to join other Union members from around the world in solidarity. To view presentations on Labor and learn about the struggles of my fellow Union working men and women.. Mr. Dondley stated “Trade unionists from around the globe will be descending on Union Island today to celebrate the May Day.” But Mr. Dondley was not going there to stand with Union Brothers but to Hawk Drupal and regardless of his soliciting business for Prometheus Labor it just so happens his company can build you a web site using Drupal. My only mistake was not knowing you invited Mr.Dondley . I wrongly assumed Mr. Dondley took the opportunity to promote himself and his business with the intent to sell more web sites. I apologize for not knowing you invited him. Maybe if Mr. Dondley had instead said. Join me at Union Island as I promote Drupal one would not have gotten the WRONG impression that Mr. Dondley was going in to stand with Union members from around the world. “Why would I talk about the plight of Nigerian workers or any other topic I know nothing about? I'm an expert at building websites for unions with Drupal.” I know nothing about the plights of these workers around the world but is that not what we went to Union island on May Day for. I did. Did Mr. Dondley offer at any time during his trip to Union Island offer any web services to any Union Group or organization for free in solidarity and support of their causes? Did he commit Prometheus Labor and his Drupal expertise to any group for free so that it might further lift their struggle?

There is nothing wrong with being a business man. Mr. Dondley is very good with Drupal. His sites are excellent. Well done and I wish him well in his quest to make money. I do have issue with Mr. Dondley marketing Prometheus Labor and Drupal as the future of Labor Communications when in truth the only support he gives to labor comes with a price tag. In his defense Prometheus gave away 25 sites to Unions. Did he do so to support Labor or to market Prometheus. As he said “I build websites for a living for unions. That's how I make money” That is all I have ever wanted Mr.Dondley to admit. Next we need to work on getting the self proclaimed “Labor Messiah” Richard Negri to admit Union review is nothing more than a pro Union Propaganda site. The self proclaimed friend and future of labor on the net supports member censorship and control and actively works with the Teamsters to censor its members and spread Teamster Propaganda. I find it an insult to the Rank and File that this farce continues. The fact that Teamster Power has admitted it is a Propaganda site in posts here on CoD gives us an insight to Negris policies and intentions. It is rather insulting for him to promote the Union member on one site and work for the Teamsters in censoring its membership and spreading Propaganda on others. That is what’s called Unionism to the highest bidder. Solidarity for a buck.