Pligg is an open source CMS which provides RSVC (read submit vote comment), or Digg-like functionality out of the box. It is based on the code from Meneame, a Spanish RSVC site, but it has been heavily modified since and can now be considered a completely different product. Pligg has recently received a C&D letter which warns them that they are using some elements of another RSVC CMS, SuperGu (currently not available for unregistered users).

Now, the bizarre part starts. SuperGu is developed by a former Pligg developer, James Phelps, nicknamed 3dkiller. The details of how Eric Heikkinen, the lead developer of Pligg, and Phelps grew apart can be read in this interview with Heikkinen.

What’s not so apparent from the interview, probably because Heikkinen is being too nice for his own good, is that while Pligg is a genuine effort to make a free CMS with RSVC functionality, SuperGu has mostly been vaporware, and its design is a blatant copy of Digg. While the Digg crowd has been known to think that everything remotely similar to Digg is a rip-off, in this case it definitely is a rip-off, and you don’t have to be an expert of any sort to see this.

Looks familiar? (screenshot taken from Go2Web2.blogspot.com)

So, while I can’t say if any of Phelps’ claims about Pligg stealing his code is true, based on his SuperGu efforts I can safely assume that Pligg won’t have any problem defending themselves. If anyone should get a C&D letter, it’s SuperGu, and they should get it from Digg.

While we’re on the topic of Pligg, the developers have recently released a new version of the CMS, 9.1, which includes a number of fixes and some long-awaited speed improvements, and are furiously working on a new version, which will go a step further in separating the content from the design, which will make customization of Pligg a lot easier for non-programmers.