on April 13th, 2007Sponsored Themes controversy
There are so many discussions going on, around the wordpress sites, about the sponsored themes and how Matt [Chief - WordPress] wants to deal with them. I will try to put my comments on this topic here.
Its all between you and me. Ok ?
You : Obviously all your themes are sponsored, and so you would only support sponsored themes ?
Me : Yes, of course. As the creator, I believe the theme author has the right to add sponsored link in the footer.
You : WordPress is an open source software, released under GPL [General Public License]. So if you are creating a theme for WordPress, your theme should also be open source GPL, right ?
Me : If anyone makes a derivative of a open source software, they need to release it under the same license. A derivative is something that can run on its own, without the parent being there. but in case of a wordpress theme, it can not be considered as a derivative, since it can not run on its own.
You : So what is the License you release your themes on ?
Me : I do not have a specific license, as I can not find something that fits me. Thats why I created a License Page on this site.
You : What do you think about Matt saying “Remove Sponsored Themes from WordPress.org” ?
Me : Matt owns wordpress.org, wordpress.com, themes.wordpress.net etc. He has every right to decide what goes on these websites. He can add / edit / delete anything on these websites. If he does not want to support / promote sponsored themes, he can do it anytime. He does not even need to ask for people’s opinions on that.
You : but is this sponsored themes not confusing the user ?
Me : I do not see this creating a confusion with the user. If a user knows how to download the theme from the designer’s site, unzip it, and then upload it to their website, I can not call them a “lame” user. They would know how to open up the footer.php and remove the links they do not want.
You : In that case, it might happen to your themes, too ? People can remove the footer links if they know how to !
Me : Yes, It has happened to me many times before. Many of my themes are being used in places without crediting back to me. but being one person, I can not spend my time and energy to run behind those. but I would say, what they are doing is against what my license page says. If someone rips off my theme and calls it their own, without crediting back to me, then I take it more seriously than one user removing the credits from his site.
You : So, you will continue to develop and support sponsored themes ?
Me: Yes of course. Even Matt is not opposing the release of sponsored themes. He just thinks he can not promote them on wordpress.org and other websites closely related to that. I am fine with that. After all, it is his website and he decides its content.
You : So, you are not bothered if your theme does not get listed on wordpress.org ?
Me : Once in a while, I might release themes without a sponsor, and I am sure it will get listed on wordpress.org. but anytime I release a sponsored theme, I understand it can not get listed anywhere in his sites. I am fine with that.
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Thanks guys for listening to me. I will meet you again soon.
Sadish
The sponsored themes controversy kills me. There are really people out there who think they’re entitled to others spending their time creating great, free themes for them. I’ve yet to understand that logic. The whole software is free, and they want their pick of thousands of great themes, too?
Sponsored themes are a great compromise between free and paid themes. You can see what dreck fills up the “free themes” category. I’m much happier with people like you creating great themes with sponsored links.
Sadish releases free HIGH QUALITY themes.
I see no problem with the themes being sponsored as long as he is open about it.
We all have the choic to not download it if we dont like it
Does removing the links to your sponsors, while keeping links to your blog intact constitute a break of your license?
Sadish, thanks for clarifying. I was curious what your opinion is as your sponsored themes are quite good.
I know the point of sponsored themes is to leave in the link. Would you be amenable to putting in a time when the link to the sponsor could be removed if the user desired? Not the link back to your site but the link to the sponsor in the footer.
Man.. Kealviyum neeye.. bhathilum neeye-va!! Varungaala muthalvar sadish vaazhgha!!
I totally agree with your answers.
Sadish never disclosed that his “free” themes contained hidden links to sponsors, and that makes the entire thing spyware. Now that he is exposed in this practice, writes this post to find a valid “rational” for his deceptive (i.e. not openly stated) commercial practice. He should include with each “free” theme download a disclaimer informing the user that the theme contain hidden links to sponsors, and then ask the person to click “Yes” in acceptance. Otherwise it’s a betrayal of the trust the unsuspecting person places on a “free” theme. Sadish is not about open source or Wordpress, he’s a merchant. He also was seen in Google groups a while ago desperately asking why Google was not listing all the backlinks (the sponsors and his own site). The reason was that Google does not like this practice and penalizes the sites who do this.
@”Theme Avenger”
First, spyware is software that tracks your activity on your computer. Including links in sponsored themes doesn’t share any characteristics at all with spyware.
Second, if Sadish included hidden links in themes, then yes, shame on him. That’s not only unethical but also punishable by search engines, i.e. a really bad idea all the way around.
The links I’ve seen, though, are right there in the footer. If you’re putting up a theme and not even looking at it closely enough to notice that there’s a link in the footer, then shame on you.
And finally, the reason Google isn’t reporting the backlinks is that Google never reports all backlinks. Never have. You have to go to Yahoo to get any sort of complete list.
And Google doesn’t penalize sites that include links like this in their footer. If they did, you’d have lots of people paying Sadish to link to their competitors. Google and other SEs may discount the links themselves, but not the site hosting them (unless there are also other issues) or the site that they point to.
@Shane, for answering to the “theme avenger” for me.
I would like to re-iterate the following.
1. I have never had any hidden links in my theme.
2. I have never gone into any google groups. If “Theme Avenger” can post a link to such stuff, it would be interesting.
@Ajay
Removing any of the footer links, is against the license of theme.
@Jan Dembowski
I will think about your idea and post here if I come to a decision on it.
Thanks
Sadish
Nice web site, nice themes, nice attitude.
Sadish,
You have such quality themes and they are very easy to work with. I have been enjoying the NigaRila layout for a few months now. I have no issues with a sponsored link in the footer, even after buying the theme.
Thanks…
The only concern I have is a degree of .. discretion , on what kinds of links are permitted to be sponsored. Links to casinos, porn shops, etc would not be desirable in a theme for most people.
Don’t blame people who release quality free goodies such as the author of this blog for the capitalistic tendencies link farming inspires .. blame Google. People should be able to make some money doing things they like to do and the opportunity Google created is just too good to pass up.
Just like Google, open source template authors will produce good quality accessible templates and only ask for a few moments of your remaining attention span in return, one or two sponsored links. BIG DEAL. Why do people get SO upset over a few pixels on their screen?
What’s the problem? As the author indicated, Wordpress may not want to officiate themselves with whoever may be benefacted from a sponsored link, so they can (and should) opt not to make them available on their sites.
That does not stop you from self publishing, or publishing on a million other venues.
I think some people just sieze on any opportunity to get pissed off and have something to blame for it.
Sadish, you rock!
You’re the rock star of WordPress themes! :)
Can we donate to remove the sponsored links?
Richard,
A donation of $15 at this website’s donate page, will allow you to remove the sponsor link in one instance of the theme being used.
Thanks.
I use Sadish’s themes and I was happy to only pay $15 and I was able to remove the sponsored link. I of course left a link to Sadish as the theme designer :-)
If you don’t want to pay $15 and you don’t want to leave the sponsorship link - don’t use the theme, it’s that easy! $15 is a steal, his themes are excellent and easy to manage and to tweak, like adding your own header. Plus Sadish helps you out in his forums if you have question. Thanks Sadish, keep the great themes coming!
I am using the theme NigaRila in one of my websites (http://www.xcomcenter.org/)without a footer Link to Sadish. because I Paid for it. when I bought, From - http://nigarila.com/ I could not see a Links to Forum or any other. I came from German Google Link Directly to http://nigarila.com/. There I could find only links and Informations are - Home, Features, Buy it Now, Contact, Latest News. There were No License Info, No conditions.
Now I accidenlly I came to this page “themes-controversy”
and I am confused. Am I Correct or Not, by Removing His Footer Link. I dont Like do Mistakes or I dont want any controversy. Can some one Explain me?
Thanks in Advance and Regards
Ackermann
Ackermann,
Dont worry. NigaRila and Pal Nila are not sponsored themes. They are something you buy from the sites. You do not need to link back to those sites if you dont wish to.
“Sponsored Links” means the link to my sponsor at the footer of the themes I release for free from my websites.
So you dont need to worry about anything. Enjoy NigaRila !
Sadish
Sadish,
Thank you, Now I understand. Indeed , there is a link back to you. But not in the Footer.
Regards
Ackermann