Comments on: Is WordPress Theme Sponsorship a Good Business Model?

By: GeloTon

GeloTon — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 11:57:29 +0000

For me it’s okay, provided that the sponsored links are not “overdone” or placed “sneakily” in different places, as such give the site a crude appearance.

Moreover, the option to have these removed is a must.

By: Small Potato

Small Potato — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 00:01:50 +0000

I have no problem with sponsored themes; people have to make money somehow. As long as it’s done like BloggingPro, I don’t have a problem with it. But, there’s a downside to this sponsored themes movement. It’s deteriorating the WordPress theme community.

If you don’t have time to read my post. Here’s the quickie:

Number of Sponsored Links – Some themes have 3 to 4 sponsored links. That’s too much.

Transparency – Not every sponsored theme designer notify their users of sponsored links.

License requirement – unlike BloggingPro, most theme designer require the sponsored link to stay as a part of the license.

Just out right shady – Some designers are porting existing CSS templates to WordPress and have sold sponsored link positions on those themes. They made money off of the work that they even put in.

By: AhmedF

AhmedF — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 09:30:52 +0000

Criminal? Whew – people and their high-horses.

By: ade

ade — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 07:14:49 +0000

I actually am using that theme right now. We do have the option to remove the link, it was in the license, but I decided not to.

By: jhay

jhay — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 07:10:21 +0000

There should be an opt-out option for the user who uses sponsored theme. Not allowing so is a perversion of the spirit of the Creative Commons license which 99% of all free themes use.

Sassy Lawyer wrote about this and she’s calling for a boycott on sponsored themes.