Well, well.. look what the cat dragged in ; another debate on sponsored themes. Now don’t get your panties in a bunch, just let me have my say and then I’ll forever hold my peace.
1. We designers are ‘Commies’ : We’re doing it for the community
In the end you are doing it for the community. At least that’s why I am designing themes for Wordpress. Some of the new designers are only in it for the money, the ‘Dinero’ if you will. Well, brothers and sisters, you’ve got another thing coming ! It’s not all Glitz and Glam here in Theme-land, I myself for example have put in more than a 1000 hours of ‘community service’. It’s only fair I get something in return, isn’t it ? Yeah, I see you nodding.
And to quote the guys over at headsetoptions:
To the users who find sponsor links offensive: I would like to see y’all work for free. No matter what jobs you hold, just work for free, and deliver what ever you do at par with the industry standard, provide support if there is an issue, spend time answering users questions and get paid nothing, all for free, everyday, for the rest of your life. If you are able to do it, so will I. If not, make your own WordPress themes, with your own time and money and stop whining.
Don’t forget that we are not only designing themes. It’s much more than that. Everyone expects us to help them with their specific problems with the themes and Wordpress. Besides that we also have to help the users with problems that haven’t got anything to do with Wordpress (themes). But nobody sees the ugly side, everybody is blinded by the sponsor links.
Amsterdamn.org has had a donation button on it’s website, but nobody ever showed me the money ( to quote Jerry Maguire ). Somehow everybody is convinced that Wordpress should offer everything for free. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s true that there are designers who release themes that are plain crap, all in the hopes of striking gold and making big bucks so they can pay for their Macbooks and early retirements in Boca. But don’t let all this fool you, a great amount of quality themes have been released all thanks to theme sponsorships. I’m truly convinced that sponsorships have had a positive impact, more good themes are being released. I won’t deny that it has also resulted in some badly looking themes, but they have their own niche I guess.
Now maybe you’re still convinced that designers are only in it for the money, even after my little plea here. But theme sponsorship is just a way to get something in return for the hard work and long hours we put into Wordpress. And let’s be real about this : A couple of links won’t hurt anyone. if you are anti sponsored links there is always a way to get them removed. E-mail the theme designer and ask about the conditions.
What it all boils down to is that as a designer you should strive to help the Wordpress community, and if having your themes sponsored helps you do this : More power to you !
2. Add value to a theme
This is a little something i like to call ‘aemulatio’ just because it makes me sound smart. It’s an old Roman word, and basically it means that you should try to improve things. Everybody can alter a theme, a smudge of paintshop here, a dab of coding there, a new header and you’ve got yourself a spanking new theme. If you want to be a good samaritan : Add some serious value to a theme. Try to improve the theme. Look for things the theme is missing and add them. You know what they say : Nothing is perfect, so why would themes be the exception ? Improvement, improvement, improvement !
Now I know what you’re thinking.’ oh wise one learn us more!’ Well, grasshoppers, be patient. First i’d like to discuss the porting of themes from other platforms. Try to do more than just porting it to Wordpress. Make it even better, so that it suits the Wordpress users. What you see is that some theme designers are making themes so that they can target them in order to get more sponsors. Magic 8-Ball says: Don’t be afraid to enter a niche. We need more options when it comes down to themes. But don’t just release themes for the love of the game, when you hit that upload button your theme should be user friendly and well constructed.
Ofcourse stealing other people’s work is tempting because it’s easy. But beware the wrath of the Wordpress Gods ! Stealing themes from other designers gives bad karma. And believe me, you don’t want to end up a cockroach in your next life. If a designer doesn’t want reproductions : don’t . If you use someone else’s work give them credit. A lot of designers don’t mind you using their themes as long as you credit them.Give the people some mad props for the love of God! And once again: add some serious value to the theme.
Your best bet is to design new themes, but that’s not obligatory.
Remember kids: ADD VALUE!
3. Work together
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.†Henry Ford
My uncle used to say that it takes a village to raise a child. Well in this case it takes a community of designers, users and developers to take care of Wordpress. Working together is the keypoint!
It’s a know fact that Wordpress would never have become the best weblog experience if it weren’t for the great collaboration between designers, users and developers. The power of open source software lies in the wordpress community working together.Instead of being tangled up in pointless discussions on sponsored themes we should all join hands and work together. As Elvis Presley said : A little less conversation, a little more action baby please!
4. Keep it real
Releasing a theme with sponsored links is one thing, but demanding the links not to be removed is another. If a user wants to thank you for the free theme then they will leave the links. If they don’t agree upon sponsored links or it doesn’t suit the content of the website then I can understand that they want to remove the links.We trust on the goodwill of the users. We’re grateful for the ones that leave the links intact.
Besides that I believe that themes should have a clear purpose. There is no need for themes that are just designed to suit the website of the sponsor. In other words: We don’t need creditcard themes!
Another thing that annoys me is the fact that some of my fellow theme designers are advertising the theme sponsorships as a great way to improve your SEO. That’s not the right approach in my humble opinion. If you are actually a good designer then it won’t be a problem to get in touch with sponsors. You are not doing this to make some money. The money is just a way to help you make more and better themes.
According to Matt Mullenweg it’s adware what we are doing right now. I’d like to say to him: Get your facts straight before you randomly accuse others.If this is adware well so is the Blogroll then. We don’t want it, but we’re getting it everytime bundled with the themes. It’s obvious that you are doing it for the linkjuice of your own blogs. Let’s remove those links next time and replace it with really useful links (Codex etc) instead of some Myspace blog. And stop telling the crowd that all the links are for shady viagra/casino website’s. Most of the sponsor links are trusted website’s that have been around for years.
Sponsored themes aren’t that bad if the author clearly states that it has sponsored links. Some of the better themes contain sponsored links nowadays. This whole sponsorship thing has been going on for more than a year now. But all of a sudden it’s a problem.
You can’t fight the free market. Okay, you can try to ban it on wordpress.org / wbtc. But there is a demand for sponsored themes. And it’s true that nobody is forcing us to make themes. But I was making themes even before there were sponsored themes. I do this because I love Wordpress.When you get a good response from users thanking you for your hard work, you get that warm fuzzy feeling inside. Monetizing our website in order to pay the bilss didn’t work. We couldn’t even pay the hosting bill.
What I’m trying to get across is that there’s nothing wrong with sponsored themes as long as you are not forcing the users.The majority of Wordpress bloggers is okay with using a good theme with sponsored links. If you start banning the sponsored themes then there is less choice left for the users. Sponsors are actually motivating us to release more and better themes.
Free choice is what we want….
April 14th, 2007 at 4:35 am
So basically you’re saying that without having a sponsor for your themes, you wouldn’t release them “for the community”?
Honestly, I think you should chose betters words when trying to prove your point. I can understand wanting to receive a monetary compensation for your time, but you don’t *have* to create Wordpress themes. You can chose not to create them, you know?
I just think it’s skewed logic to say that sponsors (money) are motivating you to release more and better themes.
If you’re doing it for the community, shouldn’t it be that you’re creating themes for other users, and listening to their thoughts and comments on your themes so you can release better ones?
Regardless, it’s up to you to do with your themes, but I wouldn’t say you’re doing it for the community, and then turn around and say that your sponsors are why you’re still doing it.
April 14th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
I have been releasing themes even before there were sponsors. And I will continue to do so in the future, yes even if the sponsors go away.
So basically what you are saying: don’t create themes if you are going to use sponsored links. It’s true that I don’t *have* to do it. But I do this because I love doing it. It’s my choice to do so. And as long as it’s legal nobody can force me to stop doing it. You also have the choice to use them or not. If you don’t like it: don’t use it.There is nothing wrong with the majority of the sponsored themes. As if there aren’t any bad non-sponsored themes?
It’s not motivating to see that making themes is costing you money. Don’t forget that we are doing this in our free time. Take me for an example, I’m a college student who is going to school fulltime. It’s really expensive for me to pay for hosting/software etc. The sponsor is helping me with that. I never received a penny from users. You don’t know how much time goes into making and supporting Wordpress themes. Sponsors are rating the price that you get upon how good your theme is. What you want to do is create the best theme possible. I do understand your point of view. But we are just filling up the area between free and paid themes. Would I continue to release themes if there were no sponsors? Yes! But as long as there are people who appreciate my work and want to help me a bit I will continue to use sponsors.
That’s actually what I do. I am very passionate in communicating with the users of our themes. We’re always trying to improve the quality. But too bad that you can’t see how much e-mail conversations I have with users. That’s also an aspect that is costing me a lot of time - but I love doing it. If I were doing it for the money I wouldn’t offer support. I have put in more than 1000 hours in helping the community. Can you say that?
I guess you did not get my point. I’m doing this for the community. The sponsors are just helping me a bit. I hope that you are also motivated in bashing Automattic. Because they are also doing it for their own benefit (see Wordpress.com). Because if you are attacking us then you should also see what they are doing.
As I already stated: I have been helping the Wordpress community long before there were sponsors…and will continue to do so if they dissappear.
April 14th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
So you’re the only person that goes to school full time and has to pay bills? I’m not disagreeing with what you’re doing, I was just merely pointing out the skewed logic and misconceptions you posted about.
But if you are really that much in need of money, guess what, try fitting in a job in there. It’s possible. I’ve worked full time and gone to school full time, and I still pay for my bills. Hell, I’ve lived in my apartment, gone to school full time, worked part time, and made sure that what I was paying for was something I needed. I’m not trying to say someone is better thant he other, but if you’re going to pull the “oh, I’m poor and need to make money,” get a damned job.
I’m well aware of how much time, sweat, annoyance, and money can go into a project like that. I run my own hosting company, so I think I kind of know what goes into making something, and having to support it. Obviously not the same thing, but I do understand what goes into it.
I haven’t given the Wordpress community support directly, but I’ve been giving my clients two years worth of support. I’m not comparing what you’ve accomplished, to what I’ve accomplished because I’m sure we each have our own qualities that the other might not possess.
All I was saying in my comment was that you are saying you’re doing it for the community, but at the end you say “Sponsors are actually motivating us to release more and better themes.” Which implies that your users have nothing to do with your motivation.
Actually, if I don’t like a sponsored theme all I’m going to do is remove the links from it; It’s very simple actually. But yes, there are “bad” non-sponsored themes, but there are horrible sponsored themes out there as well. I’ve seen users submit the same theme, but with different colors, and each of them have contained different sponsored links. Obviously these are the people taking advantage of the “system,” whereas others are creative, and have original themes.
Regardless though, I understand that people have to make money somehow, and if that’s how you do it great. But I still think that relying on this kind of system isn’t going to do anyone any good; If you want to work hard and earn money for it… maybe a job, since you have already spent thousands of hours on support for other people. Sounds like you’d have time to put that towards employment rather than support for themes. Just saying ;)
April 15th, 2007 at 12:05 am
I never said that I was poor. And actually I do have a job to pay my bills. Don’t worry, I’m definitely not pulling the poor boy trick. But I won’t say no if a good and trusthworthy sponsor wants to cover my bills that are related to my Wordpress themes.
Well atleast we agree on one thing ;)
I guess you got it wrong. The users actually are the main reason why I am so motivated. But the sponsors are giving me also some form of motivation to make themes. In the end it feels much better when 10 users tell you how good your theme is (in comparison with getting 10 dollar from a sponsor.)
Nobody prohibits you from removing the links - except for some Creative Commons ShareALike Attribution fundamentalists. Non-sponsored and sponsored themes both have their pro’s and cons. There are good ones between theme and also bad ones. There is nothing wrong with a coloured version if it has some added value. It doesn’t make much sense if you are just doing it to please the sponsor. I won’t deny the fact that some theme designers are abusing the system. It’s sad to see that some people are actually advertising in order to get theme sponsors. Your work itself should attract sponsors, and not the other way around.
Money makes the world go round in the end I guess. Ofcourse there is a way to rely on this system which benefits everyone. Hopefully we will find it very soon. But for now I’m trusting on common sense. I’m going to study next year. Therefore having a job with actual clients isn’t the solution for me. I’m afraid that my study will suffer. But I’ll see - time will tell.
April 15th, 2007 at 12:18 am
I want to agree that a colored version might have some added value, but in all honesty, all you need to do is specify in the readme where users can change the color for main elements, and even provide some “predefined” schemes.
I don’t see an added value when the functions and skeleton are the same, and only a few hex codes are different. I just see that as “abuse” and an obvious monetary ploy.
April 15th, 2007 at 11:13 am
It’s true that you could specify it somewhere it somewhere in the readme file. But we do have to agree that the best way is to add a menu in the WP admin section for the users. Too bad that some theme designers aren’t aware of that.
April 15th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
I’ve been following this little conversation between the two of you and I have to say : get over it people, nothing to see here. So now there’s this whole discussion on sponsored themes like it’s the freaking end of the world. Well boohoo, nothing’s for free people and Santa doesn’t exist either. Maybe I’m just a straight to the point kind of woman , but come on I think there are far worse things in the world than a few links here and there. Aren’t some people overreacting just a smidgen ?
To Andiz : I’ve been following your work from the beginning and it is indeed true that you do it for the community and that you do your best to help your users. I remember a few years ago you helped me with a theme. You spent a long time trying to meet my demands and didn’t ask a penny for it. Now some designers that are sponsored are called ‘moneygrabbing scum’ . But as far as I can see you are not asking money from your users in any way, nor are you harming them with a couple of links. I really do believe people should back off and get on with their lives.
To Jordan : Ooh Jordan, sweet sweet Jordan.. Where is all this anger coming from ? You give a few legit reasons why you disapprove of sponsoring themes and then you drive up a U-Haul truck with a ton of things that aren’t even relevant. You say back in the day you studied and worked and had your own apartment and adopted 8 kids while raising them on your own, running your multinational business and occasionally saving the world from doom and disaster. Now that’s all swell and all but come on, give the man a break. Your ‘I am woman, hear my roar’- card doesn’t apply here sister. You have your own company you say, and I’m sure that isn’t a piece of cake either, so I’d expect you to understand where these sponsored designers are coming from. How about you imagining what it would be like for you not to see a dime eventhough you put so much ‘ time, sweat and annoyance’ in your projects. Nobody is forcing anyone to pay or click anything, so please don’t go exaggerating the problem if there even is one.
Oh and the whole ‘all you need to do is specify in the readme where users can change the color for main elements’ you were going on about. Quite presumptuous of you to believe that everybody would know what to do. There are Wordpress-disabled people that don’t know jack even if you write a step-by-step guide for them. And why would they change it themselves ? This is the 21st century : we want what we want, when we want it and we want it now. Why bother if it can already be done for me ?
I applaud you for being a young lady with your own company, all the power to you. You have yours and the sponsored designers have their own. I say live and let live. And if you must have something to hate on : Don’t hate the players, hate the game.
April 15th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Francesca to quote you “get over it people, nothing to see here.”
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