Quotes: Matt Mullenweg

Source: http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2007/04/12/on-sponsored-themes/

I’ve seen some designers claim if we discourage bundled advertising with themes we’re taking away their livelihood and saying they should work for free. (Conveniently ignoring the fact that WordPress was built “for free.”) However just because you can make money from something doesn’t mean you should. Things don’t have to be illegal for it to be wrong. There are more important things in life.

We have worked for free in the past. I don’t see the problem with getting some money in return. It’s true that Wordpress was built for free. But isn’t the Wordpress team cashing in (bigtime) on their efforts? Just take a look at the adsense ads on Wordpress.com.

At every conference I go to I meet dozens of people who make their living with WordPress and manage to do so in a way that doesn’t exploit users or cross ethical lines, so I find it hard to believe that the lack of sponsored themes will hurt the WordPress ecosystem.

You meet people who have made it a part of their business. Most of the theme designers are people who design in their free time. We don’t have the time and money to fully dedicate our lives to Wordpress. Sponsored themes are playing a big role in themeland. Hell even Wordpress.com is using sponsored themes.

Authors could also monetize their own sites with ads, instead of putting them on yours.

Been there, done that. It doesn’t work. And donations aren’t what they used to be, visitors are less eager to chip in a buck or two.

Finally, no one is forcing these people to make themes. In fact I would posit that it’s better not to release anything at all than to release a sponsored theme. Our design and theme community thrived before themes with embedded ads came along, and it will continue to thrive long after their gone.

It’s true that nobody is forcing us. But most of us were here before the whole sponsored themes thing. Once again: Why is Automattic using sponsored themes at wordpress.com if they suck? Ofcourse the community will keep on thriving. But don’t deny the fact that there are some are really good sponsored themes. Sponsored themes are filling in the gap between paid and free themes. The so-called gray area. Nothing wrong with the basics of the free market theory.