Comments on: WordPress is Getting Rid of Sponsored Themes

By: Francesco

Francesco — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:28:24 +0000

I really do not understand the logic behind this choice. WordPress is probably having problem with Google but they will be facing a consistent reduction.
I am sure this won’t stop the marketplace at all.
It seems an already lost war!

Francesco
Guadagnare online – Nuovibusiness

By: ms danielle

ms danielle — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 22:50:08 +0000

in addition… and this is just my two cents. i’ve left my sponsor link at the footer of my blog because it’s not in the way of anything. i may one day remove it, or i may just leave it. but i know it’s there. i didn’t pay for any wordpress software — it’s free for me to use. so what’s the harm in letting someone get a link from me that helped give some money to the designer?

btw, i just checked and gary’s also left his sponsor link on the bottom. who cares?! i didn’t even know it was there until right now.

By: Xavier

Xavier — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 04:50:21 +0000

I’m totally agree with this.

By: Xavier

Xavier — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 04:48:57 +0000

Excellent post! I can say I’m totally agree with this.

By: Jane

Jane — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:35:47 +0000

The hell with WP and the hell with Google

Who needs them anyway…oh wait, we all do…

By: cooliojones

cooliojones — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:18:04 +0000

Ok now I have a better understand of what the whole ‘sponsored links’ controversy is. I think it’s crazy, and like the other readers said, take them out of the blogroll!! Pot calling the kettle black maybe?

And does anyone here use the Hello Dolly plugin? I don’t.

By: Wordpress Theme Viewer fara teme sponsorizate | Technology Blog @ Cristian Ciofu

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:57:44 +0000

[...] Gary Lee [...]

By: Dani

Dani — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:56:16 +0000

Definitely was not aware of this. Thanks for the update. I totally agree with Danielle, the flaw is inherent in the system. Found this site through Blogger’s Choice Awards. You’re nominated for Best Blog about Blogging. You can easily get more votes (and then more readers like me) by adding a brag badge code to your site which is the same place where people can go to vote for this site . Thanks for the heads up. Best of luck

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 19:36:53 +0000

Now, if only they’d take “sponsored” links out of WordPress. The Blogroll, the BrowseHappy logo (in IE, in the footer of every Admin page) and the Technorati link with the “?partner=wordpress” at the end of it…

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:10:57 +0000

I have been getting quite frustrated with the “powers-that-be” at WordPress. While this decision does not affect me directly, I find that the hubris exhibited by the primary decision makers to be suffocating.
If they have such a problem with sponsored themes containing lots of links, why do they include their own sites in the default Blogroll? Do they think the majority of people are so dense that we wouldn’t be able to edit out parts of a theme that we don’t like?
Most theme designers will offer their themes without sponsored links for two or three dollars, so banning all sponsored themes just because of a few bad apples that take things to extremes is about as intelligent as licking a lit halogen light bulb.
I agree that some theme developers go way overboard when it comes to embedding sponsored links, and some designs can be quite offensive with their use of JavaScript (opening a sponsor’s site in a 1×1 pixel I-Frame, for example), but this should be something that the market decides.
I would like to say that I enjoy working with the WordPress platform and many of the functions and features available. But I am concerned that Automattic may be starting down the same path that Steve Jobs took Apple back in the 80′s.