<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><div class="im" style="color: rgb(80, 0, 80); ">On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 10:28 AM, Philip M. Hofer (Frumph) <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:philip@frumph.net" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(42, 93, 176); ">philip@frumph.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<div bgcolor="#ffffff"><div><font size="2" face="Arial">After a lengthy discussion with Cais in the #wp-themes we've come to a conclusion that a 2 revision suspension would not be entirely justified and would harshly impact the themes available that still will work with the 3.0 series albiet even if using deprecated and non standard code.</font></div>
</div></blockquote><div><br></div></div><div>I'm not entirely sure I understand this reasoning. "Suspending" a Theme in the repository would have no impact on any current users. It would merely prevent the Theme from being downloaded by a *new* user.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Why would we want users downloading Themes that are clearly obsolete, and potentially buggy - if not security-vulnerable?</div><div class="im" style="color: rgb(80, 0, 80); "><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex; ">
<div bgcolor="#ffffff"><div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">We've thought about it and discussed the functionality of the wordpress themes and what they do and what revision base at this time would be best to spend anything of it and less then. </font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">Anything from december 2008 and before should be suspended for 'old and needs upgraded' themes, that is the release time when 2.7 came out, 2.7 was the the release that really gave themes something more then previous revisions that match more closely with with what 'works' in a theme. It was in essence really 2.8, but 2.7 was the start of it. So anything previous to the 2.7 release really can be considered old and needing updated.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">Then on the 3.1 release, do the 2.8 as the base and so on.</font></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div></div><div>That's probably fair, for a first-pass effort. </div>
<div><br></div><div>At some point, though, we probably need to tighten the leash a bit. Giving Theme developers 2 release cycles (which normally translates to 10 months to a year) should be sufficient time to update an actively supported Theme, no?</div>
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<div bgcolor="#ffffff"><div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">The concern is the 'warning' to developers that when it will be happening and enough word out to them that it will be happening. Giving ample time for developers who might want to 'rescue' old themes from the repository to revive them.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">Which brings up two thoughts, information needed to change ownership of said themes and ample time for developers to revive them. And information theme developers that it's going to be happening.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">Me? I don't care, suspend em, if they want them back up, they resubmit them.</font></div><div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div></div>
</blockquote><div><br></div></div><div>Exactly. We want actively supported Themes in the repository, right? If so, then we need to hold developers accountable to providing a modicum of active support: to wit, keeping the Theme updated with current functionality and replacing deprecated functions.</div>
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<div bgcolor="#ffffff"><div><font size="2" face="Arial">Cais wants mass emails done, however collectively finding the authors emails would be a chore, let alone the fact that WordPress practically *never* mass emails and I doubt that it will ever happen, ever. So alternatives need to be addressed as the following:</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">So what's the minimal that should be done?</font></div><div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">A stickied post on the theme developement forum and a codex entry, in the most relevant places.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">What would be optimal?</font></div><div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">A post by Matt or the developers blog that gets seen in the RSS feed list of all wordpress sites, with the minimal post in the forum and codex entry information.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">The idea' is to not be 'harsh' about the suspension of said themes, hence to backtrack to the pre 2.7 release, which keeps WordPress in a good light, while still giving a couple weeks ample warning.</font></div>
</div></blockquote><div><br></div></div><div>I still like the old "update within one month of the WordPress version release, or the Theme is suspended" route. In other words, within one month after WordPress 3.1 comes out, all Themes not updated since the release of WordPress 2.9 are automatically suspended, until they are updated.</div>
<div><br></div><div>(Of course, if a given WordPress release doesn't incorporate any new functionality, or newly deprecate any functions, then it could be excluded from the suspension time frame.)</div><div class="im" style="color: rgb(80, 0, 80); ">
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<div bgcolor="#ffffff"><div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">------ Side Note:</font></div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">Information about how to 'take over' an old theme, i.e. reviving it should be noted as well and that all old themes should have their original authors contacted then original author of said theme needs to email the repository theme admin requesting the ownership change, pretty much how it's already being done.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">Side effect of the removal/suspension would also be that when they resubmit they will be automatically added to the theme trac when resubmit, which is a goal that would benefit everyone.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div><div><font size="2" face="Arial">Additonal note: While the GPL Compatibility issue arose with the suspensions previously and there were some very vocal people about suspending the themes at that time, it was still done regardless of those complaints. It was justified and responsible of the theme repository admin to do it. It is the same with this; The theme repository has an underlying responsibility to the end user to keep the repository up to date and in a manageable state to the end user.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div></div><div>Agreed; provided that the way it is handled is the absolute best that it can be. I'm advocating suspending outdated Themes, but I also think that Theme developers should be given every opportunity to know that the change is coming, and to know how to avoid Theme suspension.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Communication is key. </div><div><br></div><div>Chip</div></span>