Darren,<div><br></div><div>You know what I personally would appreciate reading? A post that lays out, concisely and straight-forward, the meaningful things that WordPress Themes should address with respect to SEO. Even better, would be a differentiation between Plugin-territory SEO (rewriting Post Titles, filtering tags, removing core filters, etc.) and Theme-related SEO. Getting your perspective on that would probably be quite useful to the readers of this list.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Chip<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 9:49 PM, Darren Slatten <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:darrenslatten@gmail.com">darrenslatten@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Chip,<br><br>Thank you for your constructive feedback. I agree that it comes across as a rant (which is more or less the de facto tone of the posts on that blog), but at the same time, there is an underlying message that I believe is aligned with the fundamental purpose of the WPTRT: to protect WordPress users from bad themes by promoting good themes. Sure, the WPTRT has specific tasks to carry out, but in my opinion, those are the means; the end is a better experience for WordPress users.<br>
<br>I strongly believe that Thesis is harming consumers and the WordPress community as a whole. Therefore, regarding whether or not a link to my post was appropriate for this mailing list, I based my decision on its general relevance--not its outward usefulness. Honestly, I expected this group to immediately object to anything with my name on it. But those who take the time to read it will probably gain a unique perspective that very few "premium theme consumers" have the nerve or the knowledge to expose.<br>
<br>The post originally had a more-subtle pro-WP.org message--perhaps overshadowed by the anti-Thesis shouting--so I've made a few changes, in an attempt to even it out. I linked to the Theme Review guidelines, the Codex, etc. Also, someone left a comment to the effect of:<br>
<br><blockquote style="margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);padding-left:1ex" class="gmail_quote"><i>"Thesis isn't bad. All themes and plugins generate error notices. Don't blame Thesis for WordPress core's problems."</i><br>
</blockquote><br>Which led to the inevitable "Premium vs. WP.org" comparison. I think I handled it well...although, admittedly, in a style this mailing list doesn't seem to appreciate. ;)<br><br><br><br><br>
<br><br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="im">On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 1:30 PM, Chip Bennett <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:chip@chipbennett.net" target="_blank">chip@chipbennett.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div><div><div></div><div class="h5"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
I would even go so far as to say that topics of discussion that are generally useful to Theme developers, especially in the context of Themes intended to be submitted for inclusion in the Theme repository, or general best-practices for publicly released Themes would be appropriate for this mail-list.<div>
<br></div><div>But in this case, I would agree with Emil, Doug, Justin, and Cais.</div><div><br></div><div>Now, if you'd taken the approach of, "this is an example crappy implementation of Feature X; however, here's an example of the proper way to implement Feature X", or, "hey, look at all of the noise this Theme generates with WP_DEBUG; but here's how to fix it", those would be far more useful. </div>
<div><br></div><div>As it is, though, the linked post mostly reads like an anti-Thesis rant, which has dubious usefulness for the stated purpose of this mail-list.</div><div><br></div><div><font color="#888888">Chip<br><br>
</font><div class="gmail_quote"><div>
On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 1:18 PM, Edward Caissie <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:edward.caissie@gmail.com" target="_blank">edward.caissie@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br></div><div><div></div><div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
This mailing list is for the use of theme authors and reviewers for the discussion of themes submitted to the WordPress Extend repository; and other directly related items and instances.<br><br>This list is not to be used as a traffic driver to items not related to the above.<br>
<br><br clear="all">Cais.<div><div></div><div><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 2:06 PM, Darren Slatten <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:darrenslatten@gmail.com" target="_blank">darrenslatten@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
If you're not interested, don't read it. Simple as that.<div><div></div><div><br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 12:49 PM, Doug Stewart <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:zamoose@gmail.com" target="_blank">zamoose@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Yes, but WPTRT doesn't review Thesis, nor is it hosted on the .Org.<br>
<br>
-1, Off-topic.<br>
<div><div></div><div><br>
On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 1:47 PM, Darren Slatten <<a href="mailto:darrenslatten@gmail.com" target="_blank">darrenslatten@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> Emil,<br>
> That wasn't shameless self-promotion. The post addresses real issues with a<br>
> well-known commercial theme, and I think at least a few people on this list<br>
> will find it very interesting.<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> On Jul 21, 2011, at 6:03 AM, Emil Uzelac <<a href="mailto:emil@themeid.com" target="_blank">emil@themeid.com</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
> Darren, please do not abuse the list any longer!<br>
><br>
> On Jul 21, 2011 5:07 AM, "Darren Slatten" <<a href="mailto:darrenslatten@gmail.com" target="_blank">darrenslatten@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
> If anyone is interested...<br>
><br>
> I wrote a guest blog post about the Thesis "premium" WP Theme.<br>
><br>
> How DIYThemes.com Uses Bullshit SEO to Sell Bullshit WordPress Themes<br>
><br>
><br>
> --<br>
> Darren Slatten<br>
><br>
><br>
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<br>
</div></div>--<br>
<font color="#888888">-Doug<br>
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