The purpose of the "credit link" guideline is to define the only acceptable, public-facing link that Theme developers may add to Themes. Consider that guideline a "white list", rather than a "black list"; that is: except for the footer credit link, Themes are not permitted to add any public-facing links. Thus, my answer to this question:<div>
<br></div><div><blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div>I guess the big question at this point is, this has been in this theme for months, did I violate a rule or do these links need to be changed or removed?</div>
</blockquote></div><div><br></div><div>...would be "yes": these links do not conform to the guidelines, and need to be removed. And if any other Theme in the repository were found to be displaying arbitrary, public-facing links, the developer would likewise be asked to remove those links.<br>
<div><br></div><div>We seem to be at an impasse on this point:</div><div><br></div><blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div>Again, I'm not really sure how to demo that you can link these images to something without actually linking them to something.</div>
</div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I've suggested three alternatives: home_url(), <a href="http://wordpress.org">wordpress.org</a>, and <a href="http://example.com">example.com</a>. For the purpose of demonstrating that a slider image acts as a link, all three should be equally suitable. I find it hard to believe that users would require a valid URI in order to understand that the slider image is linked, and that it is intended to have a custom URL defined. Thus, I see no reason why "<a href="http://example.com">example.com</a>" wouldn't work. Likewise with using home_url(): I find it hard to believe that a significant number of users would believe that a slider image link was intended only to link to the site front page, and that they wouldn't figure out that the site front page link is used for demonstration/example purposes only. And if all else fails: there's always "<a href="http://wordpress.org">wordpress.org</a>".</div>
<div><br></div><div>Chip</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 4:01 PM, Trent Lapinski <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:trent@cyberchimps.com" target="_blank">trent@cyberchimps.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div>Chip,</div><div><br></div><div>I hear you, it is not that I'm asking for special treatment really, I am simply asking for permission to have my feature slider links to somewhere since this is a grey area that is not clearly defined. </div>
<div><br></div><div>As a lot of the other people have replied to this have suggested, and even when I spoke to Otto about this in person the main issue was with the rule regarding the credit footer link.</div><div><br></div>
<div>Since we are not talking about a footer link, and this isn't a credit link - it's demoing functionality of a feature slider, this technically isn't against any existing review guideline as far as I can tell. I'm not abusing these links, and these are absolutely default links and are replaced by the user if they wish to use the slider. That makes them temporary in nature, and it is how a lot of themes on .org handle default options. Again, I'm not really sure how to demo that you can link these images to something without actually linking them to something.</div>
<div><br></div><div>This ability to link the slider to a URL is sometimes the deciding factor behind why someone will use my theme over another theme, and it is important that I be able to demo that functionality. </div><div>
<br></div><div>I guess the big question at this point is, this has been in this theme for months, did I violate a rule or do these links need to be changed or removed?</div><div class="im"><br><div>
<span style="border-collapse:separate;border-spacing:0px"><span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-align:-webkit-auto;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:normal;border-collapse:separate;text-transform:none;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;word-spacing:0px"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">
<span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-align:-webkit-auto;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:normal;border-collapse:separate;text-transform:none;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;word-spacing:0px"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">
<span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-align:-webkit-auto;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:normal;border-collapse:separate;text-transform:none;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;word-spacing:0px"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">
--Trent Lapinski<br>=============<br>CEO of CyberChimps LLC<br><a href="mailto:trent@cyberchimps.com" target="_blank">trent@cyberchimps.com</a><br>Mobile <a href="tel:%28714%29%20904-4280" value="+17149044280" target="_blank">(714) 904-4280</a><br>
Twitter @trentlapinski<br><a href="http://CyberChimps.com" target="_blank">http://CyberChimps.com</a></div></span></div></span></div></span></span>
</div>
<br></div><div><div class="h5"><div><div>On Aug 9, 2012, at 8:13 AM, Chip Bennett <<a href="mailto:chip@chipbennett.net" target="_blank">chip@chipbennett.net</a>> wrote:</div><br><blockquote type="cite">Okay, found the relevant code:<div>
<a href="http://themes.svn.wordpress.org/eclipse/1.0.17/includes/classy-options-init.php" target="_blank">http://themes.svn.wordpress.org/eclipse/1.0.17/includes/classy-options-init.php</a></div><div><br>
</div><div>These aren't "examples" or "temporary defaults". They are Theme option defaults, meaning that until the user changes them, the three slides will display public links to the URLs in question.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I see no reason to grant an exception here. You can use home_url(). You can use <a href="http://wordpress.org/" target="_blank">wordpress.org</a>. You can use <a href="http://example.com/" target="_blank">example.com</a>. You could leave the default as an empty string (this latter option being my recommendation). </div>
<div><br></div><div>But facilitating your support queries is not sufficient enough reason to grant an exception.</div><div><br></div><div>Chip<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 2:13 AM, Trent Lapinski <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:trent@cyberchimps.com" target="_blank">trent@cyberchimps.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">Wayne,<div><br></div><div>Thanks for your input, thats correct that these are temporary defaults - examples really. </div>
<div><br></div><div>I imagine this kind of issue may arise more in the future as I'm seeing a lot more theme authors add temporary defaults to theme options for preview / demo purposes when doing reviews.</div><div><br>
</div><div>Wanted to raise this issue to make sure I'm not breaking any rules and open discussion on this topic.</div><div><br></div><div><div><div>
<span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-align:-webkit-auto;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:normal;border-collapse:separate;text-transform:none;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;word-spacing:0px"><span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-align:-webkit-auto;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:normal;border-collapse:separate;text-transform:none;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;word-spacing:0px"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">
<span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-align:-webkit-auto;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:normal;border-collapse:separate;text-transform:none;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;word-spacing:0px"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">
<span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-align:-webkit-auto;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:normal;border-collapse:separate;text-transform:none;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;word-spacing:0px"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">
--Trent Lapinski<br>=============<br>CEO of CyberChimps LLC<br><a href="mailto:trent@cyberchimps.com" target="_blank">trent@cyberchimps.com</a><br>Mobile <a href="tel:%28714%29%20904-4280" value="+17149044280" target="_blank">(714) 904-4280</a><br>
Twitter @trentlapinski<br><a href="http://cyberchimps.com/" target="_blank">http://CyberChimps.com</a></div></span></div></span></div></span></span>
</div>
<br></div><div><div><div><div>On Aug 8, 2012, at 11:01 PM, CONNOR Wayne and Jill <<a href="mailto:wayne@dubbo.org" target="_blank">wayne@dubbo.org</a>> wrote:</div><br></div></div><blockquote type="cite">
<div><div><div style="word-wrap:break-word">Trent I can't see that you need to ask for an exemption.<div><br></div><div>The Credit Links is talking about… '<span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-align:left;font-style:normal;display:inline!important;font-weight:normal;float:none;line-height:22px;text-transform:none;font-size:13px;white-space:normal;font-family:sans-serif;word-spacing:0px">a public-facing credit link in the Theme footer.'</span></div>
<div><span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-align:left;font-style:normal;display:inline!important;font-weight:normal;float:none;line-height:22px;text-transform:none;font-size:13px;white-space:normal;font-family:sans-serif;word-spacing:0px"><br>
</span></div><div style="text-align:left"><font face="sans-serif"><span style="font-size:13px;line-height:22px">Your link is not a credit, it doesn't even stay as part of the page for very long, it's a temporary placeholder till the user puts their own link in. It's not intended to stay in the theme at all.</span></font></div>
<div style="text-align:left"><font face="sans-serif"><span style="font-size:13px;line-height:22px"><br></span></font></div><div><div>I would think that if it's not a permanent part of the theme (like a footer link or an opt-in credit link) then using EITHER (1) <a href="http://wordpress.org/" target="_blank">wordpress.org</a> or (2) the theme URL or (3) the author URL or (4) <a href="http://example.com/" target="_blank">example.com</a> or (5) home_url() would give enough options to show how it works.</div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>"<span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-align:left;font-style:normal;display:inline!important;font-weight:normal;float:none;line-height:22px;text-transform:none;font-size:13px;white-space:normal;font-family:sans-serif;word-spacing:0px">However, the Theme Review team reserves the right to prohibit such optional text/links if, at its sole discretion, a Theme abuses this option."</span></div>
<div><span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-align:left;font-style:normal;display:inline!important;font-weight:normal;float:none;line-height:22px;text-transform:none;font-size:13px;white-space:normal;font-family:sans-serif;word-spacing:0px"><br>
</span></div><div><span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-align:left;font-style:normal;display:inline!important;font-weight:normal;float:none;line-height:22px;text-transform:none;font-size:13px;white-space:normal;font-family:sans-serif;word-spacing:0px">I would say don't abuse it and it will be fine your theme has already been approved many times. </span></div>
<div><br></div><div>Wayne</div></div><div><br></div><div><pre style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-align:-webkit-auto;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;word-spacing:0px">
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