In this case, it is because the submitter is distributing Themes with spammy (not merely "sponsored") links, distributes those Themes under a non-GPL-compatible license, and includes kill-code in the Theme to prevent modification.<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 9:26 AM, Philip M. Hofer (Frumph) <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:philip@frumph.net" target="_blank">philip@frumph.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Calibri'">
<div>Is banning from submitting to theme-trac for people not complying or is it
for people who are being intolerably difficult?</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div style="font-size:small;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Calibri';display:inline;font-weight:normal">
<div style="FONT:10pt tahoma">
<div> </div>
<div style="BACKGROUND:#f5f5f5">
<div><b>From:</b> <a title="chip@chipbennett.net" href="mailto:chip@chipbennett.net" target="_blank">Chip Bennett</a> </div>
<div><b>Sent:</b> Saturday, September 22, 2012 4:07 AM</div>
<div><b>To:</b> <a title="theme-reviewers@lists.wordpress.org" href="mailto:theme-reviewers@lists.wordpress.org" target="_blank">theme-reviewers@lists.wordpress.org</a>
</div>
<div><b>Subject:</b> Re: [theme-reviewers] Clarification</div></div></div>
<div> </div></div>
<div style="font-size:small;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Calibri';display:inline;font-weight:normal"><div><div class="h5">Let
me go a step farther: <b>Otto, please ban "Smthemes" from submitting to
Theme-Trac.</b> We want absolutely nothing to do with developers who put this
garbage in their Themes:
<div> </div>
<div>
<blockquote style="BORDER-BOTTOM:medium none;BORDER-LEFT:medium none;PADDING-BOTTOM:0px;MARGIN:0px 0px 0px 40px;PADDING-LEFT:0px;PADDING-RIGHT:0px;BORDER-TOP:medium none;BORDER-RIGHT:medium none;PADDING-TOP:0px">
<div>
<div><?php /* </div>
<div>All links in the tag <div class='smthemes'> are attribution of the
theme developers and should remain intact. </div>
<div>It's protected by Creative Commons License (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/" target="_blank">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/</a>).</div>
<div>Warning! Your site will not be able to work if these links are edited or
deleted.</div>
<div>You can buy this theme without footer links online at <a href="http://smthemes.com/buy/animepress/" target="_blank">http://smthemes.com/buy/animepress/</a></div>
<div>*/ ?></div>
<div><div class='smthemes'>Designed by <a href='<a href="http://smthemes.com/category/food/" target="_blank">http://smthemes.com/category/food/</a>'
target='_blank'>Free WordPress food themes</a>, thanks to: <a
href='<a href="http://wpdis.co/" target="_blank">http://wpdis.co/</a>' target='_blank'>Free
WordPress magazine themes</a>, <a href='<a href="http://lizardthemes.com" target="_blank">http://lizardthemes.com</a>'
target='_blank'>LizardThemes.com</a> and <a href='<a href="http://fthe.me" target="_blank">http://fthe.me</a>'
target='_blank'>FThe.me</a></div></div></div></blockquote></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Thanks,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Chip<br><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 5:51 AM, Chip Bennett <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:chip@chipbennett.net" target="_blank">chip@chipbennett.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:#ccc 1px solid;MARGIN:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;PADDING-LEFT:1ex" class="gmail_quote">I'm guessing you're referring to this ticket?
<div><a href="http://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/9299" target="_blank">http://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/9299</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>I've run into this site before. Here's what I said then:</div>
<div><a href="http://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/7420" target="_blank">http://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/7420</a></div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote style="BORDER-BOTTOM:medium none;BORDER-LEFT:medium none;PADDING-BOTTOM:0px;MARGIN:0px 0px 0px 40px;PADDING-LEFT:0px;PADDING-RIGHT:0px;BORDER-TOP:medium none;BORDER-RIGHT:medium none;PADDING-TOP:0px">
<div>"<span style="FONT-FAMILY:verdana,arial,'Bitstream Vera Sans',helvetica,sans-serif;FONT-SIZE:13px">For
future reference, indicated Author URI/Theme URI site distributes Themes
under a non-GPL-compatible license (i.e. link-removal purchase license).
Themes from such sites will not be accepted for hosting in the
repository.</span>"</div></blockquote>
<div> </div>
<div>It appears that this statement is still accurate:</div>
<div><a href="http://smthemes.com/terms-of-services/" target="_blank">http://smthemes.com/terms-of-services/</a></div>
<div>and also:</div>
<div><a href="http://smthemes.com/" target="_blank">http://smthemes.com/</a></div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote style="BORDER-BOTTOM:medium none;BORDER-LEFT:medium none;PADDING-BOTTOM:0px;MARGIN:0px 0px 0px 40px;PADDING-LEFT:0px;PADDING-RIGHT:0px;BORDER-TOP:medium none;BORDER-RIGHT:medium none;PADDING-TOP:0px">
<div><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Trebuchet MS';COLOR:rgb(57,57,57);FONT-SIZE:14px">Welcome
to SMThemes.com. We offer a wide variety of free WordPress themes. You can
download and use all our templates for free, or purchase free links version
of template</span></div></blockquote>
<div> </div>
<div>The site still mentions paid link-removal, and themes are
CC-licensed.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The sponsored-Themes prohibition is a WPORG repository policy. There's
nothing inherently contra GPL to put paid links in a Theme. What *is* contra
GPL is to require a paid license for the end-user to remove those links, and
to distribute that Theme under CC-By.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>So yes: this ticket, and any other ticket submitted for a Theme
affiliated with this site, should be not-approved.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Thanks,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Chip</div>
<div>
<div> </div>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div>On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 4:31 AM, Vicky Arulsingam <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:vicky.arulsingam@gmail.com" target="_blank">vicky.arulsingam@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br></div>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:#ccc 1px solid;MARGIN:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;PADDING-LEFT:1ex" class="gmail_quote">
<div>
<div>The author url of the theme I'm reviewing contains this
page: <a href="http://smthemes.com/links/" target="_blank">http://smthemes.com/links/</a>
<div>This isn't acceptable for the repository?</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The theme itself doesn't contain any sponsored links</div>
<div>
<div> </div>-----
<div>Vicky Arulsingam</div>
<div> </div></div>
<div> </div></div></div>
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<div> </div></div>
</div></div><p>
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