[theme-reviewers] Discussion on suspension of old themes in the extend/themes

[Chip Bennett]

On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 2:08 PM, esmi at quirm dot net <esmi at quirm.net>wrote:

> on 16/08/2010 19:58 Chip Bennett said the following:
>
>  Yes, and no.
>>
>> The way I see it: all Themes must meet standards that are current *at the
>> time the Theme is submitted*.
>>
>
> <snip>
>
> In that case, can I ask that the date stamp of the Theme Unit Test Data
> file and the date of the last change to the Theme Review Guidelines be added
> to the Theme Upload page?
>
> I only found out pretty recently that I was using an outdated test data set
> which ended up causing some confusion.
>

The Theme Unit Test data shouldn't change all that often - only when
WordPress adds new front-end content that would then need to be
incorporated. (The primary reason for revising the Theme Unit Test Data this
time was just to clean it up, eliminate redundant/unnecessary tests, and to
make the content flow more consistently with the Theme Development Checklist
- basically, to make the data easier to use when developing and/or reviewing
a Theme.)

Even so, that's a fair critique. I'll add that to my to-do list for updating
the Codex.

I'll also make sure that WordPress version-specific criteria have timestamps
in the Review Criteria in the Codex, to ensure that Theme developers are
aware of when, exactly, new criteria will take effect.


>
> I'd also suggest that any suspension criteria be added to the page so that
> future submitters are, in effect, agreeing to suspension/removal without
> notice. Might cut your workload down a bit later on and circumvent the "but
> no one told me..." complaints.
>
> esmi <http://blackwidows.co.uk>


Another good idea. I've not looked at the Theme submission page recently,
though I know others have updated it.

I think that, whatever the team comes up with, regarding suspension of
outdated Themes, that information should definitely be as prominent as
possible. Also, I don't think any of us would advocate "suspension without
notice" except for something egregious (blatant SEO/spam abuse, or
exploiting security vulnerabilities, etc.). I'm confident that, if any
policy is implemented, that Theme developers will be given every opportunity
to know the policy, how it impacts their Themes, and when it would apply.

(The idea is to encourage Theme developers to keep their Themes current -
not necessarily to cull the repository. 500 current Themes and 500 outdated
Themes is bad. 500 current Themes and 500 suspended outdated Themes is
better. 1,000 current Themes is best!)

Chip
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