[theme-reviewers] Spammy theme?

[Darren Slatten]

Theme adoption seems like it could raise issues with the GPL, regarding the
need to clearly distinguish between original code and post-adoption code.
I'm guessing not too many Theme developers would appreciate having their
name/attribution diluted by the adoption process. Perhaps a better solution
would be to allow "forking" a Theme. Details and benefits would be something
like this:


   - Add a new style.css key/value pair to define a "Fork of:
   {$retired_theme_name}" relationship.
   - A retired Theme would keep its own attribution and statistics data.
   - New Theme would be named something different and effectively treated as
   an independent Theme (i.e., a retired Theme could be forked by more than one
   developer).
   - The "Fork of:" data could be used to trigger a separate kind of update
   notice--one that makes the distinction between a simple update and a "Under
   New Management!" update.
   - Retired Themes could still be resumed by original authors, even if the
   Theme has been dormant for awhile (and forked in that time).
   - WordPress.org could provide aggregate statistics on original+fork
   downloads.
   - Themes could be forked whether they're retired or not.
   - Users could get a better understanding of how a certain Theme will
   function (e.g., I'd rather download a Twenty Eleven fork than a Classic
   fork).
   - Users could filter their Theme search by origin.


Just throwing some ideas out here...




On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 6:45 PM, Vicky Arulsingam <
vicky.arulsingam at gmail.com> wrote:

> I like this idea a lot, especially allowing other developers to adopt
> a theme and bring it up to WP standards.
>
> Should the original theme author be contacted about their outdated
> theme or is it considered forfeit especially since a theme hasn't been
> updated in 2 years
>
> On 7/26/11, Edward Caissie <edward.caissie at gmail.com> wrote:
> > The basic premise I have always tried to champion is moving the "older"
> > themes into a secondary repository so they are not lost but are obviously
> > shown as "out-of-date"
> >
> > There are many older themes that can be easily brought up to current
> > standards but the original author's are no longer interested in updating
> > and/or involved with WordPress.
> >
> > I would like to see these themes simply moved, then after another
> arbitrary
> > time limit made available to be adopted by a new author. I have put
> forward
> > this idea at least once before and still see it as having a great deal of
> > potential (aside from all necessary changes to the repository to make it
> > work).
> >
> >
> > Cais.
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 4:15 PM, Claude Needham <gxxaxx at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 1:11 PM, Angelo Bertolli
> >> <angelo.bertolli at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > Why not just have a "works with version X" selection for users like on
> >> > the plugin side?  Then the users could decide what was working, and
> >> > things could be pruned accordingly.
> >> >
> >> If a theme seriously does not work with the current version of
> >> wordpress, it should be retired.
> >> I am assuming that we are trying to encourage people to work with the
> >> latest release that they can.
> >>
> >> I have been in situations where a plugin that I relied upon had not
> >> been updated yet. (A shopping cart).
> >> But if I need an old obsolete theme -- I probably already have it
> >> installed on my site.
> >>
> >> If I am theme hunting, it would be very disappointing to dl a theme
> >> from wporg that is obsolete under the most current core.
> >>
> >> Just my thoughts,
> >> Claude Needham
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> theme-reviewers mailing list
> >> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
> >> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
> >>
> >
>
>
> --
> -----
> Vicky Arulsingam
> _______________________________________________
> theme-reviewers mailing list
> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
>



-- 
Darren Slatten
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