[theme-reviewers] need your opinion

[Otto]

On Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 9:56 AM, Kirk Wight <kwight at kwight.ca> wrote:
> So including options that are not functional until activation is not
> allowed, but having a basic theme that points to a more functional version
> for sale is allowed? Just want to make sure I understand what the guy did
> wrong (I thought it was fine because he was clear about what worked and what
> didn't).

Think of it like this...

Say I make a free plugin which, say, makes a slideshow. It only makes
one slideshow. But, I say, you can buy my slideshow plus plugin that
can do unlimited slideshows. You buy it, and then download the
improved plugin from my site and install it.

That's fine.

Now, consider that I make a free plugin which makes a slideshow. It
only makes one slideshow. But, I say, you can buy my slideshow plus
plugin that can do unlimited slideshows. You buy it, and then I give
you a code which unlocks the limit I put in the free plugin to make it
do unlimited slideshows.

That's not fine.

In the first case, I'm basically advertising my other plugin which has
more functionality. The first free plugin was a "lite" version, but
the "pro" version does more. Fair enough, what I gave you works fine.

In the second case, I've already given you the code to do what you
want to do, but I'm charging you for the privileged of using it. I've
crippled the code for no other reason than to make you pay me money.

If it is possible for me to trivially modify the code to remove the
paywall and have everything work, then it's not cool and that's not
something we want in the WordPress.org repository. If you want to
upsell users to "pro" versions, then that's fine, as long as you're
actually selling them something. But simply taking their money in
order to enable code *that they already have in their possession* is
not cool.

-Otto