[theme-reviewers] tracking code in themes

[Emil Uzelac]

oh and as far as checking if the Theme is on warez or not is completely
useless, don't even bother, anyone that sells them commercially will tell
you not to waste your time, you report one bad link, 5 more will appear in
few hours, than you report that 5, 20 more will come up shortly after
that...this is the war we can't win, at least not for right now.

On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 8:30 PM, Emil Uzelac <emil at themeid.com> wrote:

> Neither one was good to be honest with you. GA tracks more than just how
> the Theme is being used and that isn't right. For Adobe, Sure if you let
> them, I personally don't allow anything to go out, not even simple report
> back to them when something crashes. We all like more details, better
> statistics for greater improvement, that's why people invented surveys,
> polls etc... Most of the time this is covered in support forum, if they
> like your work, they will tell you a) if something goes wrong b) if there's
> something that they don't like and just another way of communicating with
> users or customers if we're talking about commercial Themes.
>
> Emil
>
> On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 8:19 PM, Daniel Fenn <danielx386 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> So how is one suppose to check of see if it was downloaded from a werz
>> site? Adobe does this all the time. Or was it GA that pissed then off?
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 9:41 AM, Emil Uzelac <emil at themeid.com> wrote:
>> > Back in late 2009 I contracted for commercial Theme site where they had
>> two
>> > forms of tracking, one was via Google Analytics and second one hidden to
>> > check if the Theme was purchased or downloaded from "" sites. In matter
>> of
>> > months they went from "all star" to "where are the customers" type of
>> thing.
>> > Long story short users don't like to be tracked one way or another and
>> > honestly I don't blame them at all. Permission or not "touching things
>> that
>> > should not be touched" are never good idea.
>> >
>> > If one wants to track and get the general ideas where the Themes go,
>> simply
>> > use your very own GA. There are many things you can do with Analytics
>> beyond
>> > how many visitors one have on monthly basis. Not 100% accurate, but it
>> does
>> > get close.
>> >
>> > This is from my marketing perspective. Privacy is issue everywhere
>> nowadays
>> > and once this leaks to the public, your sales will go down to toilet,
>> please
>> > believe me on this.
>> >
>> > Imagine this title on a popular WP News sites "Example Theme Site Now
>> Tracks
>> > User's Behavior". warez
>> >
>> > Cheers,
>> > Emil
>> >
>> > On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 3:48 PM, Bruce Wampler <weavertheme at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> As the author of a popular WordPress theme, I would like to add my
>> strong
>> >> agreement with the opt-in only policy for trackers such as PressTrends.
>> >>
>> >> I find Trent Lapinski's arguments for the harmlessness of opt-out
>> tracking
>> >> self-serving and disingenuous. Anyone with the least bit of
>> understanding of
>> >> the difference between opt-in and opt-out, and how that affects user
>> >> privacy, would never argue for allowing any kind of automatic or
>> opt-out
>> >> tracking of any kind in any repository based WordPress theme. It is
>> simply
>> >> the wrong thing to do.
>> >>
>> >> Maybe PressTrends isn't any different in concept or privacy issues than
>> >> Google's tracking code, or even WP stats, but both of those are opt-in
>> -
>> >> they don't happen unless the web admin actively adds them.
>> >>
>> >> Personally, I believe any sort of tracking should require permission
>> from
>> >> the visitor to the site - but that is a much larger battle.
>> >>
>> >> Bruce Wampler
>> >>
>> >> _______________________________________________
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>> >> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>> >> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
>> >>
>> >
>> >
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>> >
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