[theme-reviewers] Why the double standards and why Pagelines gets special treatment?

[Otto]

On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 1:40 PM, Satish Gandham <satish.iitg at gmail.com> wrote:
> Pagelines themes always get special treatment...

Pagelines specifically *asked* for special treatment before submitting
their theme, and we worked with them to clarify what the special cases
contained. The theme was considered by the theme review admins, and
granted a special-case exception to the normal rules because of the
unusual and different store system contained within the theme.

It is not the goal of the theme review system to block out unusual or
different themes that fall outside the normal rules. Exceptions can be
granted on that basis, if the theme review admins agree that there is
an exceptional reason to allow a theme. Special-case themes also often
become featured themes, for much the same reasons. Different
behaviors, different methodologies, etc.

Special-cases are *special*. That's sort of the point.

Also, their premium version *is* fully GPL. Despite their crappy
wording on the pro/developer thing, their terms of service page states
that the GPL is the license and that it always takes precedence. What
they're really saying with their statement there is their level of
commitment to support. If you buy the developer license, then you're
getting support for using the theme as a developer (on client sites),
and not just support for using the theme on your own sites.

-Otto