[theme-reviewers] Upselling standards?

[Bruce Wampler]

I have been under the impression that while it is acceptable to upsell pro
versions of themes, and even related theme add-ons, from withing a
repository hosted theme, that the visibility and number of these links was
not supposed to be overwhelming, and, at the very least, only related to
the specific theme.

I've just noticed that the latest version of Responsive from Cyberchimps is
what I would call way overboard. It adds notices to the Plugins admin page,
it add two extra menu links on the Appearances admin menu, and displays a
large page full of upsell links to several other themes that are not
related to Responsive.

The only consistency I can see is that all the links are in fact to the
Cyberchimp url (or subdomains). None appear on the visitor side - just the
admin, and at least some have hide options.

So, is this the new standard for advertising upsells? It seems a bit over
the edge to me - especially the links to other non-related  themes. I
personally would think the number and number of places the upsell ads
appear would offend people using the theme, but that is a marketing issue.
But selling stuff not directly related to the theme on the theme's admin
pages is beyond what I thought was allowed for upselling.

If a theme house wants to upsell other stuff, do in on the home site, not
in the repository hosted free version of an unrelated theme. Even a simple
link to "See our other great stuff" - but not right in the theme itself.
Otherwise, I'm afraid we will see more and more themes that have more
advertising pages than admin options.

But if this is okay, I'll be happy to go along and add more upsell links to
unrelated themes and plugins I have, too. (Of course, all GPL.)

Bruce Wampler

Weaver II Theme
Aspen Theme
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wordpress.org/pipermail/theme-reviewers/attachments/20131004/215d2d8f/attachment.html>