[theme-reviewers] Question: Someone Want to Take Benefit From a'Top Reviewer of the Month'

[Kharis Sulistiyono]

I got valueable answers from WPTRT admins and community member who
took partisipation on this discussion.

I agree with @Chip Bennett.

Naturally, great efforts will deserve benefit. The goodness has given
to the community will come back to her/him self. Tons theme's download
count drives good impact to the theme author. Someone mentioned this
as a bonus of great work. I totally agree. But we cannot abuse the
'great work' itself by transforming it into 'egoistic' strategy to
boost popularity as 'featured theme'.

IMHO this kind of problem is like ice mountain. Abusing the system
will never last longer and it will be stopped automatically. The time
has answered it.  I do not have any purpose to kill certain company's
or individual's businiss By throwing my question here. It is pure
curiosity of mine.

I ignore the person who want to force me to put their theme on the
featured list. Let the community do their best review in all aspect
both design and code quality factor. The rest is admin's decision.
There must be several 'layers' to examine wheater an item decent or
not being featured.

I believe the WPTRT admins will decide the fair 'layers'. I support
for the next better featured themes and growth of wp.org free themes
in general.

All the best.

>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 16:10:47 -0700
> From: Bryan Hadaway <bhadaway at gmail.com>
> To: "Discussion list for WordPress theme reviewers."
> 	<theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org>
> Subject: Re: [theme-reviewers] Question: Someone Want to Take Benefit
> 	From a'Top Reviewer of the Month'.
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAP3jXhR0smOKxPsv9iiMfJi9D=WW7O-dVHzLE9RqbZ-7j6ajSg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> *1.* Sponsorships. From my understanding of what I just read then, it seems
> we *could* run, for example, as a way to help support the team, some sort
> of sponsored ads?:
>
> http://wordpress.org/themes/sponsors/
>
> *2.* Otto's an employee. You're correct though, technically, he's not a
> WordPress.org employee as far as what it says on his paycheck, but he's an
> employee that works on .org, I would assume other employees do as well?
>
> *3.* I still contend that the incentive program has done some good. But,
> I'll accept whatever the admins ultimately decide.
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> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 17:15:57 -0600
> From: Otto <otto at ottodestruct.com>
> To: "Discussion list for WordPress theme reviewers."
> 	<theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org>
> Subject: Re: [theme-reviewers] Question: Someone Want to Take Benefit
> 	From a'Top Reviewer of the Month'.
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAD-FghwBS7sW7RZp2Gm3dD-_pebKJZ9Bq1h1W=gqP9w4JjVRdA at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 5:10 PM, Bryan Hadaway <bhadaway at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> *1.* Sponsorships. From my understanding of what I just read then, it
>> seems we *could* run, for example, as a way to help support the team,
>> some sort of sponsored ads?:
>>
>> http://wordpress.org/themes/sponsors/
>>
>>
> No. Just, no. That's not happening.  Feel free to try to talk matt into
> whatever you like, but I'm pretty darned sure I know that answer in
> advance. :)
>
> -Otto
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> Message: 3
> Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 16:21:17 -0700
> From: Bryan Hadaway <bhadaway at gmail.com>
> To: "Discussion list for WordPress theme reviewers."
> 	<theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org>
> Subject: Re: [theme-reviewers] Question: Someone Want to Take Benefit
> 	From a'Top Reviewer of the Month'.
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAP3jXhT4k1UPb__xzVg20Ezo_tHkDxN+GzJh2A89QjhD74B=nw at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> *@Otto* - No, that's cool. I'll take your word for it, in all confidence.
> :)
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>
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 15:40:47 -0800
> From: Trent Lapinski <trent at cyberchimps.com>
> To: "Discussion list for WordPress theme reviewers."
> 	<theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org>
> Subject: Re: [theme-reviewers] Question: Someone Want to Take Benefit
> 	From	a'Top Reviewer of the Month'.
> Message-ID: <2F7136B0-9D6F-4D92-B632-15B89DF2044A at cyberchimps.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
>> Please answer this: Let's say that one of us sent you an email informing
>> you about
>> this, what would you done differently?
>
>
> Emil I would have asked for an explanation for why the most popular theme on
> WordPress.org is being unfeatured and removed from WP-Admin > Themes at the
> height of its popularity. I then would have requested we be provided with
> precise instructions on what we would have to do to remain in consideration
> for being featured.
>
> At the very least it would have given us time to prepare and get involved
> more heavily in the review contest. Instead it was mentioned in a blog post
> that wasn?t even brought to our attention until after we were singled out
> and unfeatured. It was extremely unprofessional to say the least on this
> subject.
>
> In my opinion, Responsive never needed to be removed to make room for the
> contest to begin with.
>
> The admins could have easily just added 3 more themes to the featured list.
> Why Responsive was singled out is still beyond me. Instead of celebrating a
> million downloads, we?re now scrambling trying to figure out how we can
> sustain our theme without the support of .org.
>
> I am having a very difficult time understanding why Responsive was removed,
> and I?m frustrated for obvious reasons.
>
> It is even worse that we?re now being made out to be the big bad theme shop
> in the community now for pooling our reviews into a single account when it
> is directly because the .org admins forced us to do because you wouldn?t
> consider our individual accounts collectively or our past reviews.
>
> I believe this contest is unfair, and I believe the previous process while
> unfair as well at least didn?t need to be undone because of the new review
> contest.
>
> This will be my last post on this issue.
>
> I truly hope this never happens to another theme author again, because
> basically the message I?m getting and the message you?re sending to the rest
> of the community is that if you become successful on .org you will lose the
> support of .org.
>
> --Trent Lapinski
> =============
> CEO of CyberChimps Inc.
> http://CyberChimps.com
> Twitter @trentlapinski
>
> On Jan 29, 2014, at 2:52 PM, Emil Uzelac <emil at uzelac.me> wrote:
>
>> @Trent even though everyone on this list knew that featured Themes
>> would be cycled out if their Theme Authors are not winners and Theme
>> nominated.
>>
>> 1) here's the notification:
>>
>> The Theme that will be cycled out is: Responsive.
>>
>> https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2013/11/18/theme-review-incentive-november-2013-winners/
>>
>> 2) Please answer this: Let's say that one of us sent you an email
>> informing you about
>> this, what would you done differently?
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 4:40 PM, Bryan Hadaway <bhadaway at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> @Konstantin - An expected and fair reaction. The idea is that the money
>> would be donation-based to help the community, like sponsored advertising.
>> I don't believe that contradicts or breaks the non-profit status, that's
>> how PBS operates for example (selling ad space), I think, I could be
>> wrong.
>>
>> I know wordpress.com of course supports wordpress.org and some of its paid
>> employees, but allocation and expenses don't seem to trickle toward
>> projects like Theme Review, I believe I recall @Otto has discussed in the
>> past about limited resources?
>>
>> Anyways, I assumed it wouldn't be a popular idea, just spit-balling here.
>> :)
>>
>> @Emil - Definitely, for those developers that want to develop for .com and
>> are able to be accepted, that's can be a great earner.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> theme-reviewers mailing list
>> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> theme-reviewers mailing list
>> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 19:09:29 -0500
> From: Chip Bennett <chip at chipbennett.net>
> To: "Discussion list for WordPress theme reviewers."
> 	<theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org>
> Subject: Re: [theme-reviewers] Question: Someone Want to Take Benefit
> 	From a'Top Reviewer of the Month'.
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAPdLKqc-P8OOGnLGUXOxt=5M--j=BijqRmwubtiu28TqyYAW5Q at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Responsive wasn't "singled out". A total of four Themes were un-Featured.
>
> Responsive was removed for the same reason that every Theme listed before
> it has likewise been removed. The Featured Themes list has *always* been a
> transient, rotating list of Themes. There was NEVER an expectation that,
> once listed as Featured, a Theme would remain Featured forever. In fact,
> the exact opposite is true.
>
> You're projecting WAY too much. Responsive never "lost" the "support" of
> WPORG - because it, like every other Theme in the directory, never *had*
> any special "support" from WPORG. And your Theme shop is not being treated
> as the bad guy for participating in the review incentive program. You're
> welcome and encouraged to do so.
>
> Can I ask you to take a breath for about three days? Some pretty important
> changes are coming to the incentive program - changes that will probably
> alleviate most or all of your current concerns.
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 6:40 PM, Trent Lapinski
> <trent at cyberchimps.com>wrote:
>
>> Please answer this: Let's say that one of us sent you an email informing
>> you about
>> this, what would you done differently?
>>
>>
>> Emil I would have asked for an explanation for why the most popular theme
>> on WordPress.org is being unfeatured and removed from WP-Admin > Themes
>> at the height of its popularity. I then would have requested we be
>> provided
>> with precise instructions on what we would have to do to remain in
>> consideration for being featured.
>>
>> At the very least it would have given us time to prepare and get involved
>> more heavily in the review contest. Instead it was mentioned in a blog
>> post
>> that wasn't even brought to our attention until after we were singled out
>> and unfeatured. It was extremely unprofessional to say the least on this
>> subject.
>>
>> In my opinion,* Responsive never needed to be removed to make room for
>> the contest to begin with.*
>>
>> The admins could have easily just added 3 more themes to the featured
>> list. Why Responsive was singled out is still beyond me. Instead of
>> celebrating a million downloads, we're now scrambling trying to figure
>> out
>> how we can sustain our theme without the support of .org.
>>
>> I am having a very difficult time understanding why Responsive was
>> removed, and I'm frustrated for obvious reasons.
>>
>> It is even worse that we're now being made out to be the big bad theme
>> shop in the community now for pooling our reviews into a single account
>> when it is directly because the .org admins forced us to do because you
>> wouldn't consider our individual accounts collectively or our past
>> reviews.
>>
>> I believe this contest is unfair, and I believe the previous process
>> while
>> unfair as well at least didn't need to be undone because of the new
>> review
>> contest.
>>
>> This will be my last post on this issue.
>>
>> I truly hope this never happens to another theme author again, because
>> basically the message I'm getting and the message you're sending to the
>> rest of the community is that if you become successful on .org you will
>> lose the support of .org.
>>
>> --Trent Lapinski
>> =============
>> CEO of CyberChimps Inc.
>> http://CyberChimps.com
>> Twitter @trentlapinski
>>
>> On Jan 29, 2014, at 2:52 PM, Emil Uzelac <emil at uzelac.me> wrote:
>>
>> @Trent even though everyone on this list knew that featured Themes
>> would be cycled out if their Theme Authors are not winners and Theme
>> nominated.
>>
>> 1) here's the notification:
>>
>> The Theme that will be cycled out is: Responsive.
>>
>>
>> https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2013/11/18/theme-review-incentive-november-2013-winners/
>>
>> 2) Please answer this: Let's say that one of us sent you an email
>> informing you about
>> this, what would you done differently?
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 4:40 PM, Bryan Hadaway <bhadaway at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> *@**Konstantin* - An expected and fair reaction. The idea is that the
>>> money would be donation-based to help the community, like sponsored
>>> advertising. I don't believe that contradicts or breaks the non-profit
>>> status, that's how PBS operates for example (selling ad space), I think,
>>> I
>>> could be wrong.
>>>
>>> I know wordpress.com of course supports wordpress.org and some of its
>>> paid employees, but allocation and expenses don't seem to trickle toward
>>> projects like Theme Review, I believe I recall *@Otto* has discussed in
>>> the past about limited resources?
>>>
>>> Anyways, I assumed it wouldn't be a popular idea, just spit-balling
>>> here.
>>> :)
>>>
>>> *@**Emil* - Definitely, for those developers that want to develop for
>>> .com and are able to be accepted, that's can be a great earner.
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> theme-reviewers mailing list
>>> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>>> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
>>>
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> theme-reviewers mailing list
>> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> theme-reviewers mailing list
>> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
>>
>>
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