[theme-reviewers] Frequent Updates

Sat Jul 26 07:00:08 UTC 2014

If there wasn't a boost to downloads, developers would naturally reduce
updates to only what's necessary.

WordPress 3.9 removed recently updated themes in the admin, which was a
good move. Maybe we should remove the "Recently Updated" list from the
WP.org themes home page too. What's the real value in this list anyway? It
could just as easily be a random list of themes.

On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 8:19 AM, Jose Castaneda <jomcastaneda at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Which is why I was wondering if we run into this how would we handle it?
> By simply just putting a note/comment in-ticket or leaving it to the
> admins? I know I've come across a few like that which is why I was
> wondering.
>
> And generally I take what is said on these mail-lists as a heads-up unless
> stated otherwise. :)
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 8:31 PM, Chip Bennett <chip at chipbennett.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Hey, all: can we please use some common sense here? What Emil is saying
>> has nothing to do with one-off, quick releases. We've all had to do that.
>> (Oops; missed a bug...) Think instead about *long-term* and *average*
>> release rate.
>>
>> Over the long term, and for a mature Theme, once-weekly releases are
>> absolutely too frequent. Are there exceptions? Sure. Something like adding
>> a new color scheme/skin weekly might be a valid exception (since that was
>> mentioned). But to reiterate what Justin said: if your Theme is so buggy
>> that it needs *long-term* bugfixes once per week, then I'm not sure the
>> Theme was reviewed properly to begin with. And at some point, you run out
>> of features to add.
>>
>> What Emil said isn't about setting a hard-and-fast cap, or setting a
>> concrete rule. If you need to release an update, release an update. But if
>> and when those updates become too frequent and too frivolous, we're
>> probably going to say something to you about it. Whether it's a case of
>> trying to game the download counts, or merely using the Theme directory as
>> a VCS or a quality control system, when it happens (and currently, it does
>> happen *rarely*), it's putting unnecessary burden on the Theme Review Team.
>>
>> Currently, this is not a significant problem. Think of Emil's comments as
>> an early attempt to pre-empt any future problems.
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 10:00 PM, Emil Uzelac <emil at uzelac.me> wrote:
>>
>>> As long as, yes you are absolutely correct :)
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 9:53 PM, Srikanth Koneru <tskk79 at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> So to wrap it up, updates have to be meaningful/of substance like Otto
>>>> said but Emil's fiat of 1 month gap is voided?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 8:03 AM, Emil Uzelac <emil at uzelac.me> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Justin pays attention and is correct!
>>>>>
>>>>> No nothing new or something I am doing alone late on Friday, please
>>>>> see:
>>>>> http://lists.wordpress.org/pipermail/theme-reviewers/2014-June/018873.html
>>>>> and we have been contacting authors to either combine or stop meaningless
>>>>> updates.
>>>>>
>>>>> I wasn't naming names, or calling for discussion, but I am glad that
>>>>> we got your attention now ;)
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 9:13 PM, Justin Tadlock <
>>>>> justin at justintadlock.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm OK with weekly releases (4 releases a month) if they're actually
>>>>>> bug fixes and/or enhancements.  I wouldn't knock anyone for that.  I really
>>>>>> wouldn't want to set some type of "time rule" either.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This is nothing the admins have discussed.  Other than the thread I
>>>>>> mentioned, this is the first I'm hearing of this too.  I just wanted to
>>>>>> clarify what I believe Emil was getting at.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What some of us have observed are probably a small fraction of people
>>>>>> who might be submitting some updates for the sole purpose of upping their
>>>>>> download counts.   If we start noticing a trends like this, it's going to
>>>>>> be a problem.  I believe Emil wanted to preemptively help stop some of
>>>>>> these types of problems before they got started.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 8:17 PM, Srikanth Koneru <tskk79 at gmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> There should be no time gap rule at all, Theme authors need not have
>>>>>>> to wait to release their next substantial update because of some arbitrary
>>>>>>> time limit.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 6:42 AM, Trent Lapinski <
>>>>>>> trent at cyberchimps.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> What about biweekly updates?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> We need some kind of structure that we can agree on.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Radically deciding on a Friday night to change everyone's release
>>>>>>>> schedules is a little drastic is it not? I thought this was an open source
>>>>>>>> community? How is this open source if I'm limited to how much I can change
>>>>>>>> the code I submit? Sounds pretty closed to me.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> It's not like this policy is even going to be enforceable let alone
>>>>>>>> reduce tickets. This is simply a result of more theme authors and
>>>>>>>> companies, which is what the WordPress Foundation wanted. Now that there's
>>>>>>>> more of us submitting regularly suddenly we have to discontinue our release
>>>>>>>> schedules, and no longer be able to maintain our themes?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I know you admins have a lot on your plates, but limiting the
>>>>>>>> communities contributions is counterintuitive is it not?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> --Trent Lapinski
>>>>>>>> CyberChimps.com
>>>>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Jul 25, 2014, at 5:30 PM, Srikanth Koneru <tskk79 at gmail.com>
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I add new skin every week and try to be resource neutral by
>>>>>>>> reviewing more than I submit.
>>>>>>>> Last week you were all dead set on avoiding subjective matters
>>>>>>>> saying trying to judge those matters are a waste of your time and this week
>>>>>>>> you drive straight into it.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 5:45 AM, Justin Tadlock <
>>>>>>>> justin at justintadlock.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> This was briefly discussed on the mailing list last month.  For
>>>>>>>>> reference:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> http://lists.wordpress.org/pipermail/theme-reviewers/2014-June/thread.html#18864
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Otto made it pretty clear that frequent and meaningless updates
>>>>>>>>> are not allowed, so I don't think that should be a problem.  This is
>>>>>>>>> something that's also done with plugins.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Basically, the idea though is to just add updates when there's
>>>>>>>>> something of significance like a new feature or a bug fix.  Don't send
>>>>>>>>> updates to us when you're changing code formatting or updating your
>>>>>>>>> documentation.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> If someone is sending in weekly bug fixes, then I don't think
>>>>>>>>> we're doing a very good job with the initial reviews.  If you're sending in
>>>>>>>>> weekly enhancements, what more could you possibly be adding?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I do agree with Trent that it is a healthy dev strategy for some
>>>>>>>>> people/companies to have, but we also have to balance that with the facts
>>>>>>>>> of the situation.  The situation is that we do human-powered theme reviews
>>>>>>>>> and still lack the manpower to handle them all.  If we're constantly having
>>>>>>>>> to go through the priority update queue, it leaves little time for reviews
>>>>>>>>> on new themes.  I don't like the situation, but this is where we're at.  I
>>>>>>>>> might be starting to get into another discussion, so I'll just stop there.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 7:07 PM, <tskk79 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Sorry too subjective, where is the definition of how small is too
>>>>>>>>>> small.  don't you guys have better things to do :)
>>>>>>>>>> Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>>>>> From: Jose Castaneda <jomcastaneda at gmail.com>
>>>>>>>>>> Sender: "theme-reviewers" <
>>>>>>>>>> theme-reviewers-bounces at lists.wordpress.org>Date: Fri, 25 Jul
>>>>>>>>>> 2014 16:37:30
>>>>>>>>>> To: Discussion list for WordPress theme reviewers.<
>>>>>>>>>> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org>
>>>>>>>>>> Reply-To: "Discussion list for WordPress theme reviewers."
>>>>>>>>>>  <theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org>
>>>>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [theme-reviewers] Frequent Updates
>>>>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>>>>
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>>>>>
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I make free WordPress themes
http://siteorigin.com
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