Months ago i was featuring WPthemesfree.com for their great site and services for theme submit. Today i just caught up from moses whos theme also been landed there and SHOCKED that they were adding an extra link in the footer in each theme. Moses, myself and other theme designer and theme developer’s themes had been added an extra backlink to WPthemesfree. When i check on the technorati stats, their backlink mostly come from the modified theme itself..Is this the price to pay for submitting the theme to their site. again nothing mention about this rules and terms…I don’t really think the theme code itself can auto generate and input the extra backlink in the theme code so the only explanation will be a manually input of their link in the themes by their staff member EDIT: they already stated below the upload page footer. Here’s what i found when download my latest theme there and look at the theme code itself:
<a href=”http://www.dezzain.com”>Dezzain Studio</a> | Brought by <a href=”http://www.wpthemesfree.com/” title=”Free WordPress Themes”>Free WordPress Themes</a>
an extra line were added to the theme code itself. The thing that really freak me out is that they should mention something about this in their main page but still no FAQ or any mention regarding this rule when you submit the theme there. The hardest beating to this event would be a standalone designer’s theme that were submitted to the site since everyone had the upload right regardless if you’re the original author or not.
Couple of standalone designer such as wpdesigner and milo IIIIVII and many more were landed with an extra backlink to the site. This is just a violation to the designer himself. I personally will not submit my theme there anymore before some explanation can come up with this issue. So i will appreciated if any users downloaded my themes there can redownload it again from my main site for an original copies of the themes and that’s go for all the users that download other designer theme there, you can visit the original author site to obtain the original copy of the theme without the extra link to wpthemefree.
Finally i suggest WPthemesfree.com staff can stated a more clearear rule about theme submit there so there’s no more confusion in their later development…
An extra link should be the price but they seem don’t have any adsense or similar around. So I don’t care, I also added a few of my themes and already downloaded more than 300 in a week which is better than the wordpress theme viewer site. So I keep watching them…
Addition to my comment:
BTW: I just saw their notification at the bottom of their url: http://www.wpthemesfree.com/upload.php
yes cemlouis i just notice the notification there..either i missed that
part when i upload the theme or they just recently updated their site and also make it more clear about their theme submit policy.
but still is there anyway they can prevent anyone uploading someone
else theme..that’s still the biggest question need to be solved. I know if i release a standalone theme with my own footer link without sponsor links..i would be glad to submit the theme there and they can add the extra links in the theme since the they got a very potential click download rate and that’s without a doubt since i did feature their site for great theme place but there’s still sponsors issue that need to explained if the sponsors suddenly asked about the extra link..what should i tell them?…since if there’s extra link in the footer..users most likely will remove the sponsor links rather then the designer link and the link to wpthemefree..(in most cases)
but is there a certain rule that they can prevent if the designer himself didn’t want his/her theme to be submit..well since the upload right is anoymous for all…
so maybe a membership and upload right policy maybe an alternative way to track the uploads..this is really something need to concerned if standalone designer or theme owner’s theme that were submitted there without their knowledge and distributed through their site..intented for the good of their future development.
I can understand your concerns but there was only the theme viewer so you had only 1 option to submit your theme or to promote your advertiser or sponsors whatever.
Now, they brought an alternative. I love the alternatives they are the pushforce of the technology. I mean if my theme gets downloaded x times from the theme viewer it also gets downloaded x times from wpthemesfree so I doubled my promotion rate by 2x which is good. Also I got a few responses from the sponsors they are also happy about this.
I think if there is a theme business the main important thing is theme users(downloaders) are deleting the author links on their sites. Even the most respectful ones.
yeap..personally i enjoy and love the place..it had a organized category and solid theme tag than TWN. Furthermore they got adult category too..another bold idea and great for an extra option for blogger that runs a adult site to pick one for their blog (in general).
WPthemesfree still my second alternative in theme submit in the future and will generally consult and ask permission from my future theme’s sponsors if the submission to WPthemesfree is ok with them…(mentioning the extra link of coz).
by mentioning this in blog..i was hoping they could some up with an solution about anoymous uploader to prevent them get into a certain upload permission issue with the original authorself later during the development stage
it seems one of the original author wpthemesplugin moses’s theme was removed from the site because he isn’t the one who uploaded the theme there…as seen how much troublesome if hundred of original author that did not upload the theme there themself and email WPthemesfree for the removal of the theme but since i myself uploaded my own theme to their site so i won’t be asking the removal of theme..just hope the permission matters will be in place in the future..
I’m not a theme creator but if they did that without asking the authors it would be dishonest and unacceptable…
yeap…but mostly people upload there are anoymous..unless
the uploader want to notify by mail..so there’s nothing wpthemesfree can
do about it..hope they can work it out later on.
Pingback: Dezzain Studio : Blog Archive : WPthemesfree.com - Your Wordpress Theme Upload Portal