The Power of Christ Compels You

…to read my follow up article about the debate over sponsored themes.

A little background:

Over the last six months or so, there have been arguments going back and forth about the appearance of sponsored themes in the WordPress community. A sponsored theme is a theme in which a theme designer has been paid to insert links to a website. This is just another form of link buying. I personally have no problems with this, as long as the theme designer is up front and honest about the fact that the theme he is distributing for free does include paid links.

Me No Likey This – Sponsored Themes Again

A couple of months ago, I blogged about some drama brewing over the rise of sponsored themes in the WordPress community. Since then I haven’t really kept on top of the issue as I’ve been busy working on other projects. Well about a week ago, word started circling the blogosphere that sponsored themes were now being removed from the Theme Viewer which came right after the announcement by Weblog Tools Collection that they will no longer be promoting sponsored themes on their website.

I wasn’t surprised. Matt Mullenweg had expressed that he did not like playing host to the sponsored themes on the Theme Viewer and, though he put it to a community vote (roll eyes here) I knew it would only be a matter of time before he just decided to do away with them completely. I’m not criticizing him for this particular move. Matt owns the domain for the Theme Viewer and pays the cost of hosting. Therefore he is free to do with his domain whatever he wants. A lot of people crying foul are trying to say that he doesn’t have the right to do that, however, that’s only because they don’t seem to understand that The One Who Owns The Website has the right to bring the hammer down.

Tempest in a Teacup or Baby Momma Drama over Sponsored Templates

There is a storm brewing in the WordPress community over the practice of selling ad space on WordPress themes. More specifically, theme designers are selling text links to advertisers in the footers of the themes that they distribute for free to the community. Now to hear some people tell it this “new” development is akin to running naked down the center aisle of your church wearing only a thin layer of whipped cream to keep you warm.

In no uncertain terms those opposed to the idea label it as a form of spam and anyone who participates in it, a spammer. While I understand where they are coming from, I feel that this point of view is way off base. I say this because, in my opinion, the act of spamming is a form of internet rape. These jerks use automated programs to troll through blogs, websites and email programs and deposit their filth in places unprotected by spam killing software.