Why Do People Create Free Wordpress Themes?

[mkels]

some designer release free theme to attract customer who want to make a custom theme. if a person like the design and concept of the free theme, they'll look for a custom made theme for them.

[Bloggeries]

Originally Posted by mkels

some designer release free theme to attract customer who want to make a custom theme. if a person like the design and concept of the free theme, they'll look for a custom made theme for them.

Agreed I recommended someone searching a custom theme to check our free themes forum to see an artist they like. I would also browse free ones and find one I like then approach the creator if I wanted a custom one most likely.

[Sapphire]

Ooh. So nothing comes for free eh. But at least we benefit

Thanks for this.

[CorpRebel]

Originally Posted by Sapphire

Ooh. So nothing comes for free eh. But at least we benefit

Thanks for this.

LOL ... Yeah, nothing is actually free.

I certainly don't mind links to the designer as that's only fair. But I personally like to click thru the other "sponsored" link(s) to see where they go. TOO many times I see them go to crap sites.

I use WP to put up quick niche sites at times. So I look for themes that don't have links other than the designer's link. Like I said, the designer deserves the credit.


Have Fun!

[beautyinmd]

I release my free themes on here and I assume most by now have seen my stuff what I don't get is why people are so against sponsored links- the bottom line is everyone has got to eat and while most people want a free theme with JUST THE DESIGNER LINK the fact of the matter is giving away free themes doesn't feed my kids. Each design I spend quite a few hours doing and I hear I release pretty okay stuff, but as a single mom with 2 kids- I can say I would get a 9-5 if people stopped sponsoring wordpress theme because when you are big like a brian gardner or a shoemoney although he doesn't do themes, it's all well and good- people come to you but when you are struggling then you do what it takes to make ends meet which is selling links on your themes to sponsors- I have in the last 2 months been very firm on the policy to keep my designer links on everything I put out as my themes are getting nice downloads and I'd like to see some of the benefit but that has resulted in me hurting to make ends meet so the people who want a free wordpress theme without sponsored links are plain selfish-
They want something free for nothing and the more people speak out against sponsored links the more we will see less and less creative work and more and more crappy themes on the market because even this month I considered quiting because I cant make ends meet like I did 3 months ago so yeah it's great to get a free theme with just designer but how would anyone feel working for a job 8hrs a day and not make a dime- how long would stay

[CorpRebel]

Beautyinmd,

For myself, in my post I said that I only look for themes that have only the designer's link. I just won't use themes that have links other than the designer's link.

I'm NOT one to get rid of the links and then still use the themes. That's wrong. But I just won't use it at all. Plenty out there with just the designer's link on it.

I see many themes with 3 or 4 different "sponsored" links on them. ALOT of them to borderline legal sites. I'm certainly not gonna risk my reputation because someone clicks on one of those sponsored links and it goes to some pyramid "get rich" scheme. It makes me look like I support that site when I actually don't. Not good business.

The only reason I use free themes sometimes is that it takes time to get one designed and I need to put up niche sites quickly. So I look for one's that fit MY criteria. But I generally have some templated themes designed for me so I don't need to use the free ones as much anymore.

It's nothng personal against theme designers like yourself. You're doing a great service for others.

It's a double-edged sword.


Hope I made some sense!




P.S. There's an interesting thread at Tony Blake's forum regarding free WP themes and plugins under the GPL license. The thread is at: GPL Question

[vicdigi]

Having so many free wordpress themes is brilliant. On our part, at present - do not agree with the sponsors links. A little naughty.
We have many free wp themes available which have our link in the footer but we refue to be sponsored by others on out themes.
Hopefully this will serve well to those wishing to download our themes without having so many blasted links on them...

[beautyinmd]

You know I really love the SAINT attitude alot of people are taking on the subject- oh you should give away for free- yet alot of the people taking the themes for free are really giving nothing back.. I get emails from people wanting to fix bugs on themes or want me to customize stuff for free and when I check they have totally deleted my footer and not even give me credit but they want you to make changes on a free theme...Yes I know the argument about Mother Teressa- but she had the catholic church supporting her efforts, the rest of us are just regular people who can't afford to get up everyday for the next year creating themes and submitting for free with no compensation even wordpress.com got private investors for 29million even though the premise of wordpress is free yet they say sponsored links are wrong- so it's great for them to get compensation for thier work but the people who spend time creating themes should get a nice link in the bottom

[vicdigi]

Originally Posted by beautyinmd

You know I really love the SAINT attitude alot of people are taking on the subject- oh you should give away for free- yet alot of the people taking the themes for free are really giving nothing back.. I get emails from people wanting to fix bugs on themes or want me to customize stuff for free and when I check they have totally deleted my footer and not even give me credit but they want you to make changes on a free theme...Yes I know the argument about Mother Teressa- but she had the catholic church supporting her efforts, the rest of us are just regular people who can't afford to get up everyday for the next year creating themes and submitting for free with no compensation even wordpress.com got private investors for 29million even though the premise of wordpress is free yet they say sponsored links are wrong- so it's great for them to get compensation for thier work but the people who spend time creating themes should get a nice link in the bottom

Yeah, I hear you loud and clear and see you have a very good argument too.

[deleon]

Thanks for this thread. It really helpful for me