[wp-forums] Themes/Templates Forum: Commercial Themes

[esmi at quirm dot net]

on 25/10/2011 15:48 Andrea Rennick said the following:
> Chip said

>> I don't know if I've yet run into a legitimate, paying customer of a
>> commercial Theme shop who has come to the WPORG forums seeking support,
>> rather than using the commercial Theme shop's support offerings."

> I have.. :)

Ditto.

> They are either lost or they forgot or they generally did not know where to
> post. After all, in the admin area of WP, there's a link to the WP support
> area.

And those who just plain forgot/didn't know aren't an issue. Give them 
the support link for their theme and they'll be on their way. But there 
are quite a few posters who either:

- claim that they can't access the official support because they're 
"helping someone else" or some such excuse

- in the case of sites like WooThemes (who provide free themes with paid 
support), point blank refuse to pay and demand free help from WPORG

In both cases, (and GPL issues aside) actively helping creates issues. 
In the former, we could be helping users of pirated themes. In the 
latter, we stop other developers from earning a living. Polite reminders 
about using the correct support often go ignored by forum users at large 
and others then start trying to help - thus giving the impression that 
WPORG endorses these behaviours.

Yes - we all feel bad about users who have bought themes from crummy 
sites, Maybe there are even those who feel bad about users who are 
determined to get everything for free - without really expending much in 
the way of effort themselves. But until this is sorted, the problems are 
likely to only get worse - not better. Users are going to get repeatedly 
stung by bad theme vendors and time will be increasingly spent trying to 
help those who demand commercial-level services for free.

Mel