[wp-forums] Comment about [sticky] Posts requests for theme decoding in here

[Jane Wells]

> On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 5:16 AM, Chris Olbekson<chris at c3mdigital.com>  wrote:
>    
>> I understand how this thread:
>> http://wordpress.org/support/topic/388507?replies=108 is very helpful
>> to users by protecting them from all the spam links and what not but
>> it is also encouraging the use of pirated themes.
>>      
> On 6/25/10 7:53 AM, Otto wrote:
> But mainly, if we say that we won't help people fix these broken
> themes, then most of these people will simply continue to use the
> theme, as is...<snip>
>
> No, decoding bad code for users is a vital service that needs to be
> allowed to continue. Otherwise, you'll just end up with people running
> unsafe code.
>    
I agree with Otto that providing support to the community specifically 
to prevent the continued use of unsafe themes is a vital service. I also 
agree that turning an unsafe pirated theme into a safe pirated theme 
means we are promoting the use of pirated themes, which we don't want to 
do -- it's not just about the license or the safety of that particular 
theme, the fact is that the users need to be informed that the way they 
got their theme is not good for both safety and ethical reasons. On 
occasions when it is clear what theme it is, it would be worth putting a 
note in the reply pointing to the legitimate source for the theme. A 
boilerplate sentence promoting safe, reputable theme sources and linking 
to the one for their current theme would maybe be good.
Jane