Comments on: When a GPL theme is not a GPL theme

By: phpBB-SEO GPL Violation

phpBB-SEO GPL Violation — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:49:24 +0000

[...] about doing the right thing, and then immediately do the wrong thing themselves by saying ‘requires an attribution link‘. Yeah.. do the right thing for you, and screw everyone [...]

By: Freedom 4 - The Freedom to claim others' work as your own « SunBurntKamel

Freedom 4 - The Freedom to claim others' work as your own « SunBurntKamel — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:16:43 +0000

[...] other news, after the last bit of ads-in-themes arm-waving, and free beer pointy-headedness, a solution from scott’s themes occured to [...]

By: Boldly Going

Boldly Going — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:00:56 +0000

Sorry, you do not have sufficient privileges to view this post….

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By: Ojo con la GPL — yukei.net

Ojo con la GPL — yukei.net — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 14:09:38 +0000

[...] primer caso lo vÃ por primera vez en What makes you happy?, y es quizÃ¡s el mÃ¡s polÃ©mico de [...]

By: that girl again

that girl again — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 22:58:37 +0000

In cases like this I’m never quite sure whether the designer is honestly ignorant of the terms of the GPL, or whether they’re merely taking advantage of the average user’s ignorance.

Either way, it’s a fairly pointless exercise. People who are inclined to credit you will leave the link in anyway, and those who aren’t couldn’t care less what licence you’re using; they’ll rip the link out anyway. The sort of people who are going to remove the attribution when you specifically asked for it to be retained are not going to pay you $30 for something they can do themselves for free. It just doesn’t work like that.

Personally I feel that if end users can’t accept the designer’s terms of use, it’s up to them to find another theme or make their own. They might be legally entitled to do what they want with it, but what’s legal and what’s moral are not necessarily the same. If I don’t like the terms on which I’m being offered something I’ll go elsewhere, rather than be indebted to someone I think is trying to con me ;)

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 20:38:51 +0000

Elliot – no there isn’t, but doing so in order to ask for cash IS.

By: Elliott Back

Elliott Back — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 20:20:22 +0000

That’s why I’m designing my new theme from the ground-up; when I release it, if I find someone ripping it off I can require payment. But, there’s nothing wrong with making the link hard to remove in GPL code.

By: adam

adam — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 19:47:39 +0000

that’s so wierd. i didn’t realize anaconda was k2 based, which makes the whole thing even more odd. (given the kubrick guy’s fabled bitching about people removing the link in kubrick).

sometimes i think the GPL is an incredibly faulty license. given that he’s well within his rights to charge the $30 for the theme, but not to suggest that you can’t remove the link.