Give Credits!

Actually this depends on the author Quote xmarcos

I think you are right on that, I know I have about 200 downloads on the theme I released. I personally know of only one user “vkaryl” only because he made comments to it. I respect his implementation of it and thanks. I am sure some Authors try to trace or track who may be using their theme but myself I am not one of them.

I think Kubricks main problem with his is the overwhelming ammount of extra comments in his css. It is just shy of thanking Grandma Ethel. Also include are pictures of himself/maybe not but appears very egotistical.

Myself, personally, I delete comments that make no sense to me as when I am coding it is a distraction to read through this. My main reason for not using the default is this.

Totally agree on both of you, first of all as i said before and root also mentioned if it is released under a GPL then no link back or credit is required, the only thiong you need to do is release your work under the same license… if you don’t like this just use a cc or another license but stay out of Open Source.
And dawg, i think comments on the css help people to understand how the theme works, but yes the stupid non-sense comments are totally useless and should be removed.

I agree xmarcos about comments made in a constructive way, I even add some to point out where to change font color, add jpg for header to simplify these things so that beginners do not have a hard time, I was referring to useless comments

[First, dawg, thank YOU for the nice comments – and as a point of ref, I’m female instead of the opp….]

I would like to say a couple of things: it is extremely important in my view to leave ALL copyright info intact even when I have paid for, say, a graphic and that payment allows me to remove the links etc. It’s important to me because the creative is the one who should receive credit, acknowledgement, and kudos – and leaving the copyright info and links is a way to give something back.

Second, I really appreciated dawg’s commenting sections of his CSS – it made it easier for me (though the only thing I did was “tone down” the peach content div a bit and add the plugins in the sidebar….)

“Giving back” goes both ways, folks. Those who “give back” to the open source community in whatever way deserve to be given back TO – by leaving links and credits intact, and showing notice that a particular individual was the originator.

sorry bout the gender issue vkarly! screen names who knows, my second mistake in as many as days.

I just made adjustment to mine also, the content, actually many colors came from the header div and it looks more linen/light beige, nice touch.

I believe in giving credit where credit is due. In the case of a widely distributed template, it’s always **nice** to see oneself credited with the basic template. Reason? Someone else may come along and like that design. Since you wouldn’t want him blatantly and in wholesale fashion ripping off **your** (wink, wink) design, refer him back to the original.

I’ve often come across a feature on a site and wondered where it came from and how I might get it for myself. A colophon or About This Site is a handy place to dump all that information for those of us who DO care where you might have gotten that handy-dandy calendar or color picker or other site widget!

As for design, there have been lengthy discussions about when a design stops being an original design and morphs into something entirely different. With some of my web design clients, they’ve taken that design ball and run with it, ruining some of my best handiwork. It’s times like that when I WISH my name wasn’t on that hideous page with the retina-burning backgrounds and garish text. Why? Because when they took it upon themselves to slap on a different background than the one I’d so carefully either chosen or designed specifically for them, it ceased to be **my** creation and certainly ceased to be anything I would be proud to call mine.

Just my two for the day. You guys are getting off cheap! ha ha!

That’s a GREAT idea, jonimueller – using the “colophon”! Thanks for that tip. And I hear your pain on the clients and your name on something that’s NOT what you designed – been there done that one way too many times….

[Dawg, that’s okay – I just figured it would make things easier (you know, in case I at some point say something outr?? which would sound WAY weird coming from a guy….!)]

Incidentally – folks who cheerfully remove links seem to be blissfully unaware of the immense benefits of their outgoing links of all kinds to them . If they really understood watch lists and services like technorati they would be adding links not taking them out.

Personally I will be releasing my themes (if they are ever finished, which at the current rate of progress is doubtful) under a Creative Commons license which is compatible with the GPL. If authors can’t be bothered to license their work under CC, or have just slapped the GPL on it without thinking through the implications, they have no right to complain when others fail to credit them.

Both Kubrick and Classic are part of the WordPress distribution and therefore no credit is required. The authors gave up their copyright when they agreed to the inclusion of their templates; they traded credit for kudos. Ultimately it’s the designer’s responsibility to establish the ground rules, not the community’s. And if theme developers don’t care whether or not they get credited, to be honest I don’t either, and I’m not quite sure why anyone else would. Most of us can tell a Kubrick-based theme at a glance, and judge it accordingly.

(And yes… being credited for something hideous; been there, done that. I try to avoid it in my TOS — ‘if you’ve modified it, we should BOTH get proper credit!’ type of thing — but I’m sure it still goes on.)

Ultimately it’s the designer’s responsibility to establish the ground rules, not the community’s.

NTU, that’s why I said above I hate the self-appointed credit guards ??
It seems we fully agree on this issue.

notthatugly, I see your point…. but I was under the impression that Kubrick’s creator Michael Heilemann at least was not really happy when he noted sites which failed to properly note that Kubrick was the inception for “the theme”….

[And while “the cr??dit gardai” might make some of you unhappy, I still maintain that it IS the responsibility of the site owner to acknowledge what came from who…. AND provide a visible link. It’s only fair.]

vkaryl,
Kubrick’s creator MH “was not really happy” two months ago, when his design was not part of the WP download package, and people were using it as ONE of the possible styles/templates/themes for their sites.
I cannot imagine that putting the K-theme in the default distro of WP was done without his knowledge and approval. From that moment on he (or anyone else) has no right to claim anything – except what is in the license delivered with the WP.

Further discussion on this is just wasting everybody’s time.
WTF are we debating here about non-required credits and links?

Yes he{Michael Heilemann} even posted about it on his blog. Made a refferance that when he finds someone that does not pay homage, he will visit their site and leave a little note.

Maybe I will search the archives here because when I was so green(newbie to wp) I wanted to change the classic to resemble a static page that I posted a link here, someone replied that I should use the Kubrick template which was similiar but no cigar. I did implement it but removed the footer as it was and within the hour I had just such a post about that with a link to his site.

I really felt set-up, I was not even wild about Kubrick but just implemented it cause the classic was far from what I wanted.

Maybe it was Micheal himself that suggested Kubrick.

And I see know we can finally edit our profiles. Thanks

Excuse me for stepping on your toes, moshu. It doesn’t matter that it’s “not required” – creative credit should never be optional. Period.

Mind, I did not start this thread. I did not see a “support maven” step in to say “let’s not go there”.

But again, excuse me.

All I can say is this:

If you do not like the terms and conditions of the GPL then why are you working within its construct?

This license enables people in the technology community to produce high output with less input, which allows individuals to avoid working for the man and not take it in the &*$#@

Could you imagine what it would be like if you had to thank every contributor to the Linux kernel? Or what about the people that developed PHP? or SQl? or TCP/IP? or the Intraweb?

I mean when it really comes down to it, the designers of WordPress templates have the last and easiest job in a long line of development… “We can only see so far because we are standing on the shoulders of giants.”

If you are unhappy with the terms of this license do not develop under it.

I make no excuse.