- Has been a member for 0-1 years
- Sold between 1 000 and 5 000 dollars
- Author was Featured
- Exclusive Author
- Referred between 1 and 9 users
- Europe
Thanks for sharing this, very interesting indeed.
- United States
- Has been a member for 4-5 years
- Exclusive Author
- Author was Featured
- Sold between 50 000 and 100 000 dollars
- Item was Featured
- Contributed a Tutorial to a Tuts+ Site
- Author had a Free File of the Month
So here’s what I don’t get. If a theme is 100% GPL I can just buy a copy and sell it somewhere else right? Why would a stock author ever agree to that?
- Exclusive Author
- Sold between 1 000 and 5 000 dollars
- Has been a member for 3-4 years
- Europe
- Microlancer Beta Tester
- Bought between 1 and 9 items
- Referred between 1 and 9 users
CodingJack said
So here’s what I don’t get. If a theme is 100% GPL I can just buy a copy and sell it somewhere else right? Why would a stock author ever agree to that?
Hmm.. because you get a chance to attend WordCamp? 
- Has been a member for 4-5 years
- Exclusive Author
- Europe
- Bought between 10 and 49 items
- Referred between 100 and 199 users
- Sold between 100 and 1 000 dollars
- Microlancer Beta Tester
WCF is acting like a 3 year old, but if those are their rules, just respect them and get over it. I can live without WordCamps and I guess most others can, too. Are WCs the only way to contribute to the community?
I too feel sorry for Jake, because I know how much he’s into those things. My question to anyone in a similar situation: does WordCamp put food on your table as TF does? The answer is obvious, so were having this discussion for…?
P.S.: best comment I’ve seen was by a core contributor saying something along the lines of “screw WordCamp, if that’s their call, ignore them. Go speak under a pseudonim, or build your own camps, call them WorcCamps”.
- Has been a member for 4-5 years
- Exclusive Author
- Europe
- Bought between 10 and 49 items
- Referred between 100 and 199 users
- Sold between 100 and 1 000 dollars
- Microlancer Beta Tester
dekciw said
CodingJack saidHmm.. because you get a chance to attend WordCamp?
So here’s what I don’t get. If a theme is 100% GPL I can just buy a copy and sell it somewhere else right? Why would a stock author ever agree to that?
It’s not attending they won’t allow TF authors, it’s speaking/organizing/sponsoring. You can still attend. Which is so cool, what a f#$%!ng privilege they’re offering to people caught in crossfire.
- Envato Staff
- Australia
- Has been a member for 4-5 years
- Contributed a Tutorial to a Tuts+ Site
- Exclusive Author
- Sold between 100 and 1 000 dollars
- Bought between 10 and 49 items
- Referred between 1 and 9 users
- Reviewer
Good to see some sensible discussion on this happening here 
Just to also clarify Ivor’s post, on that same link below the letter, there’s clarification:
Even though graphics and CSS aren’t required to be GPL legally [...] we will only promote and host things on WordPress.org that are 100% GPL or compatible.
The WordCamp guidelines say similar and push it further.
- Microlancer Beta Tester
- Sold between 250 000 and 1 000 000 dollars
- Author was Featured
- Item was Featured
- Has been a member for 4-5 years
- Author had a File in an Envato Bundle
- Referred between 200 and 499 users
- Author had a Free File of the Month
jonathan01 said
Ivor saidAs a note and an addition to this statement – this is for producing themes for WordPress, the rules for taking part in a WordCamp are “different” (must be in the ‘spirit’ of the WordPress community – which they are saying means everything in a theme should be GPL 100%) and therefore the issue arises.
“To help clarify this point, I reached out to the Software Freedom Law Center, the world’s preëminent experts on the GPL, which spent time with WordPress’s code, community, and provided us with an official legal opinion. One sentence summary: PHP in WordPress themes must be GPL, artwork and CSS may be but are not required.” – Software Freedom Law Center back in 2009.
Looks like I’ll never be contributing or volunteering for a WordCamp.
- United States
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- Has been a member for 5-6 years
- Referred between 100 and 199 users
- Bought between 100 and 499 items
- Author was Featured
- Microlancer Beta Tester
- Exclusive Author
CodingJack said
So here’s what I don’t get. If a theme is 100% GPL I can just buy a copy and sell it somewhere else right? Why would a stock author ever agree to that?
There’s actually an discussion about that we could have but a public space is not the appropriate one.
- United States
- Sold between 250 000 and 1 000 000 dollars
- Has been a member for 5-6 years
- Referred between 100 and 199 users
- Bought between 100 and 499 items
- Author was Featured
- Microlancer Beta Tester
- Exclusive Author
RimmonTrieu said
GPL may sound good at first time but it actually acts like virus, force everything it touches to be GPL and you have no way to monetize GPL code or related assets, effectively make it “a wolf in sheep clothing”.
wow…. just wow!
- Envato Staff
- Reviewer
- Sold between 100 000 and 250 000 dollars
- Author had a Free File of the Month
- Featured in a Magazine
- Author was Featured
- Item was Featured
- Bought between 10 and 49 items
A similar case, read on why Google distributed Android with ASL rather than GPL:
http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2007/11/why-google-chose-the-apache-software-license-over-gplv2/...Android under a copyleft license could potentially limit the evolution of the mobile software ecosystem by discouraging commercial development on top of the platform.
WP and its founder are acting monopoly here. Under their “freedom philosophy”, Bill Gate, Steve Jobs, or Larry Ellision… would never be allowed to speak at any GPL compliance software conference (if they even care though)
