Primer WordPress Theme On WordPress.org In Under 24 Hours?
Primer WordPress Theme
GoDaddy a giant in the web hosting world recently submitted a WordPress theme to the WordPress.org theme repository and guess what? It went live for around 8 hours.
This was brought to my attention via a tweet from a well-known theme developer Oli Dale who I follow on Twitter see below for the tweet in question:
How come Godaddy get to skip the theme review queue ? Live within 8 hours of uploading https://t.co/nq3PcpeSzd @Krogsgard @jeffr0
— Oli (@olidale) October 11, 2016
So What Gives? How Come GoDaddy Got Special Treatment?
Whilst the tweet in question was aimed at @Krogsgard @jeffr0 two WordPress news resources no answers are forthcoming so far. Considering the fact that it can take a considerable amount of time (months even) to get works added to the WordPress.org repository much to the chagrin of theme developers.
This has got to smack a little for those who create WordPress themes for WordPress.org, whether it’s to promote pro versions of their WordPress themes are just the fact they want to give something back to WP in general.
So why has GoDaddy received special treatment? Why have they jumped the queue in terms of their theme taking precedence over others endeavors?
At the moment it’s going to be conjecture I’m afraid.
The Primer WordPress Theme
Sure it looks nice, I decided to have a closer inspection of the themes home page, or GitHub if you will. It’s here that commits and pull requests and all things developer-related are found. I found something really interesting.
Example:
Whilst many theme companies and plugin developers carry promotional elements to them for generating interest in their premium products (think Yoast’s Vegas like promo stuff), understated links are fine right?
The question is, adding this link at the footer in the WP backend and the speed in which GoDaddy has had a theme approved could see theme generating a sh*t load of users using their services, especially if the themes are half decent.
I like the words “enhance branding” and the other statement “I’m not entirely sure this is going to play well with the theme review team”.
You can read the above on the Github pull requests section here to see what I mean.
What About Reviews Of The Primer WordPress Theme On WordPress.org
Well that’s another interesting one in itself. It’s got a 5 star review, albeit just one. Who’s it by? Well it’s by this chap:
His name is Milan Ivanovic, that’s some great feedback on the theme! Wow, I might take a look at it with such succinct positive feedback. So who is Milan Ivanovic?
Glad you asked:
Yup that’s right he’s a web developer at GoDaddy, oooo that’s coincidental is it not? A theme gets same day approval onto the WordPress.org repo and the first bit of feedback is from someone who probably worked on the theme itself.
It’s Double Standards For Genuine Theme Developers
I’m no developer, I’ve never professed to be one. However, I can only imagine the pain that some go through when submitting their theme for it to be rejected or waiting in a queue for months on end.
The theme review team have their work cut out, no one can deny them that.
However, if I was a theme developer and wanted to add my theme to WordPress.org which was well coded and used to see it superseded by a web hosting company that probably has a team of devs working on it would be disheartening.
Another thing to look out for as a consumer never trust the reviews on WordPress.org for themes, this blatant 5-star review from someone who works at GoDaddy makes a mockery of the whole system.
Majorly disheartening.
Are You A WordPress Theme Developer? Are You P*ssed Off With This?
Conjecture, as mentioned before, will abound, why did GoDaddy jump the theme queue? If you have an idea as to why then please, by all means, leave a comment with your thoughts.