There are 2 fawning comments here on HN by newly created accounts. Maybe the green color of new accounts can be used to detect astroturfing. I have to assume this is on the front page in part due to such tactics (I don't know the exact HN algorithms however, so could be wrong--but the perception remains). Why risk any chance of organic interest by poisoning the well like that?
Especially since the article just leads me to uncover more shady behavior. The Medium article reveals and then glosses over a sudden halving of monthly revenue. Why write an article about $50K monthly instead of $100K? The link goes to another self-promoting "transparency" report has a link to a WP ticket [1] where anyone can read that the author refused for over a year to comply with WP theme rules. And these rules were specifically in areas to reduce self-promotion and one could characterize the theme's behavior as spammy. And this lack of rules compliance created extra work for WP in enforcing those rules (in other words copy-cats).
So in the end, what sounds like a nice and encouraging story now seems to be more of a whitewashing. This is sad because the ideas of WP theme development and marketplace sound interesting and perhaps rewarding as a small business opportunity, but now I tend to think success is due to spamminess, bending/breaking of rules, and astroturfing stories (and maybe reviews) on relevant sites.
In this light, the business model outlined and promoted here--buying and improving existing niche products--seems more like adding spamminess for profit. In fact, I am now questioning what creative and useful code did this company actually create (since they talked about buying every single one of their profitable products), as opposed to taking products that can't stand out in a crowded market and adding spammy and sticky features to them to game those marketplaces in ways that are not beneficial to consumers.
You're proclaiming guilt as a matter-of-fact without any actual proof of it. You set up your own opinion and then matched a conclusion of fraud to it, seemingly without a second thought.
If I were to apply your framing approach to your own post, it comes across as though you're trying to talk down the article and injure their reputation by implying they're doing something wrong while possessing nothing more than an opinion. That's a leap too far, throwing around such accusations without solidly supporting them is inappropriate.
Not sure what to say about first accusation, I haven't personally asked anybody to leave 'good looking' comments here, sure I bragged that we got on HN front-page, but I saw that is a flag/hide button that you can use in case you don't find this useful.
For next next part, the goal here wasn't to brag about how much money we made or we make, it was a story that I was encouraged to post initially on IndieHackers, I don't think the fact that we now make 50k instead of 100k makes the article less interesting, I would say the otherwise, sure if it would have been a gossip article, it might have worked better with a higher number.
Now the suspension story is too specific and complex to argue with you same for regarding the business model and innovation that we bring, I am happy that we have been able to bring amazing free products in front of that many people, while finding a business model to fund the initiative, same for managing to build team of amazing people.
If the original author saw this as a golden opportunity to explain themselves all would be well, granted they are not (too) guilty of anything aforementioned. That would go to show how constructive and valuable such feedback truly is.
Those that love your product will pay you. Those that challenge your product will make your product better.
I am not saying this is constructive, however it helps me realising how other people are thinking about our journey, even if some of them don't say it loud.
Yup. This is part of why I get aggravated that people are so negative about paying writers. Good copy makes money for a business.
Until now is interesting to see how most of the people see it as a success story while we lost 50% of our revenues few months ago.
https://wptavern.com/zerif-lite-suspended-from-wordpress-the...
Our main product got suspended from the w.org repository ( in short )
How heavy is the support load for themes? With plugins there is a lot of customer support involved, and this is why good premium plugins are so expensive. Is it the same with themes?
The load is quite big here too, especially considering the fact that we support free themes as well. What is challenging is to educate the users and help them understand that paying one time, upfront isn't helping them in the long run :)
This helps to think more long term and do what is best for the company, while avoiding the extra 'personal' pressure from your wife, kids or others that rely on your income.
At least how I understand Google and I saw from some tests, he is quite smart in getting if an article/site is delivering great content or not and ignoring such issues.
A recipe that works now is something like : release few free themes, write some great articles and continue to keep them updated.
Often, persistence pays off. Congrats and thanks for sharing.
