Don't Download Themes From These Sites

[Jeffro]

I'm hoping we can put together a list of known sites that offer WordPress themes for download, for free that contain encrypted code within any part of the theme. At the very least, we can list the obvious and hope to tell people to stay clear of them.

To get us started, I found this site today that not only violates the trademark, but the themes have Base 64 code in the functions.php files of the three themes I downloaded.

wordpresssupplies.com

When linking to a site, make sure it's done in the same way as my example so it's not actually a link.

[Jeffro]

Here is one linked from the site in the post above.

greatwordpressthemes.com.

Also submitted by Jason Schuller -wicked-wordpress-themes.com

[andrea_r]

I'm seeing a trend here in the domain names....

[chipbennett]

I'm seeing a trend here in the domain names....

Yes, every single one completely ignores the WordPress trademark policy.

Like I tweeted: major red flag.

[andrea_r]

topwpthemes . com

[Otto]

The first 10 or 20 results of these is a good place to avoid:
http://www.google.com/search?q=wordp...Awordpress.org

[Leland]

Went over four of them in this post: http://www.themelab.com/2009/12/08/s...m-shady-sites/

...which all just happened to rank on the first page for "wordpress themes" in Google.

wordpressthemes360.com
themes2wp.com
topwpthemes.com (already mentioned)
wpthemes360.com

Just keep digging through Google and other search engines for related queries, I'm sure you'll find a lot more.

Unfortunately they rank pretty high because they encrypt links back to their site with desirable anchor text like "wordpress themes" etc.

[eyecool]

It might be more helpful to post a sticky for "These sites are legit and you shouldn't have any problems downloading themes from them".

Less enemies, more friends.

[Jeffro]

Perhaps that would have been the better route to go. I can always un-sticky this thread and create a new sticky thread.

In fact, I bet it would be more helpful if people knew where it was safe to download from rather than where not to because as you said, the bad far outweighs the good.

[chipbennett]

Perhaps that would have been the better route to go. I can always un-sticky this thread and create a new sticky thread.

In fact, I bet it would be more helpful if people knew where it was safe to download from rather than where not to because as you said, the bad far outweighs the good.

Another good idea!