In reply to Jack Lasey.

I finally got a few minutes to watch the video. While Wilson does bring up some good points, he lacks a basic understanding on several aspects of the issue. This lack of understanding hurts his credibility.

For example, he asks why WordPress (i.e., the Themes Team) did nothing for 18 months. Had he asked the team, he would have known that they were unaware of the issue during that time. It wasn't until they got the report and looked back into the theme's Trac history did they know the affiliate issue existed for 18 months.

He also does not seem to understand the difference between an affiliate link and an upsell link to a pro product or a link to a theme's Facebook group. That's fair enough from an outside observer, but again, he could've asked the Themes Team for clarification on what was meant by the guideline's reference to links.

There is also no mention that the theme and plugin review teams are completely different and separate, each with their own set of rules. Again, from an outside perspective, this may not make sense. And, there are some good points that could be brought to discussion about why they are separate. However, some of the comments were misleading to people watching who are also unfamiliar with the different teams. This makes for poor journalism.

While I agree with many of his comments regarding allowing affiliate links, some of the other statements were clearly inaccurate and could have been cleared up had he simply talked to someone on the Themes Team.

This is one of the big dangers of these types of knee-jerk reactions that you get on social media. They do not dive deeply enough into the subject to present an accurate story for those who are listening. And, we are all the poorer for it.