I question the validity of only using free plugins from the wordpress repository. A few years ago I was looking for a privacy policy plugin on the repository and the only 2 I could find had not been updated since 2009, this is unacceptable as internet laws are changing constantly.

My wife is an internet lawyer and wrote an up to date privacy policy and terms of use but I got sick and tired of copy and pasting so I wrote my own plugin and submitted it to the wordpress repository however they rejected it with a link to their rules for accepting a plugin. I believe I had followed all of the rules and asked them why they rejected it and the only response from them was they coudn't use it. this is an up to date plugin as opposed to outdated plugins that in an ever changing world, were no longer relevant. Anybody using those plugins is leaving themselves open to prosecution from governing bodies. But the people at wordpress didn't feel they need a current one that to this day is still being maintained.

Funny thing though is that I have found many plugins and themes in the repository that do not follow their rules. So who is it that is making the decisions as to what should and should not be put in the repository?

We use the plugin now as a list building tool on one of our websites http://lawforwebsites.info, however if the good people at wordpress become enlightened and decide that protecting their users businesses is important then we will reconsider listing it in the repository.