In reply to Peter Cralen.

First off, there are smarter people than me that should make this decision *and* with a lot more data (from .org) to make that decision.

I think before adding [Business Practice] to the equation, we need to start identifying some core components like number of themes & plugins in the repo, update cadence, community interaction, documentation and support would be a nice start.

Again, how are these measured? I dunno. I assume that's what makes this difficult, but I'd venture to say that 80% of the problems are when themes & plugins authors go missing after a few iterations. No support, no enhancements, no security patches, no keeping up with core WP. So maybe you're verified every year by checking into your profile or by scooping up .org repo data? Don't check-in, don't update, lose your verified tag?

Or how about identifying that there ARE alternative commercial supported versions available, from the source author in their own store, not from Envato or another marketplace?

I know, I know, "everyone" hates on shops trying to make a little money with this stuff -- I get it -- but sometimes a user might just want to pay to have the more readily available support for the software they are using for their own business.

Here's an example: The Responsive theme was owned and supported by a very vocal WordPress business owner, Trent. He was very active in the community, had a lot of pioneering ideas, and wanted to grow a healthy company. Whether you agreed with him or liked the theme is not the point here, but the fact that he had a presence. You knew who you were downloading and purchasing a theme from. At the time, his products had a roadmap which is a good thing, but costs money to create. They could have been "verified."

He sold CyberChimps some time ago and now it's operated by a company that I don't know much or hear much about. Who really knows what's going on with the core code of Responsive -- and with such a large active install base -- that's a bit worrisome.

Now that .org has flipped the theme popular list on it's head, listing by active count, Responsive theme is back on the top and freshly minted WordPress users are given a chance to activate that theme once again.

Is this good or bad for endusers? In a "verified" world, would that badge have been taken away after the sale of the company? If so, even as it was on the popular list, would an end user still download it?

It's all theory crafting really, but I think it's an important discussion imho.

...that is until, WordPress becomes just a GUI database to all of our REST API driven front-end JavaScript crafted apps --- /hops_on_his_Jetpack (pun intend) -- to the future! :)