Hi All..

The vote. I asked the question as a philosophical one. That is, do we or do we not want sponsored links full stop IN ANY FORM whatsoever. There was nothing tricky about the question. That's what the questioned asked. It wasn't asking do you want sponsored links under certain conditions.

I don't and by the vote at least another 14 also don't. That's fine. Another 13 do want sponsored links in some way, shape or form. That's fine too. Given the small sample size the extra vote for NO is not significant.

I'm an open source/110% free die hard - in the way that means do something for nothing more than helping someone as best i can - with absolutely nothing expected in return. And that's what I'd like this site to be. Maybe I want it to be 100% where the reality of the commercial world says we have to compromise and settle for 90% - I don't know. Maybe I'm way off the mark with my philosophy?

I've always said my first design I submit will be PD and I'll be happy for anyone to do what ever they like with it - If they wanted to claim it as there own design and make squillions from it I wouldn't care less.

So when I look at the other 14 votes and see they don't want sponsored links as well as me, I see some of that spirit there too.

I'm not anti-designer, I just like the idea of doing things for others without the need to be recognised for it. I think it is a good thing to do. I also wonder why some people won't do something for others unless they get something from it, no matter how small.

That being said, do I refuse to participate in the current flow of the admins decisions to introduce SL or do I admit defeat?

I won't admit defeat as my philosophy will always be there but I will join in to help develop the new rules because I love this site, the community and the member's and what they do. And I encourage others to do as well. But I also ask the admins, mods and everyone else to understand there is a very strong spirit here that wants this site kept as commercial free and as free/opensource as possible. It's something we should discount to try to strive for. let's not close the lid on the idea that one day we could decide it is in the site's best interests to ban all SL.

And finally Jen. I can't wait to see you have kids. It's the best way to learn in experiencing the joy in working your bum off for absolutely nothing in return. you go girl.

Posted By: gnomeI don't like the second rule (limiting the number of sponsored links to two per template)

I'm not really sure it's needed either, especially as links in the design preview will have rel="nofollow" appended to them. Maybe we should remove the limit of 2 links then? Thoughts everyone?

Posted By: yugnatsi'm wondering could this be an issue if sponsored links are used with a CC license or is this a non-issue?

Nope, because Open Designs enforces it's rules before the templates make it out publicly. So what this means it that if a template states in it that the user will need to keep the sponsored link in as part of a CC Attribution, it will be rejected and not become publicly viewable/downloadable (much like if it were to fail validation).