Un-ethical or Ok?

I wanted to get your thoughts on this. One of my main concerns on here is people using my themes with out purchasing them. You know, people just sending the ZIP to a friend…

So, let me present this to you, would it be unethical or uncalled for if I put in a little bit of code in my scripts that notifies me when my themes are installed on a server? i.e. when the theme is activated, a email is sent to me letting me know the URL of the site it is being used on. Is that weird?

What are your thoughts? Let me just say, I am not doing this on any of my themes or scripts, just something that crossed my mind and I wanted to get your thoughts on.

my thoughts are that if people really want it for free they’ll find a way to do so.

even if you get a report of URLs you don’t have a list of who bought them to check against? or am i incorrect in saying this?

I agree, I wish ThemeForest.net used order numbers so I could require people to enter a order number then I could double check that with my order history, but Theme Forest doesn’t do this which sucks.

Hmm…see that to me just sounds like too much work, I can understand you scrambling your HTML on the live preview though that is a good idea. Ultimately, people will get them for free but they are in the minority.

I just scourr google every now and then for the names of my themes.

I agree, people who really want to steal or copy or freely distribute, they will find a way. but these people are surely less in the numbers. Quality items and themes will always sell great here.

I think putting hidden links or worms in your themes which will report about the installation of your theme will be unethical, and it is bad for the community too.. because it can put off the genuine buyers and can destroy the integrity of Envato in whole. This is my opinion about it.

If this is about wordpress theme, I read about GPL License that allow people to redistribute the theme even for free… not sure about that? anyone know more info about this?

If this is about wordpress theme, I read about GPL License that allow people to redistribute the theme even for free… not sure about that? anyone know more info about this?

Yep, that seems to be true… premiummod.com … it seems that if you, as an author, opt for a GPL License on your commercial themes, there’s nothing preventing people to do so…

Going back on the “people that use them for free” subject, well just let them, after all the people that appreciate your work and realize how much it costs to do such themes/designs/templates etc etc.. will actually pay for them.

I agree, I wish ThemeForest.net used order numbers so I could require people to enter a order number then I could double check that with my order history, but Theme Forest doesn’t do this which sucks.

this is a great idea

If this is about wordpress theme, I read about GPL License that allow people to redistribute the theme even for free… not sure about that? anyone know more info about this?

Yep, that seems to be true… premiummod.com … it seems that if you, as an author, opt for a GPL License on your commercial themes, there’s nothing preventing people to do so…

this is example site that use gpl license as a reason to redistribute other people work…

Going back on the “people that use them for free” subject, well just let them, after all the people that appreciate your work and realize how much it costs to do such themes/designs/templates etc etc.. will actually pay for them.

yes, there are still many people willing to pay for our hard work…

@ATLChris
In my opinion it is no problem if you put tracking code in your theme, but you can’t do anything about it…

I was think about this, but I only want to know which site use my theme and how my theme looks in the live site