The Webgazette theme is now available. More details on the Webgazette Theme page. Get it while it’s hot

I though I would share this for the benefit of any budding theme designers out there. It can be quite a shock just how much attention can come your way when you start making WordPress themes.

I got a little burnt out by the demands of a trying to support users of my WordPress themes. I’m sure I’m not the only person who has experienced this. At one stage I was getting hundreds of emails a day and as much as I loved designing templates and themes it can soon turn into a real chore when the support requests never let up.

You know, you feel guilty ignoring emails but I don’t have the time to answer them all. I guess it the global scale of the WordPress theme thing – if you get a popular theme then you catch a lot of interest and it can be relentless.

Another thing is that the emails ranged from very polite request (which were a pleasure) for help to incredibly rude and sometimes insulting demands (that got ignored) for help. There’s no accounting for the way some folks behave!

I’m not sure what the ideal solution is. You could just say up front that there is no support. I’m not sure this is the best option if you want a good reputation, though. Maybe you could charge for support from the beginning. In my experience this will see off most support requests. Like I said I’m not sure what the solution is, but it’s something you ought to think about before releasing any themes into the wild.

I suppose, you got to learn to cope with it the best way you can and not feel guilty about it.

Good luck out there.