Look, I get that designers release free WordPress themes to get attention for their business. If the theme is good, people will inevitably check who’s behind it. But here’s what makes me want to walk through walls: designers who release a theme and, as soon as the theme becomes popular, remove all support documentation and announce they are now charging for said support.
That, I am afraid, is downright unethical. Because I do not want personalized support, I just want to check the (previously available) docs that explained the obscure Custom Fields and associated values. Now you want me to pay money for that? Sorry, not only I won’t, but I will never pay you for anything because you have proved to be clueless about basic software development practices.
WordPress should really develop a license agreement (maybe inspired by Creative Commons or the GNU license) to prevent these kind of blatant disgraces. Those who abide by such licenses will probably get even more attention for their work.
For the past decade and a half I have been making all my content available for free (and never behind a paywall) as an ongoing practice of ephemeral publishing. This site is no exception. If you wish to help offset my labor costs, you can donate on Paypal or you can subscribe to Patreon where I will not be putting my posts behind a lock but you'd be helping me continue making this work available for everyone. Thank you. Follow me on Twitter for new post updates.