hidden spam in wordpress themes?

Discussion in 'WordPress' started by phpwnes, Apr 20, 2009.

  1. #1
    so i downloaded a theme i like for wordpress theme to use on my blog its a new site and recemtly i was checking if it has been indexed by google , and thats the time that i was:eek: yahoo and msn have indexed some spammy non related pages from my blog site but when i click on those pages it gives the 404 error, can it be that the theme creator has put some hidden spam into that theme?
     
    phpwnes, Apr 20, 2009 IP
  2. hmansfield

    hmansfield Guest

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    #2
    Of course they do. Some free Word Press themes come with a price, and that is that many of the designers put in links of sponsor sites, or their own websites for the back links and possible traffic. Understandable since it is labor intensive to design a well functioning theme...something most of us cannot do for ourselves.

    If you use free themes, linking to the designer is only fair, but linking to the designers web hosting or pharmaceutical products sales landing page is too much for some to bear, which is why I use premium themes that allow me to do what I want with them, and insert my own links.

    The Creative Commons license is supposed to be without stipulation, even though many designers of free themes encrypt the footer in an effort to keep the 3 or 4 links to other , non related sites, there...with some kind of message that "Removing this link is punishable by law"...it is not.

    Some themes are straight forward and offer the theme for use only if you leave the links in tact.

    Themes that are listed in Word Press.org are not allowed to have sponsored links in them, or you can just purchase premium themes.

    Every theme that you find online is not under Creative Commons, so read the stipulations and license information before you download it for use. If the terms are spelled out, it is best to use the theme under guidelines spelled out by the theme author.
     
    hmansfield, Apr 20, 2009 IP
  3. dpsubi1

    dpsubi1 Notable Member

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    #3
    what theme you are using ? and from where you downloaded ? if these two are okay, make sure your blog is not hacked.
     
    dpsubi1, Apr 20, 2009 IP
  4. phpwnes

    phpwnes Peon

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    #4
    thanks all for the feedback, yes i know about the linking back to the author and i dont mind that at all but to hide spam page advertisings like porn or herbal viagra in their theme is dangerous for making my blog lose ranking or even be penalized by the search engines, about where i got the theme from i forgot where i downloaded it from but its called the "Photographers Journal".
     
    phpwnes, Apr 20, 2009 IP
  5. dpsubi1

    dpsubi1 Notable Member

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    #5
    the reason i am asking about the download location is to confirm that the theme has some hidden spam pages and alert other users not to use those themes. There may be a possibility that someone hacked your site and you might be thinking that the theme is causing the problem. In that case changing the theme will not help. so, you need to find out which one causes the problem (whether it is a theme or something else)
     
    dpsubi1, Apr 20, 2009 IP
  6. phpwnes

    phpwnes Peon

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    #6
    i doubt its that simple to hack through a wordprss template but anyways i deleted the theme and using a new one
     
    phpwnes, Apr 22, 2009 IP
  7. dan2008

    dan2008 Member

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    #7
    I downloaded LightBreaker theme from eblogtemplates dot com. What you think about it?has a hidden code?
     
    dan2008, Apr 23, 2009 IP
  8. phpwnes

    phpwnes Peon

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    #8
    check how many pages of your blog have been indexed by the search engines if you see some strange indexed pages there that you did not post then yes it could have some hidden spam codes.
     
    phpwnes, May 6, 2009 IP
  9. bhuppi890109

    bhuppi890109 Member

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    #9
    can you show me the theme which you are using
     
    bhuppi890109, Sep 12, 2010 IP
  10. SEOaaron

    SEOaaron Peon

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    #10
    Just check out the theme files under Appearance>Editor under the back end. See if you can find the URL's to the sites that youre linking to, or look for suspicious code chunks that could be encoded.
     
    SEOaaron, Sep 12, 2010 IP