Category: Public Concern

Letters that concern a discerning public.

Open Letter to Elegant Themes About Their Footer Credit

Dear Elegant Themes,

Please forgive this open letter to you about your footer credit, but it seems that it is the only way to get through to you.

I genuinely believe that your themes are the best on the internet. I believe that your pricing plan is the fairest too. Your customer service is second to none. However, one thing seriously lets you down.

You insist that you have a footer credit on my sites. I don’t want it or like it.

Yes, one of the tools that I have used to develop my sites is from Elegant Themes. However, that should not give you the right to advertise yourselves there. I do not want to display “Designed by Elegant Themes” anywhere on my sites.

Do architects advertise their services on buildings that they have designed? Does any other tool manufacturer have a right to have a credit on the things their tools are used to create?

The short answer is, “NO!”

I know that it is possible to delete your credit by editing your themes “footer.php” file. But every time the theme is updated it reappears!

I INSIST that you stop putting your credit link graffiti on my sites.

Please stop.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen.

Dear Boris – About Saving Cyclists’ Lives …

Dear Boris,

I heard you on LBC’s “Ask Boris” on the Nick Ferrari show today. A lorry driver phoned in about cyclists. It turns out that he was involved in a fatal accident with a cyclist.

Similar numerous accidents are a fact of life. Vital strong measures are required to change this.

It is a fact that cyclists’ knowledge of the road, ranges from zero to expert. As such, you must have blanket cycling laws that protect every cyclist – there must be no shades of grey. It is imperitive that the following must be implemented as soon as possible:

  • It must be law to have a bicycle license from DVLA to take a bike on the road. This could be an element of the standard car license.
  • Every driver and cyclist must pass the bicycle element of the test. (You could start with a grandfather license for the first few months if it is difficult to implement.)
  • Part of the cycling element of the driving license would be an LGV awareness module. (This wouldn’t hurt for car drivers anyway.)
  • Safety gear must be worn at all times.
  • Easy identification on high-vis vests must be apparent. (Like registration plates on cars.)
  • Anybody commiting a motoring offence (cyclists and motorists alike), must attend an advanced cycling/driving course with a test at the end of it.
  • The above course/s should have a strong cyclist/LGV awareness element.

These measures are bound to inconvenience people, but to cut the death rate, I believe that they are absolutely necessary.

The above makes everything black and white. There is more to add, but I’ve given you the gist of my thinking.

This issue needs a champion. Let’s save lives, Boris. Thank you for reading.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Gritton.