IMO shortly;

a.) they are not 'inappropriate'
b.) you are allowed to remove any of them as this is an open source software

To extend my point of view, afaic, powered by b2 is essential, it should stay there as an appreciation of the great software you are using for free.To me, removing it is rude.

About the other ads, a few extra clicks would not hurt, maybe their contribution to b2evolution bugdet is low, but b2 needs all the contr. it can get, so i dont mind keeping them, you may do, and remove them as well, some even think they are 'spam' (: afaibeleive, it is not in spam stature nor a linkback of course, stand somewhere between these two.

And about the last question, the best way of helping b2 is endorse other people to use it, and let it be heard as much as it deserves..Depending on my experiences b2evolution is far more secure and efficient than wordpress, phpnuke, maybe even joomla -if we ignore the plugin variety- but unfortunately it's less popular than all

As I said, I have ALWAYS credited b2evolution, and am glad to do so.

Sometimes I have chosen to go beyond the forced credit and have included an endorsement of, yes, what I too think is an excellent program. Other times, I have slightly adapted the credit to the sensibilities of my audience.

I simply wish for the control to do these things without having to hack, and without being reprimanded.

I usually remove all these crap links and leave only "Powered by b2evolution" either text or image, but not both.
I do like this great software, but I think that 4 links back is crazy.

I agree with the need to have more control over the credits.

I have no problem about the 'Powered by' link because b2evo is a great software and it's the software used to power the website. I like to spread the word about this great and FREE software.

However other links, as raised by original poster, seem and may be inappropriate demographically or for the nature of the website itself, eg a corporate website.

http://wonderwinds.com/hackblog.php/2009/04/07/stopping-b2evolution-footer-spam

Also, in the 3.x series there is a setting in the Blog Settings -> Advanced tab to allow you to set the number of credits shown. Set it to zero and you won't see any.

L

@lturner - Thanks for pointing it out.

Back in March '02, using the then-current, not-yet-final version of b2evo 3.xx, the switch was there, but didn't work. See first posting above. Has it been fixed? (I "fixed" it myself on my installation by some brute force means, so I can't easily check it myself.)

I hate to even comment again on what seems to be a contentious matter. Let me repeat: I do not want to REMOVE credits, I want control over their form/format/content. I have ALWAYS credited and linked back to b2evolution, often more conspicuously and/or effusively than the canned credit would do. So please don't attribute other people's attitudes to me! ;)

Hi martha

The setting works for me :)

L

Great! One less thing to hassle with when I upgrade (here in a minute. . . yeah, right.)

I only tested it once without the hacks.php solution in place (on v3.3.1) but did not notice immediate results. In other words, with the setting at 0 (and the laughably false claim that it removes all credits), I still had the spam links in the footer. AND a traditional linkback in the footer AND a traditional linkback in the sidebar AND splog links claiming to be the source of the skin.

Anyway I inferred that in order for the 'setting' to actually matter meant one had to wait until the spyware activated in the footer of every admin page refreshed the cache, which is the where those spam links live.

That setting is a joke and an insult.

Indeed, the only thing that the setting changes is the display of the links to FP's site and all the web hosting pages on the b2evo site. All the entries controlled by :

<?php
		// Display additional credits:
		// If you can add your own credits without removing the defaults, you'll be very cool :))
		// Please leave this at the bottom of the page to make sure your blog gets listed on b2evolution.net
		credits( array(
				'list_start'  => ' | ',
				'list_end'    => ' ',
				'separator'   => '|',
				'item_start'  => ' ',
				'item_end'    => ' ',
			) );
		?>

Using the evopress skin with the setting set to 3, in the footer I get:

Credits: free blog tool | green web hosting | FP

Which links back to the main b2evo site, one of the hosting pages and FP's site. These all disappear when I set the setting to 0

I think they are the main ones most people have a problem with but I guess skin hacking is required for the rest :(

L

As mentioned by lturner, the setting control the credits displayed by the credits() call in the footer and does so IMMEDIATELY after you press the submit button.

I can see only one reason why it wouldn't work: some third party skins have their own credits or don't use the normal credits() call.

I guarantee it works with all skins that ship with b2evo. We don't really have control over what independent skin authors do.

In b2evo 3.3.2, the version of the file _body_footer.inc.php that ships loose inside of blogs/skins has two credits in html code, not under php control:

.... ?>
Powered by <a href="http://b2evolution.net/" title="b2evolution home" target="_blank">b2evolution</a>
&bull;
Credits: <a href="http://skinfaktory.com/">skin makers</a>
<?php
// Display ....

So zero = two.

(I'm currently updating my sites to 3.3.2, so far very pleased except for this little thing....)

And PS: as I keep saying, I WANT to credit b2evo, it's a great program, I just want to do it MY way. Which I have been doing since my earliest use of it--0.8, I believe. Aren't user testimonials more convincing when they are not scripted by somebody else?