Replacing the rather intrusive credits on your b2evo blog

I’ve been configuring the new Pinkeye blog – the one you’re reading – and was struggling with the footer. Most of it is generated stuff, and, oddly enough, the credits bit is generated direct from the database, so the sponsored links that b2evo put in there just stay there, unless you rip the whole credits bit out entirely.

Now, I’m in favour of open source software, and giving credit – so I don’t want to cut out the credits entirely: I want to link back to b2evo. But I don’t particularly want to show their ads, especially as one of them (presumably automagically localised) is for UK hosting – and amongst other things Pinkeye sells hosting, in the UK. See?

It seems a bit mean to foist this trick on us users. When you get to the bit of code that creates the credits, it’s incomprehensible. It even says in the skin source:

// If you can add your own credits without removing the defaults, you’ll be very cool :))

Come on, that’s just taking the mickey. They deliberately make the credits hard to untangle and then tease us about it. They’re entitled to, of course – because open source is like that. You get what you pay for. But equally, others are entitled to unpick it if they want. And now somebody has.

Help is at hand, with a handy hack from one of my b2evo heroes EdB. He says:

What this one does is really simple: it stops b2evolution from using your footer to promote their idea of hosting services and other unrelated crap. Instead it gives one linkback to b2evolution.net – nothing else.

There’s also an interesting range of other hacks, all for version 2.4.2, complete with pithy comments, on the same page. Have fun with them.

External link: Wonderwinds