If you are not aware of the controversy surrounding the wallpaper that was recently removed from CyanogenMod, stop reading now.  This is not worth your time.

CyanogenMod began as a small project created by Cyanogen himself.  As the project grew and more users joined the fold, more developers did as well.  It grew from a single developer on one phone (the original G1) to 30+ developers on 25+ phones.  As a result of this massive jump in both users and developers, we reached audiences that we thought were impossible to ever encounter.

The downside of this is that as a userbase grows from 2,000 people to 250,000, so does the amount of people with different beliefs.  No longer is this just a rom with nearly all of the users coming from the United States, but instead our userbase is now global.  Because of such a wide audience, we have to be slightly more careful about what we do and do not incorporate in this rom.

The arguments from both sides expressed valid points.  The ones that were pro-removal mentioned that the wallpaper perhaps infringed on some copyrights and was unprofessional at best.  Those that were against-removal cited among other things, our free speech.  We decided to remove the relic of our younger days in this case as it did not appeal to a portion of our newly acquired userbase.

We recognize that as the largest third party rom in the Android community, we are held to higher standards of professionalism and tact.  That is simply a side effect of existing.  However, I am disappointed in the community’s reaction to our decision.  Whenever this issue arises (as it has in the past) many people begin bashing the guy that originally proposed it.  That is not something I am comfortable with and feel that it should be brought to light.  As a rom that has grown from a community alone, this is not the correct way to gain the support that has caused CM to flourish. No other contribution or suggestion was subject to such community backlash.  I was the person that ultimately approved the removal of the wallpaper, so if you absolutely must harass someone, harass me, @kmobs, instead of Untouchab1e.

This brings us to the final resolution.  The image is no longer included in CM.

Lets move on.