Is the WordPress Theme Directory a Barrier to Acceptance as a CMS?

I’ve grown a little frustrated with the WordPress Theme Directory. On the one hand I very much appreciate what they are trying to do, setting standards of excellence for theme development. Add to this the ez search-and-click install available since 2.8 and you have the most user friendly blogging system available.

Here’s the problem, I have a theme that is built to make WordPress a CMS, so it requires a few steps to set up. But I just got an email back from the WordPress clue in which it was clear that the theme tester, effectively the gate keeper, didn’t even bother going through the steps.

My Onstage Theme for Actors uses ‘/home.php’ to display a headshot, and only a couple of excerpts from the blog. Users have to create a page for the blog template that is included. But the theme tester didn’t even bother to set it up. Instead he complained that the posts weren’t paged and there was no sidebar, both of which are part of the blog template.

So how is WordPress to become recognized as a full content  management solution when the WordPress theme directory seems to expect a cookie cutter installation process?