The two-zone layout (Partner/Platinum/Gold near the top, Silver/Bronze in a
grid near the bottom) implemented the tier table literally, but it read as
two unrelated blocks and left the lower grid orphaned between Security and
Ecosystem.
Checked what comparable projects do. FastAPI (~80K stars, closest ecosystem
match) puts sponsors at 8% of the README; Vite, Rollup and TypeORM put them
at 85-92%. All four use exactly ONE sponsor section with tiers as `###`
subheadings — none splits placements across the page. Tier value is carried
by order and logo size, which is also how FastAPI prices Gold above Silver.
- generator renders every tier into a single block, highest tier first
- markers collapse from SPONSORS:TOP/BOTTOM to one SPONSORS:START/END pair
- all 12 READMEs migrated; the orphaned bottom block is gone
- tier table reworded from "top vs bottom" to order-and-size, which is what
the layout now actually delivers
Incidentally, FastAPI's sponsor links carry utm_source/ref parameters
throughout — independent confirmation that the link policy loosened in #445
matches ecosystem norms.
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
yusyus
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