WordPress News

What AI and Automation Are — and Aren’t — Good For

Michelle Frechette

October 28, 2022

Thoughts on how AI and automation can be enabling to individuals and help us all be part of our communities where human-to-human interaction is the best and most vital part. • We love our community on Twitter, but maybe that's not where our community will be in the future. • Nev Harris is in our Member Spotlight. • Our Black Friday deals are live — and you can still add yours. WordPress Accessibility Day, WordFest, and WP Wealthbuilder Summit are coming right up, and so are WordCamps! We'd love to see you at one of our EU/US weekly Huddles.

New Venue Accessibility Checklist in the WordCamp Organizer Handbook

Michelle Frechette

October 21, 2022

PlanetThe Week in Review

Big steps for accessibility at WordCamps. Miriam Schwab is in our Member Spotlight! Some upcoming events. Don't miss being listed in our BF/CM deals!

A Makeover for HelpHub — and you can help the Docs Team on Contributor Day

Dan Knauss

October 20, 2022

Make WordPressNotes

Pretty snazzy new looks coming the the WordPress documentation site! You can help the Docs Team: Come to the first ever Documentation team Contributor Day on October 25th.

WordPress 6.1 RC2 • 6.1 Sneak Peek with Nick Diego • WP-CLI 2.7.1 • Help Test Plugin Dependencies Feature Plugin

Courtney Robertson

October 20, 2022

DesignHosting

Get a sneak peek at WordPress 6.1 with Nick Diego. Help test 6.1 Release Candidate 2 — and the Plugin Dependencies feature plugin. Be sure to browse the 6.1 DevNotes, Field Guides, and Team Updates. WP-CLI 2.7.1 is available now.

Five takes on helpful plugin stats and insights

Dan Knauss

October 20, 2022

BusinessFeatures

Good ideas for the future of data disclosed to plugin authors using the wordpress.org repository:

1) Identify surges of unhappy users reacting to a bad release — and the opposite, happier outcome.

2) Use pageview analytics to estimate total potential user interest and conversion rates.

3) Assess a plugin's performance with the .org search algorithm, the quality of releases, and plugin incompatibility as well as PHP compatibility issues.

4) Collect significant user behavior data anonymously without phoning home.

5) Just reveal all the raw data with privacy options for individual authors — no interpretive analysis on wordpress.org.

BONUS: Let's take this discussion somewhere else!

November: Register to speak at WordFest Live — and come to WordPress Accessibility Day

Dan Knauss

October 19, 2022

NotesPlanet

Coming up on November 18, WordFest Live will once again “support and promote positive well-being and mental health within remote working communities.” REGISTER →And don't forget WordPress Accessibility Day on November 2-3! REGISTER →Then on November 21, it's Alicia St.…

Does WordPress.org Data Belong to the WordPress Community? Should It?

Dan Knauss

October 14, 2022

BusinessNotes

Today WP Watercooler sought Solutions to the Active Growth Problem. In a pointed but respectful conversation moderated but Sé Reed, the Watercooler crew got one new detail from Otto about the decision to remove the active install charts: it was…

Over, Under, Around, and Through

Dan Knauss

October 14, 2022

BusinessPlanet

This week Alex Denning (Ellipsis) draws on Iain Poulson's historical, high-level plugin data at WP Trends to offer some thoughtful, somewhat contrary, but practical and grounded perspectives on the value of Active Install Data. At the WP Watercooler and elsewhere, a realization seems to be setting in that the data is not open source and not the property of the WordPress community. Like last week's episode of Post Status Draft with Katie Keith of Barn2 Plugins, Till Krüss (Object Cache Pro, Relay) offers a lot of lessons this week about less travelled paths to success in the plugin business even as a very small company or company of one. Performance, testing, and support are key, interrelated parts of Till's success and probably the most important ones to borrow in your own life and work if they resonate.

WordPress 6.1 RC1 • DevNotes • Field Guides • New LearnWP Course

Courtney Robertson

October 12, 2022

DesignHosting

WordPress 6.1 RC 1 has shipped with a release date of November 1. It's time to start testing! Check out the Developer Notes, Field Guide, and related team updates.

Active Install Data Story Update: Not a breach but abuse of an endpoint

Dan Knauss

October 8, 2022

NotesSecurity

John James Jacoby has been the main source of (unofficial) information about the removal of active install statistical tracking for plugins in the WordPress.org repository. On Friday, he provided more technical details on the WPwatercooler podcast.

How Open Source is WordPress?

Michelle Frechette

October 7, 2022

PlanetThe Week in Review

Decision-by-committee is difficult enough, and decision-by-community is called an election. Surely there must be a way that we can gather information, keep the community informed, and move forward in a mutually-beneficial way.

Trust Issues

Dan Knauss

October 7, 2022

BusinessPlanet

Cory Miller asks, "What can we do to better support our plugin developers and product owners?" Katie Keith offers some clues with the story of her WordPress/WooCommerce agency and product shop, Barn2 Plugins. Dan Knauss and Nyasha Green talk about microaggressions, the Active Install Growth Data story, and US federal legislation aimed at Open Source Security. In an increasingly "demon-haunted world," how can we know who is doing what with the hardware and software tools we use? Ben Gabler, CEO and Founder of Rocket.net, is in our Member Spotlight.

What Can We All Do to Better Support Our Plugin Developers?

Cory Miller

October 7, 2022

PlanetPost Status Team Blog

The recent discussions around the Active Installs data being removed from the WordPress Repo prompted a couple of questions I think we need to answer as a bigger WP community and particularly our members at Post Status. As someone who…

WordPress 6.1 Beta 3 • Active Install Growth Chart

Courtney Robertson

October 6, 2022

DesignHosting

Help test WordPess 6.1 Beta 3! 🧪 Check out the latest features that are coming in the 6.1 release. 📦 Follow updates about bringing back the Active Install Growth chart. 📈

Active Install Charts Removed from Plugin Repo

Dan Knauss

October 3, 2022

BusinessFeatures

In reaction to as-yet-unpublicized details about the abuse of active install data in the WordPress.org plugin repository, the charts displaying that data have been removed from plugin pages in a move expected to be temporary. Important (and some familiar) questions are emerging as this story unfolds: how to balance the values of openness, security, and privacy as well as cooperation and competition at WordPress.org — still the central hub for WordPress plugin businesses.