Issue #142 Loop WP

Hi, friend. 👋

Welcome to Issue #142 of Loop WP!

Last week, we briefly discussed the final results of my poll on contribution and shared some positivity in the WordPress community (it was my most clicked newsletter ever). 🎉

This week, we will continue the positivity within the community as we look at the WP Community Collective.

Let’s go! 👇

That Donation…

In case you missed it in last week’s news and tips, GoDaddy dropped a massive donation of over $500k to The WP Community Collective. 👇

🚨 This got my attention (as it did a lot of others), and despite not being the first time I covered the Collective, it was ashamedly the first time I had given it much attention.

My contribution was the minimum, although I plan to give more as I navigate my time with The WP Community Collective over the next year.

WordPress Community Team Concerns

Despite the WP Community Collective entering its third year, recent attention to the community (and before GoDaddy’s donation) seems to have caught the attention of the WordPress Community Team.

🤦‍♂️ Trademarks have been the central focus of many WordPress dramas since September, and it looks like this is the case again. WordPress wanted a name change and some clarity.

👏 I applaud The WP Community Community Collective’s response and refusal to change.

Let’s face it: some WordPress Community team members have not had an excellent recent track record.

What is The WP Community Collective?

🧠 Due to recent incorporation, the project's scope is being redefined. In short:

💪 The WP Community Collective is a non-profit. As well as projects, it offers Fellowships to support and enable individual contributions to open-source projects, including the open-source WordPress project.

💡 (Initially, the focus was WordPress, but this has broadened to wider open source.)

You can join me and become a founding member. It costs $5, and you get access to the private Slack Community.

It’s early days in the Slack

A Prediction

Community → Communities

🔮 In a recent episode of The WP Minute, Matt Medeiros made some predictions about WordPress in 2025.

One of those was “the community” becomes “communities”.

I’m not giving my detailed thoughts on Matt’s points, but I agree that 2025 will see an already fractured WordPress community become more fractured.

💪 Time will tell whether these fractures will cause the community to grow weaker or stronger, but I would love for the community to rally together (to “Rise Up,” as I first mentioned in Issue #140) and become stronger.

🎉 I believe and hope that The WP Community Collective will be a positive element in the year ahead and beyond for WordPress (and open source).

💡 I would love to hear your thoughts, friend, reply to this email and let me know.

Sponsorship Opportunities

🚨 The Google Doc contains all the details if you’re interested in sponsoring the Loop WP Newsletter.

Weekly WordPress News, Tips & Black Friday Deals

This week's excellent and insightful WordPress News & Tips:

• Acquisition - Joost de Valk and Marieke van de Rakt Announce Nonprofit Plans After Acquiring Post Status” (The Repository)

• Accessibility - New Accessibility Regulations Coming for WordPress & AI ft. Gen Herres. (Brian Coords)

• Voice AI - James LePage demos building an e-commerce WordPress site with only my voice and AI. (Automattic)

• WooCommerce 9.6 - Fresh new tools and modernizing classics. (WooCommerce)

• New Launch - Everything you need to build an E-Commerce Store with WooCommerce and Breakdance—even as a complete beginner. (Woohoo)

• Goodbye, Calypso - A new/”old” look. An Update to WordPress.com’s Interface. (WordPress.com)

• Beauty vs Utility - Tammie Lister on Modern Theme Development and Artistic Exploration. (WP Tavern)

• Beau Lebens - Stepping in to lead Woo: My vision for the future. (WooCommerce)

• Experimental - Components, available as an experimental feature since Bricks 1.12, let you create reusable elements. (Bricks)

• Standards? - A few meandering thoughts on WordPress block themes inspired by the interesting conversation between Brian Gardner and Kevin Geary. (Mike McAlister)

• NEW! Plugin Pal - AI Plugin Generator for WordPress Professionals. (Robert DeVore)

• Webinar - Broken Links challenge with Taco Verdonschot and Jono Alderson. (Progress Planner)

• Webmasters.FM - How GenerateBlocks Adds Modern Design Tools to Gutenberg. (Brian Coords)

• Tutorials - I built an app with AI, now I'm scared for WordPress... (The WP Minute)

If you have a question about this email or WordPress, reply, and I will answer you as soon as possible.

👋 Until next time,