Author Archives: Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 5:41 pm on November 13, 2014  

T-Shirt Ideas

The docs team has a t-shirt. Why don’t we? Because we’re incredibly lazy.

I want to preface this with a reminder: This does not mean we will actually get the shirts. This is an idea, and eventually we’ll need to ask people like @andreamiddleton or @camikaos if we can do this at all.

Proposed Text

“You look like a WordPresser that supports 23% of the Internet. – #tyrell14”

There’s a story there, but if you were at #wcsf you probably heard it. Suffice to say, Tyrell became our meme in a surprisingly safe for work way.

Proposed Graphic

Much to @macmanx‘s disappointment, we can’t use an animated GIF. The rest of us sigh in relief.

I also can’t draw. Or design like that.

Suggestions Welcome!

I know the text is a little WCSF centric, but this shirt will be for the folks who were, y’know, at WCSF this year (if possible).

Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 4:57 pm on August 28, 2014  

Draft OMGWTFBBQ for 4.0

This post is the official DRAFT post.

I’ve slapped up a template for us to use going forward, but here are the sections, after the break.

Leave comments for corrections or (if you’re an editor) just edit this post. It’s okay, my feelers won’t be bent out of shape 🙂

Continue reading →

Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 4:09 pm on August 19, 2014  

OMG WTF BBQ Post!

So 4.0 man. What do WE see as the features that will cause the biggest issues?

  • Media Library Grid – Any pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party that adds features to the media library may need serious work.
  • Post Editor – The editor staying on the screen is not a bug 🙂
  • Post Editor/TinyMCE – The color picker’s coming back!

What do you guys see as catching people’s adverse attention? Themes and plugins you know are broken?

Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 6:33 pm on May 20, 2014  

Comments are now disabled on the User Manual

Since people keep posting rants and requests for support there, I’ve just turned the comments off.

They were MEANT for non-editors to submit corrections and edits. I know this means people can’t easily report things that are wrong, but that’s okay. This was meant to be a temporary home anyway. We’ll just end up taking this, porting it to the new docs setup (whenever that’s ready) and edit from there.

Thank you everyone who helped make them!

Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 5:59 pm on March 27, 2014
Tags: , ,   

Discussion: A Better Do and Don’t List

The following are cribbed from another site’s Dos and Don’ts. They should not be considered the be all and end all of guidelines, but they’re a good start. I’m thinking that perhaps a simplified ‘dos and dont’s’ list may help some people who see our massive list of guidelines and panic.

This list is not perfect and I want your help

Please suggest changes and improvements. I don’t want to make it much longer, so if we can consolidate and combine, that would be good. There’s no point in even trying to get through everything, so really I’m trying to spell out the basics of etiquette on the forums.

Good Manners and Respect Dos and Don’ts

  • DON’T use “um,” be snotty to another user, or make the argument personal
  • DO know the difference between differences of opinion and personal attacks
  • DO treat others the way you want to be treated
  • DON’T present your opinions as facts
  • DON’T post the same opinion over and over in the hopes of wearing other people down or “winning” a discussion; just move on
  • DON’T be a gosh-darn dirty spammer
  • DON’T be vulgar; if you’re not sure, don’t say it

Starting New Threads Dos and Don’ts

  • DO search for existing topics before starting new threads
  • DO make a new topic if you find yourself saying “I have the same problem but …”
  • DO link back to a related topic (or closed) when approriate
  • DON’T use all-caps or excessive punctuation in thread titles
  • DON’T treat the support forums as your personal blog
  • DON’T get all metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. and use the forums to rant about the forums

Posting Messages Dos and Don’ts

  • DON’T post in a thread until you’ve read the whole thread
  • DON’T post “Me Too!” messages; add something of substance to the conversation
  • DON’T sign your posts
  • DO use proper spelling, capitalization, punctuation, et cetera
  • DON’T post just to pimp your site or product, et cetera
  • DON’T post the same thing in multiple areas; pick a spot and go with it

Warnings, Bans and Trolls Dos and Don’ts

  • DO take any mod warnings you get seriously
  • DON’T bug the mods to remove moderation on your posts
  • DO help us out and report trolls, flame wars, and troublemakers by tagging a post with “modlook”
  • DON’T abuse the modlook tag

#forums, #guidelines, #support

Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 11:07 pm on December 18, 2013  

Trac Tickets for 3.8 (AKA: Support Works Backwards)

I made a ticket for a weird caching issue: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/26676

I think the ONLY other one that’s jumping out now is the plugins page is blank. If you’ve managed to solve that one (all I can see is ‘host fixed it!’), reply here. This is probably related to @andrea_r‘s comment: https://make.wordpress.org/support/2013/12/wherefore-the-wtfbbq-post/#comment-157012

Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 7:46 pm on December 17, 2013  

Wherefore the WTFBBQ Post?

I made a conscious decision not to make one for 3.8. Not because I think the release was perfect, but because there wasn’t enough to make a post. There barely was last time. As long as we here are prepared.

https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/forum-moderator/stock-answers/ has the stock replies, so I think… for the most part we;re going to be alright 🙂

Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 5:26 pm on October 17, 2013
Tags:   

Lets Get Ready for 3.7!

Normally I do an OMGWTFBBQ post. Here’s everything in my current draft, ready for editing by everyone!

The first section is ‘Stuff we, as mods, should be aware of.’ The second is the post itself 🙂

Major changes

Auto Upgrader
* How to disable
* In order for Automatic Updates to be enabled, there are a few simple requirements:
* If the install uses FTPFTP FTP is an acronym for File Transfer Protocol which is a way of moving computer files from one computer to another via the Internet. You can use software, known as a FTP client, to upload files to a server for a WordPress website. https://codex.wordpress.org/FTP_Clients. for updates (and prompts for credentials), automatic updates are disabled
* If the install is running as a SVNSVN Apache Subversion (often abbreviated SVN, after its command name svn) is a software versioning and revision control system. Software developers use Subversion to maintain current and historical versions of files such as source code, web pages, and documentation. Its goal is to be a mostly compatible successor to the widely used Concurrent Versions System (CVS). WordPress core and the wordpress.org released code are all centrally managed through SVN. https://subversion.apache.org/. or GITGit Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. Git is easy to learn and has a tiny footprint with lightning fast performance. Most modern plugin and theme development is being done with this version control system. https://git-scm.com/. checkout, automatic updates are disabled
* If the constants DISALLOW_FILE_MODS or AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED are defined, automatic updates are disabled
* If the constant WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE is defined as false, automatic updates are disabled
* Your WordPress install also needs to be able to contact WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ over HTTPSHTTPS HTTPS is an acronym for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure. HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP, the protocol over which data is sent between your browser and the website that you are connected to. The 'S' at the end of HTTPS stands for 'Secure'. It means all communications between your browser and the website are encrypted. This is especially helpful for protecting sensitive data like banking information. connections, so your PHPPHP PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. http://php.net/manual/en/intro-whatis.php. install also needs OpenSSL installed and working
* Wp-Cron needs to be operational, if for some reason cron fails to work for your install, Automatic Updates will also be unavailable
* What gets updated?
* What changed. ONLY changed files!
* Only for minor releases (3.7 to 3.7.1 but NOT 3.7.1 to 3.8)

Less Major Changes

  • Better search results
  • Password meter
  • Visual editor (TinyMCE) updated for Internet Explorer compatibility

Under the Hood

  • New dev tools
  • New author queries
  • MultisiteMultisite Multisite is a WordPress feature which allows users to create a network of sites on a single WordPress installation. Available since WordPress version 3.0, Multisite is a continuation of WPMU or WordPress Multiuser project. WordPress MultiUser project was discontinued and its features were included into WordPress core.https://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network. finally has a way to get an array of all sites on the network
  • Better inline documentation
  • Better date sorting in the posts page

For the post…. Continue reading →

#omgwtfbbq

Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 5:30 pm on August 29, 2013  

Meetup Roundup – Aug 29

New Rep

When @jdembowski gets back from his Griswald European Vacation, I’ll catch him up and hand over.

Handling Commercial Products

The ‘official’ stance is this: It’s best to go to where the theme/pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party is officially supported when trying to get support.

This means, if someone chooses to help you with a CSSCSS CSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site. question, that’s on them, unless the product is violating the GPLGPL GPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing https://wordpress.org/about/license/. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples.. Then it’s messy and ugly, and we really should not mess with it. But we, as members of the community in general, no matter our role, need to remember not to assume the worst of people, and be helpful, even when saying no.

If you want some boilerplate reply, the .wetry reply on IRC comes up with this:

We try our best to help everyone with any WordPress problem. However, due to the great variety of existing themes and plugins it is nearly impossible to know everything. Your best chance is to contact the developer for support.

IRC ‘Rockstar’ Clarification

There was a little confusion about the IRC Rockstar thing last week, so I wanted to go over it for (hopefully) clarification. The people who were nominated are not automatically becoming OPs on #wordpress. What they are, are identified people who are willing to help keep make/support updated with #wordpress issues and concerns. OPs has been split out to a separate concern cause everyone gets a little twitchy when we talk about giving people that much power. My personal critera would be someone who is active in IRC, but also other WordPress areas (like comes to some of the other meetups, contributes in tracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. with comments and/or code, etc).

There’s no real limit to the list of rockstars, though 🙂

@peterbooker and @fris – If you’re interested in this, the ‘job’ currently comes with author role on this blog, so you can post issues/concerns, and if possible attend our IRC chats. Reply to this post and let me know. A ‘no’ answer is totally okay too!

Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 3:34 pm on August 23, 2013  

Support & Docs Team

Please read @siobhan‘s post at make/docs concerning the Docs and Support Teams

The tl;dr is this:

Therefore we propose the following:

  • Docs and Support remain separate teams each with their own P2P2 P2 or O2 is the term people use to refer to the Make WordPress blog. It can be found at https://make.wordpress.org/. and rep
  • we expect that there will be some crossover
  • until it becomes impracticable, we’ll keep our chat at the same time, Thursday 16:00 UTC . This will allow any crossover to take place.

I expect there will remain a LOT of crossover.