Monthly Archives: March 2026

Kel Santiago-Pilarski 9:08 am on March 4, 2026  

The Contributor Dashboard Pilot is Live: What’s Next?

Building on the initial project thread, the Contributor Dashboard pilot is now live, marking an important step toward creating a clearer view of how contributors join, participate, and grow across the WordPress project.

This post outlines proposed features for the next phase of the Contributor Dashboard pilot. We’re sharing these ideas early to gather feedback from the community before implementation begins.

Current Status

The pilot dashboard is finally ready: https://wpcontributordashboard.org/

The coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. functionality is in place:

  • Three-tier data architecture (Events → Profiles → Dashboard)
  • Contributor Ladder framework
  • Activity status tracking (active/warning/inactive)
  • CSV import system for contributor activity data

Development is happening in the public GitHub repository.
View the dashboard demo video here.

Contributors from multiple Make teams are developing the Contributor Dashboard pilot. Project collaborators include @felipevelzani, @unintended8, @francescodicandia, @dd32 and @kel-dc

Proposed Features

We’re proposing two features for the next phase. Feedback is welcome on both.

1. Team-Managed Personas

Each Make team can create its own contributor personas, with custom ladders and requirements that reflect how that team actually works.

Different teams contribute in different ways, one ladder doesn’t fit all. Team reps can define and manage these personas, and contributors can appear on multiple ladders based on their activity across teams.

Example use cases:

  • Polyglots can create language-specific personas for translation contributors.
  • Community can create personas for WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. or MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. organizers.
  • Support can separate forum contributors from those seeking help.

2. Automated Engagement

Automatically recognize contributors when they reach key milestones.

Timely recognition improves retention and reinforces meaningful participation. When someone makes their first contribution, reaches a new ladder step, or stays consistently active, the system can trigger messages, props, or even swag (stickers, etc) from The Mercantile.

Recognition becomes built-in, not manual.

Feedback Requested

We’d love to hear your thoughts on these proposals. If we had to start with one of these two, which would provide the most value? Are any other things not considered that you think should be implemented and/or could bring a lot of value?

The overall goal is to create an engine focused on improving the contributor experience overall.

Please share any feedback by March 17, 2026. We plan to start implementing the new phase by this date.

Get Involved

If you’re interested in contributing to these features: