This program model was first introduced with the CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. AI Team. Building on that experience, I’d like to expand it into an experiment with the launch of the Core Program Team. Tammie Lister has agreed to help as the first team representative.
The goal of this team is to strengthen coordination across Core, improve efficiency, and make contribution easier. It will focus on documenting practices, surfacing roadmaps, and supporting new teams with clear processes.
The Core Program Team will not set product direction. Each Core team remains autonomous. The Program Team’s role is to listen, connect, and reduce friction so contributors can collaborate more smoothly.
In April, @matt wrote about reflection; how, after twenty years, WordPress is still growing, not just in code and contributors, but in responsibility. The Jubilee post invited us to pause and ask what kind of project we want to be for the next twenty.
One piece of that reflection was a review of accounts that had previously been banned from participating in our community spaces, including WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe 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/ and SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/.. This review wasn’t done in isolation. It took collaboration across community teams and a shared commitment to fairness.
Any community as large and global as WordPress will at times feel the tension between openness and accountability. Processes don’t always hold up. Intentions don’t always translate into outcomes. And sometimes, we just get it wrong.
This review wasn’t about undoing everything. It was about restoring trust. Trust in the systems we use to moderate, and trust in the people behind them. Each account was considered in context and with care.
Most were reinstated. And a small number remain blocked, in cases where there were credible threats, harassment, or other actions that compromised the safety of others. In those moments, we choose safety. That’s not always the easiest choice, but it’s the right one.
What’s next
With this review now complete, I’d like to shift focus toward improving how we handle these situations going forward. That includes being more transparent when actions are taken, creating clear and consistent paths for appeal, and documenting decisions in ways that are easier to understand and easier to trust.
It might also be time to take a closer look at how responsibilities move through the project. In areas like moderation and community safety, is it time to establish clearer rotations? Rotating roles can help us avoid centralizing too much authority in any one place, and it guards against the single points of failure that open sourceOpen SourceOpen Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. and communities should always aim to minimize. It’s a principle we trust in architecture. It applies equally to people and processes.
Bans and blocks aren’t a sign of failure. They’re part of maintaining a healthy space. But growth means we keep looking at how we apply them with care, with humility, and with a willingness to evolve.
If we continue to center empathy, transparency, and the shared goal of making WordPress better for everyone, we won’t just be stronger. We’ll be ready for whatever comes next.
In an ongoing effort to foster a healthy and inclusive community, we are conducting a thorough review of blocked community members, prioritizing individuals who were blocked between August 2024 and the present date without communication or notification. This initiative spans both the WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe 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/ and SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. platforms and aims to identify accounts that can be unblocked and reinstated, allowing those members to re-engage with the community.
Unblocking Criteria and Process
The decision to unblock an account will be based on a thorough evaluation of the actions that led to the initial blockBlockBlock is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience.. While some blocks were justified and will be upheld, we acknowledge that mistakes may have occurred, and some members may have been unfairly blocked. Our aim is to correct any past errors and provide a clear path for those members to re-engage with the community. We believe that by working together and fostering open communication, we can move forward and build a stronger, more inclusive community for everyone.
Factors Considered During Review
Severity of the Infraction: The nature and severity of the situation that led to the block will be a primary consideration.
Time Elapsed: The length of time since the block and any subsequent behavior of the individual will be taken into account.
Agreement to Adhere to Community Guidelines: The individual has expressed a commitment to follow the community code of conduct and forum rules.
Community Impact: The potential impact of unblocking on the overall community health and well-being will be considered.
Timeline and Communication
We understand that this process may take some time due to the number of accounts under review and the need for a thorough evaluation of each case. Please note that we are prioritizing those who were banned without notice or communication, and spammers will not be notified.
We are committed to providing regular updates on the progress of this initiative and will communicate any significant developments to the community in a timely manner.
Commitment to a Healthy and Inclusive Community
This unblocking initiative reflects our commitment to fostering a welcoming, inclusive, and respectful community where all members feel valued and supported. While maintaining the health and integrity of our community is paramount, we also believe in providing opportunities for individuals to learn, grow, and contribute positively. This initiative is a step towards achieving that balance, and we are hopeful that it will contribute to a stronger and more vibrant community for all.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this process.
There have been a few questions around our decision regarding the WordPress Release cadence, which I’m glad to address. After years of releasing WordPress three times a year, and a recent discussion with Core committers, we’re making a change — for now.
Starting in 2025, WordPress will move to a single major releaseMajor ReleaseA set of releases or versions having the same major version number may be collectively referred to as “X.Y” -- for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, and all other versions in the 5.2. (five dot two dot) branch of that software. Major Releases often are the introduction of new major features and functionality. per year, with WordPress 6.8 “Cecil” marking the final major release for the calendar year. From there, the next major release will land in 2026, and we’ll continue on that annual cycle for the time being.
This decision reflects current realities — particularly the energy and resources being diverted due to ongoing legal matters. If those lawsuits are dropped or resolved, we’ll revisit this cadence and strongly consider returning to a three-releases-per-year schedule. That remains the ideal for a fast-moving, community-driven project like WordPress.
In the meantime, the annual cycle gives us the space to focus on essential work that often gets sidelined:
Reducing technical debt and long-standing bugs
Improving performance across coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.
Supporting noncommercial community plugins
Investing in design, testing, and the broader contributor experience
We’ll continue to issue minor releases as needed for maintenance and security, and we’re introducing quarterly core committer town halls to strengthen collaboration and alignment across teams.
Looking ahead, this cadence puts WordPress 7.0 on track for 2027 — and with the additional time, we’re aiming for more than just a version number. 7.0 will be a milestone: a thoughtful, intentional release that reflects how far the platform has come and the kind of future we’re building toward.
After careful evaluation and considering the evolving needs of our community, we have decided to shut down the community.wordpress.org Matrix server on January 31, 2025.
With the integration of Single Sign-On (SSO) using WordPress.org accounts on SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/., one of the primary advantages of the Matrix solution—simplified onboarding for new contributors—has been effectively addressed. Additionally, with very low usage and no significant demand for Matrix services, maintaining the server is no longer the best use of our resources.
The links to the team chat pages from the Make homepage have already been removed, and we’ll remove the individual chat pages when the server has shut down.
I’m thrilled to share my first post here on Make WordPress! As the new Director of the WordPress Project, I’m excited to contribute to the ongoing work that shapes WordPress for millions worldwide. I also recognize the challenges ahead and the large shoes I’m stepping into.
Over the last two weeks, I’ve had the privilege of engaging in discussions with a variety of folks from across the community, hearing valuable ideas and some concerns. These conversations have provided great insights, and I’m eager to start diving deeper into the work ahead.
To foster continued open dialogue and collaboration, especially as I ramp up, I’ve scheduled office hours with Matt and myself. This will be a space to connect, share thoughts, and ask questions.
This will be an evolving format, especially to allow for different timezones, and of course I’m open to feedback—looking forward to continuing the conversation!
YouTube has become an essential platform for sharing complex ideas with a diverse audience, and our WordPress YouTube channel is no exception. Since 2023, we’ve experienced a 6x increase in monthly views and engagement, driven by the growing availability of WordPress content. Since October 2022, when WPTV content began syncing automatically with YouTube, to the design iterations in 2023 and our participation in the Nonprofit YouTube Partner Program—removing ads from our videos—our channel has become a trusted source of information and inspiration.
In keeping with our commitment to meeting the needs of both current and future users, I’m excited to announce that Jamie Marsland will be taking on the management of the WordPress YouTube channel. Jamie’s extensive experience in the WordPress community and his passion for empowering creators through this medium makes him the ideal person to lead our efforts in expanding and enhancing our YouTube presence.
With over a decade of experience working with WordPress and training others, Jamie brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to this role. He will oversee the creation of high-quality content, ensuring our channel remains a valuable resource and a source of inspiration for WordPress enthusiasts worldwide while inspiring and empowering other open sourceOpen SourceOpen Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. content creators to further the movement.
For those attending WordCamp US, say hello to Jamie in person! And for everyone else, please join me in welcoming him to this new role as we embark on an exciting new chapter for WordPress on YouTube.
The WordPress community has long advocated for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) training. Over the years, teams have explored various avenues, usually engaging diversity consultants. While this has been a valuable experience, extending such training to our vast and diverse community has been challenging, given our global community and the many timezones we cover.
Today, I am excited to share that Automattic has added 100 licenses to their Paradigm Reach account for WordPress community members. While this isn’t a full solution, I am optimistic that it is a step in the right direction. Paradigm Reach offers a comprehensive suite of online coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. workshops, microlearnings, and resources created by professional experts from around the world. Their platform allows for customization of learning content for users.
Some recognized limitations and future hopes
In reviewing Paradigm Reach, there are a few limitations I’d like to note. Firstly, only 100 licenses are available. However, the licenses can be reassigned, meaning that when a contributor completes assigned courses, their access can be removed and granted to another contributor. Second, because the usual audience for Paradigm Reach tends to be businesses and employers, some of the examples used are in a more corporate or work setting. However, the content itself is still valuable and principles can be applied to collaboration and engagement in the WordPress community. Lastly, the content is in English, and there are no translations of the material.
While these limitations are very real, I still believe there is a net positive in introducing Paradigm Reach and that it will help the WordPress community get to a more conscientious and equitable future state. My hope is that through this initial online training, enough community members around the world are able to participate in high quality and consistent DEIB training, and begin to build shared language and understanding around DEIB. Then, a working group of members who have participated in this training can leverage what they have learned to create online DEIB training specifically for the WordPress contributor community, which can be translated and made available at any time, to any one.
Some more immediate next steps
For starters, it makes sense to try out two courses, an “Intro to DEIB” and an “Advanced DEIB” course. Because the licenses are limited, I’d like to invite the following contributor groups to try out this async training:
Contributors who mentor or guide other contributors, like mentors for the Contributor Mentorship Program
Contributors who handle sensitive mediation work, like Incident Response Team (IRT) Members (all IRT members are required to complete DEIB training)
Contributors who communicate with large, international audiences, like Flagship event organizers
Contributors who want to provide DEIB training to others, like DEIB working group leaders
Contributors who have never experienced DEIB training previously
While the content should take no more than 3 hours to complete, participants will be given 8 weeks to finish assigned courses. Participants will also be asked to provide feedback on the content and recommendations for improvement. If you are interested in taking online DEIB training through Paradigm Reach, please fill out this form. Have questions or comments? Leave those in the comments below!
WordCamp Asia 2024 took place from March 7 to 9 in the vibrant city of Taipei, Taiwan. Over 1,300 attendees came together for three days of collaborating, learning, and community-building to celebrate connection and innovation in the WordPress project.
Matt Mullenweg answers questions from a live audience at WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. Asia 2024.
There’s no more passionate community than WordPress, and with that comes an abundance of insightful questions. As with past events, this post gathers questions that Matt was unable to answer live—with answers from WordPress leadership and contributors.
Q. In what ways do you believe we can make the open sourceOpen SourceOpen Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. model of WordPress more sustainable for times to come?
By continuing to build, iterate, and innovate with WordPress. There’s high-impact, exciting work happening across the project to transform the WordPress experience and how users approach creating on the web. You can find it in projects like the Admin redesign or other elements of Phase 3 in the product roadmap, which focuses on collaboration and workflows.
By unlocking the web and making data as readily and easily portable as possible. The Data Liberation initiative, which Matt introduced at State of the Word 2023, is focused on creating one-click import and migrationMigrationMoving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies. tools for anyone to move to (or from) WordPress. Data Liberation is an ecosystem-wide effort that can bring more people to WordPress and the values driving open source software.
Finally, by growing the community and welcoming more perspectives. WordPress events and meetups have always been an essential part of the project. They’re evolving to better serve the needs of attendees, including events with more specific programming or themes, offering niche experiences within the broader community where attendees can learn and connect on a deeper level.
Q. How can we leverage a wave of generative AI to make WordPress better?
Matt’s discussed a number of ways generative AI can help improve WordPress and everyday life. Matt stands by his recommendation to learn AI deeply, whether it’s for building smarter plugins, experimenting with new content, or finding and fixing bugs faster.
Q. How can we better support working mothers [and all parents] in organizing events?
Organizing teams can take steps to support working parents by offering flexibility and creating environments that allow them to prioritize their lives and families. Simple actions include promoting asynchronous collaboration, having flexible meeting times, and recording meetings to allow parents to participate independently.
Employers can also support organizers and employees by sponsoring their work through Five for the Future. This can provide needed financial resources and time to contribute to the WordPress community, and is a great way to support the future success of WordPress events.
If you have other suggestions or ideas for supporting working parents in organizing events, please join the Community Team and share your thoughts.
Q. The Annual Survey saw a drop in contributor satisfaction and competitiveness, what steps are being taken to reverse this trend?
Along with continuing to encourage a culture of recognition within the WordPress project, there are a number of active programs and initiatives dedicated to evolving the contributor experience. These include the Contributor Mentorship Program, which provides mentorship and guidance to new contributors, and Five for the Future, which welcomes companies that offer sponsorship for contributions.
If you’re interested in improving the contributor experience, you’re invited to join the Contributor Working Group meetings to share your ideas.
Q. How does the WordPress team prioritize which new features or improvements to work on?
As an open source project, WordPress welcomes anyone to submit a Trac patch or GitHub pull request to add new features. Features that align closely with the vision and product roadmap established by project leadership have a stronger chance of being reviewed and merged sooner. If you have an idea for a new feature or improvement, being familiar with the roadmap is a helpful first step.
Q. Are there any plans for establishing proper product marketing for WordPress itself?
There are a few existing initiatives in the project that are helping transform how WordPress is positioned in the market. The ongoing website redesign for WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe 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/, along with the launch of the new Showcase, are a couple of ways the community is able to take on these kinds of challenges organically. The Developer Blog is another example, reaching a more targeted audience with product-related developer-focused content, published by our own talented contributors.
If you’d like to join these efforts, or pitch new ones, join the community of contributors making WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/chat/.
Q. Can we finally curate the dotorg theme directory?
The beautiful thing about the WordPress project is that opportunities for change are ready when you are. If you’re passionate about themes or have ideas about the organization of the Theme Directory, you’re invited to get involved with the Themes Team.
Do you have a question? Comment below, and join one of the many teams making WordPress for answers.
It’s been exciting to see how this community of contributors has come together in the past year to rebuild so much of what we lost in the wake of covid. It has not been an easy journey, but it has certainly been rewarding. With this renewed foundation, I invite you all to join me in focusing our energy on engaging and attracting users of closed-source products.
A Quick Caveat
There are always unexpected projects that arise over the course of the year. And there are big projects to move forward over multiple years. This project is too big for me to see everything all the time, and I rely on the information from team reps and the vision from both Matt as project lead and Matías as technical architect to help navigate any surprises.
Keep in mind that even if a project isn’t listed here, many unmentioned ones still contribute significantly to the overall success of our work.
The Top Focuses
Projects
There are three focuses for our projects this year:
CMS: Test, iterate, and ship Phase 3 of the GutenbergGutenbergThe Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ project
Community: Continue to support the community through learning, events, and mentorship of current and future contributors
Ecosystem: Address the difficulty in moving platforms through the Data Liberation project as well as streamline existing review processes across repositories
Obstacles
Growth: Our new installations are stagnant year over year. The time to encourage the use of open sourceOpen SourceOpen Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. software solutions like WordPress is now. Our project is pro-business and pro-commerce, and we’re committed to aiding in our users’ success by providing access and opportunities to those who might not have them otherwise.
Differentiation: Our event series needs to grow past a “one size fits all” strategy. With more advanced topics and more focused events, we can meet our community where it is—in a moment where time is valuable and joining an event should clearly help them reach their goals.
I believe that the WordPress software, ecosystem, and project can be the open source alternative of choice to any proprietary system you need to get your business going. And I need your help to get us there.
How Can You Help?
Code isn’t the only indicator of our achievement. If you already know what type of contribution you’d like to make, you can check out this list of teams (with links to their community sites) and team reps. If you’re not yet sure, here are a few teams and the areas they fall into:
Development, Technology, Code: CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress./Editor, Mobile, CLICLICommand Line Interface. Terminal (Bash) in Mac, Command Prompt in Windows, or WP-CLI for WordPress./Tide, Security, Performance
Design, Product, UXUXUX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it./UIUIUI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing.: Design, AccessibilityAccessibilityAccessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility), Test, Triage
Community, Extending WP, Education: Community, Themes, Plugins, Polyglots, Training
Contributor Experience: MetaMetaMeta 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., Docs, Hosting, Privacy
