Mark Jaquith 10:34 pm on October 29, 2012  

Summary of Afternoon Discussions

John James Jacoby: WordCamp.org

Action item: Open sourceOpen Source Open 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. the base theme, and then plugins that we use so people can contribute to them

  • Talked about pain points that organizers have for using WordCamp.org

Andy Stratton: Commercial Plugins and Quality Control

Action item: Should push people in support forums to the right place

  • Kill switches?

Brian Layman: How can developers with small plugins make money and be legit?

Action item: Show top downloaded, recently added (6mo?) plugins on the 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. repo to promote new authors

  • Plugin stores often do allow 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. plugins
  • Many reasons why it might be better to release it on your own: customers are your customers not theirs.
  • Freemium is a workable model but donation really is not
  • Should approach established plugin companies establish a relationship and see if they want to publish your plugin.

Cristi Burcă (Scribu): Future of 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. Advanced Administration Handbook -> Create A Network.

Action item: wp-signup.php converted to theme templates, domain mapping in coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.

  • There are two main use cases: untrusted users, groups of sites
  • Focused mainly on the second use case
  • Hard to share data between sites (though switch_to_blog() is faster now)
  • Long term goal: better support for multiple networks
  • Should set up a team for handling multisite tickets in TracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/.

Tom Wilmot: How WP Businesses can Give Back

Action item: Mailing list for agencies to combine resources on contributing

  • Many businesses want to give back
  • Agencies might be good at tack

Mike Adams: JS

Action item: Blog more on make/core under JS tag

  • Why are people less proficient in JS
  • Codex and handbook improvements
  • More unit tests

Daryl Koopersmith: CustomizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. future

Action item: roadmap for core to allow for those other use cases, and have theme review team recommend using the customizer in core

  • Not just in theme switching but outside that
  • Post preview, site creation, onboarding

Michael Fields: Pain when theme switching

Action item: Push findings to community and make plugin to bulk associated featured images to post, and core fix for widgets

  • Widgets get lost
  • Featured images might be required but missing

Mitcho: Plugin performance and security

Action item: Individual plugin reviews on 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/, and Example of a bad plugin, checking of syntax errors pre commit

  • We really need three approaches: education, reviews, automation
  • Capture the flag competition?

Simon Wheatley: Abandoned plugins

Action item: Discuss and define policy for taking over a plugin by another author

  • Difficulty of reaching plugin authors
  • Forking plugins
  • Merging patches
  • Support levels for plugins? Bug, product, user queries?
  • Advertise plugins for adoption
  • Recognize a plugin as a fork

Sara Cannon: WordPress and Women

Action item: Positive code of conduct, encourage women to speak at local meetups

  • General tech problem, not just WP
  • WP Community better than most communities
  • Still want to have a positive code of conduct

Aaron Jorbin: Meetups

Action item: 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 made authors on make/events

  • Could share remote programming
  • What programs work and which don’t?
  • Sustaining membership

Peter Chester: Updates

Action item: differentiate between security, major, minor releases

  • Opt in vs opt out
  • Plugin or theme upgrades
  • Security vs major vs minor
  • Ability to do rollback painlessly
  • APIs to trigger an upgrade
  • Plugins reverted when WSOD on upgrade
  • File verification
  • Data migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies.
  • Plugins specify major/minor
  • More information on make/core — point by point plan
Mark Jaquith 4:44 pm on October 29, 2012  

Summary of Morning Discussions

Notes by Mark Jaquith and Brian Layman

Aaron Jorbin: AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (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)

Action Item:make 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//accessibility which will talk about successes we’re having and ways people can get involved

  • Also talked about increasing involvement of accessibility experts and ease of testing of patches.
  • Need for default themes to be good examples of accessibility.
  • 2013 should have the #1 goal of accessibility.

Helen Hou-Sandi: UIUI UI 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. CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. in WP Action Item:Review the draft handboook on UI processes, decisions, philosophies and publish it.

  • Talked about communication and how to be collaborative in the development process
  • With a large pool of developers already, how to we attract and retain designers contributors?
  • Discussed pain points & doing weekly summaries on the UI blog.
  • In the 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 posts they will summarize meeting notes but will also present advancements and news and links from around the web for discussion.

Chip Bennett: Theme review team

Action Item:Better document the workflow for theme review to make that process more transparent and consistent.

  • talked about workflow, consistency, timelines

Siobhan McKeown: Improving Handbooks

Action Item:Recent rockstars will be immediately to include non-coders

  • A standard format should exist for the handbooks
  • WordPress.org profiles need to be updated to include many more areas of contribution

Ben Metcalf: Managed WP Hosts

Action Item: Formalize methods of communication between the core teams about problem plugins.

  • The lists of problem plugins that each host has should be communicated with core
  • A standardized definition of “Managed WordPress Hosting” is perhaps needed as it means different things.
  • Discussed WordPress.org/hosting

Mitcho: Making WP global

Action Item:make./global Site with a forum, and

  • Discussed where the international conversations occurs
  • Profiles should list the languages in which people work with

Nacin: i18n improvements

Action Item:Theme updates destroy translation files. This must fixed and a solution is currently under dev now.

  • Languages into core
  • Multibyte into core
  • Will be open sourcing Simon Wheatley’s multilingual WordPress code

Mitcho: Using WordPress as a framework

Action Item:Implement a stability index for our APIs like Node.js and create a development philosophy page on the codex.

  • What is the philosophy of dev in WP cycle & APIs: Should it be users first or devs first?
  • Core use cases or other use cases?
  • New things built into core should be built as a 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. and shipped as a plugin
  • ForWordPress, not BackPress

Peter Chester: Contributing to Core without it being a Full Time Job

Action Item:Put a headerHeader The header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes. on P2 themes telling you what to do to contribute to that area

  • Discussed how to not quit your day job and get business buy in to improving the core.
  • Licking a firehose is not a sustainable working model
  • Lots of mailing lists, lots of information. It is too much for a non dedicated dev to fully follow contribute effectively.
  • Could put together teams around components, modularize the communication
  • Core commits rely too much on serendipity. Hard to get a commit through without talking to the right people at the right time.
  • Should architect a workflow to increase efficiency.

Mike Schroeder: Improving Deployments on WordPress

Action Item: Create a codex page that lists the popular ways to deployDeploy Launching code from a local development environment to the production web server, so that it's available to visitors. and discusses options that are available

  • Two problems: users being able to easily test changes, and roll back. Devs being able to push from localdev to staging to deployment.
  • Files are mostly a solved problem. Talked about 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/ and WP Stack. Will partially solve the issue.
  • Content is the main issue at this point.
  • There are probably many solutions available that were not released to public and these should be discussed.

Andrea Rennick: WordPress CodexWordPress Codex Living online manual to WordPress.org https://codex.wordpress.org/

Action Item: A roadmap will be created, separating different use cases for the codex

  • Codex is a mess and a mix of perspectives
  • User, Dev and end user sections need to be seperated
  • No best practices page
  • Too much stuff is missing
  • We should focus on getting data up on the Codex
  • Relates to handbooks

Remkus DeVries: Transparency of the WordPress Foundation

Action Item:Publish make/events subcommittees list

  • The foundation revolves around 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.
  • Discussed WordCamps & Foundation
  • Talked a lot with Andrea about guidelines
  • Better ways to re-word guidelines that make them more clear and explain the reasons behind them
  • Talked about make.wordpress.org/events which started but did not get followed up on

Trent Lapinski: Theme Functionality vs Plugins

Action Item:Codex page for standards, containers for common functionality, better communication

  • Themes sometimes have functionality better suited for plugins

Isaac Keyet: Mobile Apps

Action Item:Make a page that describes the apps, their place in the ecosystem, and their goals (for potential contributors)

  • Different experience from the web
  • built on native device capabilities
  • Offline usage: easier in apps than on web
  • Better communication between APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. devs and mobile devs
  • Weekly chats happening now
  • Moving forums over to wp.org main site
  • Who owns mobile apps and develops them? WP.org? Automattic?
  • It’s okay for “third parties” to have specific functionality in the WP mobile apps.
  • Make it easier to fork the apps for specific hosts.

Alex Mills (Viper007Bond): Plugin dependencies

Action Item:continue the discussion (too long for session)

  • Themes and Plugins both need it

Jared Smith: 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.

Action Item:Improved resources around GPL topics

  • Split licenses were discussed
  • Talked about GPL distribution
  • Spirit of law vs letter
  • User interests vs dev
  • community vs commercial
  • uniform application of guidelines
  • IP protection, copyright, trademark, etc
  • Have businesses embrace the GPL
Ryan Duff 8:16 pm on October 29, 2012  

Tuesday BBQ

I will be hosting a BBQ event Tuesday evening at 62 Captains View. Food should be ready by 5-6pm hopefully. Pulled pork BBQ and rolls will be provided.

If you wish to participate, please leave a comment below so we know about how many to expect. Also, we’re in need of sides, etc… as well as plates, napkins, and plasticware. If you can help out and bring something please leave a comment below so that others know what items are covered. We can coordinate rides to the store if you need to run out and grab something or if you need a ride Tuesday evening.

Jane offered to donate a few cases of beer, but otherwise it’s BYOB.

Please come hang out, talk WordPress and enjoy some BBQ.

Jen 4:29 pm on October 24, 2012  

Lunch is on Dreamhost!

When you got your summit ticket, you were asked about dietary restrictions. For lunch on Monday, this is what we’ll have, served on the lawn at the venue:

  • BBQ Sandwiches (pork)
  • Baked Beans
  • Corn on the Cob
  • Tomato Dill Bisque (soup, vegan, gluten-free)
  • Greek Pasta Salad (will have some without pasta for the gluten-free folks)
  • Beer Bread
  • Cupcakes

I tried to cover all the requests from the registrations, but if you can’t eat anything on that list, please email me asap and let me know so we can work out some food for you.

Lunch on Monday is being covered by Dreamhost‘s OMGBBQ Awesome level sponsorship. Dreamhost provides WordPress web hosting and has been a consistent supporter of WordPress and WordPress events over the years. Two Dreamhost employees will be at the summit, Mike Schroder (aka DH-Shredder) from coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. and their recent hire Mika Epstein (aka Ipstenu) from the forums and 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. review team. Mika is pronounced Mee-kuh, not My-kuh. She will probably be wearing a hat. If you haven’t met Mike and Mika from Dreamhost before, be sure you get a chance to say hello!

Thanks, Dreamhost!

Jen 10:51 pm on October 28, 2012  

Tonight! 7pm!

HucaPoo’s at 7pm! We’ll have a dozen pizzas, and while we’re not covering the bar, their beers are cheap! Be there or be square. 🙂

Ryan Duff is doing some BBQ on Tuesday for anyone who is still around and interested. Contact him via twitter or leave a comment on this post.

Challenge! Mika Epstein (ipstenu) says she would change her gravatarGravatar Is an acronym for Globally Recognized Avatar. It is the avatar system managed by WordPress.com, and used within the WordPress software. https://gravatar.com if someone got a decent picture of her. See what you can do tomorrow, folks.

Yeah…. so, I didn’t finish the welcome packs (basically name badge, some post-its for proposing sessions, a welcome letter, etc). I have mostly been welcoming people in person, so I’ll just have the paper goods ready at the venue tomorrow morning (need to punch holes in the name badges tonight…. having the #fakekid take care of that while we are at HucaPoo’s). We’ll start at 8, but will be there at 7 to finish some last setting up, so feel free to come over early if you like. We’ll have coffee and mini muffins, but if you want an early breakfast, The Breakfast Club and the Sunrise are open by 7am.

See you all (again) soon!

Jen 8:49 am on October 22, 2012  

Summit Sponsor: Copyblogger Media

Copyblogger Media (StudioPress to the old schoolers) has long been a supporter of WordPress events. For the summit, they’re sponsoring at the First Patch level, and are sending Andrea Rennick and Ron Rennick to represent them at the event. Andrea and Ron have expertise in many areas of WordPress, but they are widely known as 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. Advanced Administration Handbook -> Create A Network. experts.

Andrea is also a team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. for the WordPress.org support contributor group (forums/docs), so we thank Copyblogger not only for their support of the event, but for helping Andrea be involved in this capacity.

Thanks for the support, guys!

Jen 6:47 pm on September 6, 2012  

Desperately Seeking Sponsors

I’ve always wanted to give this title* to a post announcing sponsorship opportunities. 🙂

In all seriousness, though we’re keeping things as low-cost as possible, putting on an event like the community summit for 100+ people requires money. Since we’re planning to subsidize travel for a number of volunteers and students from around the world who couldn’t otherwise attend, that bumps up the budget by a fair bit. If your company is doing well and you’re making a living at least in part thanks to WordPress, I hope you’ll consider becoming a sponsor for the event.

Sponsorships range from $500 – $10k+, whatever you can afford to contribute. This event sponsorship is really about supporting the project and the community; there aren’t graduated levels of exposure associated with each price level other than the label that will show up in the sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme.. Links to your site, logos in the program, and thanks at event will be given to all sponsors, regardless of dollar amount. Since this event is by invitation and has a set number of attendees, the different sponsorship levels are really about the desire and financial ability of your company to contribute to the summit, not about a marketing bang for your buck. When we’ve raised enough money to cover our costs, we’ll stop taking sponsorships. I’ll try to post a budget overview next week so it’s transparent how the money is being spent.

Check out the call for sponsors for more information and to sign on as a sponsor. Thanks!

*A riff on the movie title Desperately Seeking Susan.

Jen 4:16 pm on August 23, 2012  

Travel Scholarship Application

The scholarship program is intended to make it possible for WordPress community members to attend the summit conference; specifically, community members who have been invited but might not be able to attend for financial reasons. Scholarships may cover all or part of the conference registration fee, travel, and/or lodging. We can also assist in acquiring international visas.

Our scholarship selection team will be looking for applicants passionate about WordPress who would not be able to attend the event without financial assistance. Please indicate in the application the level of financial assistance you need, keeping in mind that we strive to accomodate the maximum number of scholarship applicants that our budget will allow. In other words, please only apply if you really can’t afford the trip, and ask for the amount you really need; don’t apply because you’d rather spend your money on video games and beer. 🙂

Application Deadline is August 30, 2012

Scholarship Evaluation Criteria

1. Only voluntary, non-profit work makes applicants eligible for a scholarship. Working on the WordPress project (coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., documentation, events, etc) as part of a paid job does NOT count. If you are paid to work on WordPress, we can provide a letter to help convince your company to send you to the summit.

2. Scholarships are both rewards and incentives. Applications will be ranked based on what they have done for WordPress in the past and based on how much their attendance at the summit will benefit them and the WordPress project.

Prior to submitting your scholarship application:
1. Please evaluate if you will really be able to attend the summit. If you decide you can’t attend after receiving a scholarship award (travel/hotel), you will not be eligible for a WordPress event scholarship in the future. We understand that situations may come up last minute, so please be considerate of other scholarship applicants and consider family and job obligations before applying.

2. It is your responsibility to research the visa requirements for your country. Please research obtaining a visa for your country prior to submitting your application, and let us know the anticipated wait time before you’ll hear back about a visa. The WordPress Foundation can provide an Invitation Letter if necessary, whether you are applying for a travel scholarship or not. If you receive a scholarship but are unable to attend the summit due to not obtaining a visa, you will not be eligible for a WordPress event scholarship in the future.

3. You must have a current passport *in your possession* with an expiration date no earlier than 3 months after the conference to apply.

Apply for a travel scholarship to the WordPress Community Summit

If you have a question regarding scholarships, please leave a comment on this post or contact Jane directly.

P.S. This post and form largely inspired and/or cribbed from Drupal’s DrupalCon scholarship program. Props, Drupal!

Jen 3:55 pm on August 7, 2012  

The WordPress Community Summit is a by invitation…

The WordPress Community Summit is a by-invitation conference being held at the end of October 2012. We’re still in the planning stages, and this site will grow in the coming weeks to include information for attendees as well as event sponsorships, agenda, possible livestreaming, etc. In the meantime, here’s an FAQ based on the tweets and emails coming my way in the past day.

How Did You Decide Who to Invite?

The contributor group team reps from coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., support (forums/docs), ui, theme review, 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. review, polyglots, and events formed the summit invite selection committee. A total of 18 people reviewed the list of potential invitees based on the nominations (both self and other) that we received from the original call for nominations. Some of the reviewers were familiar with many of the names submitted for consideration already, while others knew hardly any and had to go look people up online.

In voting on each name, we kept several things in mind:

  • Active contributions to the 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/ project
  • Influence/reach in the broader WordPress ecosystem (not necessarily within WordPress.org)
  • Area of expertise (wanted a good spread between core, themes, plugins, consultants)
  • Company (wanted to get multiple theme companies to the table vs having 5-10 people from 1)
  • Location (tried to get a decent international contingent so we wouldn’t be so US-focused)
  • Opposing Points of View (wanted to get people who typically take aim on Twitter talking to each other instead)

The selection committee members voted Yes, Maybe, No, or I don’t know this person (generally reserved for an unknown without enough of an online presence to form an opinion about their involvement). Anyone with more than 50% yesses and 0 “no” votes went on the invite list. Anyone who received “no” votes but still got more than 50% yesses/maybes was the subject of a discussion. Anyone who got less than 50% yes or maybe votes was reviewed, but not as much since by the time we finished the first two rounds we were having size issues already. Then we had to start cutting names, which sucked, because they were people we’d wanted to have there, but we were pretty far over our intended size already, even with the assumed 20% non-accept rate. So those people moved over to a Maybe list, and if we wind up with any room on the list later on we will reach out. Then we had Matt take a look to see if he thought we’d made any egregious omissions before sending invites (he didn’t think so).

What Did the Invites Say?

When it comes to WordPress, you’re kind of a big deal! We think so, anyway, and we’d like to invite you to participate in the community summit being planned for October 2012 by the WordPress.org contributor group team reps.

Who’ll Be There?
• Representatives from all the WordPress.org contributor groups: core development, forums/docs, theme review, plugin review, events, polyglots, accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (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), mobile apps, and any new contributor groups formed between now and then
• WordPress lead developers
• Co-founder and project leader Matt Mullenweg
• Other big deals from the community of WordPress makers: themers, plugin devs, consultants and agencies, hosting companies, translators, 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. and 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, etc.
• The event will be kept small to ensure that everyone can meet everyone else

What’s the Purpose of this Event?
• Build bridges between the people making WordPress (via the contributor groups) and the people doing the best and most influential work built on top of it
• Open channels of communication between project leaders, volunteers, and professionals in the community
• Learn more about each others’ goals, challenges, and ways we can help each other
• Share best practices
• Have a few drinks and get to know each other better 🙂

What’s the Format?
• Combination of flash talks, peer discussions, workshops, q&a, town hall, social time
• Agenda to be determined in part by the interests of the participants
• Since we’re trying to keep it small, hopefully we can livestream some portions to benefit your colleagues back home and the broader community

What Are the Logistics?
• Date: Monday, October 29, 2012
• Location: Tybee Island, GA
• Ticket Price: $100
• RSVP: By August 20 to reserve your spot
• Sponsorship Opportunities: Will be announced August 20
• Housing: Hotels, condos, and rental cottages are in walking distance and will have lodging discount codes
• The scheduled conference is one day long, but staying a day or two longer for hack days will be an option
• Some travel scholarships will be available

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” me on Skype.

You can RSVP yes, no, or maybe at [rsvp-poll-link]. We would love for you to be a part of the group, so hopefully you’ll RSVP yes and we’ll be in touch with more details soon!

Thanks for all you do for the WordPress community,

Jane

So Who Was Invited?

Had planned to focus more on who was participating after getting the RSVPs, but since there seems to be a lot of interest in knowing who was invited, here’s the list:

Aaron Brazell
Aaron Campbell (team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts.)
Aaron Jorbin
Adii Pienaar
Aleksandr Stankevic
Alex Concha
Alex King
Alex Mills
Alex Rabe – NextGen Gallery
Amy Hendrix
Andrea Middleton (team rep)
Andrea Rennick (team rep)
Andrey Savchenko (rarst on wpse)
Andrew Nacin (team rep)
Andrew Norcross
Andrew Ozz
Andy Peatling
Andy Skelton
Andy Stratton
Barry Abrahamson
Ben Balter
Ben Metcalfe
Bill Erickson
Boone Gorges
Brad Williams
Brandon Dove
Brian Gardner
Brian Layman
Bryan Petty
Carl Hancock
Cátia Kitahara
Chip Bennett (team rep)
Chris Coyier
Chris Olbekson
Chris Pearson
Chris Wallace
Christine Rondeau
Clay Griffiths
Collis Ta’eed
Cory Miller
Cristi Burca (team rep)
Dan Milward
Daryl Koopersmith (team rep)
Dave Martin
Diana (Katayama) Cury
Dion Hulse
Dominik Schilling
Dougal Campbell
Dre Armeda
Drew Strojny
Elliot Condon
Emil Uzelac (team rep)
Eric Mann
Frederick Townes
George Stephanis
Helen Hou-Sandi (team rep)
Ian Stewart
Isaac Keyet
Jake Goldman
James Farmer
Jan Dembowski
Jane Wells (team rep)
Japheth Thomson
Jared Atchison
Jason Schuller
Jeff Starr
Johan “Spocke” Sörlin
John Hawkins
John James Jacoby
Jon Cave
Jonathan Davis
Joost de Valk
Jorge Bernal
Josh Strebel
Justin Tadlock
Kailey Lampert
Kevinjohn Gallagher
Konstantin Kovshenin
Konstantin Obenland
Kuraishi (tenpura)
Kurt Payne
Lance Willett
Lisa Sabin-Wilson
Mark Jaquith (team rep)
Marko Heijnen
Marty Thornley
Matt Martz
Matt Mullenweg
Matt Thomas
Max Cutler
Mel Pedley (team rep)
Michael “Mitcho” Erlewine
Michael Pretty
Michael Torbert
Mika Epstein (team rep)
Mike Adams
Mike Schroder (team rep)
Milan Dinic
Miyoshi Takayuki
Nathan Rice
Nikolay Bachiyski
Nitzan Miron
Noel Tock
Orman Clark
Otto Wood (team rep)
Ozh Richard
Paul Gibbs
Pete Mall
Peter Chester
Peter Westwood
Pippin Williamson
Ptah Dunbar
Rachel Baker
Remkus De Vries
Ron Rennick
Ryan Duff
Ryan Imel
Ryan McCue
Sara Cannon
Scott Gonzalez
Scott Reilly (team rep)
Scott Taylor
Sergey Biryukov
Simon Wheatley
Siobhan McKeown
Stephanie Leary
Syed Balkhi
Thad Allender
Thomas Scholz (toscho on wpse)
Tom Auger
Tony Perez
Vid Luther
Vladimir Prelovac
Will P Davis
Xavier Borderie
Zé Fontainhas (team rep)

I Want to Know More!

That’s awesome, and we want to be as transparent as possible. We also need to get a bunch of stuff done, so the main focus right now is getting RSVPs, putting together a budget, and then raising sponsorship money to pay for the thing. So we’ll turn this into a site with lots of information, but please be patient while we attend to the more time-sensitive details first. Thanks!

Jen 2:41 pm on August 12, 2012
Tags: rsvp   

RSVPs So Far

136 Invited, 105 RSVPs via the form. 77 Yes, 25 Maybe, 3 No. There are also a few others who emailed me, commented on Twitter, or pinged on skype instead of using the form. Officially, invitees have another week to RSVP with the form, but it would be great to get them in sooner if possible. If you’re not sure yet, RSVPing as a Maybe is a valid response, and we’ll follow up with you.

These are the people who haven’t RSVPed (or pinged me) yet that I’m mildly wondering if I sent the invite to an outdated email address:
Adii Pienaar, Alex Rabe, Chris Pearson, Chris Wallace, Clay Griffiths, Diana (Katayama) Cury, Drew Strojny, Elliot Condon, Japheth Thomson, Jason Schuller, Johan “Spocke” Sörlin, Justin Tadlock, Kevinjohn Gallagher, Kuraishi, Milan Dinic, Miyoshi Takayuki, Nitzan Miron, Vid Luther, Will P Davis

If you know any of the people on this mini-list, if you wanted to make sure they got the email invite, that would be a help. If you discover anyone from this list didn’t get their email, please let me know the best way to reach them so we can rectify that. Thanks!

#rsvp