Title: WordPress Community Summit – Page 5

---

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/markjaquith/) [Mark Jaquith](https://profiles.wordpress.org/markjaquith/)
10:34 pm _on_ October 29, 2012      

# 󠀁[Summary of Afternoon Discussions](https://make.wordpress.org/summit/2012/10/29/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/](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/](https://wordpress.org/about/license/).
   The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license [https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html](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.](https://developer.wordpress.org/advanced-administration/multisite/create-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/](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/](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/](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

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/markjaquith/) [Mark Jaquith](https://profiles.wordpress.org/markjaquith/)
4:44 pm _on_ October 29, 2012      

# 󠀁[Summary of Morning Discussions](https://make.wordpress.org/summit/2012/10/29/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/](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](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/](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/](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/](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](https://central.wordcamp.org/about/).
 * 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/](https://wordpress.org/about/license/)󠁿. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license 󠀁[https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html](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

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ryanduff/) [Ryan Duff](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ryanduff/)
8:16 pm _on_ October 29, 2012      

# 󠀁[Tuesday BBQ](https://make.wordpress.org/summit/2012/10/29/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.

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/) [Jen](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/)
4:29 pm _on_ October 24, 2012      

# 󠀁[Lunch is on Dreamhost!](https://make.wordpress.org/summit/2012/10/24/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](http://Dreamhost.com)‘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)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/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)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/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/](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!

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/) [Jen](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/)
10:51 pm _on_ October 28, 2012      

# 󠀁[Tonight! 7pm!](https://make.wordpress.org/summit/2012/10/28/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](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!

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/) [Jen](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/)
8:49 am _on_ October 22, 2012      

# 󠀁[Summit Sponsor: Copyblogger Media](https://make.wordpress.org/summit/2012/10/22/summit-sponsor-copyblogger-media/)󠁿

[Copyblogger Media](http://www.copyblogger.com/) ([StudioPress](http://www.studiopress.com/)
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](https://profiles.wordpress.org/andrea_r)
and [Ron Rennick](https://profiles.wordpress.org/wpmuguru) 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.](https://developer.wordpress.org/advanced-administration/multisite/create-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](https://make.wordpress.org/support/)(
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!

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/) [Jen](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/)
6:47 pm _on_ September 6, 2012      

# 󠀁[Desperately Seeking Sponsors](https://make.wordpress.org/summit/2012/09/06/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](https://make.wordpress.org/summit/sponsors/) for
more information and to sign on as a sponsor. Thanks!

*A riff on the movie title _Desperately Seeking Susan_.

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/) [Jen](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/)
4:16 pm _on_ August 23, 2012      

# 󠀁[Travel Scholarship Application](https://make.wordpress.org/summit/2012/08/23/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](http://wordpressdotorg.polldaddy.com/s/travel-scholarship-application-wpcs)**

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!_

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/) [Jen](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/)
3:55 pm _on_ August 7, 2012      

# 󠀁[The WordPress Community Summit is a by invitation…](https://make.wordpress.org/summit/2012/08/07/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/](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](https://wordpress.org/news/2012/05/calling-all-contributors-community-summit-2012/).
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/](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](https://central.wordcamp.org/about/). 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/](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!

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/) [Jen](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/)
2:41 pm _on_ August 12, 2012     
Tags: rsvp   

# 󠀁[RSVPs So Far](https://make.wordpress.org/summit/2012/08/12/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](https://make.wordpress.org/summit/tag/rsvp/)

## Post navigation

[Newer posts →](https://make.wordpress.org/summit/page/4/?o2_recent_comments=1&output_format=md)