Welcome to the official blog for the WordPress Support team.
Need help with a WordPress issue? You can find help with your WordPress problem by posting in the support forums or asking on the #wordpress IRC channel.
Want to get involved?
Answering a question in the support forums or on IRC is one of the easiest ways to get started. Everyone knows the answer to something!
We have a detailed handbook to help contributors learn how to work with the forums and IRC.
Weekly Meetings
As well as discussing support issues here on the blog, we use Slack for group communication.
This is where news that are relevant or good to know for the team from across the community are brought up and shared.
Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication is available for testing on 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/, the path to it is kind of hidden, as it is still being tested.
BetaBetaA pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. testing of the upcoming WordPress 6.2 continues at full speed. Do you run a unique kind of site, or fresh and modern PHPPHPPHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. https://www.php.net/manual/en/preface.php. versions? Help us test if you can!
Support ForumSupport ForumWordPress Support Forums is a place to go for help and conversations around using WordPress. Also the place to go to report issues that are caused by errors with the WordPress code and implementations. Bug Scrub
A scrub of support forum component tickets is scheduled for March 1st.
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
The first WordCamp Asia was held over the last weekend, and we’ll get some updates on how contributor dayContributor DayContributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/. went form a support perspective when the attendees have had a chance to settle in, kudos to the volunteers who helped by giving back during the event (and before/after, of course)!
Volunteers interested in taking on more responsibilities
In an effort to facilitate for more volunteers taking on new roles and responsibilities, there’s a proposal to have others take part in running weekly meetings. To lower the barrier, agendas will be prepared and the groundwork handled if desired, to make it easier to jump in and participate in more ways.
If this sounds interesting, please feel free to reach out to @clorith!
Checking in with international liaisons
No major issues being reported form the international liaisons this week.
Our friends in the Russian community are currently experimenting with Telegram as a community platform, and are seeing new faces, which is an exciting development!
Open floor
Open floor is a segment of our chat that is used if there is time left of the allotted meeting time, where items not initially on the agenda can be brought up, such as feedback or ideas, anything really (so long as it relates to the support team).
This improves on the reporting flow, and ensures that more initial information is available to those who respond to reports, so that the reporters may retain their anonymity moving forward by not needing ot be called upon to explain their report.
Merry-Go-Round of Life from Howl’s Moving Castle, performed by Joe Hisaishi
This is where news that are relevant or good to know for the team from across the community are brought up and shared.
Topics reported by users
When a user reports a topic or review, they are now required to provide an explanation of why they are reporting the topic.
This should improve understanding among moderators when looking at a report, and remove the need to call out a user in public to get an explanation. This is doubly important, as the report feature maintains the reporters anonymity, by only revealing their identity, and the reason for the report, to a moderator, and that trust should not be broken.
Support component bug scrub
@vladytimy has graciously offered to host one (or more?) bug scrubs for the support component on 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., look forward to updates from them on times and dates!
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
More communities bring back feedback that they are looking for solutions to replace Slack as a community platform due to various limitations form the platform in terms of who may use it, and what data is available to the communities to help retain members and grow.
This is where news that are relevant or good to know for the team from across the community are brought up and shared.
WordPress 6.2 BetaBetaA pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process.
Details of the Community Summit have been posted, and the invitation process is slightly different this year. If you believe you have something of value to add to the discussions, you’ll be able to submit an application to be considered for an invitation.
Evolving how we do international liaison check-ins
Moving forward the team will be doing quarterly check-ins with our international liaisons directly, to give them their own unique way of providing feedback and letting us know of any wins or struggles that the overall team can help each other on.
The exact format of these direct check-ins isn’t fully set yet, but will take learning from other teams doing similar approaches into account when putting together the exact format.
The support representative has left a comment with them for clarification on what problem is to be solved, and also noting some concerns.
Blocks Everywhere (in the forums)
The rollout of blocks within a forum context is coming along nicely, there are some lingering issues with the 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. editor that are still being investigated, namely;
Pasting code
Twemijo
List indentations
These are actively being looked into, and some rosetta sites have already opted into trying out the new editor as well (which others may also do if they so chose by reaching out), while a “on by default” approach won’t be taken until the lingering issues have been resolved.
Checking in with international liaisons
Some of our wonderful international friends were able to participate this week (and we’ve also reached out to everyone individually to check how things are going. The team understands that timezones do not always allow for everyone ot participate, so this may become more of a recurring thing).
Open floor
A few headlight items for the team were brought forth during open floor;
This is where news that are relevant or good to know for the team from across the community are brought up and shared.
HelpHub is being split out from support
The HelpHub platform is currently being migrated to its own home, alongside its redesign. This means that the codebase, and content, will no longer live under wordpress.org/support as it has until now. Giving space for more flexibility in the content they can create.
WordPress 6.2
The release squad for WordPress 6.2 has been set, and a tentative launch date has been decided on (this may change if anything comes up), and is currently set to March 28th.
Support Training
Having support-related training over on learn.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/ was brought up as a good way to share knowledge outside of the support community to others who may be offering support, for example for plugins or themes, and also as a possible avenue for more formalized onboarding procedures.
This is an area where collaboration with the make/training team would be beneficial, and if someone would like to get a head start on contributing, joining them in #training on Slack is a good first step, as any need for formalized onboarding for the support team specifically needs to be planned out, if there is a good response to this suggestion, so leave your thoughts below!
The Support Handbook
The Support Team Handbook has been more or less in the same state since it was finalized, all the way back in 2014, and is definitely due for a review, and update, as some information may be outdated, and other important information is likely missing.
If someone would like to join in a collaborative effort to revamp this, please reach out and we’ll organize some collaboration there.
Open floor
Unfortunately @clorith dropped the ball a little, and takes responsibility for forgetting to check in with our amazing international liaisons this week, and we instead jumped into open floor, where a few items were brought up.
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. editing in the forums
A request to enable the block-editor in the remaining global forums was put forth, more information will be posted about this in its own update post, but for now, the editor has been enabled on all forums, except the 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) ones (due to some reports of some accessibility concerns, so it was purposefully not enabled there, to not make posting more difficult at this time).
The WordPress Mobile Apps
The Mobile apps are currently being decoupled from other assets that have previously kept them tied in with Jetpack or WordPress.comWordPress.comAn online implementation of WordPress code that lets you immediately access a new WordPress environment to publish your content. WordPress.com is a private company owned by Automattic that hosts the largest multisite in the world. This is arguably the best place to start blogging if you have never touched WordPress before. https://wordpress.com/ assets. In this same move, they’ll be moving support back to WordPress.org (this has previously been tied to locked support systems).
The request was made to have a Mobile forum created, which shortly after the meeting was enabled (as it had preemptively been prepared already by the 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. Team).
There has been no negative fallout from our relaxed policies on pluginPluginA 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 vulnerability discussion and premium product support established during the September 29th meeting.
PHPPHPPHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. https://www.php.net/manual/en/preface.php. 8.x
WordPress 6.x is tested with PHP 8 and offers preliminary support, but we cannot guarantee compatibility for third-party plugins and themes since that is the responsibility of the plugin/theme developer.
We, along with Drupal and Symfony, are asking the PHP group to extend support of PHP 7.4.x, but we have no firm answers yet.
No More Flagging for Premium Support
We are no longer flagging users for requesting premium support on the forums, as that hurts their ability to post across allWordPress.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/ forums.
Support requests for premium products will continue to be encouraged towards the proper support venue (without closing the thread), and as always, flags (or bans as necessary) will continue to be applied for other Guideline violations.
Become Flag-Neutral if not Flag-Negative
The Pending queue has become excessive lately and is a drain on Moderator time (your experience may vary depending on timezone).
As you rescue items from the Pending queue, please check the reason for the flag and un-flag as necessary. If you’re not un-flagging at least one person daily, please reconsider how strict you are on that end of enforcement.
Weekend Assignment
Please test the latest WordPress 6.1 RCRelease CandidateA beta version of software with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge. and the Twenty Twenty-Three theme, and report any bugs you find!
There are a variety of feature requests that will expand the forum, but the team is united in addressing the bugs that need to be fixed first.
Discussion of PluginPluginA 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 Vulnerabilities in the Forums
Previously, all plugin vulnerability discussions were quickly removed from the forum, the account was flagged to prevent further disclosure, and the Plugins Team was notified.
Going forward, if the developer and Plugins Team have been properly notified, and the vulnerability has been publicly known for a time, discussion of that vulnerability is allowed, including any “me too” replies under the thread.
Please keep in mind that abuse of the forums for disclosing zero-day vulnerabilities remains a bannable offense.
Premium Product Support
Previously, premium product support was not allowed on the forums, and customers requesting help for premium products were directed to the product’s premium support venue, and the thread was closed.
Going forward, we’ll continue to enforce the same rule, but the threads will not be closed, in case someone with product knowledge wants to help there.
Pre-Defined Replies
A reminder that we have pre-defined replies for volunteers and for moderators. Please do make use of them, but so we don’t look like bots, please also personalize them a bit with each reply to make them your own.
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/ oEmbed on Forums
We are happy to report that, thanks to Dion, it is now safe to insert wordpress.org links (like support docs) on the forums without them generating large embeds. 🙂
WordPress 5.9-beta1 has been delayed, a new date for the betaBetaA pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process., and consequently a new release schedule, is not yet announced, but will be posted once it is finalized by the coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. team.
Team representative nominations are over, and with only one nominee, we have no need to hold a vote. The nominee is @sterndata, and instead of the vote which would have ensured if there were multiple nominees, we will instead have a ~2 week period in which any concerns can be raised, this can also be done privately to @clorith. If no concerns are raised, or they’re all worked out, the final announcement of the new representative will be done after December 1st, and we will prepare a handover period with some onboarding and similar at that time.
Next weeks meeting (November 25th), will be a very informal office hours, due to major holidays being celebrated in parts of the world, and other social events elsewhere, there are not a lot of regular contributors available at the time, so this feels like a good approach.
Open floor
A note was made that often folks join the channel after an incident, quite often relating to something unfortunate happening on for example the forums, and that the users may not feel very well received.
This is in part by nature of guidelines helping us enforce directives, but we can probably also be better at providing a more welcoming surrounding in such cases.
We, as volunteers in the #forums channel, should avoid “piling on” when someone has concerns. Letting one individual handle the case, of course another person may be asked to chime in, but it should then ideally happen at the original attendees request, to avoid giving users a feeling of being outnumbered and of a lesser voice, or may lead to confusion and frustration.
That’s not to say things do not some times escalate, and we know that not everyone wants to accept the answers that are given. If things escalate, and users do not wish to listen, it becomes an unwelcome environment for other participants on Slack, so please escalate such cases to a Slack admin, and they can deal with it from there.
With Full Site Editing making it’s initial appearance in WordPress 5.8, the support team have started to prepare actionable items to get ready for it’s arrival.
Under are some thoughts and concerns that came up in that discussion, and which we’ll try to address moving forward up to the release date.
If there are other concerns or talking points, please feel free to provide them in a comment here, or raise them in an upcoming support meeting!
Coordinate with docs to make sure relevant documentation is ready before release so that support can familiarize them selves with it.
Coordinate with 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/ team, how do they want to get feedback, and issues, reported in a sensible way. Support shouldn’t have to create tickets, but pushing users away and telling them to go to GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ is also a terrible experience.
Make sure Gutenberg team has people on hand and we know who is available to help on complex issues the team may not know the answers to.
This may be another scenario like the 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. editor release where we see The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. How do we support those who land in the thick of it with negatively inclined users. All while also trying to show understanding and compassion where it should be, not everyone is inherently bad, and may be concerned or scared users as well.
Likely a focus on existing users and how this affects them, more so than new users without existing themes and content.
To close off this weekly summary, we’ll this time enjoy the wonderful tunes of Peter Gabriel
Check out the project contributor handbook announcement, which also includes a Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics, both of which will supplement the support areas greatly.
The support team will be doing another ticket triage on Saturday March 20th, 2021,21:00 UTC. This one will be slightly different as we will be discussing and prioritizing tickets that you the user bring forth and feel is important. This is in no way a guarantee that your ticket will get done first, but rather a way to try and judge which items others think are important. Understandably not everyone can participate, so it is also OK to drop a ticket in a reply to this post, but you should then also include a reason why you think the ticket(s) are important and why they should be prioritized.
WordPress 5.7
As with most releases, there’s been a few issues for users, most of which have been self contained and resolvable in each individual scenario. Some recurring issues have been discovered, but these have all been addressed with tickets on core trac.
All in all, this has been a very smooth release so far (*knock on wood*).
Checking in with international liaisons
It’s been a while since we did an update like this here on the make blog, so it felt appropriate we do one again!
We had contributors from many parts of the world join us for our weekly little chat, none had any major issues to report, both in general and relating to the recently released WordPress 5.7, but it was great to hear from so many and be able to check in and see how everyone is doing.
Open floor
GiveWP hosted a panel on fighting online harassment in WordPress right after our weekly meeting, in which many members of our team were listening in, once the panel is published, we’ll drop a link for you all to watch it as well. With that in mind though, please do not hesitate to reach out either in the #forums Slack channel, or directly through a private message, if you at any point feel unsafe or mistreated in any way, and we’ll do what we can to help.
And in closing, we provided you all with a little musical adventure, a composition by Philter called Miyazaki Mountain
View upcoming meetings
