#188 - Matt's Spiciest WordCamp Presentation At WordCamp US, WP Engine Sends Cease & Desist Letter To Automattic

Issue #188 | September 24, 2024 | Reading time: 16 mins

Hello!

We are back after celebrating Onam with lots of news. Grab your favourite beverage or snack. You are going to need it.

Don’t forget to subscribe and listen to the podcast version of this newsletter, where you can hear more details and discussions about these topics and more.

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Team WP-CONTENT.CO

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📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND

All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies

WordPress 6.6.2 released

This update addresses 15 Core issues, including CSS specificity changes in certain themes and the resolution of Button Block CSS conflicts. This is a short-cycle maintenance release ahead of WordPress 6.7, scheduled for November 12, 2024.

Gutenberg 19.2 has been released: This release includes notable changes such as Block Bindings UI, enhancements to the Zoom Out mode, an experimental client-side media processing feature, and some bug fixes.
Proposal to create connections between Performance Team and Hosts: Anne McCarthy proposed to create a private slack channel (#performance-hosting) where members of both the Performance Team and relevant representatives from hosting companies can come together to share information. This builds on the current private #security-hosting channel that’s already in place and has proven to be an area of collaboration.
The Query Loop block has been refreshed: The refresh ensures the most intuitive default state possible out of the box and increases clarity. With recent updates, you no longer need to manually enable “Inherit query from template,” and the settings have been simplified to make this complex block more user-friendly and predictable.
Experimental health dashboards to track WordPress Team progress and stats: Hari Shanker and Courtney Robertson have introduced experimental WordPress contribution health dashboards designed to monitor the performance of various WordPress teams. “Our long-term goal is to build automated, live dashboards for WordPress,” Hari Shanker revealed. The dashboards are in the experimental phase and future developments will depend on community feedback.
Five for the Future site relaunched with a block-based design: Members of the Meta, Design, and Community teams collaborated to redesign and launch the site in time for WordCamp US 2024. The update features a block-based child theme built on top of the shared WordPress.org parent theme, a new contributor testimonials section and an updated pledges directory.
Marketing and advertising guidelines updated in the WordCamp/WordPress Events handbook: Event organizers can now allocate a portion of their budget for marketing and advertising. The new guidelines will help event organizers reach wider audiences, especially first-time attendees while ensuring efficient use of resources.
WordPress 6.7 Release Party schedule: The release party times will be shifted during the WordPress 6.7 beta period to be more APAC-friendly, as the WordPress 6.7 release squad includes a significant number of contributors based in the APAC region.
WordPress.com offers 1,000 free premium websites to university students: The first thousand students who sign up will receive a premium WordPress.com website for one year, complete with a free custom domain name, SSL certificate, 13 GB of storage, access to premium themes, and an ad-free experience.
The PHP Foundation application form for 2025 is now open: The PHP Foundation is a non-profit organization started in 2021. They are accepting applications for developer positions until October 10, 2024.
OpenAI claims new “o1” model can reason like a human: In an announcement, the company claimed its new o1 model can match human performance on math, programming, and scientific knowledge tests.
Google introduced a new technology called “confidential matching”: It enhances data privacy for advertisers. Confidential matching, which uses confidential computing technology, allows businesses to use their first-party data for advertising while maintaining stricter privacy controls.

🗣️TALK OF THE TOWN

WordCamp US 2024 & After-effects

WordCamp US & ecosystem thinking: Mullenweg introduced the concept of “Ecosystem Thinking,”comprising four essential elements – Learn, Evolve, Teach, Nourish. Mullenweg encouraged the community to “vote with your wallet” by supporting companies that actively contribute to the Open Source ecosystem. He praised organizations like Newfold, Awesome Motive, 10up, Godaddy, Hostinger, and Google but warned of “parasitic entities that just want to feed off the host without giving anything back.” He specially called out WP Engine.
WCUS 2024 – An In-Person Q&A With WordPress Cofounder Matt Mullenweg: The Q&A session with Matt Mullenweg opened with him remarking, “This might be one of my spiciest Work Camp presentations ever.” He said WPEngine is controlled by Silver Lake, a Private Equity Firm that “doesn’t give a dang about your open source ideals. It just wants a return on Capital.” Matt called Lee Wittlinger, the Managing Director of Silver Lake, the company that owns WP Engine, “a schoolyard bully” and said WP Engine will not be at any future WordCamps.
WP Engine is not WordPress: Matt pointed out that WP Engine disables revisions. He said, “they are a cancer to WordPress, and it’s important to remember that unchecked, cancer will spread. WP Engine is setting a poor standard that others may look at and think is ok to replicate. We must set a higher standard to ensure WordPress is here for the next 100 years.”
Highlighting over a decade of innovation and contribution to the WordPress community: Response from WP Engine mentioning sponsoring WordCamps, organizing DE{CODE}, and publishing WordPress Roundup and Building WordPress series. “WP Engine will remain at the forefront, finding new and exciting ways to drive the WordPress ecosystem’s success for years to come in partnership with this vibrant, innovative community.”
WP Engine sent what is called a “cease and desist” letter to Automattic: It demands that Automattic and its CEO Matt Mullenweg stop making and retract false, harmful and disparaging statements against WP Engine.
Some writings/discussions on the subject:
WordPress.com is not WordPress

The complex dynamics of WordPress: A passionate critique

WordPress’ big “Tragedy of the Commons” problem

WCUS: Freedom isn’t free

WP Engine’s response to the attack upon it

Matt just threw WP Engine under the bus hard. Maybe they deserve it but idk

🚨WEB SECURITY & VULNERABILITIES

A collection of web security and vulnerability news and updates for the past week

Wordfence Intelligence Weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report (September 9, 2024 to September 15, 2024)

There were 65 vulnerabilities disclosed in 51 WordPress Plugins and 7 WordPress Themes that have been added to the Wordfence Intelligence Vulnerability Database, and 29 Vulnerability Researchers contributed to WordPress Security.

SQL Injection Vulnerabilities found in ListingPro theme and plugin: The theme is affected by Unauthenticated SQL Injection while the plugin is affected by Authenticated and Unauthenticated SQL Injection. If you’re a ListingPro user, update the theme and plugin to version 2.9.5 or higher.
Privilege Escalation vulnerability patched in Post Grid and Gutenberg Blocks plugin: The plugin is vulnerable to privilege escalation in versions 2.2.87 to 2.2.90. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to update their user meta to become an administrator.

🔌 NEW PLUGINS & THEMES

Be one of the first ones to explore some fresh plugins and themes

Colorstream theme from Automattic

Colorstream is a slick and minimalistic theme design crafted especially for WordPress blogs.

Bakery Elementor theme: A beautifully designed solution tailored for bakeries and artisanal bakeries.
Solid Mail plugin: SolidWP’s easy-to-use SMTP plugin for WordPress. It was previously WP-SMTP, but SolidWP recently took over the plugin and enhanced it to make it more useful to site admins.
Troubleshooting plugin: Troubleshooting Mode was initially a feature introduced via the Health Check plugin, and is now available as a standalone plugin. Troubleshooting Mode will do its best to allow a site maintainer to disable plugins and switch themes without affecting regular visitors to your website.

💵 INVESTMENTS, ACQUISITIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

Patchstack raises $5 Million to strengthen open-source security: Patchstack has announced a $5 million funding round to bolster its mission of securing the entire lifecycle of open-source software. This follows a €2.7 million R&D grant from the European Innovation Council in 2022. The funding round was led by Karma Ventures, G+D Ventures, and Emilia Capital, an investment firm backed by Yoast founders Marieke van de Rakt and Joost de Valk.

👥 COMMUNITY NEWS

Updates and News from the WordPress Community

Introducing the Patchstack VDP platform

It is built in collaboration with the European Union to help open-source software companies become compliant with the upcoming Cyber Resilience Act. It is available to all open-source projects built around WordPress and WooCommerce platforms and hosted in any public repository

New headless WordPress solution from rtCamp – SnapWP: A low-maintenance headless solution for WordPress fully flexible with designs and layouts.
Ollie Pro introduces dynamic patterns: You can now transform any compatible pattern into a dynamic layout that pulls content directly from your WordPress posts and pages.
The Gender Equality in WordPress Businesses Report from WPIncludes: The study shows that women are under-represented at both the top and entry-level of the leadership chain. An analysis of the 200 organizations that have pledged to support Five for the Future reveals only 4% (8) are led by a woman, compared to 72.3% that name a man as their CEO or equivalent.
Pressable has reduced pricing on its hosting plans: Prices now start at $25 /mo.
Lifetime Deals for Paid Memberships Pro: The lifetime deal is for their highest membership level, PMPro Plus. The sale runs from September 27 to 30, 2024. A Lifetime Plus License can be purchased for $1,500 (50% off the regular lifetime price of $3,000).
WooCommerce 9.3.2 has been released: This release includes several fixes which affect CSV imports, stock notifications, and the checkout mini cart.
Introducing Elementor 3.24: It includes several powerful features, including Floating Bars, Variable Fonts, and Enhanced CSS Loading.

🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS

More posts and podcasts from the WordPress Community you don’t want to miss

GPU hosting and open-source AI will revolutionize or kill WordPress: From Wordfence
What’s new for developers? (September 2024): From WordPress Developer Blog
Data Views Update #2: From WordPress Design Team
Gutenberg development practices and common pitfalls: From WordPress.org
Golden guides and hidden gems from the WordPress Developer Blog: From Delicious Brains
Graphical widgets for WordPress: how to enhance your dashboard and on-site visuals: From Kinsta
WordPress file permissions: Everything you need to know: From Torque
Jamie Marsland on heading the WordPress YouTube Channel: From WPTavern Jukebox
Enterprise in the WordPress Ecosystem with James Giroux: From Do the Woo

🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE

Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle

How to build a multi-block plugin: From WordPress Developer Blog
How to continuously deploy your WordPress site to Kinsta with GitHub Actions: From Kinsta
Using WP_HTML_Tag_Processor: What you need to know: From WebDevStudios
Local vs XAMPP: Which should you use for local development?: From Torque
Actions from Data Views: Adding images to the Media Library: From WordPress Developer Blog

📆 SAVE THE DATES

Do not miss a WordPress event ever again

WordPress Agency Summit 2024 on September 27, 2024: The call for speakers is now open.
WordCamp Nagpur on September 28, 2024: The call for sponsors is now open.
WordPress Accessibility Day on Oct 9-10, 2024: The schedule is out.
WordCamp Youth Hackathon Skopje on October 19, 2024: An exciting event designed to inspire young people aged 14 to 17 in the world of WordPress.
Rome Core Days on November 8-9, 2024: This will be a two-day event dedicated to WordPress Core developers with round tables, open discussions, and contribution rooms. The schedule is out.
WordCamp Kerala on November 9, 2024: The call for sponsors, speakers and volunteers is out.
WordCamp Romania on November 14-15, 2024: Tickets are out.
WordCamp Malaysia on November 22-23, 2024: Tickets are out.
WordCamp Netherlands on 29-30 November 2024: The call for sponsors is out.
WordCamp Asia on February 20-22, 2025: The venue will be the Philippine International Convention Center, Manila, Philippines.
WordCamp Europe on 5-7 June 2025: The event will be held at Basel – Switzerland’s Capital for Art and Culture.
WordCamp US 2025 on August 26-29, 2025: The event is in the early planning stages.

🎁 WORDPRESS DEALS OF THE WEEK

Again, these are the best deals of the week, handpicked by yours!

EXCLUSIVE DEALS

4 Months free offer on hosting plans of WP Engine (Coupon Code- FREEDOMTOCREATE)
10% off on monthly & annual plans at SureTriggers (Coupon Code- WPCONTENT10)
15% off yearly plans at Videvo (Coupon Code – WPV15)