Issue #216 | April 22, 2025 | Reading time: 16 mins
Hello!
This week on The WP Week Newsletter, we cover the release of WordPress 6.8 “Cecil” the only major release of this year, Matt Mullenweg’s announcement on lifting the bans on all previously blocked accounts on WordPress.org and X, WordPress shifting to one major release per year, and more.
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.
See you next week!
Team WP-CONTENT.CO
🙌 This weekly newsletter is kindly sponsored by Kinsta, Omnisend, and WP Job Openings
🗣️TALK OF THE TOWN
In a significant turn of events, WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg has announced plans to lift the bans on all previously blocked accounts on WordPress.org and X (formerly Twitter), including those associated with WP Engine. This decision follows months of legal battles and community backlash stemming from a conflict between Automattic and WP Engine.
Matt also announced this in a post published on WordPress.org.
📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND
All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies
The only major release of this year has arrived and brings new features like speculative loading, bcrypt for password hashing, and more.
Satinder Singh highlighted that several websites, after the recent WordPress 6.8 auto-update were showing the “Notice: Function _load_textdomain_just_in_time was called incorrectly.” error.
- Matt Mullenweg’s seven questions after the release of WordPress 6.8: The questions revolve around the future WordPress release, canonical plugins, use of AI, tackling the current backlog of issues, and what new standards or APIs could be introduced to help AI agents work more effectively with the 40%+ of the web.
- Mary Hubbard announces WordPress will shift to one major release per year: Starting in 2025, WordPress will follow an annual release cycle, with the next major release landing in 2026. This decision is driven by ongoing legal matters that are diverting energy and resources, but if these issues are resolved, the team will reconsider returning to three releases per year.
- WP_Query changes in WordPress 6.8: Peter Wilson highlighted the WP_Query changes, which include caching optimizations that may affect themes and plugins using the WP_Query::get() method and the WP_Query::$query_vars property.
- WordPress 6.8 performance improvements: Felix Arntz highlighted some of the key performance improvements in WordPress 6.8, such as Speculative Loading, Asynchronous Interactivity API event listeners by default for smoother interactions, Smarter WP_Query cache key generation, and so on. Overall, there were 24 performance related improvements included in this release.
- Call for 6.8.x release managers: The call for volunteers to take up the role of a release manager for the 6.8 maintenance releases has been published. The responsibilities involve triaging bugs, drafting announcements for releases, preparing for and running release day activities, and updating the documentation on minor releases. Volunteers are expected to serve in rotating shifts of about three months to share the workload until the next major release in 2026.
- Critical RomethemeKit for Elementor plugin vulnerability patched: An authenticated arbitrary plugin installation/activation to RCE vulnerability was patched, and users are to update to the latest version immediately.
- 6,000 WordPress sites affected by arbitrary file move vulnerability in drag and drop multiple file upload for WooCommerce wordPress plugin: The vulnerability that allowed unauthenticated threat actors to move arbitrary files, including the wp-config.php file, which can make site takeover and remote code execution possible, was recently patched.
- 50,000 WordPress sites affected by arbitrary file upload vulnerability in Greenshift WordPress plugin: The vulnerability that allowed authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to upload arbitrary files to a vulnerable site and achieve remote code execution was patched.
- Automattic’s Transparency Report: Automattic’s 23rd biannual transparency covering the period from July through December 2024 highlights growing challenges in content moderation, especially a surge in spammy trademark takedowns targeting gambling sites. With over 13,000 such notices, the company emphasizes the importance of manual review to protect fair use and creators’ rights. The report also notes a sharp rise in copyright claims and user appeals, stressing the need for balanced enforcement, faster processing, and user-first policies amid increasing abuse of reporting systems.
- Google found guilty of illegal ad tech monopoly in court ruling: A federal judge has ruled that Google maintained illegal monopolies in the digital advertising technology market. In a landmark case, the Department of Justice and 17 states found Google liable for antitrust violations.
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirms planning open source AI model: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently said the company plans to release an open source model more capable than any currently available. While he acknowledged the likelihood of it being used in ways some may not approve of, he emphasized that highly capable open systems have an important role to play.
💵 INVESTMENTS, ACQUISITIONS & PARTNERSHIPS
- Awesome Motive has acquired aThemes: aThemes, a popular WordPress theme company has been acquired by Awesome Motive and is now a part of the WPBeginner family of products.
- TeamUpdraft acquires Burst Statistics: Burst Statistics, an analytics plugi,n has been acquired by TeamUpdraft.
- Pluginbazar by Jaed Mosharraf is open for acquisition: Jaed Mosharraf’s WordPress plugin called Pluginbazar is seeking potential buyers, and the sale includes three plugins with pro versions, one unreleased plugin, full transfer of the Pluginbazar WordPress.org profile, and other plugins listed there (if the buyer wants them), and transfer of 500+ license holders. A detailed document has been prepared for interested parties.
👥 COMMUNITY NEWS
Updates and News from the WordPress Community
- 1,000+ Closed issues in WordPress Documentation repository: Milana Cap highlighted this recent milestone, and the current ratio of closed to open issues is at 4:3.
- Md Shahjahan Shares WordPress 6.8 contributor insights: He analysed the 924 profiles that contributed to the recent release, and a few of the key findings are that contribution-wise, the USA leads with 1,000 props, followed by India, Japan, Australia, Georgia, and Italy, Automattic had the most number of contributors and contributions followed by rtCamp, GoDaddy, Kinsta, Yoast and 10up.
- Patchstack is now one of the few security organizations with over 10,000 CVEs assigned: Oliver Sild on X announced this achievement, and it is a major milestone for the Patchstack Alliance program.
- Wordfence is discontinuing support of older API versions used by the Wordfence plugin: Wordfence is ending support for API versions 2.25 and older, affecting plugin versions 7.1.10 and prior. As a result, scans and key features on outdated versions will stop working this week. Sites using version 7.2 or newer are unaffected. If you’re on an older version, update immediately to maintain full functionality.
- Kinsta is now sponsoring Krupa Nanda’s WordPress contribution: Kinsta is now supporting Krupa Nanda’s ongoing open-source work in the WordPress ecosystem through official sponsorship.
- James Welbes on web developer freelancer and agency pricing: James Welbes makes a strong case that web development projects should start at $5,000, arguing it’s the minimum needed to sustain a freelance business realistically.
- Faisal Ahammad receives the Yoast Care fund for his contribution to the WordPress community: Faisal Ahammad, a member of the WordPress Community Team, is the latest recipient of the Yoast Care fund.
🚀 NEW PROJECTS
- Announcing Lazy Load Blocks: Kaspars Dambis has launched Lazy Load Blocks, which can improve page performance and user experience by lazy loading any WordPress block.
- New Hello Biz theme from Elementor: The theme comes with pre-designed website kits, Hello+widgets, customizable headers & footers, and more.
- Introducing ShopShield, the ultimate tool for WooCommerce performance: Rocket.net introduces ShopShield, a service built on top of Cloudflare Enterprise, designed to manage high-traffic surges on both WooCommerce and non-WooCommerce sites.
- All new Inspiro AI: WPZoom has released Inspiro AI, which allows users to create pages and sections with AI.
- New RewardsWP: AffiliateWP has released a new refer-a-friend plugin for WordPress, and it works alongside the AffiliateWP plugin.
🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS
More posts and podcasts from the WordPress Community you don’t want to miss
- 6 key changes in WordPress 6.8: Bud Kraus highlighted some of the new features and UI improvements in WordPress 6.8 using the default Twenty Twenty-Five theme. From Hostinger.
- Defining minor releases for WordPress 6.8.x: Aaron Jorbin discusses the importance of setting up a successful minor release process for WordPress 6.8.x, particularly with the shift to a yearly major release schedule.
- The art and science of conversion rate optimization: In this podcast, hosts Marcel and Mike spoke with UX designer and developer Mark McDougall about the art and science of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), discussing why CRO is an ongoing process, and more. From Doo the Woo.
- Leading through change and conflict: Angela Jin joins Matt to share insights on leading through change and conflict, offering practical frameworks and mindsets for business owners and freelancers to navigate uncertainty with clarity and empathy. From The WP Minute.
- WP Townhall: Stop selling websites to low-budget clients – Kevin Geary vs Robert DeVore: In this episode, Robert DeVore joins Kevin Geary in a friendly but spirited debate about WordPress website pricing. From Kevin Geary.
- 2024 Survey of WordPress Professionals and what it tells us about the one person agencies: David McCan shared his perspective on ‘one-person agencies’ in the United States, drawing from data in the Admin Bar’s 2024 Survey of WordPress Professionals. From WebTNG.
- 2025 the Year of the Page Builder: David McCan highlights that, despite past predictions, page builders are making a strong comeback in 2025. Ongoing issues with Gutenberg and leadership setbacks have slowed its progress, while modern page builders like Bricks, Divi, Drop, Oxygen, Builderius, Etch, Clutch, and Elementor are rapidly innovating. From WebTNG.
- WordPress market share, statistics, and more: The article provides insights into the current WordPress market share, growth in market share over the last 10 years, the total number of releases, its widespread use in website building, and much more. From WordPress.com.
- Domain vs Hosting: A jargon-free beginner’s guide: Nick Schäferhoff broke down the concepts of web hosting and domain names, clarified the differences between them, explained where to get them, and described how they function together to put a website online. From WordPress.com.
- Most people missed why the WordPress.com AI website builder was so significant: Jamie Marsland highlighted that the WordPress.com AI website builder marks a major shift in web creation by merging hosting and application into one seamless, AI-driven experience, and it redefines user expectations.
- ChatGPT Pro vs Claude Pro: The ultimate WordPress plugin development comparison (2025): It explores their strengths, such as Claude’s structured reasoning and larger context window versus ChatGPT’s rapid prototyping and better IDE integration. From Varun Dubey.
- How extendable are WordPress plugins? A dev’s look at GiveWP and The Events Calendar: The article compares the extensibility of two popular WordPress plugins, GiveWP and The Events Calendar, from a developer’s perspective and how the process is. From WP Fusion.
- What AI means for WordPress in 2025: Experts share their opinions: Casey Burridge reached out to renowned WordPress advocates to understand how industry experts are navigating the rise of AI and what it means for the future of WordPress. From GravityKit.
- In conversation with Nick Diego: Bud Kraus sat down with Nick Diego for a wide-ranging conversation covering Nick’s early life in Cape Cod, his academic background, and his transition from hospitality marketing to WordPress development. From Seriously, Bud?
🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE
Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle
- The developer’s guide to WordPress 6.8: From WordPress.com
- How schools can manage online assignments with WordPress: From Kinsta
📆 SAVE THE DATES
Do not miss a WordPress event ever again
- PressConf 2025 on April 23-26: A conference for WordPress Professionals and the tickets are now available.
- WordCamp Lisboa 2025 on May 16-17, 2025: Tickets are now available.
- WordCamp Europe on 5-7 June 2025: Tickets are now available.
- WPCampus 2025 on July 23–25, 2025: The call for proposals is now open.
- WordCamp US on August 26-29, 2025: The call for organizers is now open.
- SomeConf 2025: The event is in the early planning stages. The call for sponsors and speakers is now live.
- WordCamp Canada on October 16-17 2025: The call for sponsors is now open.
- WordCamp Asia 2026: It is tentatively planned for early February 2026 and the call for organizers is now open.
🎁 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)
MORE DEALS
- 50% off for the first 6 months on all monthly standard plans at Kinsta
- 50% off 3 months on Liquid Web’s Bare Metal server hosting
- 20% off for Constellation plugin
This weekly newsletter is kindly sponsored by awesome WordPress Companies 🦸♂️🙌
Last but not least, updates from WP-CONTENT.CO 👇
In a significant turn of events, WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg has announced plans to lift…
Automattic has undergone a major restructuring, cutting its workforce by around 16%, bringing the total number of employees…
In a joint white paper released by Patchstack and Sucuri, alarming new findings reveal that the increasing use…
WordPress 6.8 “Cecil”, the only major release of 2025, has finally arrived. This version brings style book support…
Team WP-CONTENT.CO
Issue #216 | April 22, 2025 | Reading time: 16 mins
This weekly newsletter is kindly sponsored by Kinsta, Omnisend, and WP Job Openings
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