Hi!

Last week’s ruckus over WP.com pages ranking higher has not ended. Sé Reed officially filed WP Code of Conduct Violation Report.

In other news, the Plugin Review Team onboarded new members and hopefully, the list of plugins awaiting review will diminish soon.

You can also subscribe and listen to the podcast version of this newsletter on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

Until next week,

Bye!

Team WP-CONTENT.CO

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📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND

All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies

Request for Feedback: Make/Team Dashboards

Your feedback is not just welcomed; it’s essential as dashboards can be a cornerstone in the success of open-source projects. They can help us be more transparent, make better decisions, and ultimately, create a more robust and inclusive community. Please share your feedback by October 11, 2023.

• WordPress.com plugin pages add download link for using plugins on self-hosted sites: This change comes as the result of developers raising concerns about WordPress.com plugin listings outranking WordPress.org on Google Search in some instances.
• Community Team invites organizers to apply for hosting next generation WordPress events: The Community team has compiled a list of more than three dozen concepts to inspire NextGen event organizers. Anyone interested in hosting one of these new event types is invited to fill out a form the Community team created to capture ideas for future events.
• WordPress Plugin Review Team onboards new members: Bogged down by a massive backlog that has grown to 1,260 plugins awaiting review, the Plugin Review Team has now onboarded two rounds of new members, with three more reviewers added recently, and has a system in place to make this easier in the future.
• WordPress.com added to the “Hosting” page at WordPress.org: According to the ticket, Samuel “Otto” Wood replaced Siteground with WordPress.com. 
• Seeking proposals for Interop 2024: Interop aims to improve interoperability across the three major web browser engines (Chromium, WebKit and Gecko) in important areas as identified by web developers.
• New user interface for setting up WP.org Two-Factor authentication: While WordPress.org has supported two-factor authentication since May, a new user interface has been deployed for adding security keys and a handful of other improvements. If you run into any bugs or want to provide feedback, please do so in the GitHub repository.
• Highlights of the WordPress 6.3 performance analysis: The results from the analyses indicate that WordPress 6.3 is indeed a great success from a performance perspective. The Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) passing rate has improved by 5.6% for classic theme sites and by 2.7% for block theme sites for mobile viewports. 
• Elon Musk plans to make X (Twitter) a paid-for platform to tackle bots: In a bid to tackle the issue of rampant bot activity, he unveiled proposals to roll out small monthly subscriptions during a live conversation with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
• ChatGPT can now see, hear, and speak: New voice and image capabilities are coming in ChatGPT. They offer a new, more intuitive type of interface by allowing you to have a voice conversation or show ChatGPT what you’re talking about.
• Google launches new report that flags checkout issues on e-commerce sites: The Checkout Journey report helps brands resolve checkout issues promptly for an improved user experience. Google has also admitted to quietly tweaking advertising auctions to meet revenue targets.
• Google apologized as automated GA4 transition surprises advertisers: Google apologizes for the confusion and recommends advertisers manually migrate their Universal Analytics settings for complete control.
• Bing Webmaster Tools disavow link tool is going away: After about a decade, Bing has decided to sunset the disavow link in October 2023 because it is no longer needed.
• Microsoft announced the rollout of its AI assistant:  Copilot promises a seamless experience across multiple Microsoft products and aims to provide context-sensitive assistance synthesizing data from your web activity, work data, and immediate actions on your PC.

🗣️ TALK OF THE TOWN

⚔️ WP.org Vs WP.com

• Sé Reed filed an official WordPress Code of Conduct violation report: “I filed my first WordPress Code of Conduct violation report today, after 11 years of being in the WordPress community.” she tweeted.
• Matt Mullenweg has violated the WordPress Community Code of Conduct: Jack Arturo (WP Fusion creator) wants the matter investigated via the appropriate channels.
• WP.org is just tax avoidance for WP.com: Tweeted Dōvy Paukstys. He accused Automattic of strategically placing some of its team members in influential positions within the community.
• I disagree that Automattic, Audrey, or myself should be discriminated against in serving in leadership roles or otherwise contributing: Matt’s reply to Dōvy Paukstys.
• The repo continues to prominently serve the most installed plugins and rank by stuff we cannot change, such as the slug: Twitter thread from Sybre Waaijer, founder of SEO Framework, after noticing the plugin dropped from 5th to 10th place in the WordPress plugin search.

🚨 WEB SECURITY & VULNERABILITIES

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

Wordfence Intelligence Weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report (September 11, 2023 to September 17, 2023)

There were 55 vulnerabilities disclosed in 46 WordPress Plugins. 

• Vulnerability found in Simple Cloudflare Turnstile: The vulnerability is patched. Please update to the latest version.
• iThemes reported 3,597 vulnerabilities in 2023: This is more than 2022 (1,779) and 2021 (1,628) combined and impacts at least 245 million sites.
• SANS survey shows drop in 2023 ICS/OT security budgets: The survey also found that in many cases threat actors continue to gain access to ICS/OT systems after compromising IT systems. 
• WordPress Vulnerabilities: Understanding and addressing key security issues: Article from WPZoom

🔌 NEW PLUGINS & THEMES

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

Photographer Magazine theme

Designed specifically for photographers, photography enthusiasts, and photography magazines.

• Senior Care Charity theme: Caters to the unique needs of senior care facilities, nursing homes, and assisted living communities. 
• GridBone theme: Fully responsive grid WordPress theme that can be used to build gaming, portfolio, or gallery websites.
• Saryu theme: A Block Theme supporting Full Site Editing.
• Plugin Check by Plugin Review Team: An easy way of testing your plugin and ensuring that it’s up to the base required standards from the Plugin Review team. They released it to help plugin authors fix common problems and tackle the mountain of plugins awaiting review. (Currently, there are 1,241 plugins awaiting review.)
• Alt Text Generator AI plugin: It scans your media library, identifies images without alt texts, and employs AI Computer Vision model to generate descriptive and SEO-friendly alt texts.
• Autoload Checker plugin: Helps you monitor the total size of the autoloaded data in the wp_options table of your database.
• Debrandify plugin: Remove WordPress branding and replace it with your own and get rid of some of the bloat that comes built-in.

💵 INVESTMENTS, ACQUISITIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

• WP Buffs to partner with Melapress: New features and updates are in the cards.
• Matthaus Klute acquires Social Link Pages plugin: WordPress developer Corey Maass has sold his Social Link Pages plugin to Matthaus Klute, an independent WordPress consultant and developer with Alpha Particle. 
• Microsoft Bing & Wix announced IndexNow Integration: In a collaborative effort with Microsoft Bing, Wix now offers seamless support for IndexNow, an innovative initiative by significant search engines. It will optimize the speed at which new content on premium sites gets indexed by search engines.

👥 COMMUNITY NEWS

Updates and News from the WordPress Community

Introducing Bluehost Professional Email

This new solution is coupled with their Google Workspace offering, starting at $14.99/yr.

• WP Tavern launched Forums: It is powered by bbPress, which enables readers to create discussions. Readers must be registered and logged in to post on the forums. At this time, topics and replies will continue to be moderated before publication. 
• PMPro introduced Paystack Gateway addon: Paystack is a leading online payment gateway in Africa and this integration marks a pivotal moment as PMPro expands into African market.
• WPMU DEV introduced Reseller platform: Exclusively available for WPMU DEV Agency members; it’s an end-to-end way to sell hosting, domains, templates, support and services through their own white-label portal on their own domain.
• Skelementor – a free Elementor component library: Their mission is to provide designers with a comprehensive library of pre-made components that can be easily integrated into their Elementor projects. 
• Themekraft launched WP Toolkit: It translates your WordPress Plugin into any language. You can now get early access and test the service.
• PowerPack Addons for Elementor introduced WooCommerce Display Conditions: It allows you to hide or show content on your Elementor website based on various WooCommerce factors like the product category, price etc.
• Block Visibility 3.1.0 released: It has the much-awaited WooCommerce and EDD controls. With this release, nearly all functionality was moved to the base plugin after the Pro version was officially shut down with version 3.0.0.
• Elementor 3.16 is out: It has Flexbox Containers by default for new websites, improves site loading speed with performance enhancements, increases accessibility for visitors who use assistive technologies, and more.
• Accessibility Checker v1.6.0 released: It contains several new features and bug fixes.
• Tutor LMS v2.3.0 released: This update focuses on expanding the security of your Tutor LMS site with all-new hotlink protection and content copy protection.
• Plugin Check 0.2.1 released: This plugin by the Plugin Review Team ensures that plugins are up to the base required standards. The latest update fixes several bugs.
• Matt Report turned one: Congrats Matt Medeiros for this brilliant podcast!
• WP Social Ninja plugin turned two: Happy birthday to this social media plugin!

🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS

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

• GitHub insights: Tracking WooCommerce’s evolution over different versions: From Convesio
• For all userkind: NASA web modernization and WordPress VIP: From WordPress VIP
• Cyber Resilience Act, WordPress & expectations: From Remkus de Vries
• Will WordPress Block Themes ever be as popular as Classic Themes?: From Pootlepress
• What if Apple’s social network is a free blog for everyone?: From The WP Minute
• How to use Generative AI to 10x your SEO game: From RankMath
• How buy now, pay later options can help your business: From WooCommerce
• Unveiling the Hostinger Sustainability Report: Journey towards gender balance: From Hostinger
• 5-Top NIST best practices to secure your organization: From Astra
• Sooner or later, Elementor will disappear as a standalone plugin: Tweet from Fränk Klein
• Launching a WordPress product in public: From Post Status
• Podcast with Destiny Kanno: The evolution of Learn WordPress: From Hostinger
• Vagelis Papaioannou on how to learn to use WordPress and help with events: From WPTavern Jukebox
• AI, WordPress and Woo with Alain Schlesser, Bud Kraus and Mark Westguard: From Do the Woo Podcast
• Is the WordPress community overrated?: From WP Builds

🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE

Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle

• How to update WordPress manually?: From RankMath
• How to translate WordPress websites in 2023: From Elegant Themes
• How to block a WordPress user from logging in without deleting them: From WP Daily Coupons
• How to reduce Dom size in Elementor: From CyberChimps
• Revealing images with CSS mask animations: From Smashing Magazine
• A guide to Stripe Integration in Spring Boot: From Kinsta
• Demystifying NIST Vulnerability Management: A comprehensive guide: From Astra

📆 SAVE THE DATES

Do not miss a WordPress event ever again

• WordPress Accessibility Day on September 27-28, 2023: Schedule is out.
• WordPress Web Agency AI Summit 2023 on September 28-30: Register to attend this online summit and discover the practical use cases of using AI.
• WordCamp Rochester on September 30, 2023: Call for volunteers and sponsors is now open.
• WordCamp Masaka on October 6-7, 2023: Tickets are available now.
• WooSesh on October 10-12, 2023: WooSesh is a live, virtual conference for WooCommerce store builders.
• WordCamp Deutschland 2023 on Oct 19-21, 2023: Call for speakers is now open.
• WordCamp Mumbai on October 28-29: The event is in the early planning stages.
• WordCamp Montreal on November 8-9, 2023: Tickets are available now.
• WordCamp Manila on November 11, 2023: The call for speakers is now live.
• WordCamp Asia on March 7-9, 2024: Share your personal stories of contribution at WordCamps

🎁 WORDPRESS DEALS OF THE WEEK

Just the best deals of the week, again, handpicked by yours truly!

EXCLUSIVE DEALS

• 4 Months free offer on hosting plans of WP Engine (Coupon Code- FREEDOMTOCREATE)
• 15% off yearly plans at Videvo (Coupon Code – WPV15)

OTHER DEALS

• Up to 40% off for CartFlows
• Up to 75% off on plugins, themes and hosting at WP Hive
• 50% off Web Hosting Packages at StableHost (Coupon Code – 50OFFYEAR1)
• 80% off for plugins at WPPool
• Up to 75% off hosting plans at HostPapa
• 50% off for Advanced Giftcards for WooCommerce plugin
• 60% off all hosting plans at Nexcess
• 85% off at AtlasVPN 
• 20% off for Fluent Forms plugin
• 50% off at Formidable Forms
• 20% off for FluentCRM plugin
• 50% off for WP Social Ninja plugin 
• Upto 95% off for PitchGround products 
• Upto 65% off WordPress Hosting plans at InMotion Hosting
• 77% off hosting plans at SiteGround
• 60% off at Hostgator India (Coupon Code – SUNSHINE)
• Up to 74% off on 24 month VPS Plans at Liquid Web
• 50% off on Managed Dedicated Server Hosting at Liquid Web

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