Hello!

Welcome to another edition of WordPress Community News, where we bring you the latest updates and insights from the world of WordPress.

This week, we have some controversy brewing, as Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, is facing backlash from the community for using the WordPress X handle to promote a crowdfunding campaign for Bay Lights, a public art installation in San Francisco.

On the development front, WordPress 6.5 is getting closer to its release date, and the core team has announced an early call for testing for some of the confirmed features that will be included in the next version.

Don’t forget to subscribe and listen to the podcast version of this newsletter on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, where you can hear more details and discussions about these topics and more.

That’s all for now. See you next week!

Team WP-CONTENT.CO

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📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND

All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies

Early opportunities to test WordPress 6.5

A call for testing of the few features considered ready for WordPress 6.5 before the release of beta 1 to tackle as many bugs as early as possible.

• Data liberation in 2024: The post talks about the new initiative Data Liberation for 2024 and how the community can get involved.
• A year in Core – 2023: The post provides aggregate data for 2023 about WordPress Core contribution on Trac.
• New block-focused theme handbook docs and what’s coming in 2024: The post discusses the current progress and next steps in 2024 for the Theme Handbook overhaul.
• 2024 Global Sponsors: Announcement: The Global Community Sponsors for 2024 have been revealed. This year there are five sponsors at the Gold level and they are Automattic (Jetpack and WordPress.com), Bluehost, GoDaddy, Woo, and WPBeginner (Awesome Motive).
• Announcing the 2024 MakeWP Marketing Team Reps: Three new reps have been selected for 2024 and they are, Nyasha Green, Bernard Meyer, and Jenni McKinnon.
• Thank you and bye (for now), Jill!: Jill Binder after a decade of leadership has decided to step away from her work with WordPress. We wish her all the best for her future endeavors.
• Call for Mentees & Mentors: Contributor Mentorship Program Cohort #2 (2024 Q1): The application for mentees and mentors for the second WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program cohort for the first quarter of 2024 is now open.
• Google is shutting down websites made with Business Profiles: Websites made with Google Business Profiles will be turned off in March.

🗣️ TALK OF THE TOWN

• Matt Mullenweg facing criticism for using WordPress X handle for crowdfunding his favorite project: Matt Mullenweg recently used the WordPress X handle to draw attention to a crowdfunding campaign for the Bay Lights urging users to contribute. This has resulted in harsh criticism from the community.

🚨 WEB SECURITY & VULNERABILITIES

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

Type juggling leads to two vulnerabilities in POST SMTP Mailer WordPress plugin

An authorization bypass vulnerability and an unauthenticated stored cross-site scripting vulnerability were recently patched. All users are to update to the latest version immediately.

• AI Engine plugin affected by critical vulnerability: An unauthenticated arbitrary file upload vulnerability that allows any unauthenticated user to upload arbitrary files, including PHP files, that could lead to remote code execution was patched.
• WordPress vulnerability report — January 10, 2024: Weekly vulnerability report from SolidWP.
• Wordfence intelligence weekly WordPress vulnerability report (January 1, 2024 to January 7, 2024): There were 85 vulnerabilities disclosed in 74 WordPress Plugins and 2 themes.

🔌 NEW PLUGINS & THEMES

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

Kaaryam theme

A multipurpose theme.

• Cue theme: A simple blog theme.
• Gadgethub theme: A theme suitable for gadget stores.
• BoostBox – Popup builder for the core editor plugin: The plugin allows users to build popups for lead generation, content promotion, and more using the core WordPress editor.
• Curtain raiser for inaugural ceremony plugin: The plugin that adds a curtain-raiser feature to your WordPress website.
• Hello beautiful plugin: The plugin provides a positive message every time users log into the dashboard.
• AFL Stripe risk score plugin: The plugin displays the Stripe Risk Score in the WooCommerce orders dashboard and sends out email alerts for high-risk payments.

💵 INVESTMENTS, ACQUISITIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

• WP Webhooks joins Cozmoslabs: WP Webhooks has joined the Cozmoslabs family of products which consists of TranslatePress, Profile Builder, and Paid Member Subscriptions.
• Divi Form DB acquired by Dave Grey: Divi Form DB has been acquired by Dave Grey making it his first WordPress plugin acquisition.
• Liquid AI announces collaboration with Capgemini to build next-generation AI solutions for enterprises: The collaboration between Capgemini and Liquid AI focuses on advancing AI solutions in various domains, including manufacturing, healthcare, and finance.

👥 COMMUNITY NEWS

Updates and News from the WordPress Community

Announcing MailerGlue

Lesley Sim, the co-founder of Newsletter Glue has announced via X, a new email plugin for WordPress called MailerGlue, which is set to arrive by April as of now. 

• Introducing WP Interactions: Benjamin Intal has confirmed via X that WP Interactions, a plugin that allows users to create interactions by picking a trigger and actions has entered the beta stage. Interested users can try it out by signing up on the website.
• Announcing Langbase: Langbase is an open-source OpenAI alternative founded by Ahmad Awais and in the thread, he explains why he left his VP job at a unicorn to start his own company.
• Kathie Keith has decided to sell six plugins from their portfolio: Kathie Keith, co-founder of Barn2 plugin has announced via X that they are selling their 5 premium WooCommerce extensions and a free plugin with 3k installs. She has also compiled a report and the plugins combined have an annual revenue of $38k.
• InstaWP introduces 1-liner command: The latest update allows users to upload their local WordPress websites to their InstaWP dashboard effortlessly.
• Another milestone reached for Speckyboy: Eric Karkovack has shared via X that Speckyboy now has 800 published articles.
• Eric Karkovack on where WordPress would be without the block editor: Eric Karkovack on X asked the community for their views on what would have happened to WordPress if it stuck with the Classic Editor and never introduced Gutenberg.
• Gloria Liuni receives the Yoast Care fund for her contribution to the WordPress community: Gloria Liuni an esteemed member of the WordPress Community, Polyglot, and Support Teams is the latest recipient of the Yoast Care fund.

🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS

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

• Happy 40th birthday Matt!: From Jonathan Desrosiers
• Year in review: 2023: From Jessica Lyschik
• WordPress in 2024: Ins and outs: From Aaron Jorbin
• The block editor is still not a page builder: Brian Coords
• New year’s resolutions for online fundraising: From GiveWP
• Pascal Birchler on revolutionizing image and video processing within WordPress: From WP Tavern Jukebox
• Vova Feldman from Freemius: Business growth, plugin pricing, and peaceful habits!: From Peaceful Growth
• How WordPress uses authentication cookies & sessions: A technical deep-dive: From Snicoo
• Attending WordCamps and meetups can increase your WordPress game: From StellarWP
• Debugging functions: From Deluxe Blog Tips
• You should probably log out: From Kathy Zant
• Huge WordPress changes coming in 2024: From Jamie Marsland
• Is WordPress good for eCommerce or is another platform better?: From SureCart
• WordPress and AI: The future of content creation: From ManageWP
• Dos & don’ts for the WordPress block editor: From Speckyboy
• Finally! – Elementor display conditions: From WPTuts
• Keyword cannibalization: What it is & how to fix it: From RankMath
• Tech Forecast 2024: Better cyber coexistence, productivity, privacy: From TechNewsWorld

🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE

Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle

• Build a simple URL shortener with Python: From Kinsta
• Elementor anchor link accessibility issue and fix: From Anne-Mieke Bovelett
• How to set up PHPStan with WordPress and Visual Studio Code: A step-by-step guide: From WebberZone

📆 SAVE THE DATES

Do not miss a WordPress event ever again

• NextGen Jakarta 2024: The event will take place on 27 January 2024. The call for volunteers is now open.
• WordCamp Pune on February 17th, 2024: The event is in the early planning stages.
• WordCamp Asia on March 7-9, 2024: The third batch of tickets was released and are still available. The sixth round of the speakers list has been published. WordCamp Asia is also searching for its 2025 location.
• WordCamp Europe on 13-15 June 2024: The call for speakers and sponsors is live.

🎁 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)
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• 25% off on Quiz and Survey Master (Coupon Code – CNY2024)
• 25% off on Responsive Menu (Coupon Code – CNY2024)
• 53% off for NordLocker
• 35% off for HappyAddons
• 50% off for FluentBooking‘s Early Bird Lifetime License Deal
• 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 77% off hosting plans at HostPapa
• 50% off for Advanced Giftcards for WooCommerce plugin
• Upto 55% off hosting plans at Nexcess
• 86% off at AtlasVPN
• 40% off for Fluent Forms plugin
• 50% off at Formidable Forms
• 40% off for FluentCRM plugin
• 60% off for WP Social Ninja plugin 
• Upto 95% off for PitchGround products 
• Upto 75% 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 at Liquid Web
• 52% off on Managed Dedicated Server Hosting at Liquid Web

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