# 240- WordPress 6.8.3, WordCamp Organizer Banned, Hosting Team Rep Nominations

Issue #240 | October 7, 2025 | Reading time: 19 mins

Hello!

This week on The WP Week Newsletter, we cover the WordPress 6.8.3 security release, the ban of a WordCamp organizer, Hosting Team rep nominations, new projects, 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

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🗣️TALK OF THE TOWN

WordPress 6.8.3 security update released

WordPress 6.8.3, a security-focused update addressing two vulnerabilities, was released on September 30, 2025. The update addresses a data exposure flaw and a cross-site scripting (XSS) issue.

📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND

All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies

A WordCamp organizer has been banned

WordPress Community Support reported that about $734 in surplus funds from a 2024 WordCamp were misused by an organizer for personal expenses and could not be recovered. In response, WPCS is changing its Global Sponsorship Grant policy to issue funds in smaller installments to prevent future misuse. The organizer has been permanently banned from all WordPress events and platforms, and a legal report has been filed.

WordPress and higher education: An alliance that transforms: Fidélitas University partnered with the WordPress Foundation to give students real-world experience through WP Credits internships and global community engagement. The first WordPress Campus Connect in San José (Sept 2025) featured hands-on workshops, mentorship, and a hackathon focused on creating digital projects that strengthen human connections and align with SDGs and ESG principles.
Call for testing: Ability to hide blocks: Gutenberg 21.8RC adds a “hide block” feature, letting users keep blocks in the editor while hiding them from the live site. It supports individual, nested, and multiple blocks, enabling non-destructive editing and layout experimentation. Users are invited to test the feature and provide feedback ahead of WordPress 6.9. Along with this, a call to test the changes to template management is also open.
Introducing the Test Team Reps for 2025 – 2026: The new reps are Moses Cursor Ssebunya and Nikunj Hatkar.
Nominations for Hosting Team Reps 2026 are now open: Team Reps handle administrative tasks like hosting chats, posting agendas, and reporting updates. Nominations run until October 28, voting from November 5–25, and new reps start in January 2026. Self-nominations are also welcome.
Stored cross-site scripting vulnerability patched in Yoast SEO Premium: Yoast SEO Premium versions 25.7–25.9 had a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability that allowed users with contributor or higher access to inject malicious JavaScript into posts. The issue was fixed in version 26.0. Users are advised to update immediately.
Developer Advisory: Experimental feature: Clearing of empty sessions in WooCommerce 10.3: The new version will introduce experimental session management changes designed to improve site performance through better caching compatibility. Also, WooCommerce is preparing for an AI-driven ecommerce future with the introduction of the WooCommerce MCP (Merchant Capabilities Protocol) and integration with the WordPress Abilities API.
Microsoft to end nonprofit ad grant program in December: Microsoft Advertising is shutting down its Ads for Social Impact grant program, which provided free ad credits to nonprofits. Final grants will be issued on November 30, 2025, with a 45-day window to spend them.
W3C rolls out a new evocative logo: The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) unveiled a new polysemic logo, a logo purposely designed to be evocative.
Perplexity launches Comet browser for free worldwide: Perplexity released its Comet browser free to the public after a limited beta. The free browser includes built-in AI assistant features.

💵 INVESTMENTS, ACQUISITIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

WPExperts acquires Gutena Forms Plugin: The Gutena Forms plugin has been acquired from Vikas Singhal.
Woo has partnered up with Snapchat: Snapchat and WooCommerce have launched a new integration that lets merchants create dynamic, shoppable ads, sync product catalogs automatically, and track conversions with one click.

👥 COMMUNITY NEWS

Updates and News from the WordPress Community

Checkout Summit 2026 Inclusion Grant

The Inclusion Grant supports individuals from underrepresented backgrounds in attending the event. The grant covers travel, accommodation, and registration for first-time attendees who are active in the WooCommerce community and demonstrate financial need. Applications are open until October 31, 2025.

WooSesh moved to early 2026: The event, originally scheduled for October 14–15, will now take place in early 2026, as highlighted by Rodolfo Melogli.
The PHP Foundation application form for 2026 is now open: The PHP Foundation has opened applications for its 2026 developer positions (closing October 30, 2025). These roles focus on maintaining and improving the PHP core, mainly in areas like performance, security, and infrastructure. Selected developers will begin work on January 1, 2026. The PHP Foundation has also opened a call for designers to refresh the PHP 8.5 release page.
The State of SEO 2026: The report reveals how SEO professionals are adapting to an AI-driven search landscape. Based on insights from hundreds of experts, it covers strategies for managing SEO risks, budgeting, and sustaining visibility amid rapid change.
Chat with Matt Mullenweg: Past, present & future of Accessibility in WordPress: This special WordPress Accessibility Meetup featuring a conversation between Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, and Amber Hinds, CEO of Equalize Digital. Together, they’ll reflect on how accessibility in WordPress has evolved over the past 20+ years and look ahead to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. The online event is scheduled to take place on November 13, 2025.
Amelia 9.0 Alpha is coming: The upcoming version will introduce a complete redesign of the WordPress booking plugin, focusing on clarity, user-first design, and future-ready features. Updates include light/dark mode, one-click scheduling, full-page editing, smarter tables, unified customer and booking views, and streamlined navigation.
HostWP relaunched with new features and lower pricing: HostWP has relaunched its website with a modern design and dark mode, built using Bricks Builder, while also lowering pricing across several plans. New offerings include Enterprise hosting with direct support, dedicated IPs, multi-PHP selector, and Redis Object Cache on all plans.
Rocket.net has introduced a new control panel: Rocket.net has launched a completely redesigned control panel built for faster, easier WordPress site management. The new UI offers cloud backups, dark mode, global search, improved WAF reporting, and a unified task manager.
Real-time multilingual chat is now live on The WP World: The new feature allows users to send and receive messages in their own language, powered by a brand-new multilingual capability from OpenAI.
The new SeedProd AI has been launched: The redesigned version of SeedProd AI is now available and offers a simpler workflow, instant Playground preview, one-click import, and so on.
Kinsta launches Agency Partner Program: The program is designed to help digital agencies grow by providing infrastructure support, co-marketing opportunities, lead exchanges, and training on Kinsta products.
Jonathan Bossenger showcased a demo of what’s possible using the WordPress Abilities API: The demo showcased what’s possible using only PHP and JavaScript, with no Ajax or REST requests required.
wpbfdeals available for acquisition: Florian Dee is looking to hand over his side project, wpbfdeals, and interested parties are encouraged to DM him with an offer to get more details.
Introducing Blocktober: A month-long initiative by Tammie Lister, where she creates a block every day for October using Telex.
Carolina Osório Pinho receives the Yoast Care fund for her contribution to the WordPress community: Carolina Osório Pinho, a member of the WordPress Community Team is the latest recipient of the Yoast Care fund.

🚀 NEW PROJECTS

Suggerence – Gutenberg Edition is now live: An early-access release showcasing AI-assisted post creation for WordPress. Users can sketch a wireframe on the canvas, and the AI transforms it into a post using core Gutenberg blocks. The demo offers a preview of what’s to come, with a waitlist open for full access at launch.
Early demo of a multi-agent AI for WordPress: Andy Peatling shared an early demo of a multi-agent AI in WordPress, where multiple agents run in parallel to research, analyze, and write blog posts.
PHP Playground: A PHP code editor created by Adam Zielińsk, where you can quickly test PHP code snippets.
Authors List Block: This lets you display a simple list of post authors for your site.
Announcing Mamba: This is a WooCommerce-native caching stack built for live stores. It coordinates full-page caching for catalog/product views with Store API microcaches and your object cache, which is auto-detected.
Introducing Widgets Supply: Created by Jose Tamu, Widgets Supply provides beautiful widgets designed for Elementor.
Groundworx Testimonial: This plugin makes it easier to manage and display testimonials. It offers a dedicated testimonial post type, Gutenberg-native blocks, dynamic or manual display options, theme-aware styling, and built-in SEO and accessibility features.
Announcing Yoast AI Brand Insights: Yoast has launched AI Brand Insights (beta) as part of its Yoast SEO AI+ package, a new tool that helps brands track how they appear in AI-powered search results from tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini.

🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS

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

In conversation with Jonathan Wold: Jonathan Wold discusses his upbringing, entrepreneurial ventures, gaming, public speaking, WooCommerce experience, global WordPress involvement, and his work at Guildenberg, helping hosting companies and agencies grow. From Seriously, Bud?
June Liu and David Denedo on making the web accessible: The mission behind WP Accessibility Day: June Liu and David Denedo discuss WP Accessibility Day, a global, volunteer-driven event promoting web accessibility in WordPress. They share their personal paths to accessibility advocacy, explain the event’s fully virtual 24-hour format, and highlight sessions on accessible design, legal compliance, assistive technologies, and community engagement. From WP Tavern Jukebox.
InstaWP interviewed Blake Whittle: Blake Whittle shares his journey from building his first WordPress site in high school to leading ClickIt and acquiring plugins like Infinite Uploads. He discusses scaling from freelancing to agency work, shifting to product development, and why plugins are the future of WordPress. From InstaWP.
Women in WordPress: Kee Jones: Michelle Frechette talks with Kee Jones, a freelancer and super admin from Kentucky. Kee shares why WordPress has been her “baby” since the beginning, the value of freelancing, and her advice for women starting in tech: don’t chase shiny objects—pick a niche and master it. From Post Status.
Dodgy themes: Jonathan and Luke discuss the implications of the project, modifying the WordPress admin’s “featured plugins”, and the impact of a federated ecosystem. Luke thinks Jonathan failed the challenge. From Crossword.
Surviving the WordPress plugin grind growth, marketing and overcoming burnout: Mark Westguard chats with Devin Walker, creator of GiveWP and WP Rollback, about his journey from corporate IT to building successful WordPress plugins, plus insights on focus, burnout, marketing, and plugin business challenges. From OpenChannels.
Automating WordPress the smart way: Robert Abela is joined by Marcel Tannich, WordCamp Speaker, organizer, and Technical Support Team Lead for WPML at onTheGoSystems, to explore the evolution of WordPress automation. They cover everything from scripting basics and reproducible testing environments to AI-powered debugging, and more. From Melapress.
WordCamp Asia 2026 should aim for a minimum of 60% local speaker representation: WPapac is advocating for at least 60% local speaker representation at WordCamp Asia 2026, to better reflect the region’s strong contribution to WordPress. Previous editions had under 40% local speakers, so this year’s push aims to amplify Asian voices, stories, and experiences. From WPapac.
WP Build Tour 2025: Empowering 1700+ students across Madhya Pradesh: The initiative empowered over 1,700 students across Madhya Pradesh to build their first websites through hands-on WordPress workshops. Supported by major sponsors and local colleges, the initiative aimed to bridge the gap between theory and real-world digital skills, inspiring the next generation of creators and community contributors. From Astha Jain.
GoDaddy creates trusted identity naming system for AI agents: The trusted identity naming system for AI agents to help users verify and trust legitimate agents amid the rapid growth of AI. The system uses human-readable domain names, X.509 certificates for identity verification, and protocol-agnostic adapters to ensure secure, interoperable agent interactions.
Don’t forget your legacy WordPress clients: Eric Karkovack emphasizes the importance of nurturing relationships with legacy WordPress clients. He advises regularly auditing older sites for PHP compatibility, performance, security, accessibility, and new feature opportunities. From The WP Minute.
AI product management at GoDaddy: Matt Medeiros interviews GoDaddy’s Justin Nealey about the new Airo Site Designer, AI’s role in WordPress, user feedback, product management insights, and ongoing improvements to the Airo product line. From The WP Minute.
Why your WordPress plugin has 10 installs (and how to fix it): Nick Hamze explains why many WordPress plugins struggle with low installs and the key is understanding how WordPress.org ranks plugins, focusing on controllable factors like title optimization, keyword-rich descriptions, strategic tags, regular updates, responsive support, and earning reviews. From Iconick.
Improving WooCommerce performance at scale: WooCommerce has improved performance across frontend, backend, and admin areas, optimizing load times, caching, blocks, and interactivity. Using metrics like TTFB and LCP, plus automated and manual extension testing, the team continuously refines stores at scale with community feedback. From WooCommerce.
Thoughts on the WordPress network admin redesign: Dennis Ploetner discussed the need to modernize the WordPress Network Admin Dashboard, which still relies on outdated list-based screens. Using new components such as DataViews and DataForm, along with a complete REST API, could make the interface more consistent, flexible, and user-friendly.
WordPress and design: Marko Ivanović wrote about his journey with WordPress, from struggling with it in 2012 to discovering its improved interface and design flexibility after joining Automattic in 2022, and his mission to help designers see the true potential of WordPress. From Marko Ivanović.
Burnout, goodbyes, and new beginnings: Lana Miro reflects on experiencing burnout, shares her journey of recognizing exhaustion, transitioning thoughtfully, and taking pride in achievements like building teams, partnerships, and managing events.
Wildly unethical: Samuel Sidler shared additional thoughts about Fueled’s latest round of layoffs and public statements. From Delta.
Rodolfo Melogli explored the Shopify WordPress plugin: In this video, he explores how to install the plugin, navigate the admin interface, and demonstrates how a transaction works from start to finish.

🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE

Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle

How to find local file inclusion (LFI) vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins and themes: From Wordfence
How to make a portfolio website in three simple steps: From WordPress.com

📆 SAVE THE DATES

Do not miss a WordPress event ever again

WP Suomi 2025 on October 10: The tickets are now available.
WP Agency Forum on Oct 15, 2025: The tickets are now available.
WordCamp Canada on October 16-17 2025: The call for sponsors is now open. The first round of the speaker list has been published, and the tickets are also now available.
WordCamp Nepal 2026 on January 23-24: The early bird tickets are now available, and the call for speakers is now open.
WordCamp Asia 2026 on April 9-11: The venue has been announced. The call for speakers is now open. The call for sponsors and media partners is also now open.
SomeConf 2026 on April 22-23: The tickets are now available.
Checkout Summit 2026 on April 23-24, 2026: The call for sponsors is now open. The early bird tickets are now available.
WordCamp Europe 2026 on June 4-6: The event is in the early planning stages, and the venue will be the ICE Kraków Congress Centre Kraków, Poland.

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