A post from the official WordCamp US X account on Wednesday stirred confusion about Automattic’s involvement in this year’s flagship WordPress event — and reignited long-standing questions about how much control the company has over the conference’s programming. “It is an Automattic event. Currently the programming team is curating all the programming and everything will be finalized through […]
Dropping security updates for WordPress versions 4.1 through 4.6
As of July 2025, the WordPress Security Team will no longer provide security updates for WordPress versions 4.1 through 4.6. These versions were first released nine or more years ago and over 99% of WordPress installations run a more recent version. The chances this will affect your site, or sites, is very small. If you are unsure if […]
AspirePress: The Quiet Project Powering FAIR’s Infrastructure.
A year ago, AspirePress didn’t exist. Today, it powers the download and update infrastructure for the FAIR project, the Linux Foundation-backed effort to decentralize WordPress core, plugin and theme distribution. But while FAIR made headlines with its public launch alongside WordCamp Europe 2025, AspirePress has remained largely under the radar — a small, volunteer-run initiative with big ambitions […]
Performance Chat Summary: 17 June 2025
The full chat log is available beginning here on Slack. Open Floor @swissspidy shared a previous question from @spacedmonkey, regarding the use of static variables in core for in-memory caching, and whether the object caching API with a non-persistent cache group might be a better alternative. Benefits noted included cache invalidation capabilities and improved testing scenarios.In the original […]
Who’s Behind FAIR? Inside the Coalition Seeking to Redefine WordPress Software Distribution
The launch of the FAIR Package Manager — built in secret, backed by the Linux Foundation, and announced last week alongside WordCamp Europe — has sparked a wave of conversation across the WordPress ecosystem. But behind the technical promise of decentralization lies something more fundamental: a coordinated response by veteran contributors and organizations seeking to rethink how WordPress […]
WordPress Leadership Says ‘No’ to Bringing Back Sustainability Team Despite Public Plea and Community Petition
WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and Executive Director Mary Hubbard have knocked back calls from the community to reinstate the WordPress Sustainability Team, despite a public plea and a petition that quickly gathered hundreds of signatures during WordCamp Europe 2025. The team was abruptly disbanded by Mullenweg in January over what he described as a lack of measurable output […]
Alt Ctrl Org Draws 200+ for Open Discussion on WordPress, Free Software, and Governance
The Alt Ctrl Org side event, held alongside WordCamp Europe 2025 in Basel, was initially envisioned as an informal meetup and a safe space for free expression and discussion about the open web. But the idea quickly gained traction. More than 200 people turned up, and the event was broadcast live on YouTube. When the event was first […]
The Community Responds to FAIR: Hope, Skepticism, and Support for Decentralizing WordPress
Within hours of FAIR’s launch at Alt Ctrl Org in Basel, reactions from across the WordPress community began rolling in — via blog posts, Slack threads, comment sections, and even on stage at WordCamp Europe. The Linux Foundation-backed project aims to decentralize WordPress plugin and theme distribution through a federated system of trusted repositories. Supporters say it’s a […]
New FAIR Project Aims to Decentralize WordPress.org Services, Backed by Linux Foundation and Hundreds of Contributors
A coalition of WordPress contributors, open source organizations and businesses have launched a project they hope will reshape how WordPress sites connect to the wider ecosystem — and remove dependency on WordPress.org while securing the project’s future. Known as FAIR — Federated and Independent Repositories — the project is essentially a plugin that can be installed on any WordPress […]
BlackRock Cuts Automattic Valuation by 17%
BlackRock has again cut the value of its stake in Automattic, marking its shares down by a further 17% in its latest quarterly disclosure report. As first reported by Samuel Sidler, the global asset manager now values its shares in Automattic at $31.03, down from $37.50 in December 2024. In December, TechCrunch reported that BlackRock had marked down […]
