August MainWP Roundup: Wonder Women, Marc and Saving the Wapuus

In this month’s MainWP Roundup, we are gonna meet a WP Wonder Woman, listen in to Marc on the SDM Show, lament inflation and talk about updates going wrong.

Buckle up. Let’s ride.

Learn about Katie Richards at WP Wonder Woman

Read WP Wonder Women Newsletter, Vol 1, Issue 10

Michelle Frechette told me:

“I noticed that when reading weekly newsletters that they were pretty full of great news but that most of it was either company specific or male-centric. I wanted a way to showcase the women of WordPress and how much they accomplish. So I reached out to Hazel Quimpo and Michele Jones and we started it up! Hazel got pulled away to other projects, but Michele and I continue to publish it.”

The newsletter has been around for about 10 weeks with the latest coming this past week featuring Katie Richards. Richards is a Project Manager of Community at A2 Hosting.

“Katie Richards (she/her) is a human-focused WordPresser who has spent her career working with businesses of all sizes as a Project Manager. Katie joined A2 Hosting in June 2024 as the Project Manager of Community, connecting and collaborating with A2 customers and the broader WordPress community.”

Check out the WP Wonder Women Newsletter to learn more about women in the WordPress space who are up to amazing things.

Marc Benzakein on SDM Show.

Watch SDM Show Episode 443 WordPress Governance With Marc Benzakein

Recently MainWP’s own Marc Benzakein was on the SDM Show which is hosted by Rob Cairns. Rob followed up with Marc about his talk at WordCamp Canada. They discussed governance and how the WordPress community .

Marc and Rob spend time discussing community in WordPress.

Marc talked briefly about how he used a $49 plugin to do what he wanted on a WordPress website for his eBay site. A curious thing, Marc’s presentation at WordCamp Europe hasn’t made it to WordPress TV yet. Apparently it ruffled some feathers.

Google and Reddit partnership. Is this the future of SEM?

Read Reddit Limits Search Engine Access, Google Remains Exception

For months the talk about Google and Reddit and how Reddit has been dominating the top of the SERPs. People thought it was odd since some of the results were less than ideal.

Now, Google and Reddit have entered into an agreement. Apparently, the only search engine with access to Reddit is the big Google itself.

An article at Search Engine Journal explains.

“Reddit has updated its robots.txt file to block major search engines from indexing its latest posts and comments. This change exempts Google due to a $60 million deal, allowing Google to use Reddit’s content for AI training purposes.”

Do with that what you will. Apparently Google gets access to use it for AI training.  In a world of an “open internet,” it seems all sorts of deals are being struck. 

Inflation affects all business even WordPress.

Read WordPress Inflation Is the New Reality – The WP Minute

Eric Karkovack wrote an article at The WP Minute about how inflation bleeds into the business of WordPress.

He says:

“Product makers have slowly but surely changed pricing models. Those can’t-miss lifetime plugin deals are getting harder to find. Subscription packages covering unlimited website usage are also biting the dust.”

Note: MainWP still has LTDs.

Rates are simply increasing because everything costs more. 

Eric interviews Allen Fuller of Fullworks Plugins and Rogier Lankhorst of Really Simple Plugins to get their ideas.

How has inflation affected your site care business?

When software updates go wrong… Kathy Zant

Watch When Software Updates Go Wrong – YouTube

Kathy Zant decided to fire up the camera and give her take on updating software, especially WordPress software. She starts with the huge CrowdStrike outage and how things can go horribly wrong during updates.

Next, she moves into the art of updating WordPress software and plugins including auto updates.

If you are struggling to get a business owner to understand the importance of updates, this video may do the trick.

Marcus Burnette rescuing Wapuus.

Marcus Burnette is saving the Wapuus one at a time. 

I’m not quite sure what to make of it, but he’s been to several states so far collecting them as he heads to WordCamp US.

Looks like he’s having fun, honestly while visiting many different places. If there are any Wapuus that are in danger, Marcus will be there to save them!

Sometimes people have fun and interesting ways to arrive at their WordCamp Destination. I remember a few years ago Bob Dunn embarked on a train ride from one coast to the other going to WordCamp US.

Godspeed Marcus, Godspeed.

Wrapping it up.

We have discussed community in WordPress before at MainWP. There are lots to work on and Marc and Rob had an important conversation.

Are you feeling the pinch of inflation. Let us know!