Tom McFarlin reflects on his journey learning tech and sharing not only how to do something, but also how to problem solve, think about tech, and get to know others online.

Are Fast Cheap Websites Still Possible?
Eric Karkovack @ speckyboy.com
• 5 days agoEric Karkovack argues that, for the most part, the web has moved beyond “fast and cheap” websites. What I don’t see in this article is a consideration for a site generator like ZipWP. It brings to mind that tools like ZipWP need to make sure they generate accessible sites to avoid liability.

Automattic Duplicates DOT ORG Directories
John Blackbourn @ x.com
• 3 weeks agoSo it looks like Automattic has duplicated the WordPress org theme and plugin directories as well as the LearnWP resources. It is not clear why they did this, but it will cause more confusion as you now get two versions when searching. Matt Mullenweg was asked about it on X and he said that the dot org version appears first (?). Here is the thread of X discussing this.

A Year Has Passed and Still No Plugin Metrics
Sarah Gooding @ wptavern.com
• 3 weeks agoIt has been a year and still no replacement for the plugin data, and not even any further information on the topic.

AI is Killing the Search Indexing Bargain
Kali Hays and Alistair Barr @ businessinsider.com
• 3 weeks agoThis article is in line with what I wrote several months ago, that there is no reason for me to publish free content on the web for AI bots to monetize for big tech.

WordPress 2023 and Beyond
Matt Mullenweg @ youtube.com
• 1 month agoMatt Mullenweg on the Future of WordPress. His talk at WordCamp US 2023.