david wolfpaw • 17 Oct 2024 • Reading time: 6 minsYall know me as a WordPress developer presumably. Before I started being a shut-in due to Covid and not wanting to deal with people, and before I updated my perception of my gender, folks locally would know me as, “The WordPress Guy”.
There were benefits to this, like being able to get clients referred to me by this perception. Though the drawback is that without learning good sales skills and leaning on word-of-mouth, I did not get the business bump that a lot of website makers got during the earlier years of the pandemic. That’s something that I’m still feeling now, and worry that I may have missed a moment, as crass as that feels.
Nowadays, with all of the controversy around WordPress (iykyk), I worry that having that perception will be a negative for me.
I love the WordPress software. It’s done a lot for me over the years. I’ve had ups and downs with the software and with the community. It’s not always been perfect. But it’s done a lot for my career, connections, and general growth and learning.
The co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, is wrong. He may have some points or legal fights that he is right about, but he is pushing his weight around in ways that are harming those of us who have added to that weight over the years. His behavior over the past month has been petulant and petty, and it doesn’t affect him nearly as much as it does those of us who don’t have wealth measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
I have several projects in progress that use WordPress that I want to try selling. I think that they can still be useful, but that my lack of sales skills will still harm me. But I also worry about how folks will view this in relation to the other things that I want to do. I’m also worried that I’ll get on Matt’s radar to the point of dealing with garbage because I haven’t been entirely quiet on him. I don’t know, I’m overthinking it, I’m sure.
Anyway, I’m gonna keep my head down and keep working. I should probably stop reading every news story about this that I see 
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Usually the rule is if a question is in a headline, the answer is no. But in this case, an emphatic yes.
If you use a .io domain, you will have to think about moving it within the next few years. Good riddance to one more bit of Colonialism.
The Archive is back up, albeit it’s been read-only for days. It isn’t surprising that it gets attacked, since folks don’t like things online that only the rightsholder can request being removed.
A new book that you can read online that is right up my alley. Everyone should be able to make things online, not just specialists!
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I’ve watched a lot of these cartoons. It makes me feel like the audience is intended to be adults like myself more than children, but maybe I underestimate what I would have understood back then if the media existed.
I don’t know what I think of his final conclusion, but he’s certainly diagnosed some of the issues well.
I know a lot of ABDL folks and babyfurs. They are very misunderstood subcultures, and the number of folks that you know who are aware of them and into them may shock you.
Please work, please work, please work. Coordinated rent strikes are necessary and long overdue.
Wear your human suit as needed, remove when being a friendly animal is safer.
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Reminds me of the Deadpool and Wolverine scene with the song, and it does fit too well 
I don’t know how upset I should be by these life-sized muppets.
Paired with the internet dying video above, a depressing look at the state of affairs online.
If you made it this far, why not share this newsletter with a friend? Or share with me some of the things that you found that you liked this week. Either way, I’m thrilled!