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WordPress Wednesday News: WordCamp Melbourne Sold Out Success, WordPress 2.4 Delayed, Security News, Rumors and Scams, and More

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November 21, 2007

WordCamp Melbourne was a sell out and a success. WordPress 2.4 delayed a over a month. More WordPress security news and tips you must use. Rumors flying about WordPress as a big money maker and Matt Mullenweg spending silly, and his mother reprimanding him. And more WordPress news you can use.

WordPress News

WordPress 2.4 Will Be Released January 24, 2008: Ryan Boren announced that WordPress 2.4 will now be released on January 24th instead of December 12, 2007. WordPress 2.4 will feature the new Administration Panels design, which will change the way the backend of WordPress works.

WordCamp Melbourne: Australia’s WordCamp Melbourne November 17 was a sold out success from the sounds of it. Here are some resources about the WordPress event:


WordPress on Your Calendar: Here are some WordPress-related dates and events to put on your calendar as found on the WordPress Roadmap and the WordPress Meetup Group Listings (subject to change):

If you are having a WordPress-related event that isn’t on the calendar, post them below or via email.

Lorelle at WordCamp Israel: I’ve just posted a fleshed-out version of the talk I gave in Tel Aviv, WordCamp Israel WordPress Tips Talk, with a lot of tips WordPress users should know about using WordPress and power blogging with WordPress.

WordPress 2.3.1 Released: The latest version of WordPress is out and contains security fixes, which makes this a mandatory upgrade. For a list of all the changes between the last two versions, see the Trac, and . For more information, see Peter Westwood’s description of the changes in WordPress 2.3.1. Also see PlanetOzh’s WordPress Upgrade Script for those with shell access to their web server, making upgrading WordPress “a matter of painless seconds”.

WordPress Security News: There are some security issues and scams WordPress users need to know about. Blog Security reports more WordPress bloggers are targets for spam hackers because they haven’t been updated. Be sure and get your blog updated in order to protect it from these hackers and time wasters. They also report that there are numerous WordPress Security Scam Artists offering Plugins and tips for keeping your blog secure, when in fact it either doesn’t work or does worse things. I recommend you run your WordPress blog through the WP Scanner WordPress Plugin which checks for vulnerabilities in your blog, Theme and elsewhere, and read the Secure WP Whitepaper and WP Hardening Project for more information.

Reconsidering Upgrading WP-CONFIG.PHP: Quick Online Tips offers tips on the wp-config.php and whether or not you should upgrade that file when you upgrade WordPress. Their advice, don’t. Upgrading can change the character set for the database. For more information see the WordPress Codex article on editing wp-config.php.

WordPress Podcast: WordPress Podcast: Episode 31: Automattic acquires Gravatar, Automattic being acquired? is the latest podcast for the WordPress Community and covers those topics and more including the new native tag feature in WordPress, hot Plugins, Themes, and news.

WordPress 2.4 Digest: WordPress Weekly Digest 12th November to 18th November 2007 describes improvements to WordPress 2.4 covering error messages, improvements to WXR Importer and Exporter, updates to the Post Preview feature, caching, and more.

Vote for WordPress Ideas: Did you know you could have your say in how WordPress works? You can add your idea and vote on any of the ideas to push them to the top in getting them added or removed from WordPress future versions. The section on WordPress is an open forum for you to have your say. Why not take advantage of it and add your voice to the vote.

Last Week’s WordPress Wednesday News: Last week’s WordPress Wednesday News report covered Censoring WordPress.com, New Comment Spam Fighter, More Blog Security News, WordCamp Melbourne, BlogWorld Expo, and More WordPress News, if you would like to catch up with the news on WordPress.

WordPress.com News

WordPress.com W logoNew To WordPress.com: If you are new to blogging on WordPress.com, check out this basic guide on What Do I Do With My New WordPress.com Blog?.

What’s Hot on WordPress.com? The hottest blogs on WordPress.com were:

The hottest blog posts on WordPress.com were:

WordPress Plugins and Themes News

WordPress Plugins DatabaseEasy Gravatars WordPress Plugin Updated: Easy Gravatars WordPress Plugin has been improved with images linked to comment author’s URL, stylesheet options added, and more customization. Work is ongoing for supporting other blog networks and services and adding favicons for pingbacks and trackbacks.

WordPress Super Cache Running in Windows IIs or Apache: The NeoSmart Files released “Getting WordPress Super Cache to Run on a Windows (IIS or Apache) Server” with tips and techniques for those wanting to run WordPress Super Cache Plugin on those server systems.

Role Manager Updated: The popular WordPress Role Manager Plugin has been updated and now permits even more control over your blog’s users, contributors, authors, editors, and even administrators.

WPhone Plugin Wins! The WPhone has won WordPress iPhone Plugin Competition hosted by Matt Mullenweg and is quickly becoming one of the most popularly downloaded WordPress Plugins. It works with iPhones and other mobile phones to allow you to blog easily from your cell phone.

Interesting WordPress Plugins: Some interesting WordPress Plugins I’ve stumbled across recently include:

Finding WordPress Plugins: For more WordPress Plugins see the official WordPress Plugin Directory, which now lists 1,204 plugins and 2,177,105 downloads, the WordPress Plugins Database, and Weblog Tools Collection of WordPress Plugins released daily.

Plugins from the WordPress Plugins Directory: The comments is the second most popular tags on the WordPress Plugin Directory, and I thought I’d list a few of the more than 80 Plugins in that tag.

Most Popular WordPress Themes: The WordPress Theme Viewer features more than 10 million downloads now and lists the most popular WordPress Themes as:

See Also
YouTube features for Content Creators
YouTube Plans to Sunset Stories: What’s Next for Content Creators?

WordPress Techniques and Tips

Here are some featured articles and videos from around the WordPress Community and the , the online manual for WordPress Users, the source to turn to first for your WordPress help.

NOTE: If you would like your WordPress tip and technique included in this list, see Tips For Writing Good WordPress Tips.

WordPress Community News

WordPress Community graphicJames Farmer of Edublogs in Wikipedia: James Farmer of Incorporated Subversion and Edublogs, the sister to WordPress.com, is now in Wikipedia. Farmer recently helped produce and host the successful WordCamp Melbourne and has done much to expand WordPressMU and WordPress in general worldwide. Congrats!

Rumor Mongering Again: Silicon Alley Insider reports that WordPress is now the Number two most-visited blog host, passing SixApart’s TypePad last month, according to Nielsen Online. Rumors are flying that WordPress founder, Matt Mullenweg, is spending money silly and other rumors are flying around that Automattic and WordPress are up for sale. Matt says the rumors of spending are untrue, but there aren’t any facts about the sale of WordPress. Matt promised repeatedly over the years that he would never sell WordPress. Right now, let’s stick with that and stop all the conjecture and rumors. After all, most of the money is on paper, not in paper. :D

WordPress for Dummies: WordPress for Dummies is officially released Monday, October 29 by Lisa Sabin-Wilson.

Need Help With WordPressMU? Work is ongoing to improve the WordPressMU documentation on the WordPress Codex. If you need help and information on WordPressMU, start there.

WordPress Installed For Free: If you have problems installing the full version of WordPress, visit Installing WordPress for Free (aka Install4Free WordPress). This free, volunteer-driven service is limited to personal blogs only, and they help only with installations, not upgrades.

Looking for a WordPress Expert? Do you want a custom WordPress blog? Want to convert your website into a WordPress blog or use WordPress as a CMS? If you are looking for an expert in WordPress Themes, WordPress development, WordPress Plugins, or other WordPress-related expertise, check out the list of WordPress Consultants on , the parent company of WordPress, the WordPress Jobs listings, and the WP-Pro mailing list.

WordPress Jobs: WordPress Jobs is a new “service” announced by Weblog Tools Collection. It features jobs for WordPress experts and WordPress experts looking for work. Currently, the service is free as it is still in beta testing. Give it try.

Using WordPress in Your Blog’s Name: WordPress is a trademark and you are not allowed to use WordPress in your blog’s name or URL unless you have permission of and . Also, remember, it’s spelled “WordPress” not “WordPress”. Oh, and Plugin is Plugin, not plug-in (what you put into a wall electrical socket).

If You Are Reading This: If you are reading this blog post NOT on the Blog Herald or from within your feed reader, it is being used against the copyright policy of the copyright owners. Please report it immediately so action may be taken to break some heads and feed scraping blogs.

Even More WordPress News?

Past WordPress Wednesday News Reports

WordPress News Sources

Each Wednesday on is WordPress Wednesday, featuring the news around the WordPress Community. If you have a WordPress news item or tip to suggest, please contact me at this special email address: lorelleonwordpress@gmail.com

The author of Lorelle on WordPress and the fast-selling book, Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging, as well as several other blogs, Lorelle VanFossen has been blogging for over 15 years, covering blogging, WordPress, travel, nature and travel photography, web design, web theory and development extensively as web technologies developed.

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