WordPress.org

It seems like just a few days ago I was blogging about hitting 50,000 downloads and now we’re a few days away from doubling that. Seems like the perfect opportunity to throw a party for WordPress users in San Francisco’s Mission district. Scott Beale of Laughing Squid has arranged for us to have the Odeon Bar on Tuesday, March 22nd from 7 PM until they close. We’ve set up an Evite you can RSVP on so we can get a rough idea of the turnout but anyone is welcome to drop by anytime. Our last party was a blast, so be sure not to miss this one. Here are the details for the Odeon:

Odeon Bar
3223 Mission Street @ Valencia
San Francisco, CA 94110

Since WordPress is easy to upgrade, and support is efficient and easily available, a lot of users had been using nightly builds and betas prior to the release of version 1.5 just because they were impatient for the release. (We were too!) This created a tricky problem for the support volunteers and for the users who “upgraded” to nightlies without being aware that problems and bugs come standard with nightlies and betas.

To streamline things for everyone, we’ve brainstormed a few changes to the process: Those who are interested in testing should join the wp-testers mailing lists, where they can provide feedback on nightlies. When you join you’ll be sent a special download link on where to find the nightly builds and you can report problems to the list. We still strongly discourage the use of nightlies to power your main, or production blog. Please consider using the nightlies only if you are interested in aiding the development of WordPress by participating in testing. Remember that support requests regarding nightlies will not be entertained in the forums. The wp-testers mailing list is the only place where such discussion is welcome.

If you want to watch WordPress’ development without getting cut by using the bleeding-edge nightlies, we have a new timeline that tracks changes in a nifty web interface.

Hopefully with these changes the support forums can become more focused on helping the most people as possible and not guessing what version people run. Those who truly want to live on the bleeding edge and find and squash bugs now have a real place to discuss the nightlies.

Fifty thousand is a big number, but over 50,000 of you have downloaded WordPress 1.5 in the two weeks since it’s been released. The rapid uptake of the Strayhorn release has been surprising and rewarding, and I thought this milestone was a perfect opportunity to say thank you for making WordPress part of your world. Let’s celebrate by helping a friend set up a blog or upgrade to 1.5 and by sharing your knowledge and patience on the support forums.