This week’s episode dives into one of the most heated community debates in recent memory after an official WordPress.org social post sparked backlash over tone, professionalism, and leadership. We break down the reactions from long-time contributors, what it says about governance, and why it matters for the future of the project.

Beyond the controversy, we cover early planning for WordPress 7.0, including proposed timelines, PHP support changes, and new leadership roles opening up across Core, Themes, and Plugins. Security remains front and center with hundreds of new vulnerabilities reported, a major Demo Importer Plus patch, and broader discussions around trust, automation, and AI’s growing role in the ecosystem. We also look at key acquisitions, partnerships, plugin releases, funding programs, and new tools pushing WordPress forward.

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Stay tuned for a packed episode covering community tensions, platform evolution, security updates, and the ideas shaping what WordPress becomes next.

This week, we cover major updates shaping the WordPress ecosystem, from contributor initiatives and security concerns to hosting innovations and a wave of new releases. The WordPress Test Team has outlined plans to restructure in 2026 with clearer guidelines and a new training program, while the latest Vulnerability Report flags 139 new issues across plugins and themes. Hosting news includes WP Hosting rebranding as Network Dynamics, BigScoots launching logged-in user caching, and Hosting.com expanding into Bangladesh.

On the product side, Divi 5 lands with semantic HTML support, Amelia 9.0 delivers a full UI refresh, and tools like WPCode, Breakdance, and Block Accessibility Checks introduce meaningful improvements for developers and site builders. Community highlights include a new scholarship for WordCamp Kolhapur, tickets opening for WordCamp Europe 2026, and SiteSEO crossing 500,000 active installs. We also look at new plugins, performance tools, security resources, and fresh thinking on why WordPress remains a strong long-term bet.

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🔹 Kinsta – Premium managed WordPress hosting built for speed, security, and scalability

🔹 ProfilePress – Sell subscriptions, courses, and digital products with Stripe and PayPal

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Stay tuned for a packed week of WordPress news, community progress, and tools pushing the platform forward.

This week, we cover a wide mix of WordPress community updates, security alerts, and evolving conversations around AI and modern web development. The WordPress Community is bringing back women-focused events for International Women’s Day, complete with a new organizer handbook, while the latest Vulnerability Report highlights 150 new issues across plugins and themes in just one week—another reminder of the importance of staying updated.

Beyond WordPress, Meta’s acquisition of the AI startup Manus signals growing investment in autonomous agents, Google quietly rolls out the ability to change Gmail addresses without losing data, and Cursor’s CEO warns against over-reliance on AI-driven “vibe coding” without human oversight. In the ecosystem, we look at successful plugin revivals, new releases like Plugin Check Plugin 1.8 and WP Plugin Info Card 6.2, and practical AI tools designed to help developers follow WordPress best practices.

We also dive into community discussions around underused features like the Command Palette, ideas for improving the Media Library, and why having your own website still matters heading into 2026. Plus, there’s a wave of new tools for syncing with GitHub, auditing repositories, improving caching, and adding animations without complexity.

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Stay tuned for another packed week of WordPress news, insights, and tools shaping the future of the open web.

This week on The WP Week, we break down the conversations shaping WordPress’s future, starting with a proposed 2026 release schedule that aligns major WordPress versions with flagship community events like WordCamp Asia, WordCamp US, and the State of the Word. We also look at progress on the Contributor Dashboard pilot, the WordPress 6.9 retrospective, and new calls for volunteers supporting Campus Connect and education programs.

Gutenberg 22.3 lands with better typography controls, responsive layouts, and improved image editing, while WooCommerce 10.4.3 ships important security and stability fixes. Security remains a key theme, with a critical vulnerability patched in the Motors Theme and renewed debate around data transparency in WooCommerce. Beyond WordPress, we cover Google’s DMCA lawsuit against SerpApi, new CSS Grid Lanes for masonry layouts, and growing concerns around AI-driven web traffic.

Community highlights include the ongoing impact of the WordPress Gives A Hand initiative, the return of Do the Woo as a dedicated WooCommerce podcast, Stephen Wolfram joining Automattic as a special advisor, and WordPress.com’s massive effort to migrate thousands of Typepad blogs before shutdown. We also touch on new tools, plugins, and AI experiments pushing WordPress forward, from block animations to smarter visual workflows.

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Tune in for a packed episode covering releases, security, community initiatives, and the ideas shaping what’s next for WordPress.

This week, we’re unpacking one of the biggest internet disruptions of the year — a major Cloudflare outage that rippled across the web, taking down sites and services worldwide after a critical database issue. Meanwhile, WordPress rolls out Release Candidate 2 for version 6.9, the first-ever WordPress AI Client SDK, and a call for mentors for the new Campus Connect program.

Security was also in the spotlight with active exploits in the Post SMTP plugin, affecting over 400,000 sites, while WooCommerce 10.4 prepares for its December release featuring major accessibility and performance improvements. In business news, Seahawk secures investment from CloudLinux, and Adobe announces its $1.9B acquisition of Semrush.

The WordPress community mourns the loss of contributor Zeel Thakkar, whose work with WordCamp Ahmedabad and Asia inspired many. On the product side, DesignSetGo adds new accessibility-focused blocks, Perfmatters introduces in-plugin code snippets, and ACF Pro 6.7 Beta 1 debuts inline editing for blocks.

Rounding things out, Patchstack celebrates 1,000+ plugins now using its platform for vulnerability reporting, Rocket.net expands hosting into India, and Yoast surprises the community with Yoasie Runner, a fun SEO-themed browser game.

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Stay tuned for this week’s mix of WordPress innovation, security alerts, and community stories shaping the open web.

WordPress 6.9 Release Candidate 1 is here, bringing new Notes, improved Interactivity and Block Binding APIs, border-radius presets, and key fixes across the editor. The community is also watching the situation in Bangladesh, with the Community Team coordinating closely to keep events healthy and safe. Core discussions this week focus on unified roadmaps, better contributor recognition, and preparing developers for the iframe-based editor coming in WordPress 7.0.

The big security story comes from Imunify360, where a critical flaw in its AI-bolit scanner allowed attackers to execute arbitrary PHP—one of the most severe hosting-level issues in a decade. WooCommerce 10.3.5 landed with important compatibility fixes, Google Search Console added custom annotations, and Human Made with WordPress VIP released an AI Readiness Report for enterprise teams.

Beyond core, the ecosystem is buzzing: ElasticPress adds semantic search powered by OpenAI, Elementor 3.33 ships a new Variables Manager and improved CSS controls, Cloudways announces award winners, and GoDaddy launches Airo.ai to bring conversational AI into small-business workflows. CookieAdmin crosses 200k installs, Charitable hits 1M downloads, and WPConsent powers 100k+ sites just months after launch.

New projects this week include lightweight analytics tools, design block collections, country-based pricing for WooCommerce, modern CAPTCHA options, and fresh plugins for loyalty programs, filters, archives, and more.

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Dive in for another week of releases, security alerts, community news, and fresh innovation across the WordPress world.

This week’s WP Week dives into the big shifts coming with Gutenberg Phase 3, including real-time collaboration, threaded block-level Notes, and a fresh admin redesign.

We also cover the latest WordPress 6.9 Beta 4 updates, the arrival of the Abilities API, and what’s new in Gutenberg 22.0. On the security front, critical vulnerabilities in Post SMTP and AI Engine were patched, while WooCommerce opened beta testing for its new MCP integration.

Beyond WordPress, we look at Google’s structured data changes, Perplexity’s $400M Snapchat partnership, new acquisitions, and standout community moments from CloudFest USA to WordCamp Asia 2026. Plus a wave of new tools and plugins shaping the future of WordPress development.

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This week, the spotlight is on Automattic’s trademark dispute with the creator of Automatic.css, sparking debate around branding and open-source naming rights. We also cover WordPress 6.9 Beta 2, featuring 33 editor updates and the long-awaited merge of the Abilities API, plus major improvements to plugin security checks through the new Plugin Check Plugin.

Across the ecosystem, Campus Connect Costa Rica and WordCamp Islamabad showcased WordPress’s growing global footprint, while critical vulnerabilities were patched in King Addons, Anti-Malware Security, and WP Freeio. WooCommerce 10.3.4 brings key performance fixes, and FAIR joins Patchstack for real-time site protection.

Outside WordPress, OpenAI’s ChatGPT Go expands globally, Google launches Pomelli, and Microsoft confirms its $135B stake in OpenAI. Community highlights include BobWP’s 700th podcast milestone and new plugin launches like Ability Explorer, Plugin Curator, and PodLoom.

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🔹 Kinsta – Premium managed WordPress hosting with speed, security, and scalability built in

🔹 WP Shell – Learn to self-host your WordPress site with 25+ free lessons on VPS and server setup

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Stay tuned for this week’s blend of WordPress news, community highlights, security alerts, and AI innovation shaping the open web.