While the Tavern is definitely back in business, there is one specific goal I have in mind that I would like to accomplish. That goal is changing the content direction of the site so that it’s not created by one person, all the time. There are so many smart WordPress people throughout the overall community and I would like to personally extend an invitation to share your knowledge here on WPTavern.com. Whether it’s bbPress, BuddyPress, GlotPress, a theme review, plugin review, or an interesting set of questions you would like to pose to the WordPress community, please consider WPTavern as an avenue for publishing. I’ll give you a few reasons why.
The first is that WPTavern has a world-wide audience. Having articles linked within the Dashboard is not only a big responsibility, but it has opened the flood gates to the different types of people accessing the content presented on this site from across the world. Through referrer links, I’ve been able to discover so many different websites thanks to people clinking the links from within their dashboard. WPTavern.com is like a giant megaphone that when used correctly, becomes a wonderful thing.
In the near future, WPTavern will become an authoritative website. It’s not about publishing 100 articles a day, but publishing content that is interesting and, providing research/back story to that content. I like to think of WPTavern as an ongoing diary as to what is happening within the world of WordPress. However I’m opening up this diary/platform to the community. There will be caveats of course such as all content passes before me before it’s published. Guest authors will receive a Contributor level account to make things easier for the author to manage their posts.
If you look around, you’ll notice that there are no ads on this site. WPTavern.com is not about generating revenue. It’s about becoming the second largest WordPress community of users and enthusiasts on the web. Of course, the first is WordPress.org itself but the long-term goal for this site is to become an alternative community with an integral bridge to the WordPress project. WordPress.org is not right for everyone whether it be the attitude of people, the atmosphere, or any number of reasons which is why having another place to go is beneficial. In the early days of WPTavern, this website was on pace to become one of the largest parts of the WordPress community with a bustling commenting section, an active forum, and all sorts of different interactions taking place that at times, influenced some of the decisions that were made with the core of WordPress.
There were plenty of times in the past where members of the WPTavern community tried to nominate me to become some sort of WordPress.org community liaison or an employee of Automattic. With the relaunch of WPTavern, I am now in the position at least with this domain to become that community liaison. In the near future, this site will be sporting a new design, bbPress and finally, run BuddyPress. A tavern is a place where people gather to talk and have a good time which is exactly the kind of atmosphere I’ll be promoting here.
If you’re interested in contributing an article to this site, please get in touch with me via the contact form or through twitter @WPTavern.
That is some great news, Jeff! I’m reminiscent of the good old days at WP Tavern, so I’ll try to get involved as much as I can.