In reply to John Teague.

Proper perspective. What is that exactly?

Each update has come with issues. None of the updates have had the impact this one had, but every one of the updates had sites which were taken down with white screen and various other issues which popped up.

The fact that there has been a tolerance for those issues (because they weren't as wide spread) doesn't make those issues non existent.

Yes, let's do put things in their proper perspective.

If you manage 200+ sites and you have certain SOPs then there is a likelihood some of the issues others have experienced won't happen in your arena. However, because you don't experience them does not mean they are not happening elsewhere.

I manage a substantial amount of sites myself. Many of them are my own sites, many are not. I can handle issues arising on some sites because I use them to determine what issues I might have on other sites (test sites). So, letting automatic updates happen on some of those is what I want. That gives me something to gauge whether or not an update is going to possibly be an issue. If none of those sites (set up different ways FWIW) have issues then I don't mind doing a quick backup to the sites I manage and doing the update.

However, when there is an issue, I am very thankful I don't have automatic updates on for the other sites. I have time to check into the issue(s), resolve them and then after there is a solution, I know what to expect and proceed appropriately.

Now, I will reiterate, not one of the automatic updates has been flawless. NOT ONE. Each of them had issues. It's the acceptable amount of sites the core developers and others making the "smart decisions" have figured into their "success" definition which makes the difference.

There was boasting going on when WP 3.8.1 was automatically updated. They claimed "almost" 100% success rate. However, there was also an acknowledgement made that even though there is a successful update that just means that the update completed successfully.

That does not mean the site functioned correctly after the update process was complete. Check WordPress support forums. You will find examples of every update failing somewhere.

That is going to happen because of the thousands of different plugins and themes available. That also is because even WordPress Core Developers do not know all of the code enough to guarantee there isn't going to be issues. The documentation is not complete (as was clearly acknowledged in the previous, recent post on this site about this latest release). There cannot be 100% success rate with 100% functionality after the update is complete unless there is a standard far above what is currently enforced throughout WordPress.

Therefore, there should be the option in core to turn automatic updates "on" with a warning that doing so can result in damage to a site. Those who choose to turn it on, assume the risk. And that "risk" is due to not following the long established advice of professionals throughout the software world and WordPress, which can be found in their Codex here:

https://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Backups

Given the fact that WordPress does not announce these updates ahead of time, it is vitally important that the option to back up a site is available before the site is updated by WordPress. And it should be an option in core.

That is perspective. And it is proper. ;-)