Almost 12 years of WordPress Podcasting

I originally wrote this post over on WPwatercooler.com but who knows how long that site will stay up.

For nearly 12 years, I’ve had the privilege of hosting WPwatercooler a podcast that I founded with a bunch of fun folks in our local community. Around the 9-year mark, I wrote a post titled Podcasting about WordPress: What I Learned in 9 Years, which delves into some of the show’s history, as does the WPwatercooler Origin Story. Recently, we recorded our final episode, EP485 – So Limitless and Free, and I wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts on why I’ve decided to step away from the show and why this will be our final episode.

Please note that these views are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of my two co-hosts. We don’t blog much on this site, so if you’re reading this, it’s me Jason Tucker the mostly quiet yet productive behind the scenes one on the show.

Over the years, as a commentator in the WordPress space, I’ve noticed significant shifts in the community and the platform itself. WordPress has become increasingly political, and the direction it has taken is one that I find myself less inclined to analyze or discuss. The leadership is honestly pretty wonky, we’ve discussed it at great length on our podcast episodes as of late and Sé even blogged about it last year A Call for Accountability: Sharing My WordPress Code of Conduct Report. The product, in my opinion, has experienced numerous changes that have left me questioning whether I still want to be a part of this conversation and whether I should continue to offer a resource for something I no longer feel passionate about. I still appreciate the software WordPress once was, but I’m less enthusiastic about what it has become. When I look back in 5 years will it be renamed Jetpack and run on Node.js, deeply? Who knows.

While I continue to use WordPress for certain projects and stay informed about its developments, I’ve also explored other CMS and website-building tools. A while back I did a bit of a “rumspringa,” so to speak, allowed me to discover alternatives that better suit my current needs, and I find myself gravitating towards these new tools for many of my projects. This exploration lead me to some cool software and something I’m now using in a bunch of personal sites and projects for my friends.

At one point my involvement in the Southern California WordPress community was extensive—attending numerous meetups and WordCamps. Recording and streaming videos of our meetups and some of the WordCamps. WordPress became such a significant part of my identity that stepping back from being “the WordPress guy” in my circles has been a process. WordPress is a great tool for some websites, but it’s not the solution for every project, and it’s not something I’d recommend for every use case. Years ago having a WordPress cake at a party for it’s 10 year birthday for our WordPress meetup didn’t seem weird, but now it kinda does. 🤷🏻‍♂️. WordPress at that time was more the community and less the php files. The community was worthy of the 🍰.

Over the past 12 years, we’ve produced 830 videos across 6 shows and special content verticals. We’ve conducted interviews, tested plugins and themes, broadcasted live from WordCamps, and more. Even my daughter Jess had the opportunity to interview women in WordPress at a WordCamp US, which was a highlight for us. We’ve had over 400 contributors in one way or another during this journey. It’s been an incredible run, and I’m grateful for all the support and camaraderie in our community. A lot of love, care and self funding went into this project, I hope I find something just as special someday to pour my time into.

Our Discord will remain active, and the YouTube channel will stay up until it meets the fate of Google Reader. I’m also committed to hosting the podcast files for at least six more months. The website is on shared hosting with “all of the plugins set to auto update” if it breaks it isn’t my fault. Both WPwatercooler and Dev Branch feeds will no longer be updated and no shows will be produced for either.

In closing, there is a lot of software out there, don’t let a silly tattoo you got at a WordCamp be the reason to pigeon hole yourself into only using this collection of php, js, css and images there are plenty of other things out there to explore, make better and use on projects. Use WordPress, don’t use WordPress it’s totally up to you.

Thank you all for your support. Here’s our last episode—enjoy.