In this episode of the Post Status Happiness Hour, host Michelle Frechette interviews Roger Williams from Kinsta. Who serves as the Partnerships and Community Manager for North America. They discuss various topics including the WordPress community, Kinsta's new affiliate program, and their global sponsorship of WordCamps. The episode also highlights the creation of collaborative music playlists within the Post Status Slack community and the importance of concise, engaging content. Additionally, the guest shares insights on supporting WordPress contributors and the launch of Kinsta's new automatic updates feature for themes and plugins.

Top Takeaways:

• The Importance of Thorough Testing in Software Development and Releases: Michelle emphasized the critical role of testing and feedback during the release cycle of WordPress 6.8, particularly as they approach its official launch. Despite having a dedicated testing community, the need for more testers is constant to ensure compatibility with a wide range of plugins and themes. The takeaway is that comprehensive testing is vital for minimizing issues at launch, and encouraging more community involvement can help ensure smoother releases.
• The Value of Consistent Community Contribution and Support for Open Source Projects: Roger highlighted the importance of documentation in open-source projects like WordPress, noting that it's often underappreciated until something goes wrong. He also spoke about Kinsta’s involvement in supporting the community through contributions, such as sponsoring WordCamp and supporting documentation initiatives. The takeaway is that consistent, behind-the-scenes contributions, like documentation and community support, are crucial for the sustainability and success of open-source projects, even though they are often taken for granted.
• Kinsta’s Automatic Updates Feature Enhances Site Reliability: Roger introduced Kinsta’s new Automatic Updates feature, which ensures WordPress sites remain updated while minimizing risks. The system takes a before-and-after screenshot during updates and automatically reverts changes if visual differences are detected, helping prevent website issues that could impact business operations.

Mentioned In The Show:

• Kinsta
• Linux container project  
• LinkedIn
• WordCamp US
• Sevalla
• Cloudflare Enterprise
• StackOverflow
• Meetup.com
• WordPress Foundation
• EsoTerra Cidery
• Kinsta Automatic Updates

🙏 Sponsor: WordPress.com

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🐦 You can follow Post Status and our guests on Twitter:

• Roger Williams  (Community Manager, Kinsta)
• Michelle Frechette (Director of Community Relations, Post Status)
• Olivia Bisset (Intern, Post Status)

The Post Status  podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

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