WordPress Changes – Poll – Valued Customers ?

Others in this series are Start -Herded ?  Kept in the Dark ?  Valued Customer ?  and more to come. Workarounds are here.  My standby blog is http://freedfromtime.blogspot.co.uk/

Purpose

It is now evident that WP management will not pay attention to customers disquiet and have opted for obstinate.  It also evident that they have kept some motives hidden (see below).

The only option left is to seek a change of management by alerting investors via the tech-media.  The forums and this opportunity to vote will be used for that purpose.

 A Free Blog

First let’s dispel a myth that this is free blogging and we should be grateful.

It is the bloggers who have made WordPress a success and very valuable.   The last assessment was $1.4 billion.

Blogger’s work either attracts advertising (which you don’t see whilst logged in).  Or, as most seem to do, pay $30 p.a. as an upgrade to keep ads off.   With several million using WordPress, that’s a lot of $30.

The much vaunted Open Source Code works both ways.  This means that Automattic must be sitting on a vast repository of free code.

Respect

Bloggers were not consulted about any of these changes beforehand. The were foisted on us without any warning.  Moreover, despite protest, almost all the Links go to the new Stats page and it as been stated that the old one will become unavailable.  Moreover it has been increasingly difficult to avoid the new editor and the some of the real motives for all this have been kept hidden.

If one looks at the type of accounts available, what was referred to as “Basic” is now referred to as “Beginner”.   It is hardly respectful to refer to Bloggers, who have been publishing for years,  as “Beginners”.

A number of Bloggers have complained at their comments to Daily Post being held in moderation and the topic closed before their comment was published.

Forum Topics have been closed by staff without the permission of the originator or any consensus by the contributors.  Like this and this, amongst others.  This one after only 24 minutes.  The latter conveys notions of Customer Service, it must have been an uncomfortable idea.

This is hardly the “Democratized Blogging” that has been much-lauded.

As an Aside

I wonder if WordPress employees know that they are referred to as Auto Matt icians.  That is the correct spelling.

Do You Feel That you are  Valued Customer ?

There is an opportunity to vote by clicking on a Like in the appropriate comment box below. The third comment box has a link to commentary with replies available.

Please spread the word by Linking, Sharing, Reblogging, or however you think best, so that others have the opportunity to view and vote.

Thank you for taking the trouble to visit.

* Automattic employees may comment but may not vote. * For surety, I have not used PollDaddy because it is owned by Automattic.

⇐ Kept in the Dark