Discovering New Horizons in Newsletter Creativity

Stick around until the end to meet a dog that has perfected the art of snuggling.

In this issue:

Testers needed: 6.8 is primed and ready for your exploration.
The Wordfence team encourages you to embark on a bug-hunting adventure. Are you up for the challenge?
Exciting news! International Women’s Day addressed gender disparity in WordPress! Just kidding…

Breaking News: What’s Happening?

47!? Rookie.

If you, our dear reader, aren’t juggling at least 5-6 dozen tabs right now, what are you doing with your life?

Oh, your computer crashed? Because of all those tabs?

Alright, we can understand that.

Regardless, don’t you dare close this tab just yet, keep scrolling for all the exciting WordPress updates, friend!

Testing 1… 2… 3… 6.8

WordPress 6.8 is scheduled for release on April 15th, 2025, but if you wish to preview it and give it a test drive, Beta testers are needed now.

It’s always a thrill to leap into the latest release (in a staging environment or in Playground, of course, for safety!) and play around to discover what functions well, what doesn’t, and if any glitches could cause your site to implode (yikes!)

By the way, you don’t need to be the top-tier developer to join in! Just use WordPress as you typically would and report on WordPress Trac should anything go awry.

WordPress 6.8 is designed to be a “polish release,” aiming to make it as flawless and sparkly as possible before its official debut next month.

What’s in store for 6.8?
This release boasts numerous shiny enhancements, such as:

370+ Improvements and 520 Bug Resolutions: The editor has been upgraded, with simpler ways to view options in Data Views and various other optimizations.
Speculative Loading: Experience near-instantaneous page loading by pre-loading URLs before your visitor even arrives at them.
A Chic New Style Guide: It features a well-structured design, making it easier to preview site colors, typography, and block designs.
Enhanced Security: The new version will implement bcrypt for password security, a significant update that will significantly increase security.

What remains a mystery? The jazz legend after whom this release will be named.

Anyone want to wager on who it might be?

Keep Your Bug-Squashing Streak Alive!

The Wordfence team has revealed new updates to their Bug Bounty Program, including a “Monthly Bug Detector Streak Bonus” that allows you to earn extra rewards based on both the quantity and quality of your vulnerability reports.

Perhaps they should hire their own version of the (now departed) DuoLingo Owl to enforce streak-keeping through passive-aggressive reminders and subtly threatening messages?

If you’re eager to start your streak, here’s where you can register for the program.

Happy bug-hunting!

Want to Boost Your WordPress Business? Employ a Woman in a Leadership Role

The flowers from International Women’s Day have faded and the chocolates are all gone, but we still need to address women in tech.
Lawrence Ladomery on the WP BizDev blog outlines a straightforward yet impactful growth strategy: hire women in leadership positions.

It’s not only beneficial for diversity, but it’s also smart economics. The studies referenced reveal that companies with women in leadership generally experience faster growth, superior performance, and higher profits compared to those that don’t. In fact, this Peterson Institute for International Economics study actually analyzed the figures and concluded that organizations with 30% female leaders could add up to 6 percentage points to their net profit margin.

Why?

Diverse leadership teams result in better decision-making, foster more creativity, and help avoid major errors.
Companies with leadership that reflects diverse backgrounds and experiences can better solve problems, adapt to change, and expand their customer reach.
Having women in leadership roles leads to a more satisfied and engaged workforce that tends to stay longer.

Of course, this goes beyond merely hiring one woman and calling it a day. It’s about forming leadership groups that accurately represent the real world—and benefiting from all those fantastic fresh ideas and perspectives.

As Rae Morey points out in her article, “Who Leads WordPress Businesses? The Data Confirms It’s (Still) Not Women,” only 4% of firms committed to WordPress’s Five for the Future initiative have a female leader at the top. She notes the “Broken Rung” phenomenon, which hinders women from reaching leadership positions in WordPress, not to mention the Glass Ceiling that awaits them at the pinnacle.

P.S. Rae’s been advocating for this for a while — check out this 12-year-old blog post titled “Where are the Women in WordPress?” Let’s hope for change soon!

The World Server Throwing Championships:

If pondering the lack of diversity in tech makes you so mad you want to hurl a server as hard as possible… we have some exciting news for you.

The World Server Throwing Championships are returning at CloudFest 2025!

This event welcomes participants of all genders and skill levels, requiring only a “strong desire to throw a server really %&#*ing far.”

Hey, we’ve all been there, right?

Set to take place in Europa-Park, Germany, contestants, sysadmins, and hosting experts are called to channel their inner Viking and launch a retired server as far as they can.

The competition features several categories, including Men’s, Women’s, and even a Master League where local champions from the Netherlands and Spain as well as the winner of Day 1 will face off against reigning champion Bartosz “The Beast” Wojciak. Everyone has a chance at glory! (Or perhaps just a GIF-worthy moment of flailing around.)

In addition to raw power, there’s a tactical component: do you opt for a discus-style spin, a clean-and-jerk-style throw, or just go for it with a primal shout? Strategy is key.

If you plan to attend CloudFest and feel you’ve got the strength to compete, registration is now open. The grand prize? Eternal fame and some serious bragging rights!

Mind-Boggling Facts & Stats

According to The WP World, March has the highest number of Presser birthdays, closely followed by June. (Source)
Over 1,000 WordPress websites have been compromised with third-party JavaScript codes that inject four distinct backdoors. This way, hackers have a safety net in case you discover one. (Source)
Jamie Marsland discusses the three greatest existential challenges facing WordPress: AI Site Builders, Zero-Click Search Results & The Decline of Traditional Blogging. His remedy appears to be infusing AI into nearly everything WordPress-related. Do you concur? (Source)

Blogs & Resources You Should Check Out

Stop trying to make Prefetch a thing, Gretchen! Employing this technique for speculatively loading pages is intended to improve performance, but it can actually slow down your website if executed incorrectly.

Who requires actual coding knowledge when you can simply operate on vibes? (What could possibly go awry?)

In the 50th episode of Seriously, BUD?, Marcus Burnette flips the script and interviews Bud himself about his own journey with WordPress.

In a thought-provoking HeroPress article, Alexis Bocklin, CEO of the Ukrainian agency DreamDev, recounts how their partners in Europe helped keep the company afloat amid the war with Russia that began in 2022.

So no one informed you that life would be this way? On the DoTheWoo Podcast, Alex Kirk discusses his Friends plugin, which allows you to follow content from other WordPress sites and engage with it on your own site.

“Your WordPress site is a dynamic entity filled with plugins, themes, and databases that can – and will – fail if you neglect it.” – Codeable on web maintenance tasks you should really undertake.