Who snatched the WordPress wizards?
Has anyone else noticed things are a little…strange around here lately? I don’t know about you, but I’ve got an absurd number of hits from WordPress.com these past two days and try as I might I can’t find my blog featured anywhere in particular. Typically it tells me what tag it’s from or which blog, but now it’s just straight-feeding general stats. I certainly don’t mind, but it’s a little confusing when paired with my next area of concern:
Why hasn’t Freshly Pressed changed? Even if it updates later this morning, it still went the entire weekend and three weekdays without changing over. I know there’s only a handful of WordPress wizards to go around, and no offense to the currently featured folks who are no doubt enjoying the consistent slew of hits and comments. My issue isn’t that they’re still up… it’s that I fear something has happened to the wizards.
Has it?
I saw a couple new themes roll out, so someone must be updating Twitter. And The Daily Post is still alive and kicking. But… but what about everyone else? Are the crazy number of new WordPress hits linked to the lack of Freshly Pressed
Have you seen the WordPress Wizards? Don't be freaked out by the dead eyes. They're good people.
rollover?
What is this madness!?
I tried to Google these issues last night to see if anyone else was concerned, but I only found a few tweets in the sidebar of this blog mentioning the same things I was experiencing (Hi Deborah. Thank you for your shared concern for the wizards). If we go the whole week with these anomalies, I might start a search party. Possible tomfoolery regarding the WordPress Wizards includes but is not limited to:
- They were stolen and replaced by hackers who failed to realize that in order to maintain the facade of normalcy, they must continue to rotate Freshly Pressed features
- They got golden tickets to the Wonka factory and are working to craft the most amazing insider testimonial blog post ever
- They have been eaten by the exotic animals running amok in Ohio
The Jackie Blog 
I wondered the same thing. Went to the Forums this morning and someone said everyone’s in a meeting. http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/freshly-pressed-not-fresh?replies=4#post-724464.
I was in a seminar all day yesterday and I was ready to chew my own leg off to escape. Can’t imagine a week-long meeting, unless they are Brainstorming in the Bahamas,
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Read there was a Word Camp this week.
I think the one weakness of WordPress is its support system. I wanted to set up a store so I could add affiliates and this meant switching to WordPress.org. Paid for help and still would only hear from the Wizards once a day, not on weekends, and many times it was a cryptic answer that did no good. A total disaster and I doubt now that a store will be worth the effort and put it low on my priority list.
I also see WP now has expensive VIP accounts and suspect the support goes there first. So the money makers and bean counters are at work. I watched them destroy much of several not for profit agencies I worked for.
Still gotta hear a living. Hopefully they won’t neglect us small ones totally.
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I went back to the forums just now (Thurs afternoon) and one of the regular volunteers had posted the following:
Support is closed while the company meets up and works together for the next week. We will be back on October 29th.
Whoa! That’s a 10 day hiatus.
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I don’t understand fully the differences between wordpress.com and wordpress.org. I should read up on it.
I don’t mind the VIP support – I think WordPress offers a lot of tools that they don’t have to offer for folks for little to no money. I’m really impressed that I pay such a small hosting fee and get access to forums, were folks will basically solve your problems for free or even tell you how to change the code on your site for what you want as an end result. Plus, the analytics, the chance to be Freshly Pressed – it’s all a pretty good deal I think 🙂
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Thanks for doing all the hard work for me. I really appreciate it 😉
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I have my virtual flashlight and search dogs ready!
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Was it you that scrounged them up finally? So glad to see FP up and running again.
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I’ve noticed a few more hits on my blog, and I can’t figure why, since its not my postaday blog (it is wordpress though)—but I’m not complaining. I’m not computer savvy so I guess I’m just thankful that they still feature my postaday blog. I hope they keep up the good work because if it turns out that I will have make changes, well, I’m not that young anymore!
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It does get harder and harder to keep up, doesn’t it? I suspect that any gathering of the wizards resulted in improvements, also known as change 😉 Good luck to us all!
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For seminar goers. Reading the book Brain Rules…says we need a drastic change of pace every 30 minutes and review for anything to have something stay with us. I endured seminars and meetings by folding Peace Cranes under the table. I could fold 20 in a boring two hour meeting. The fewer I folded the better the meeting. Had a peace crane project going at a service I directed so I could feel my time was not totally wasted. Stay strong. Also set up my lap top to take notes, sat where no one could peek and did my computer thing and took some notes.
Staying strong in not easy to do.
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Love the Peace Crane bit 🙂
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I have noticed the hit climb myself – not sure what is up at all but things keep changing here…
I like to know about changes ahead of time so that I can learn new features so – maybe I am not reading in the right place and missing updates?
M.L.
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They usually announce on Twitter and through The Daily Post – if you’re signed up for both of those you shouldn’t miss a thing 🙂
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I’ve noticed that too! I thought it was just my computer.. I was wrong.
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Thank goodness we all made through it together 😉
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You may note that I found you googling “WordPress Not Updating Freshly Pressed.” I too am annoyed by the monotony of the front page, as it fills the hours, and provides me with both snorts of derision, and raised eyebrows of learning, depending on the blog.
Thankfully, Google sent me here, because I was, indeed, feeling lucky. And now I know, I AM NOT ALONE. *subscribes*
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I wondered, too. There’s all sorts of little tweaks and changes here and there (notice, the “follow” tab, which replaced the “subscriptions” tab, has disappeared in favor of a “read blogs” tab in a totally different spot). I’ve been bugged that Freshly Pressed hasn’t changed in days… and I’ve wondered about stats, too, as I got a lot of generic wordpress.com hits but the stat numbers didn’t add up to my totals. I think the “meeting” Peg referred to is the Occupy protest. It’s the only explanation for the anarchy.
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Ha – good one! They probably read Jackie’s post about visiting the protest and decided to check it ou.
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Yes, there was some fuzzy math there for a bit too, wasn’t there? Love the idea that my blog could uproot the entire support system and relocate them to Pitt haha
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Glad I’m not the only one who’s noticed. All the little changes and lack of “freshness” have been getting on my nerves. Maybe the wizards got jumped for their awesome realistic Halloween costumes? I’m all in for the search party, especially if that means trekking to the Bahamas.
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Thank goodness they’re back! What, did they expect me to hunt out good blogs on my own? 😛
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I noticed as well. Maybe the wizards went on vacation. They’re probably in Asheville, NC being leaf-lookers. We’re having our primetime of leaf season right now.
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I love the conjecture 🙂
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Should I be concerned that everyone else’s hits were climbing while mine started going depressingly downhill?
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it’s oh-so depressing when the stats aren’t up, isn’t it? Blog maintenance is an emotional roller coaster.
If it makes you feel any better, it was a fluke. They’re back now and so are my stats – to their normal states.
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I think they call themselves Happiness Engineers. I guess they had to take a long break from us in order to recharge their Happy Batteries…
Funny thing is, when they aren’t around minding the store, our hits go up…
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Right? They’ve been holding us back, not doubt 😉
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I miss freshly pressed – that’s how I found you and subscribed months ago. I think the hits are genuine though as I have not seen any change from my regular amount. Since I’m not a post a dayer mine are very cyclical and have been where they usually fall.
Good luck finding the wizards!
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I’m so glad to see that FP is back! I too was tiring of the same posts. I’m so glad you found me and so flattered you subscribed. Thank you so much for sticking around 🙂
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