Not many of the present readers might know me very well, and that in part, is the reason that I have made the decision to transfer WLTC to more willing and presently capable hands. I am a stranger on my blog and the time has come for me to make sure that this blog, its contents and its knowledge are archived and preserved and maybe rejuvenated at a later time.
I delved into blogging tools back in 2004 when I started my Masters degree in CS. I wanted some code to mess around with in my free time and everyone was talking about blogging. I looked into a variety of tools, built a small Linux server for myself at home, and installed a few of the tools that were freely available at that time. I had a heck of a time getting a hold of MT (Moveable Type, the most well-known name) and then found b2 by sheer luck. I loved the cool look of Michael’s blog and the people involved in the tool seemed to be open to comments and replied warmly to my emails and questions. Through the b2 forums I heard about WordPress and proceeded to install it on my own. To my astonishment, it worked without a hitch and I was blogging away in no time. I started looking through the code to understand how it worked and it drew me in every step of the way.
Within a few months of installing WordPress, I started to take part in the forums and wrote a few plugins and created some “hacks” for the tool. I even gained some notoriety with my MT VS WP post and that’s when the WordPress ecosphere started to look very attractive to me. I did not do this to seek attention, but I was getting a lot of attention and I was loving it. I believe that was when Matt first noticed me and we exchanged some emails and chatted with each other. With every month and with every release of WordPress I was getting more involved. At some point I realized that I could not do it alone and hired a few interested people to help me write posts and the blog started to get popular. I brought on some advertisers to help me offset costs. Matt gave me and my blog the highest honor of being included in the WordPress Planet and that’s when things really started to happen for this blog. I also started a WordPress Job blog (http://jobs.wordpress.net) which I still curate and I got involved in WordPress evangelism. Somewhere within this time, Matt had asked me to work for him at the new company he was starting and I had to turn him down because of visa restrictions and because I wanted to finish school (I kick myself every time I think about that).
WordPress started to mature and WordCamps started to happen. I graduated from school with a Master’s Degree in Computer Science and found a job. I wanted to stay involved but it was getting bigger than I could handle. I could either dive in and get into WordPress and the blogging world, or I could focus on my job, career and family. I decided to choose the latter. I still wanted to loosely be involved with WordPress and things went well for a couple of years with me being casually involved. I even visited and spoke at a couple of WordCamps.
When my son Lucien was born, all my time and attention was exhausted on him. I could not spend any time with WordPress or blogging at all. In addition to my growing family, I was diagnosed with a serious health condition just as I was starting a new job and moving to a new city. Needless to say, the blog was the last thing on my mind. James, who has been the sole author and curator for a long time, was my winning hand and just a fantastic helper and well wisher. He has kept things running for a long time and I have had no complaints.
But I have found very little time to come back and spend with my old friends, Weblog Tools Collection and WordPress. I do not want this blog’s content and conversations to be lost or forgotten because of my neglect. I am hoping this move will help it live on as an archive, or find new lifeblood in another form. I know that it is in the right hands.
So Adios and Gracias. I hope to see you in another blog, and take part in another conversation with you someday. It has been a wonderful journey and I appreciate everything that has taken place because of WordPress and every bit of help and encouragement that has been provided to me by so many of you. So thank to my wonderful audience of many years, thanks to my advertisers, thanks to my authors and finally thanks to Matt and to WordPress for making my life so much more fulfilling and successful.
Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All, And to All a Goodnight!
And I hate the fact such posts come on 31st March ….Make me hard to believe..!!
I recognize the irony!
best of luck mark. i wish you the very best!
Thank you again for giving me the chance to contribute to the blog that actually got me started on WordPress all those years ago! It has been a surreal and fun ride. 🙂
If anyone is wondering where to go now, we published Where to Find WordPress News yesterday.
I’ll miss all of you kind and wonderful folks, but I’m sure we’ll cross paths again some where some day.
Thanks James!
You’re welcome!
Thanks for everything. Best of luck.
If not an early joke, enjoyed for the most part.
Thanks for all you have done in this area Mark and best of luck as you move on. Thanks for letting me be a contributor here as well.
Good luck Mark, thanks for all the posts!
I religiously checked the new an updated plugins every time there was a new “edition” of those posts. You will be missed!
Thanks for the blog, I’ll miss it!
Always looked forward to the new plugins and theme releases that you assembled. Will continue to do so. But thank you for all you’ve done for the WP community, and me.
Well, I am definitely going to miss this blog. Every single plug-in that I use was found through a recommendation here, and most of the themes I’ve used over the last couple years too. A shame, but life must go on.
Viki
I remember a day nine years ago when you helped me with one of your old plugins. I was a n00b to WordPress and I was having a hard time converting from outdated B2. People like you made it all easier for people like me back then and changed our lives in some way. Thank you and good luck with whatever you decide to do. 🙂
All the best to you and your family.
Good luck Mark! This was the first WordPress news blog that I ever followed. Sad to see it go but thanks for keeping it going for 9 years!
Good luck, Mark! I used to check WLTC daily in my WordPress dashboard when I started using WordPress and referred back to several of the how to posts when I began theme development. 🙂 I’ll never forget the excitement of having a theme linked on Weblog Tools Collection and being interviewed here by Jeff Chandler.
Mark, I owe so much of where I am today because of Weblog Tools Collection … and am so grateful for all you’ve done for WordPress and me personally.
It’s a bittersweet day … I wish you and your family the best though!
I did not know any good resource for themes and plugin updates like this site!
It has become my everday routine, to check – it was not coming to me, through RSS feed. It was something, that I have visited every day!
Thank and let your good and kind work towards the community beloved by others too!
Thanks for all the great work Mark. I have always admired this site and your work 🙂
Although I am saddened by Mark’s decision I also understand it. Real life and family comes first. It was a remarkable run. I’ll always look to this site as the ultimate WordPress resource.
I also want to personally thank Mark for recognizing my past work in the forums by making me an administrator and then granting me fill-in author status on the main site. I haven’t been active on this site for a long time due to real life getting in the way but I had a lot of fun. Not only that, the experience was also educational and rewarding. I learned so much about WordPress themes by my work in the forums and I had so much fun by interacting with everyone on the main site.
Nothing but good memories of this place.
Good luck with the future Mark. Hope we run into each other again. And once again, thanks.
Thanks for great work Mark. Best wishes for your future endeavour… 🙂
I still remember excitement of submitting my first plugin in new plugin forum (and then waiting for your roundup blog posts to spread the word about it)
Thank you a lot for all the knowledge you could share
Wish you best of health. Will miss you.