Tattered american flag tattoo

In our first article in this series , we highlighted the WordPress mission to democratize publishing. WordPress introduced a tool to independent and small publishers who did not have the resources of the larger publishing platforms. Access to a free content management system to create websites has empowered thousands of people to find their voice online. People have been able to share their enthusiasm for hobbies, causes, products and much more. Through these different voices, we can encourage understanding, spark creativity, and create environments where collaboration can happen. But as we build more digital communities, it’s easy to forget that online safety is a group effort. Digital literacy is also part of being a good digital citizen, but it’s more than just being able to do basic actions with your mobile device. Digital literacy refers to the range of skills needed to do online research, set up web accounts, and find solutions for fixing devices among other things. But to be … [Read more...] about Responsible Participation In Online Communities

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You are an agent of change. Has anyone ever told you that? Well, I just did, and I meant it. Normally we stay away from from politics here at the official WordPress project — having users from all over the globe that span the political spectrum is evidence that we are doing our job and democratizing publishing, and we don’t want to alienate any of our users no matter how much some of us may disagree with some of them personally. Today, I’m breaking our no-politics rule, because there’s something going on in U.S. politics right now that we need to make sure you know about and understand, because it affects us all. Using WordPress to blog, to publish, to communicate things online that once upon a time would have been relegated to an unread private journal (or simply remained unspoken, uncreated, unshared) makes you a part of one of the biggest changes in modern history: the democratization of publishing and the independent web. Every time you click Publish, you are a part of that … [Read more...] about Help Stop SOPA/PIPA

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This post is about the @WordPress Twitter account, so if you don’t use Twitter , or don’t care about Twitter, then feel free to take the time you might have spent reading this post to go play outside (or an equivalent) instead. Okay, so, Twitter! When all those apps started popping up using the Twitter API, things like automatically following anyone who followed you and sending an automatic Direct Message seemed like good ideas. We’re all friends, right? Wrong. That auto-follow bit us hard, and the huge amount of spam the account gets means that it’s been nearly impossible to monitor legitimate messages from WordPress users and developers who need to be pointed to a help resource. We’re sorry! Just as we needed to get the Ideas Forum under control* so that it could become a more useful resource for the community, we needed to get rid of the spam clogging our Twitter arteries. Except there was no easy way to do it. We had wound up following over 50,000 people. If someone went … [Read more...] about Tweet, Tweet!

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Are you looking to send confirmation emails after a user submits a form on your website? Confirmation emails can be a great way to let users know that you received their message, and that you’ll be in touch soon. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to send confirmation emails to your users after a WordPress form submission (step by step). Why Set Up Automated Confirmation Emails in WordPress? Confirmation emails are sent when a user fills out a contact form or another form on your WordPress site . Sending an automated confirmation email is a nice gesture. Plus, it lets your users know you’ve received their information. This also lets your users double-check their entries to see if any errors were made. There are a lot of good reasons to set up WordPress form confirmation emails: Allows you to open a line of communication with your subscribers Can provide valuable follow-up information, like links and tutorials Let’s you confirm the email is a real email Can … [Read more...] about How to Send Confirmation Emails after WordPress Form Submission

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WordPress comes with built-in mail feature which uses PHP’s mail function to send out emails. There are several WordPress newsletter plugins which allow you to run a fully functional newsletter using this feature. Recently one of our users asked us: “if it is possible to send out email newsletters using WordPress plugins, then why do we recommend using an email service provider like Constant Contact or Aweber?” In this article, we will explain why you should never use WordPress to send newsletter emails. Why You Should Take Your Email List Seriously? Your email list is one of the most reliable communication tool. It helps you bring back users to your website. It helps you increase sales, promote products, and build trust around your brand. If you are not already doing it, then you should start building your email list right away. You will notice that almost every serious marketer, blogger, and expert will recommend that you use an email marketing service such as Aweber … [Read more...] about Why You Should Never Use WordPress to Send Newsletter Emails

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