85. Water under the bridge

All the bans that had been placed on members of the WordPress Community will be lifted in the coming days.

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Program transcript

Hello, I’m Alicia Ireland, and you’re listening to WPpodcast, bringing the weekly news from the WordPress Community.

In this episode, you’ll find the information from April 21st to 27th, 2025.

The judicial processes are still ongoing—and in plural—as there are now two open cases related to the same situation that’s been unfolding since last September. One, the better known, is WP Engine’s case against the blockages placed upon them. But there’s also Keller v. Automattic, which approaches the issue from a viewpoint more closely related to users and the community.

And this explains why, in relation to all these judicial proceedings, all the bans placed on members of the WordPress Community are being lifted. This means all users blocked on social networks (primarily X), Slack, and WordPress.org will be unblocked, allowing everyone to contribute again, thus reducing judicial pressure.

Upcoming versions of WordPress Core continue forward, in this case as minor versions.

To start testing their functionality, the release of WordPress 6.8.1 is scheduled for April 30, including three minor fixes, although additional fixes may still be added.

This has also led to opening the branch for WordPress 6.8.2, to which potential tickets have already been added.

The semi-automated synchronization process between WordPress.tv and the official YouTube channel has resumed after a pause initiated in October 2024 to reevaluate the video strategy.

In the first quarter of 2025, there was 38% less subscriber growth on YouTube and a notable drop in average watch time compared to the same period in 2024, highlighting the importance of reactivating this synchronization. WordPress’s official YouTube channel recently surpassed 110,000 subscribers.

And finally, this podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons license as a derivative version of the podcast in Spanish; you can find all the links for more information, and the podcast in other languages, at WPpodcast .org.

Thanks for listening, and until the next episode!