Jonathan and Luke catch up with Lesley Sim to explore her experience creating products in the WordPress ecosystem, starting with Newsletter Glue, and now EventKoi. They discuss her and Ahmed’s approach to building EventKoi as an ecosystem plugin and their thinking about early decisions. Luke reflects on what he found inspiring about their approach to design and Jonathan asks questions about their plans for growing the EventKoi ecosystem. Ultimate Frisbee is also discussed.
Season 9
Season 9 is starting off with the announcement of a WordPress Jubilee!? We’ll cover this and more as we enter into a maintenance pattern on the project. This season we’re also re-introducing Perspectives episodes: longer interviews with people from inside and outside the community.
The Formula
Luke and Jonathan talk through Nilay Patel’s recent interview with Matt on Decoder. Luke shares the “formula” he observed in Matt’s responses and Jonathan pushes back on Luke’s assumptions about the “we” in community. They discuss a premium plugin directory, low ticket sales for WordCamp US, and Jonathan attempts a cricket reference.
Perspectives with John Gruber
John Gruber’s Dithering podcast with Ben Thompson was the original inspiration for Crossword’s 15-minute format. Five years later, John joins Luke and Jonathan for a wide-ranging conversation covering open versus closed platforms, the history and impact of Markdown, and a missed opportunity in WordPress. Luke goes on about the good old days, Jonathan starts thinking about a rival platform, and John makes a prediction for the ten-year follow-up episode.
Mad Kings
Jonathan and Luke discuss DHH’s recent comments about Matt and their own experiences with gaslighting. They also re-explore their consternation with Matt’s “inclusivity” in his decision making. Luke talks about his work on the recently renamed Plugins Team and Jonathan expresses his discomfort with the lack of clear commercial incentives.
Options, Not Decisions
Luke and Jonathan discuss recent coverage of Crossword and how Luke’s words sound in print. They also discuss the Secure Hosting Alliance and riff on an idea for a new hosting company. Luke expresses his frustration with the complexity of WordPress today and Jonathan wonders if the upcoming 6.9 and 7.0 releases might bring new hope.