Dexter’s probably a good name for it
The good news is, WordPress has released a full-scale upgrade! The bad news is, I have a WordPress blog.
In true WordPress tradition, just when all of us WP bloggers have gotten comfortable with version 2.2.3 and have fixed everything it broke in our themes and have made sure all our plug-ins are compatible and are basking in the glory of a well-honed blog, just when life is good again, version 2.3 Dexter is released.
And lo, there was much lamenting and gnashing of teeth, and the persecuted wept and rent their garments and pulled at their hair in grievous dismay. And their voices cried out to the heavens for mercy, wailing Why? Why?
Because WordPress is open source, that’s why. Because there are hundreds of people all over the world constantly tinkering with it and coming up with new ways to improve it. Because, when one of the thousands of WP users discovers a bug (however minute) and posts that info in the forums, the WP gurus MUST FIX IT RIGHT NOW. Word Press is anything but static, and life with a WordPress blog is anything but boring.
I learned recently that WordPress is the top self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on hundreds of thousands of sites. This astounds me. Don’t get me wrong, I loves me my WP. A WordPress blog can be a thing of great beauty and supreme functionality, but you gotta want it BAD. Because it ain’t easy. Well, using it is toddler-easy. Maintaining it (i.e., keeping up with the upgrades) takes gritty determination and the willingness to shed blood, sweat and tears in a never-ending quest for blogging perfection. There’s also the addiction factor: Once you’re fully in, there’s no going back. Everything else comes up lacking by comparison, and that’s when you realize all the upgrade agony? So worth it.
Somebody decided back in the beginning that each full version of WordPress would be named after a famous musical artist. Version 2.3 is named after the great tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon. Considering the amount of hair-tearing and suicide attempts that tend to accompany a WordPress upgrade, that name choice seems highly appropriate now that “Dexter” has become synonymous with blood spatter.
Footnote: If you’re a WP user in the San Francisco area, Matt’s having an Upgrade Party. “How badly can you screw it up when the developers are right there?”
[tags]WordPress, upgrade, hell, Dexter, blood spatter[/tags]
September 26th, 2007 at 7:33 am
I love the way you post something like this every time I am thinking about switching over. Can I tell you a secret? I’m never switching over ;).
September 26th, 2007 at 7:47 am
This really doesn’t make me want to use wordpress :( Right now I am hand coding and would like to implement rss, but wordpress scares me :(
September 26th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
In all honesty, I kinda wish I’d gone straight to Typepad without even trying WordPress, because then I wouldn’t know what I was missing. And since I’ve only guest-posted on a Typepad blog, I could be mistaken about it lacking so many of WordPress’s features. I guess I’ll never know.
I do know a few WP bloggers who just don’t upgrade, and therefore don’t suffer the miseries. I couldn’t do that, it would drive me nuts knowing there was something about my version that had been fixed/improved, and I wasn’t benefiting from the fix.
September 26th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Oh your TypePad guest posting functionality is severely limited. Still I am sure they both have elements of being better in some respects. I just like things easy…over easy!
September 26th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
I’m thinking that for now I’m just not going to upgrade. Unless the fix is really worth it? Is it really worth it? What’s been fixed? Of course, I have a tech genius for a boyfriend so he can fix most anything that I screw up, so perhaps I could try to upgrade ;)
September 27th, 2007 at 8:37 am
I thought they named it after Dexter Gordon because version 2.3 BLOWS. I like WP because of all the cool plugins and themes available to WP users. I upgraded to 2.3 and my theme wouldn’t work anymore. My favorite plugins were causing database errors.
I had to use the generic kubrick theme until a patched version of my favorite theme was released by the theme’s author. I then had to deactive most of my plugins.
I *think* I got it all working.
I’m not upgrading WP again until I’m forced to at gun point. Even then, it had better be a big gun and the shooter had better look like he or she knows how to shoot.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
I saw some hag bitching to Netflix about having that ad on the flap of her envelope. Of course, she used the “we must protect the children” defense.
Sheesh.
September 28th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Hilly: What I don’t get is, if WordPress evolved from Movable Type and Typepad, why isn’t it EASIER to maintain?
Suze: You’re probably fine. They say this version fixes a bunch of bugs, but frankly, I wasn’t even aware of any! I’ll let you know if anything crucial changes.
Rick: Oh thanks! :( Now I’m really terrified to upgrade. I hope to God it goes better for me than yours did. And I’m also thinking I may not upgrade again.
ajooja: She’d be horrified to know the crap I allowed my daughter to watch as a kid. Astoundingly, she didn’t grow up to be a psychopath, although she does still love horror flicks.
September 29th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
This is one of the reasons I decided not to go with WP, back when I was evaulating blogging packages: it lacked some functionality I wanted; the templating system was not easier for me to use; and I saw all the upgrade frenzies in the community, and really didn’t want to be part of that whole megillah (again).
I’ve gotten to the point in my life where software upgrades give me nosebleeds. I have to do enough of this for my business; I don’t want to spread the joy to my ‘fun’ stuff.