Today is Matt Mullenweg’s 40th birthday. While I’m not particularly close to him, I do consider him a friend in some ways. I’ve met him in person many times, though it’s often very brief. In the 17+ years I’ve used WordPress, I’ve also listened to him talk more than I can even estimate.
Much of my professional career has been spent working in some form with the WordPress software that he co-created with Mike Little by forking the b2/cafelog project 20 years ago this past May. I was still in high school at the time learning HTML, CSS, and Java. But I’d soon discover WordPress during my freshman year of college. Who knows where I’d be today if I hadn’t found a home in the WordPress community.
In 2018, he approved a nomination to grant me committer status in the WordPress project. I joined group of just a few dozen other contributors as a trusted conservator of the software he co-created, and a defender of the GPL. I’ll always be grateful for that vote of support.
One thing I always admire is Matt’s optimism. In today’s busy and often cruel world, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that anyone can do good if they put in the effort. He frequently says that anyone in the WordPress community can positively impact others through improving the software, sharing knowledge, or offering a helping hand.
These interactions and contributions seem small. But collectively they can improve the Internet and humanity.
Birthday Gifts
For his birthday, Matt requested that everyone blog. I’ve been blogging this week and I hope to make this a habit that sticks this time. Here are the posts I wrote this week:
- I’m the newest contributor to the WordPress Photo Directory
- Making my website my own curated space
- Speaking applications: a pet peeve
- Preserving private Slack history: notes for my future self
As a final gift to cap off the week, here’s a special birthday greeting!
Shoutout to Jeff Paul and Aaron Jorbin who joined me in funding this video. Click on their name, they both shared this video with their own birthday greeting. It’s like an old-school blog-ring. If you send me a pingback with this video on your site, I’ll add you to this post!
PS: If you pay close attention to our posts, you may notice a hidden message!
Featured image: “Ballons for a party” by Rich Tabor/ CC0 1.0
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