With last week’s announcement that ManageWP.org has closed down, WordPress users were taken by surprise.
The ManageWP.org website was a popular place for users, developers, designers, and bloggers to share and learn about the latest WordPress-related news and articles.
What many users (including me!) liked about ManageWP.org was we could find the latest daily news about WordPress, from a community of WordPress users who shared posts/articles they liked or published.
The community-driven ManageWP.org site allowed readers to vote on articles they liked. Readers could filter the articles/postsfor the latest or most popular (based on votes).
When GoDaddy bought ManageWP a few years ago, it included the ManageWP website management service as well as the ManageWP.org news site.
Many WordPress users wondered about the future of the ManageWP.org site.
From what I recall, no changes were made after the purchase, much to the relief of ManageWP.org users.
However, times change.
And last week’s announcement made it clear that GoDaddy’s team was no longer able to give ManageWP.org the attention it deserves.
So, where do you start looking for latest community-driven WordPress-related news?
While WP Tavern and Facebook groups are options, I’m more interested in a site that focuses on community-driven content.
I did some research; here’s what I discovered for possible ManageWP.org replacements.
WP Editorial Aggregator
Currently in beta, WP Editorial Aggregator is a minimal site offering the ability to submit, upvote, downvote, and comment on WordPress-related articles.
It’s part of the larger WP Editorial site which serves up recent posts for performance, SEO, plugins, and news.
WP Aggregator offers eight categories for submissions:
- Business
- Community
- Development
- Editorial
- Gutenberg
- Plugins
- Security
- Tutorials
They encourage content creators to submit their articles, noting that without user submissions, the project will fail.
WP Editorial Aggregator plans to add more features in the future, including sorting by popularity.
Unlike ManageWP, WP Editorial Aggregator doesn’t display who submitted the site. I found no upvote or downvotes on their listed content, though that may be due to no votes submitted.
After spending some time on the WP Editorial site, I think there may be some confusion by readers about their News section vs. their Aggregator section.
WP Editorial could provide explanation about the two sections, explaining the difference.
Good use of white space, a familiar card layout with easy to read content and large buttons make it straightforward to use their site.
After registering on their site, you can submit a resource and vote on submitted resources.
According to their submission guidelines,
- No low quality, affiliate laden ‘top 10 x’ posts. These provide no value unless there’s any depth.
- No hate speech.
- At the moment, we only accept English-language publications.
To vote on a resource, you select either the Vote Up or Vote Down button for each resource.
I’m not sure who is behind WP Editorial, there’s no About page and no info on their Contact page. When I asked them about who is behind it, they replied:
We’ve still got to write this, but effectively we’ve decided to keep it faceless (for now at least) we want the website to be about the content rather than the people behind it. Another answer is simply wp devs who still work daily on client websites =).
— WP Editorial (@wpeditorial) July 6, 2020
Which doesn’t lend trust and credibility to me when I’m asked to provide my name and email address on their site.
In addition, there are no privacy or terms of use pages.
WP Editorial Aggregator launched in April 2020 and is looking for sponsors. They have a mailing list so you can get the latest WP Editorial updates.
WP Content
Launched a few days ago, WP Content has a familiar look and feel to me. The trending posts display in the main content of the website, with recent posts and comments in the right sidebar on desktop.
The posts are sorted automatically with most voted posts displaying first in the list.
Each submitted article/post includes details on where the post was published, who submitted the post, category, and how long ago the post was submitted.
Top navigation allows you to quickly access the main categories:
- Business
- Community
- Development
- Plugins
- Security
- Tutorials
Again, good use of white space makes for easy reading.
Though I recommend they darken the gray text used for site reference, submitter, category, when post was submitted.
The gray text one white background is poor color contrast.
After registering for a free WP Content account, you can vote for a post, add comments, or submit your own post.
Pagination at the bottom makes it straightforward to view other submissions from the WordPress community.
To upvote a post/article, you select the Upvote button adjacent to each post listing.
The submission process is straightforward: provide your name, email address, and preferred nickname. You have the option to add more info about yourself, website, Twitter handle, and Facebook account.
To submit a post/article, you’ll add the URL, title, and short description of the post/article.
Links to their privacy policy and terms of use pages are included in the footer.
WP Content was created by two WordPress developers from England, Ashley Rich and Iain Poulson.
Wrapping Up
While many WordPress users are upset that ManageWP.org has closed, I’m glad to have found other community-driven WordPress-related news sites.
Based on my research and testing, I’ll be visiting WP Content regularly for my daily WordPress news.
Their site is user-friendly, organizes content clearly, and has a familiar upvote and submission process. They’re open about who is behind the site and provide privacy and terms of use statements.
Why don’t I recommend WP Editorial Aggregator? Because they won’t reveal who is behind their site, where they’re located, or provide any privacy or terms of use information.
Yet, I’m required to provide my name and email address to them.
Until they do, I don’t recommend using WP Editorial Aggregator.
