Half-Elf on Tech

Thoughts From a Professional Lesbian

Tag: wordcamp

  • Upcoming Speaking Gigs for DreamHost and WordPress

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    • WordCamp San Francisco – July 26-29 (“Don’t Use WordPress Multisite”)
    • DreamCon – Aug 2-3 (“Choosing WordPress Plugins” and “Get Out Of The Monkey House”)
    • WordCamp Portland – Aug 10 (“Rolling Your WordPress Support Character (without any code)”)

    You get me twice at DreamCon. Twice the elf for one low payment!

    I believe all these will be recorded and made public.

  • Lightning Bolt at Portland!

    Lightning Bolt at Portland!

    2009Logo-NoText Surprise! I’m doing a lightning talk in Portland called “Rolling your WordPress Support Character (without any code)”

    A lightning talk is a magical 5 minute thrill ride with auto-advancing slides. 20 slides. 15 seconds a piece. And … GO!

    It’s not too late to buy tickets for WordCamp Portland. Bets are being taken as to what hat I’ll wear. (Remember, I’m a rogue, not a wizard, so no pointed hat.)

  • Speaking at WordCamp San Francisco – 2013

    Speaking at WordCamp San Francisco – 2013

    It’s true! I’ll be speaking at WordCamp San Francisco again this year.

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    Last year I talked about supporting WordPress and how you can give back. This year, the subject of my talk is “Don’t Use WordPress Multisite.” I wrote a post here about that in 2011, and while quite a lot of it remains true, I still see hundreds of people who think Multisite is the cure to all that ails ’em.

    I love it, but it’s not everything and a side of fries. But I’m not going to give away the talk here, and it’s not just going to be a copy of that post. So feel free to read it, offer comments, and meet me where I left my harp: Sam Frank’s Disco.(This is a very bad joke I’ll tell you if you want.)

  • Getting involved – Log on, jump in, hang out

    Getting involved – Log on, jump in, hang out

    From WordPress TV

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    The Passover quip at the end is something anyone who’s been to Seder would understand. There’s a story about four sons: one wise, one wicked, one simple, and one who cannot yet ask a question. It’s for that fourth son that we tell the story of Passover, so he can learn.

    That really is a lot of my mentality with the forums. They don’t know, they may not know how to ask, so lets make the fourth son the first son.

    ETA: The “I don’t have a WordPress related job” part of the talk is no longer true. Starting the 27th of August, I work for DreamHost.

  • Getting Involved – Notes

    Getting Involved – Notes

    In case you missed it, I spoke Saturday, August 4th, at WordCamp San Francisco. I had 15 minutes to talk and was asked to talk about the community, getting involved, and that sort of thing. Knowing there was a short time, I decided not to do slides, and instead wrote ten 3×5 cards with my notes. I’m kind of a badass that way.

    The video should be up online in a little while, and I’ll embed it here, but for now, here are my cards.

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    1. Getting Involved: Log On, Jump In, Help Out
    2. I volunteer for WP. Forum mod, Ideas org/despamming, plugins, Make support (lead thingy)
    3. Instead of talking about me, I want to explain why you, the community, are important. Encourage you to jump in and help out.
    4. What is the community? Writers/Bloggers, plugin/theme devs, people who dream in code, all of us.
    5. Giving back helps. What’s the point of WP? Part of good software is how it works, and the community is the embodiment there of. Without us, it’s nothing.
    6. Why should I help? Becuase you know and they don’t. Because you will learn more. Becuase you will be inspires.
    7. How can I help?
      1. Write Questions: use WP, come back with questions & suggestions
      2. Answer Questions: help out with those Qs! Learn what happened and why
      3. Fix things: Educate, code, educate!
    8. But … I don’t know the answers. They’re mean. They’re stupid/arrogant/ignorant. They’re impatient.
    9. No one is more important. No users == less inovation. No devs == less change.
    10. Just do it! You were new (we aren’t born knowing). There are no stupid qustions. Be patient (everyone). Make WP Better.

    There you go! When the video’s up, I’ll elaborate more, and comment on what I was thinking (other than ‘don’t rush’ and ‘don’t puke’). I did suggest people answer five questions for every one they ask, since you guys are smart cookies and I know you can bang out five easy questions in 30 minutes. Half an hour. I promise it’ll make you feel better.

    Also the video has an extra secret Passover joke.