Let's all play!
As I’m sure all WordPress regulars have noticed, Freshly Pressed is stuck. The same posts have been on the front page for the better part of a week. They are all fine posts, no doubt, but we know this is a major malfunction because NONE OF THEM IS MINE!
This has everybody asking: Where’s WordPress?
I’ve heard various theories:
- Corporate retreat in the Bahamas
- Budapest
- Occupying Wallstreet
- Mourning Steve Jobs
- Packing for The Rapture tomorrow
- Getting a head start on the weekend
I checked out the Support forums this afternoon (Thursday) and one of the regular volunteers had posted the following:
Support is closed while the company meets up and works together for the next week. We will be back on October 29th.
Whoa! That’s like a 2 week vacation. For everybody in the company? At the same time? Weird. Very weird.
I guess there’s nothing to do but go about our regular business of blogging and commenting and creating general mayhem, unless and until someone turns out the light here. But I admit to having an uneasy feeling…
Peg-o-Leg's Ramblings 
Funny stuff, PegoLeg. I was going to go with Occupying Wall Street or Mourning the loss of Steve Jobs. Both were excellent ideas.
I guess I hadn’t stop long enough to think about it to the point of becoming uneasy. Now that you mention it …
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Sometimes they let it go all weekend but this is very strange…
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Seriously, one of the regular “civilian” helpers on the Support forums posted today that Support is not available until 10/29 because they’re all in a meeting.
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Their return is so close to Halloween, too. Scary.
Perhaps we should start an Occupy WordPress protest?
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I hope somebody donates Porta Potties.
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I vote it’s Rapture-related. That is strange to take off like that for such a long time.
Mostly Bright Ideas post “Don’t Ask, Don’t Yell” has been stuck up there and he’s one of my favorite blogging buddies so I am thrilled he’s FP again. But I do believe he’s probably getting sick of being on the front page at this point. He has over 1,000 subscribers now and his post has over 600 comments. I don’t think I’ll ever hear from him again.
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I wanna know how hard it is to choose FP? You’d think maybe they could get a monkey to do it while they’re on break. (Mr. Skittles is free)
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Sometimes they DO let a monkey choose, based on some of the FPd. Present company excluded, of course.
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I don’t know. I think a monkey may have picked mine.
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Your post was great – definitely deserving! And now that Mr. Skittles has turned on us both, having a monkey pick wouldn’t be a good thing.
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I hope there’s a Rapture. I need a new car, and I would have my pick of some nice ones in the neighborhood I live in.
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Now THAT’s looking on the bright side!
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Yeah, no kidding! Poor Charles, I bet he hasn’t slept a wink for days. I wandered over there to look at his post and saw 685 comments and all I could think was, “Glad that wasn’t me.” However, 1,000 subscribers!! He’s entitled to that, though, cuz he’s brilliant.
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SDS, absolutely. Charles deserves all the attention, his blog is one of the best. But the poor guy!
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We should have those problems!
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Some of them have actually been up there since 9-30-2011.
Makes you wonder eh?
DS
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That long, really? I didn’t know that.
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Yes, I am worried. Being a WordPress junkie, I mentioned it to Peg last night. It is NOT business as usual to not change the FP posts in 6 days! Did the FP Queen or King die? Has WordPress encountered bad business news?
PLEASE! Let us know what is going on!
Another faithful blog follower, especially Pegoleg!!!
By the way, she WILL be the Weight Loss Challenge winner. She rocks!
Hope to stay in touch with all of you IF WordPress is in dire straights and closes. I’d be very sad.
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Hi there, I don’t work for WP, but I can promise you that no one has died. And they aren’t closing. They’re scattered all over the world, so when they start pulling in people for a meeting, it takes some serious scheduling.
Besides, the WP Chief BBQ Taste Tester has to be home soon to go see Concrete Blonde with me.
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Thanks for the inside scoop, Charleen. WP Chief BBQ Taste Tester? What’s the training for that position? I might want to apply.
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Apparently if you are a “founding developer” (his words, not mine) you get to choose whatever title you want. Matt chose CBBQTT. I can’t eat BBQ, so I tell him its insensitive 🙂 Though I only know you through your blog posts, I would not encourage you to get an insensitive job title.
I’m known simply as “Matt’s sister” so if you are thinking up titles, you might want to think up one for me too/
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Shame on Matt for not getting a better title for you! Since you’re a sibling to the BBQ king, about about Sib-Q. Sounds kinda sci-fi, doesn’t it?
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Peg, you’re looking at this all wrong. We’ve got the whole place to ourselves with no adult supervision. Shouldn’t we have an outrageous party or soemthing? Maybe even invite blogspot bloggers to come over??
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This does make perfect sense. And it’s sort of creepy at the same time. The whole thing could turn into an Animal Farm-type nightmare and we could all end up eating each other.
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All pigs are created equal, but some are more equal than others, hmmm?
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Food fight!
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Yeah, I was thinking about some Twilight Zone episode where all the minders were gone when people woke up and, as I recall, that didn’t end well.
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The answer is simple. They are meeting to decide the order in which my many quality posts will be featured on FP. Finally realizing the error of their ways, they will be posting 150 of my witty, clever and page -turning posts. Now the rest of the world will get to enjoy what you, pegoleg, have known for all these months, i.e., I rule!
P.S. In case I’m wrong, this comment will self-destruct in two weeks.
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Hah! Good one, Big Al! But you erred slightly. They’re renaming Freshly Pressed, “Snoring Dog Studio Blog Gallery” and preparing for the onslaught of traffic that it will generate. Once in a while, I’ll mention you and Peg-o-leg, though.
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Thanks. It’s nice to know who your friends are.
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Hmmm….tough negotiations. Would naming it the snoring pegleg cvillean work for you all?
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Maybe all the mega-hits on your awesomeness broke the computer, Al!
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I wasn’t uneasy until I read your post, Peg. I like the idea of getting into some trouble while the high mucky-mucks are out doing mucky-muck things.
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Commence with the mucking!
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lol @ Al… *chuckling*
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I wonder how many people actually make up the staff of ‘WordPress’…..
It sounds similar to an explanation we used to give in state networks when we all flew into one capital city and worked for 7 days straight with next to no sleep ‘strategic planning’ (or so they called it, we often referred to it as cruel and pretty typical punishment)….
Then every body returned home, to their jobs, deliciously burnt out and ready to quit. *blank stare*
I really hope they have taken a holiday.
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There probably aren’t that many on staff. Maybe it is a social experiment to see how long before civilization breaks down and the one with the conch shell wins.
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Like the reference to Lord of the Flies, Peg. Just got a copy of that book from my friend, Kathleen. Some days I wonder… Who does have the conch shell right now? I wasn’t paying attention, sorry, ooops, my glasses broke, dang!
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Oh oh, that’s not a good thing Tar. Go hide in a cave until the grownups come to take us all off the WordPress island.
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I’ve also been in the chat forum for an explanation of why referrals and post data seemed to have changed, and I guess they made a change and went to the rapture.
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I’ve heard people with all kinds of problems on their stats – where the hits are greatly inflated. I don’t seem to have that problem, sigh.
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Well then, guess that explains my double xx numbers today! 😦
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It’s hard to trust the numbers these days, isn’t it?
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I’ve looked under all the palm fronds here in The Bahamas and I don’t see them — oh wait, there’s a rowdy group under that big sun umbrella sipping Goombay Smashes and wearing t-shirts with big WP’s on them… let me get closer to the Electric Slide dance floor and see … nope, not them — just some other Wild Partiers apparently. I’ll keep a weathered eye on the horizon though, and set some little umbrellas twirling in the frozen drinks in case they’re taking their time getting here on a slow cruise … thanks for the heads-up, Peg!
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OK, if the adults are all out of the house, Goombay Smashes for everyone – Paula’s bringing the little umbrellas!
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oooh, I love the little umbrellas!
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Really adds a touch of class to the place, no?
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I’m with BigSheep, we should stage a coup. Graffiti all the Fps that have been stuck there for days, craft decadent and subversive posts. Revolution!
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Um, Sandy, there are lots crafting decadent and subversive posts already.
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As Maineiac pointed out…it takes 1 person to run FP. He/She/It (in case it’s the monkey) probably had the FP posts all picked out, but the automatic scheduler fouled up again. (Welcome to this side of the blog world). When they return from the Mall of America in Minnesota, we’ll be receiving new FP’s each hour. Blink. Blink
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Mall of America? Minnesota? Maybe they WILL start charging fees if the budget is that small for the corporate get-away. It’s likely to snow there any day, right?
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I’m afraid…very afraid. Afraid that they’re going to start charging me to post…a dollar a word.
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For some posts, that might bring on some much-needed editing, right? Present company excepted, of course.
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Seriously! It’s not even close to April 1st. I feel like they’ve been making changes to the site lay-out in the past week…right? Just now I noticed “Ramblings” on the top left. And instead of “Following” it’s now “Read Blogs,” etc.
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Hey, I was over on your blog commenting while you were over here! Two ships that cross in the morning.
You’re right – they’re making all kinds of changes. I just wish they’d use the front page for announcements as well as FP – keep us all in the loop.
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Yes – so if they can make these changes – can’t they pop in to change Freshly Pressed while they’re there?!
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Seems they could at least toss out a “hey, we’re not dead, we’re Occupying a conference room” alert. For all the new theme alerts we get, a little heads-up doesn’t seem so out of order. And honestly, no offense to those who are, at this point, stalely pressed, but some of us have never been FPd and feel this is not helping. The people on the FP page are turning out to be the 1%… and we are… well, you know.
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That’s what I don’t understand. Why not a little announcement board in the margin on their front page? Why all the secrecy?
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Yes.
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I want to “like” so many of these comments. Wish there was a button for that!
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Wish I knew how to do cool stuff like that. Wish there was anybody home at WordPress to ask.
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– some themes do have the Like button, in the form of the ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ icons you can hit…unless that’s available on all themes, but you can option yay or nay to it.
Seriously, all of us abandoned here at the house all by ourselves, left to figure out how to use the kitchen stove without supervision. So if we burn the joint down, what’s the equivalent of cyber-9-1-1 ? Serves them right if we destroy the place. We had a right to know. We did. AT least give a few of us your personal cell numbers, you WordPress Gods.
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Crap, that didn’t work. I can put different text thingies in my comments on my own page but not on yours!!!
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I’d love to help you out, but I’m technologically challenged. Were you trying to post a picture of yourself in total Disco Queen style?
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No, go see your last comment on my “suffering succotash” post http://k8edid.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/suffering-succotash/. I was able to use a “button” I made in my post “Word Press Buttons I’d Like to See” http://k8edid.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/wordpress-buttons-id-like-to-see/. Apparently, only a few “themes” let you use these types of images in your comments, other themes “strip them out”.
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I was just admiring that button while ADDING to my presence on your post.
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I LOVE your “buttons I’d like to see” post. Must figure out how to install…
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Can’t we all just get along? (Sniff, Sniff)
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Hay fever, right? I know – the goldenrod is just killer this time of year, isn’t it?
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I’m going to have some kind of fun with those buttons!!! Bwaaaahaaaaaahaaaaaa
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Now that you mention it, I noticed the same thing. But I also noticed that one of my biggest problems with WordPress magically got resolved this week, too. So it gets stranger and stranger. I’m not getting email alerts when all my wonderful blogger friends post and comment. I happened all of a sudden and like magic. So maybe when all these people are away, the glitches go away, too!? 😉
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There have been a lot of glitches lately. Maybe that’s what they’re all working on in the Bahamas.
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“Staff are very busy working behind the scenes. It’s not as if they are vacationing. These meet-ups are joint work efforts. There’s lots of coding going on and when they return we shall see more changes. In between I hope you try using the three search options to locate other blogs of interest to you.”
Just read this blurb on the forums from timethief… (and yes, I do in fact, need to get a life.)
More changes?! Yay.
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Is that sarcasm on the yay, or do you crave change? Cuz me, not so much. I can’t find the tags tab anymore and the blogs I follow seems weird. I’m too old for so much change (clutching blankie in fetal position in corner).
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Oh, complete sarcasm on the yay! Not a big fan of change, makes things all screwy for this tech-challenged woman.
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I’ve been wondering this, not only because of the lack of new Freshly Pressed posts but because my stats have been wonky for the last 3-4 days. Ba.D. keeps saying, “Why don’t you just ask Support?” Because it’s curiosity, not rage! :p
Beside, I clearly wouldn’t have gotten an answer anyway. Hee.
I ❤ you and your graphics. So much.
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We figure all the grownups are gone and it’s just us kids here. I predict anarchy before too long.
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So I’m not going nuts! Some of the tools on wordpress haven’t been working for me either!
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They keep changing things so I can’t find posts, comments, tags – Help!
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Yes, but now you can “Go Pro” according to my screen!!
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What does that even mean? Doesn’t it have something to do with prostitutes?
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Probably something like that.
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Howdy guys, Automattic misses you too:
http://matt.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/automattic-waves/
We get the entire company together once a year and hack on projects, including one that may be near and dear to commenters here: likes for comments.
Things will probably break, bend, and explode in the meantime, especially with so much development going on and once, but that is the price of progress.
I’m taking suggestions for Freshly Pressed if you have any, drop me an email.
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Thanks for stopping by, Matt. “Like” for comments would be great – it seems you can do it with some templates, but not others. We would really, REALLY like WordPress to give announcements of major changes on the main page. That way we wouldn’t have to go to the forums and bug the talented volunteers there to find out what’s going on.
Choose any one of my posts for Freshly Pressed and you can’t go wrong. I’m fond of the recent “Smartphone Apps We Could Really Use” , but can’t figure out how to embed it here. (I’m working on poor self-esteem issues.)
I told your sister you gave her a lame title/nickname. LAME! Your title is fun, but you’ve got to do better with hers.
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You’re talking about ratings for comments, which is okay but not going to be as cool as likes. 🙂 Wish good luck to the team sprinting on it right now.
It’s harder to do announcements like we used to because often when we launch something it’s not the same thing for all users. Nowadays we often launch 2-3 different versions for 10-20% of users, so different people will see different things. These experiments help us determine which designs, wording, and functionality is most usable for folks, which has been amazing, but the downside is it makes it hard to do a blog post on something that not everyone is going to see.
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I didn’t realize there were that many version floating around. It’s a regular Tower of Babel down at headquarters, hmm? Likes for comments would be great. Good luck with that.
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To be perfectly fair, our parents gave me that nickname/title, many years ago when he was born. Conversely they gave home the nickname/title of “Charleen’s Brother”, which he’s known by to a (slightly smaller) group of people.
Also, I’ve decided to pick my own title. Matt’s likely to give me something like “Chief King Ranch Chicken Maker” or something similar 🙂 I will take suggestions though!
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So and so’s sister or brother is certainly descriptive, but it lacks a certain, what’s the word, fun-quotient. Do I take it King Ranch Chicken is a special dish that you prepare? I still like The Sib Q to denote sibling of the BBQ King. Or Kid Charleenmain (take off on a Steely Dan song from my youth, a millemium ago).
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I’d just like to second the “announcement” part. Even if the specific functionality can’t be announced, a note that folks will be away to help showcase new changes down the road does a world of good. And when I say “does a world of good,” I mean, “It makes people stop considering jumping to another server that isn’t about to be acquired by Rupert Murdoch, in actuality or dream.” 🙂
I second Peg’s nomination for any one of her posts for Freshly Pressed. I’d specifically like to nominate the recent leafpile one. Sixteen times or so.
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OK, fessing up here. I went to Matt’s blog to leave an email, but didn’t see a link for email. So, I left a nice short note nominating Pegoleg for FP. I like the leaf pile one, too, but really think the People Are Nice, rest-stop flowers blog was a gem. A sweet, yes, people are good, report while traveling the big roads on I-80 from Michigan through Indiana to Illinois.
Glad to see that WordPress changed SOME of the FPd on the home page. Curious as to why they couldn’t change all of them at the same time? It’s not like there isn’t great writing going on in the blogosphere.
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Oh, gosh… don’t I feel silly! It was “rapture”, was it? I thought it was “rupture” so I’ve been cuddling my hernia for weeks! On the topic of stagnant Freshly Pressed, why couldn’t they have set up a voting utility and the top blogs would be posted automatically? Or maybe appoint a civilian blogger to do the task for a year’s worth of perks or WordPress swag?
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I noticed a “press this” button on the bottom of posts, down with the Facebook, etc. Is that a voting mechanism for Freshly Pressed? The problem with that approach is most of us only read a certain number of bloggers – lack of time. I’d keep nominating the same people I currently enjoy. I like WordPress to highlight new talent with Freshly Pressed.
Sorry you missed the rapture.
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