Sadly, this is not an April Fools’ Day joke.
After ten years of providing news on WordPress and other blogging platforms, Weblog Tools Collection is coming to a close. The site won’t be going anywhere, it’s in good hands now, and should at least be archived and accessible to everyone for a very long time.
My history with Weblog Tools Collection is rather surreal. Eight years ago, I wanted to try this “blogging” thing that everyone was talking about. I scoured the net, looking for reviews, message boards, insane rants, anything that would help me decide where to start. I found a post on Weblog Tools Collection (I can’t remember which) and had made up my mind, I would start blogging with WordPress. Now, here I am working for Automattic, quite possibly because I found a post on Weblog Tools Collection eight years ago.
Three years ago, I had just been let go from my job in the middle of a rather rough economic situation in the US. I spent almost an entire year unemployed, and due to my naïveté in accepting a full time job as a contractor, could not collect unemployment insurance. That year was spent applying for any job that I could find and helping out in the WordPress Support Forums. One lucky day, I saw an opening for editor at Weblog Tools Collection, applied for the job, and Mark Ghosh hired me the very same day. It was incredibly surreal to finally have someone care enough to hire me after almost a year of unemployment, especially for the blog that got me started on WordPress. It was like my WordPress career had come full circle.
Through those three years, I published 788 posts on Weblog Tools Collection as pretty much the sole author since I was hired, though there were a few guest posts from time to time. A few months into writing for Weblog Tools Collection, my confidence had been restored, and I dove after the job that I had always wanted. I applied for Automattic’s Happiness Engineer position and got the job.
I continued to write for Weblog Tools Collection alongside my work as a Happiness Engineer. It was too much fun to let go, but now is the time to say goodbye. Eight years ago, Weblog Tools Collection got me started on WordPress. Three years ago, I started writing for Weblog Tools Collection. Now, I am happily employed at Automattic and proud to say that I was with Weblog Tools Collection up to the day it closed.
Where to now? I’m glad you asked. Where to Find WordPress News was the last post published on Weblog Tools Collection before Mark’s farewell post. I’ll also be blogging about WordPress more frequently here, though not as frequently as I did on Weblog Tools Collection.
Mark, if you’re reading this, thanks again for everything! It has been one heck of a surreal and fun ride!
Comments
4 responses to “Farewell Weblog Tools Collection”
That’s a bummer 🙁 You gave me some of my best traffic and link backs. I doubt I’d be half as successful where I am without you. We need beer.
Beer sounds like a good plan. 🙂
Oh.My. Never knew the backstory and probably wouldn’t have had it not been for the pingback on your last Weblog Tools Collection post. Amazing and inspiring and can totally empathize about the lengthy joblessness. Glad you found your calling. 🙂
Both WPTavern and Weblog Tools Collection gone this year. I hope this isn’t a trend.
If you can wait until tonight, I’ll join you for that beer.
I agree, I hope it isn’t a trend, but at least there are some great curated sites out there to point us to the news.