Tips Tuesday – ACF Hostile Takeover, A Week at BlogAid

Tips this week include:

• Tips Tuesday email delivery
• A week in the life at BlogAid
• Are you missing out on important updates and support?
• How forked plugins are supposed to work
• Hostile takeover of the free ACF plugin
• Dissent is muted at WP
• What all this means for you and me

Tips Tuesday Update

Tips Tuesday Delivery

Last week I sent you a survey for how you would like to receive Tips Tuesday.

41.2% said no, they don’t need it in an email. 58.8% said they would prefer it in an email.

So, here ‘tis!!!

And FYI, it doesn’t matter if you read it in the email or on my site. My site does not financially benefit from the click-throughs, like sites that run ads or such. And my analytics tell me that folks visit the post and only click over to posts/pages I have linked in Tips Tuesday, which you can also do from the email too. So, it doesn’t “hurt” me or the site if you prefer to read in the email, but thank you for your concern and wanting to ensure that I’m supported for my efforts!!!

Feedback

I also appreciated hearing your feedback about what you most enjoy in Tips Tuesday.

These were write-in responses, but here are the topics listed with the most frequent being at the top:

• Tech tips/news that let you know what has changed and/or needs to be done – this was overwhelmingly the most frequent response
• New income streams and ecommerce
• New tools/products I test

BlogAid Happenings

A Week in the Life

Y’all ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes here at BlogAid?

Here’s a sampling from this past week. And notice how much support my site audit Hub clients and Webmaster Training members receive.

Everything marked with !! was unexpected and had to be fit into the schedule right away. That also meant that some scheduled work had to be done after hours. 

And now you know the reason why I have to limit how many open projects I have at a time.

Monday

• !! Spent most of the day researching, testing and writing the post and making the video tutorial for the WP Engine plugin updates. Then sending email to BlogAid News subscribers
• Hub member client work – verifying domain and setting up DNS records for domain-related email for MailerLite.
• Checked for last minute news and prepared Tips Tuesday for publication and scheduled the email to subscribers.
• Live session to help new client transfer multiple domains from host to NameCheap ahead of sunsetting site.

Tuesday

• Promoted Tips Tuesday on social media platforms.
• Read industry news and culled relevant articles for Tips Tuesday.
• Replying to comments on the WPE plugin post and Tips Tuesday post.
• Creating T-shirt on Printify, that started as an AI image, and ordering a sample.
• Researching connectors/apps for digital downloads on Shopify.

Wednesday

• Read industry news and culled relevant articles for Tips Tuesday.
• !! Consult with WP Engine support to ensure that the WPE plugins still listed in the WP plugin repository are the latest version and that they will update from WPE, and that the WPE Secure Updater plugin will auto detect which plugins we already have will make the connection for future updates.
• !! Updated WP Engine plugin post with the above clarification.
• !! Sent email to BlogAid News subscribers with the above clarification.
• Hub member client work – created to-do list of fixes for 2 sites.
• Hub member client work – created site audit project docs for annual audit check up.
• Deleted files and databases on 2 hosts for new client sunsetting site.
• !! Sent email to site audit Hub members and Webmaster Training members about a plugin update that causes the White Screen of Death (WSOD).
  • Researched change log of plugin causing WSOD.
  • Checked with webmasters who had updated sites.
  • Asked my Hub clients with that plugin to book me at the time they wanted to update, just in case there were issues.

Thursday

• Hub member client work – audit checkup
• !! Found issue with SMTP plugin – sent email to Hub clients and Webmaster Training members.
• Hub member client work – identified why auto backups not running, which was caused by an issue with the cron job.
• Hub member client work – audit checkup
• !! Chat with host about new cPanel features
• Researched Shopify apps to connect digital download files from Google Drive
  • Tested and documented one of the apps

Friday

• Half day off for dentist and errands
• Hub member client work – create project docs to remove Spectra from site and swap to either native WP blocks or Kadence Blocks
• Hub member client work – full audit checkup on one site and security audit checkup on the other site
• Hub member client work – full audit checkups on 2 sites

Saturday

• Start writing Tips Tuesday – I do this from my lounge chair on the deck with Zak sleeping at my feet.
• Hub member client work – live audit checkup chat and mini biz consult – all of my clients get a mini annual consult for how their business is going and the plans they have for the next year. I share all kinds of ideas for ways to make money, get more eyeballs, or make implementation easier too.
• !! Chat with dev partners about the new Cloudflare security feature.
• Researched new features in GA4, especially changes to setting up conversion tracking. This will result in new report features and tutorials in EZ Metrix.
• Read Discord announcements and other news about AI Images for new tutorials in the AI Images for Profit course.

Sunday

• Supposed to be a day off from BlogAid client work, but the ACF fallout disturbed that, at least for part of the day.
• !! Investigated breaking news about ACF plugin hostile takeover.
  • Updated post about WP Engine plugins.
• Finished writing Tips Tuesday. (Will add any more breaking news on Monday.)
• Sent email to Heartwood Art subscribers with Halloween project.
• Started creation of video and post for Heartwood Art on new build (steps to help Zak get on/off couch).

Every Day

My regular office hours for client meetings are from 10am to 7pm (I have a global audience).

Prior to 10am, I’m checking and replying to email or running errands, like grocery shopping.

My break schedule runs around Zak’s needs with 3 meals and a mid-morning and mid-afternoon break. And those breaks are when I do house chores too – about 15 minutes at a time. It keeps me in motion and gives me a good brain rest.

I check emails after each break, and before I dive into the next project.

All of my reading is on the deck – year round. I’m surrounded by 4-story tall trees filled with birds and squirrels. It’s like a tree house. And Zak loves napping at my feet or watching all the activity from his cushion by the deck railing too.

I call my deck my Sanity Room. Being out there is how I destress, let go, and dream up things.

Are You Missing Out?

For all the free info I deliver in Tips Tuesday and publicly available tutorials, there’s so much more info and support I deliver to my clients – and that includes critically important updates and changes as they happen.

So, if you’re a Tips Tuesday reader, but not a client, you’re missing a lot of important stuff to keep your site fast and secure!

Don’t be left out.

If you are a site owner – get an audit and partner with me in the Hub for continuous support.

If you are a designer – get in the Webmaster Training and get the tutorials you need to create and support sites and reduce your liability.

In fact, I’m so sure that your site is suffering from what you don’t know that you don’t know, if I don’t find anything that needs addressing in your site audit, it’s free.

Here are the conditions:

• If you are under a maintenance agreement with someone, you must disclose that, and who it is when you fill out the site audit request form. Nothing is changed during the audit, but I’ll know why some things I find are set up the way they are.
• Your host must provide AWStats – not some other log or data collector – this one – so I’ll be able to show you how bots are chewing up your site and causing security issues.
• Your host must provide access to phpMyAdmin so I can see the database. If you are not running cPanel, then you may need to ask your host if there is a separate login for it.

Plugin Tips

There has been a hostile takeover by WordPress of the ACF plugin and the dev community is up in arms. 

Here’s a bit of info on how open source plugins are supposed to work, and then what happened to this one.

NOTE: The info below applies to free plugins that were not sold to another agency for continued development.

Forked Plugins

WP itself, and all free plugins run on a GPL license. That means that everyone can see the code. That’s why it is called Open Source.

And anyone can take that code, change it to make it better or different, and then release it as their own plugin. That is called forking.

The Subscribe to Comments plugin was abandoned by its creator.

Another dev took that code and forked it into the Subscribe to Comments Reloaded plugin that most of us use. In the dev notes, there is a shout out to the original developer, which is the common courtesy given in the Open Source community.

The new plugin has a new name, a new listing in the WP Plugin repository, and its own set of stats for version and number of installs.

In other words, it’s a new creation. It’s not overtaking the original plugin.

Plugins Turned Into Widgets

In the early years of WordPress, some plugins, that were originally made by independent devs, became so widely used that they were invited to be included in core WP code. 

If the dev agreed, they then became widgets that did not need a plugin.

Friendly Takeover

Some devs decide to donate their plugins to Automattic when they get ready to retire or move on to other projects.

Many of the free plugins you see under the Automattic banner were acquired this way.

Automattic keeps the current plugin name, listing, and stats in the repo. They simply change the dev name and take over development and support.

Hostile Takeover

All of the above is how free plugin dev ownership has been done for the last 20 years.

That ended on Sunday.

There are 2 versions of the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin, which was developed by WP Engine (WPE).

The free version was listed in the WP Plugin repository. And updates for it were delivered through that system too.

The paid version of ACF is available for purchase and download from WPE, and they are the ones who deliver notification of updates, and then the update file.

This is the way all free and paid plugins work.

Since this battle between WP and WPE started, Matt Mullenweg cut off WPE from accessing any part of WP.org. That included being able to send updates to their free plugins.

That is why folks using those plugins had to install the WPE Secure Updater plugin and/or manually reinstall those plugins from files located at WPE – so they could continue to be updated from WPE.

And that’s why I created a post and tutorial on what WP Engine plugins were affected and how to update them. (I’ve updated that post with this latest development.)

On Sunday, Matt initiated a hostile takeover of the free version of the ACF plugin that is listed in the WP repo.

He took that same listing, changed the name to Secure Custom Fields (SCF), and changed the dev’s name to Automattic.

It still has the same stats listed, including number of installs.

This action is beyond beyond and absolutely cra cra.

For one, the number of installs is no longer true. If folks who use the plugin have already switched to the WPE version, they are no longer getting updates from the new SCF version.

Matt said that this was done under Point 18 of the WP plugin agreement about forking – an agreement which all devs must “sign” to have their plugin listed in the repo.

The dev community is livid.

This is not a fork. It is a hostile takeover without the original developer’s consent.

And it sets a VERY dangerous precedent for all free plugin and theme developers.

Dissent is Being Muted

Plugin and theme devs have to log into WP.org to update their wares.

Last week, a new checkbox appeared on the login page that stated the dev is in no way financially or otherwise affiliated with WP Engine.

Anyone who questioned Matt about this new checkbox was summarily kicked out of the WP dev Slack channel.

That came after Matt gave walking papers to 159 Automattic employees who disagreed with this whole hoohaa.

For 20 years, Matt, who is the co-founder of WP, has been called “our benevolent dictator.”

The benevolent part has now been dropped.

And this is what dictatorship looks like.

We had a taste of this when he forced Gutenberg on everyone before it was ready.

And I thought that was bad.

So many other devs thought it was bad that they forked WP into a ClassicPress version that is still around.

But this is far, far, far worse.

It has folks who have donated decades of dev hours, as unpaid volunteers, as well as paid employees, walking away.

What Does This Mean for You and Me?

Both ACF free and Pro are VERY popular plugins.

But, most of my direct clients don’t use them.

However, many of my Webmaster’s clients do use it. So, they are caught in the middle of this mess, like it or not.

For now, I’m unfortunately having to weed through the drama just to get the news.

And I’m closely watching the fallout for ripple effects of the plugins and themes that most of us do use.

What I’m most concerned about is the single point of access that has now been called into question.

Matt has clearly demonstrated that he can cut off dev access and then take over their wares, and leave all of us to find out what to do as best we can.

I have to wonder how many of the millions of site owners who don’t even know what’s happening and how many have plugins caught in this mix – without updates from the original vendor are going to get through it.

That alone should scare the shit out of everyone, and is THE reason this mess needs to get resolved, NOW.

Because you are a BlogAid News subscriber, you are being kept informed of the news.

Tell everyone you know to subscribe.

My site audit Hub clients and Webmaster Training members will get extra info and support for any actions they need to take – and that info will be delivered at the time it happens.