Cheat Sheet for Sustainable Support: Book ($5): benlikes.us/ssbook Tool ($25): benlikes.us/crrtool CX Audit (starts at $975): benlikes.us/audit Coaching ($535): benlikes.us/consultlander These prices WILL go up.

I'm at a conference for work this week. The keynote "speaker" was @LucaStricagnoli and it was the best "talk" at a conference I've ever been to. He opened with AC/DC before doing this one live: piped.video/o2mkYv3JrjU?is=9Fo5…

The thing that keeps me using established software over my own vibe-coded alternatives is the demonstrated experience, competence, and helpfulness of the team behind that software. I don't want to learn all of the hard-earned lessons that Katie's team has over the years. Vibe-coding my own alternative is signing up for a crash-course in hard knocks (that gets harder the more business-critical the vibe-coded bit is). So the marching orders for plugin shops are to continue to demonstrate that you are (a) paying attention and (b) more knowledgable about the needs (as they relate to your service) of your customer base than they are. Specialization and expertise still sells.

Yesterday's project: paint my office wall black so that when I throw more light at my face, it's not too bright behind me. (I wore an obnoxiously bright shirt for tests)

I'd really like a time machine and a stack of Kid Rock Gospel albums (featuring a track with Eminem). I'd go leave a copy on my own lofted dorm room bed in 2001 with a note that says Derek Webb isn't a Christian anymore. Hard to tell which item would be less believable.

And another site has been de-Kadenced (without even touching wp-admin) by my getting-pretty-great AI workflow. Pretty amazing stuff.

If all you see around you is pessimistic doomerism, no matter the field, that's an environmental problem. Find better and more intellectually diverse friends. There is good news to be found. Start looking for it. Good luck tends to beget itself.

If you had told me when I was in high school in the 1990s that someday the lead singer of Jars of Clay would say “I’m no longer sure who God is” and the lead singer of Smashing Pumpkins would say “Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior” I would have spit out my Slim Fast and stained my flannel shirt

Pro tip: Stop calling it "easy" in documentation or support. benlikes.us/easy

I’m relieved the government is going to fix AI. If the government is known for anything, it’s fixing and making things better. We are in good hands.

In all of the changes at Liquid Web since I left, it looks like the Tone Guide (and the rest of the Support Manual) that @learnwithmattc and I (along with others) put so much energy into has been functionally removed from the internet. Its content was intentionally GPL from the outset, so I moved the tone guide here where it can live on and I left it named "GiveWP" so that OGs searching for it can find it: benlikes.us/tone

"I remain as excited as ever to invite you to my own backyard." — Lead Organizer, Brian Richards #LoopConf is returning to Grand Rapids, MI on June 16-17, 2027! Learn more and register: loopconf.com

Here is a list of things I think AI should be able to solve before it's dangerous enough to kill everyone: 1) all forms of entitlement fraud - this should be easily fixable by tracking payments and cash flows. Find where money goes in but no services are rendered. Child's play for an all-knowing AI. 2) elderly scam farms - fixed with telephony tracking, payment tracking, find the scammers, empty their bank accounts, sabotage their remote access strategies 3) narcotics trafficking - more money flow, disrupt crypto conduits, track chemicals being used for narcotic synthesis, disrupt those avenues of commerce Compared to "the extinction of all humanity", these are very simple problems to tackle. These problems are a thousand times simpler than killing every person in the world If you don't believe that AI can fix these narrowly banded issues, if you're immediately looking for reasons that I'm stupid an naive for thinking AI can solve these problems in the next 2 years, you have no business believing that AI can destroy all humans by the end of the decade.

If you work in the wider WordPress ecosystem, today is an excellent day to control what you can control and not spend all day reading X or @therepositorywp or @post_status Slack for clues on how @photomatt might be taking down your entire industry. Deep breaths and backup plans, y'all. The software is free, open source, and resilient enough to handle short-term panic. The vast majority of WP users are unaware of (so, beyond unconcerned with) the state of A8c or WordPress dot org. Care for your coworkers, your customers, and your sphere of influence, and just turn off social media. Also, start/continue building your own competence toward being useful and helpful in the parts of your job and life where WP is not a load-bearing pillar. (Just as you should even if all this upheaval was not happening)

Imagine Exxon spending millions of dollars on PR , Marketing, "leaked" info, "whistleblower" ops, then the CEO announcing we must demand governments intervene to slow down the pace of oil exploration so that industry can institute controls that comport with the exact specifications that Exxon has proprietarily developed. We would dismiss it immediately for what it was.