WP Tavern – we shall miss you greatly!
I saw the tweet and I couldn’t believe it – after an incredible run Jeff Chandler is hanging up the digital spurs and moving on to bigger and better things. I’m not exactly sure where the greener pastures are but with his gumption and resolve that we all saw when he built the site up.
Even though I wrote a good bye post when WPTavern was sold, Friday marks the day when I'm officially gone from the community.
— wptavern (@wptavern) January 23, 2013
It’s been a great run and there have been some incredible conversations over the years. In a tweet Jeff mentions that even though he’s leaving for good now the post that really sums up his thoughts was written years ago when he first sold the site:
The bottom line is, writing about WordPress, being a user and not a creator is not something that is going to put food on the table and is definitely not going to pay for things such as a new roof, driveway, windows, etc. It could certainly be used for supplemental income but I just don’t have the energy or will power to keep trudging through the waste deep mud.
He re-iterated this sentiment in this tweet as well:
Now a days, if I had to choose between making thousands a month via theme forest or doing wordcamps, I'd choose the thousands.
— wptavern (@wptavern) January 23, 2013
I remember him sharing his story of how the site first came together and it’s a story that I’m personally very familiar with – a new idea, a new domain name, and an opportunity to do something crazy with it:
On November 19th, 2008 Kyle Eslick of WPhacks.com published a blog post where he offered the domain names WordPressTavern.com and WPTavern.com to sale to his audience first. He then offered the domains for sale on various sites but apparently, no one took the bait.
Two months later as I was working my late night shift at the grocery store, an idea popped into my head. The idea was to create my own WordPress centric site which I could use to foster a community while at the same time, write about the software and community I love.
I figured WPTavern was a great name as Taverns seem to have a sense of community around them. Also, Taverns in my mind are places to hang out, have friendly discussions with a warm and inviting atmosphere. I wanted to replicate those feelings through WPTavern.com and that is one of my goals for this site.
I contacted Kyle regarding the domains in December of 2008 and found out they were still available. I was shocked to be honest considering how good the domain name sounds.
So in late December, I published a post on my personal blog, Jeffc.me and laid out my ideas to see what my audience had to say. They unanimously told me to GO FOR IT. And so, here is my project.
I repost this because I don’t want to forget how WP Tavern started and how something as simple as a domain name and a lot of initiative and perseverance can result in something very, very big.
We’re currently unsure of the future but it seems that future investment in the property isn’t in the works:
@Krogsgard communication and lack of action leaves a lot to be desired. It's like the investment is not on the priority list
— wptavern (@wptavern) January 26, 2013
That’s too bad. In the very least, though, continue to follow Jeff here @jeffr0 as I’m sure he’ll cook something else up very exciting, even if it’s not in WordPress. We wish you the very best and we’ll be watching and waiting. Thanks for everything you’ve done for the community and the countless people you’ve helped along the way.
WP Tavern, goodbye my friend:
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