Founder of WPBeginner Syed Balkhi yesterday announced that he has donated the WP.org domain to the WordPress Foundation. For the first time since 2014 when Balkhi purchased the domain, the WP.org URL will not navigate users to WPBeginner.com.
“…this is a huge deal because now you can type wp.org in your Tweets, Slack messages, Facebook statuses, etc. without cursing at me or WPBeginner,” Balkhi said in the announcement. “I know this redirect was frustrating because many of you tweeted at me or sent us angry emails. To all of you and even those who took the high road, I want to apologize for my actions.”
In the post, Balkhi explains how expecting a child has changed his outlook on a lot of things, including WordPress.
“I wrote down all the things that are very important to me, and among the top after my family is WordPress,” Balkhi said. “It is my extended family, and you can see that if you meet me at any of the WordCamps. As I think about all what WordPress has done for me, donating wp.org to the WordPress Foundation is the least that I could do.”
With all the changes in his life, Balkhi now knows for sure the domain name will be “safe at home with the Foundation,” instead of “auctioned off to the highest bidder.” Balkhi has spoken with Matt Mullenweg about changing over the domain before but decided it was finally time.
“Matt and I had discussed this on and off since 2014 regarding us donating the domain. We also had several folks who expressed interested in purchasing, but selling wasn’t something we were interested in,” he told Torque.
The WP.org domain now redirects to WordPress.org.
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