Hey Ninjas, it’s been a while! How’s everyone doing? Jon’s been crushing it with the monthly recaps, but I thought I’d give him a break this month and fill you in on what we’ve been up to. Our team had a blast attending WordCamp US 2024! We launched our Free Not Lite campaign, and I’ll dive into that more in a bit.
Yes, I witnessed the Mullenweg meltdown firsthand, which sent me down quite the WordPress rabbit hole on Twitter/X for a few days 😂( IYKYN ).
In the meantime, our team has been hard at work making Ninja Forms better than ever with accessibility updates and more frequent releases. And the reviews? They keep rolling in, which we’re super happy about!
So, let’s get into the tea! ☕️
In the WordCamp US 2024 edition…
WordCamp US 2024
To kickstart our community involvement in the post-pandemic, AI-driven world, we sent a few of our team members to WordCamp US 2024 in Portland, Oregon, at the Oregon Convention Center. In short, we came, we saw, and we reconnected with old friends while making some awesome new connections.
It was my first time attending this flagship event, and I had a blast! I managed to say hi to a few notable WordPress personalities—probably embarrassed them with my flattery, but I swear it was all sincere. I was fangirling hard!
Showcase Day
Kevin (CMO), Quay (Brand Lead), and Mia (Customer Success Lead) kicked off the conference with Showcase Day, checking out demos and making tons of connections. Meanwhile, I took some time to explore—visited Multnomah Falls, checked out Cannon Beach, and even caught a Timbers football/soccer game.
Thursday, September 19
Thursday was the day the four of us finally teamed up. I hadn’t seen Kevin, Quay, or Mia since our team summit back in May, so it was great to reconnect. Since Thursday was our only full day together, we had to pack a lot in. We spent most of the day networking and making the rounds in the vendor hall.
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- Overly caffeinated, maybe ???
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- Friendship!
I grabbed lunch with Kevin and Quay at Burgerville, a union-owned fast food spot—highly recommend, by the way, it was delicious! In the afternoon, we regrouped for one final sweep of the vendor hall, making plenty of connections and having a blast along the way.
That evening, we headed to the StellarWP after-party ( Spirit of 77 ), and it was packed! We must’ve shown up right at the peak because it was standing room only. Mia and I were starving, so after cashing in our Stellar drink tokens and grabbing some food, the introverts in us decided we’d had enough of the overstimulation and headed out.
See how crowded! This was the best picture I could manage 😂
Enter Ground Kontrol. After a quick ride on TriMet (shoutout to the WordCamp US organizers for that!), we arrived at the ultimate nerd haven—an arcade.
Mia and I went head-to-head in a bunch of shoot-’em-up games, and let’s just say, if we ever find ourselves in a zombie apocalypse, I won’t be much help. 😂 But my shining moment? Beating Mia in Mario Kart with a last-second shell attack on the final lap. It was epic—the kind of moment you dream about when you’re watching someone else play.
By 9 p.m., we were toast and called it a night to rest up for the next day.
Free Not Lite
We kicked off our Free Not Lite campaign at WordCamp US with these limited-edition holographic Ninja Forms stickers! But what exactly does Free Not Lite mean? Let’s break it down.
Lite plugins often fall short—they strip away key features or hide them behind a paywall, forcing you to upgrade just to create a basic form. These plugins aren’t built for serious projects and feel more like a demo teasing, “Look what I can do, as long as you pay up.” At Ninja Forms, we believe in providing a solution that works for you from day one, with no strings attached, and that can scale as your business grows.
Support? With lite plugins, it’s often locked behind a paywall. If you’ve ever used one, you’ve likely experienced the frustration of being asked to pay for dedicated support. At Ninja Forms, we believe that everyone deserves help, whether you’re a paying customer or not. That’s why we offer free support beyond the basic forums on WordPress.org.
Pushing paid versions? Lite plugins can feel like they exist just to push you toward the paid version. But that’s not our goal. We’re not here to monetize every feature. If that was our business model, we would have done it already. Ninja Forms was built by underdogs, for underdogs, and we want to offer you a tool that you can truly use—no strings attached. That’s the heart of Free Not Lite.
For more on our free features, check out our blog. Want to join the #FreeNotLite movement? Share our blog posts and use the hashtag #FreeNotLite on social media to spread the word!
- Ninja Forms Free vs. Ninja Forms Paid
- Is Ninja Forms Free?
- Top 10 Ninja Forms Features You’ll Love
- Best Free Contact Form Plugin For WordPress
- How to Add a Phone Field in WordPress
Friday, September 20
I stayed for sessions on Friday while the rest of the team headed back to Tennessee. I attended Robbie Adair’s talk on leveraging AI and Carrie Dils’ session on course creation. I wrapped up the day with Matt Mullenweg’s keynote, holding out hope that I’d win something—anything—from the raffles. Unfortunately, no luck on the prizes, but I definitely got quite a show!
Matt Mullenweg vs. WordPress Community
If you attended WordCamp US and caught Friday’s keynote, you’re probably already aware of the #WPdrama between Matt Mullenweg (WordPress co-founder/Automattic CEO) and WP Engine. Rather than diving deeper into the debate, we wanted to highlight what the WordPress community is saying about it.
Here’s a roundup of some of the most interesting viewpoints we’ve come across on the latest WordPress drama:
I’ve downloaded some of my brain 🙂 You can find my 2nd brain at https://t.co/jnVVzLUcZl.
The main page will show you the last 7 days of podcasts, articles, Kindle highlights, whatever. There’s a search box there that can dig up 3 years of slow building my process and notes.
— @courtneyr_dev 🌻 #WCUS (@courtneyr_dev) September 26, 2024
My post is now live!
As promised, Here’s what I have to say about Matt’s callout to WP Engine during #WCUS, the legal nonsense, Automattic, and “existential threats”:https://t.co/JGEjNbYpRc
— Jeff Matson is bringing the ruckus at #WCUS (@TheJeffMatson) September 24, 2024
WordPress has a “tragedy of the commons” problem. Here’s my 30,000 foot view of the @photomatt vs @wpengine issue from #WCUS.https://t.co/IZRx0RRxCa
— Kevin Geary (@thekevingeary) September 22, 2024
You wanted hot takes on #WCUS? Okay. Here you go. They are spicy. 🌶️ https://t.co/3i54rTTIOi
— James Giroux | 제임스 (@jamesgiroux) September 21, 2024
I decided to write up some thoughts on the WCUS closing speech, @photomatt and @wpengine, imagining an alternate universe where Matt’s speech achieves its goal, inviting us to change the future instead of chastising us.https://t.co/g50EcsG0r1
— Brian Coords 💻 (@briancoords) September 23, 2024
If you couldn’t make it to WordCamp US, I hope our recap gave you a feel for the vibe and experience—almost like you were there! If not, no worries—there’s always next year!
Recent Updates – Ninja Forms core
Last month, we shared that Quay spoke at the WordPress Accessibility Meetup, where he highlighted the steps we’ve been taking to improve accessibility in our form plugin. The work is ongoing and progressing steadily. As we continue making these updates, you can expect to see more frequent releases to our core plugin, just like the ones this month.
Version 3.8.16 (Released: September 17, 2024) [ ✨ Update to this version if you haven’t already ✨]
Bug Fixes:
- Made sure email addresses are cleaned up properly.
- Stopped maintenance mode from blocking important processes.
Version 3.8.15 (Released: September 10, 2024)
Bug Fixes:
- Made sure the “From Address” email warning shows correctly.
- Fixed a JavaScript error with the datepicker feature.
Other Updates:
- Added tests to make sure Ninja Forms works with the latest PHP versions.
- Added data collection to help improve the plugin.
Version 3.8.14 (Released: September 3, 2024)
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed the search on the submissions page to find the correct form titles.
- Improved support for PHP 7.4.
- Ensured the hCaptcha field works when allowed.
Other Updates:
- Updated our JavaScript libraries for better performance.
To say on top of our latest updates checkout our core plugin changelog here. If you have feedback or features you want to see added to Ninja Forms please reach out to our team here. We would love to get your thoughts and feedback about our plugin and what you would like to see in the next iterations.
Check out the latest on our blog (September 2024)!
Use the Calculation Feature on your WordPress Form for Free with Ninja Forms
Reviews & Community Feedback – September 2024
This month brought some exciting news—our average customer rating on WordPress.org increased from 4.3 to 4.4! 🎉 We’re thrilled and couldn’t have done it without the support of our amazing customers and our fantastic Customer Success team. A big thank you to everyone who took the time to review our form plugin. We wouldn’t be where we are today without you!
As of today (September 24, 2024), we’re thrilled to share that we have 993 five-star reviews! Our goal is to hit 1,000 by the end of the year, and we’re so close! If you’re a fan of Ninja Forms, we’d love for you to log in to WordPress.org and submit a review here.
Every review helps!
The Best is Yet to Come!
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