List of WordPress Communities You Should Join and Why
The task of finding a solution to your problem is quite a daunting one. It is especially true when what we are dealing with are problems associated with web design, web development and programming.
While it is known that the largest WordPress community is the one at WordPress.org, you are sometimes required to rely on other helpful sources of information, which may make your task more difficult and miserable as a result.
I’m an active blogger and I constantly use search engines to discover new sources of information on the topics I’m interested in. Normally I end up joining communities that can provide answers to my question as I always try new things, playing with my WordPress installation, introducing changes to it and testing whether things work better as a result.
I usually have questions around styling issues, new database queries or optimization issues around my websites’ speed and performance. Sometimes a deeper understanding of the WordPress CMS and expert technical knowledge are needed for a particular problem.
I’ve invested time and effort to compile a list of WordPress communities, which I believe are very helpful and instrumental in providing answers to my problems. I hope these communities will be helpful for you too.
Before I list the communities I want to outline a number of things for you so that you are aware of the common standards these communities share. These will improve your chances to receive help, connect with people with similar interests, and increase your reputation.
– Respect the opinions of others
– Conduct your own research prior to submitting your enquiry
– Share insights and valuable content
– Address people by their names
– Compliment others and honor them when their answers are helpful
– Try to be yourself
I will not attempt to lecture you on how to go on with each of those steps. Just ensure that you have these points in mind when you expect to be respected in return.
WordPress Development Stack Exchange
The WordPress Development Stack Exchange is one of the best communities for WordPress enthusiasts to enroll in. If you aim to acquire technical and intellectual answers, this community will help you a lot if you present yourself as а person seeking genuine help.
The community itself is located at http://wordpress.stackexchange.com/ and these are my tips for interacting with it:
– Research whether there isn’t a similar topic to yours and that your problem is not already resolved in it
– Make sure your question is in a proper format and that it is not difficult for the audience to understand what you ask about.
– Give thanks to those whose answers you deem helpful.
– Avoid getting into conflict by telling someone he is not right in his statements.
– Be loyal as a member of the community.
The community is not only about finding answers to your enquiries. You will find that it is also a great place for establishing new contacts with developers and webmasters, most of which maintain their own WordPress websites.
WordPress Reddit
It is not much different from Stack Exchange, except that it is a board for discussions. Although it is friendlier to WordPress beginners, you will still have to observe the rules on the sidebar to ensure you comply with the community’s rules.
Presently it has 16,000 users, and this particular subreddit allows you to stay up-to-date with the latest WordPress features and releases. For the most part the members are developers, while the rest are experienced users who have been with the CMS for a long time already. You should ask for help whenever you need it. That is behind the idea of Reddit after all.
You can take part in this community at http://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/.
Advanced WordPress
AdvancedWP is one of those communities that are not yet saturated and haunted by spammers. AdvancedWP is a community of experts, enthusiastic WordPress users, and helpful individuals who are always on the lookout to learn and innovate.
You will need a Facebook account to join this particular community, and you will have to acquire the permission of an administrator. The process helps reduce the number of people who attempt to join the community in order to spam the discussion board, mostly with unrelated advertisement. Among the community’s members are people like Chris Coyier and Yoast, who also enter in discussions and help improve their value for all. The direct link to the community is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/advancedwp/.
All about WordPress
All about WordPress is one of the most popular groups in WordPress community. It helps all WordPress users from beginners to developers. Under the talented admin, all spam and fake links are strictly controlled so all information in this are very useful.
If you want to join in this community, you need to be accepted by admin. All your post are tested by manager. You can be banned or removed if you try spamming link or publishing some links which are not allowed. Join it at https://www.facebook.com/groups/AllAboutWP/
Quora
Quora is a community in a question-answer format. Its reach is much wider than that of WordPress. It also stands as one of the largest communities, which currently boosts around 62,000 followers. It is important to note that most followers are only subscribers though.
An important thing to have in mind for Quora is that you are almost ensured of receiving the answer to your enquiry. You are also presented with the opportunity to post questions or ask experts to help with a problem by inviting them to a discussion. Quora is a perfect place for asking WordPress-related question on a given topic or other issues troubling you.
You should also try to report and avoid spam whenever you stumble upon it. It is one of the matters the community is yet to deal with. You can learn more about the community or decide whether to enroll in it at http://www.quora.com/WordPress.
As a conclusion, I would like to point out that these communities have been in existence for years and it has taken them a considerable amount of time to develop. Having said that, it is logical that they are a source of great wealth for those who are in need of them. It may seem difficult for some to become better introduced to how these work in the first couple of weeks after registering, but it should not discourage them from trying.
These are some of the best, if not the best, WordPress communities in existence, and if you want to promote something WordPress-related or you look for contacting WordPress professionals, these are definitely places you should visit.
