Make WordPress Core

Opened 13 years ago

Closed 8 years ago

#18552 closed enhancement (wontfix)

"Just another WordPress site" might be seen as dismissive to users

Reported by: ranyanivhartstein's profile RanYanivHartstein Owned by: jorbin's profile jorbin
Milestone: Priority: normal
Severity: normal Version: 3.2.1
Component: Text Changes Keywords: has-patch ux-feedback 2nd-opinion
Focuses: Cc:

Description

The default tagline on all new WordPress sites is "Just another WordPress site".

This is obviously written in good spirit, and meant to encourage users to change their tagline. But not all users appreciate the humor. Some might feel it dismisses them and their sites, and even if it does get them to change the title, it leaves a bad taste.

I suggest we change this to "Another great WordPress site", "Another fine WordPress site", etc.

Attachments (2)

18552.diff (598 bytes) - added by RyanMurphy 12 years ago.
Patch with Matt's wording
18552.1.diff (575 bytes) - added by ericlewis 11 years ago.

Download all attachments as: .zip

Change History (26)

#1 follow-ups: @jane
13 years ago

  • Component changed from General to UI
  • Priority changed from normal to low
  • Severity changed from normal to trivial
  • Type changed from defect (bug) to enhancement
  • Version set to 3.2.1

I think maybe the tone doesn't come across right for you. I never saw it as being a push to change to change the tagline (though I'm in favor of updating it, or even doing rotating taglines), but as a carryover of the casual tone Howdy and some of our other text tries to convey. Saying it is offensive seems like a pretty aggressive statement.

#2 in reply to: ↑ 1 @RanYanivHartstein
13 years ago

Replying to jane:

I think maybe the tone doesn't come across right for you.

Exactly - it doesn't come across for me. I love the casual "Howdy" tone, but I don't see this as part of it. This is just rude :)

#3 @RanYanivHartstein
13 years ago

  • Summary changed from Just another WordPress site" is offensive to users to Just another WordPress site" might be seen as dimissive to users

#4 in reply to: ↑ 1 @RanYanivHartstein
13 years ago

Replying to jane:

Saying it is offensive seems like a pretty aggressive statement.

Thanks for pointing this out - I changed the title.

#5 @RanYanivHartstein
13 years ago

  • Summary changed from Just another WordPress site" might be seen as dimissive to users to "Just another WordPress site" might be seen as dimissive to users

#6 @andrewryno
13 years ago

I know this might be an unpopular opinion, but I know it's been brought up before. What about dropping the default tagline by default? Too many people never bother to change it because they simply don't know they have the option. 136,000,000 results for the exact phrase on Google:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%22just+another+wordpress+site%22

Related to this opinion: #6479

Last edited 13 years ago by andrewryno (previous) (diff)

#7 @RyanMurphy
12 years ago

Just posted a patch on #6479 that makes the tagline an install time option and sets the default tagline to (i.e. none).

#8 @waclawjacek
12 years ago

I like RanYanivHartstein's idea more - change the default tagline to "Another fine WordPress site" or something similar. Making it an install time option, thus having to set more things at install time, could be confusing at time of a first install, when one doesn't yet know what the slogan is in practice and might set it to none, not realising they have the option to put some text next to their site's title in some themes.

#9 @youthgas
12 years ago

Or you can go with something more whimsical, like "From us, to you. With WordPress." or "WordPress - helping the world talk." - that kind of vibe.

#10 follow-up: @jane
12 years ago

Making it more positive wouldn't be bad.

"Not just another WordPress site!"

Props @matt for the suggestion. :)

@RyanMurphy
12 years ago

Patch with Matt's wording

#11 @RyanMurphy
12 years ago

  • Keywords has-patch added

Attached patch changes it to Matt's wording.

#12 @SergeyBiryukov
11 years ago

  • Component changed from UI to Text Changes

#14 in reply to: ↑ 10 @ericlewis
11 years ago

Replying to jane:

Making it more positive wouldn't be bad.

"Not just another WordPress site!"

Props @matt for the suggestion. :)

I agree a positive wouldn't be bad, however, this sounds a bit quirky and opinionated.

It implies there is a culture around WordPress being of subpar quality in mass quantity, of which your blog is not a part of. Your blog somehow is a cut above the rest. Although ironically, this will be the tagline for every new WP install, and seemingly every WordPress site will be better than that other blob of mass produced WordPress installs.

Let's leave this suggestion and move on to a basic, positive message.

I just came across WordPress.com's choice "A fine WordPress.com site," which I was pleased with. It's straight-forward, positive, and leaves the relation of your site to the greater WordPress ecosystem. We can modify it to "A fine WordPress site" for .org use.

Last edited 11 years ago by ericlewis (previous) (diff)

@ericlewis
11 years ago

#15 @ericlewis
11 years ago

in attachment:18552.1.diff, "A fine WordPress site" for the default tagline.

#16 @ericlewis
11 years ago

  • Keywords ux-feedback 2nd-opinion added

#17 @swissspidy
9 years ago

Considering there are tons of tutorials for removing the "Just another WordPress site" tagline, changing the wording wouldn't really solve the problem.

What about removing the tagline completely? For example, Yoast SEO includes the following warning:

You still have the default WordPress tagline, even an empty one is probably better. You can fix this in the customizer.

Of course removing it could lead to users not knowing that this feature even exists. Therefore we could add a hint to the Hello World post, suggesting that they might wanna change it.

#18 @SergeyBiryukov
9 years ago

  • Summary changed from "Just another WordPress site" might be seen as dimissive to users to "Just another WordPress site" might be seen as dismissive to users

#19 @karmatosed
8 years ago

I'm not sure removing it is a good thing. Even adding it as a hint to the Hello World post, I can see a lot of people missing it. I'd raise a query as to how many people actually read that post for us to hide important information in it.

I do think we could have more positive phrasing than we currently have. I quite like the "fine" option as a small but friendly improvement.

#20 @ericlewis
8 years ago

  • Milestone changed from Awaiting Review to 4.5
  • Priority changed from low to normal
  • Severity changed from trivial to normal

Let's look into this, one way or another.

#21 @voldemortensen
8 years ago

To me, this is much ado about nothing. Many popular sites have little quirky things and it makes them what they are. I know that I haven't talked with every person who has ever used WordPress, and obviously there is at least a few individuals who feels this should be changed (or at least not against changing it), but this phrase has been in core for coming up on 5 years and this ticket is the only place I've ever heard mention of this.

Not that the decision is up to me, but I'd feel better about this if someone could point me to a forum or other public place where this has been discussed. Preliminary search engines queries aren't returning anything for me.

This ticket was mentioned in Slack in #core by chriscct7. View the logs.


8 years ago

#23 @chriscct7
8 years ago

  • Owner set to jorbin
  • Status changed from new to assigned

#24 @chriscct7
8 years ago

  • Milestone 4.5 deleted
  • Resolution set to wontfix
  • Status changed from assigned to closed

Wontfix per Slack discussion during the 4.5 milestone bug scrub meeting: https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/core/p1455642802000099

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