What could / should CP be

This is what the discussion should be about.
Whether we start with a 4.9 fork or 6 fork there is a lot of work to make them a fully functional seperate cms system rather than WP with bits missing.
The poll is a bit like deciding which way the deck chairs should be on a boat lost in the fog.

Some generalisations follow.
All else being equal successful businesses have some things in common.
At the start someone has spotted a gap in the market and has the desire, skills, drive, money, help, to make a viable product and set up a business.
Often it is only a variation on an existing product range and aimed at a target comsumer base that already exists.

Businesses that start up with a “good” idea and lack the desire, skills, drive, money, help, etc. and do not really know if enough people want their “baby” are usually doomed to failure

For me, I make and maintain websites for a variety of businesses, some brochure some ecommerce. For the most part the client does very little on the site after it is created.
Possibly aAdding new topical posts, editing adding new products etc. but they usually send me the content to add.
When they do it they put the content in the boxes provided, they do not design anything.

WP.com is aimed at the diy website owner, that is where Automattic makes its money.

The WP.org concept got a lot of people involved and helped build the cms but does not make money.

Although a look after quite a few site I do not make money for Automattic so what happens to me is of no concern for WP.com

CP seems a good idea, aimed at a gap in the market, but has very little take up.
So we need to analyse why it is not working and decide is it fixable? Do we have the manpower to do the work? Do we have a management team to make it happen?

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For me, I use ClassicPress for just blogging and nothing else. I do not need REST API and XML-RPC, along with multi-author support. Plus, I use disable wpautop plugin and I do not use a visual text editor, so I’m more of an experienced web developer. I do not require a block editor/Gutenberg either. No new features for CMS; only security updates.

For me, I like having a CMS that is lightweight, but still have commenting features for anyone to comment in my website.

Of course, I only speak for myself, not for everyone. To each their own.

Yes.

If you ask “Who had the most to lose from Gutenberg?” I think the answer would be people just like you, Mark.

That’s exactly what I do too. There must be a lot of developers and agencies out there that manage tens or hundreds of existing WP sites for clients. To them, Gutenberg was/is a disaster. I suspect that most of them have installed a classic editor plugin and are desperately hoping they reach retirement age before it stops being a viable option.

This is a group that represents a potentially large consumer base for CP to try and capture.

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I tried ClassicPress when it first came out. Then bailed on it later. And am now using it again.

The reason I bailed on it for a while was exactly due to posts like this (and also that poll). I’m sure you’re familiar with the term FUD. That’s exactly what so many posts on this forum are, be it unintentionally.

I came back to ClassicPress because Wordpress, again, introduced annoying changes. So I guess that is what I hope ClassicPress to be first and foremost: a Wordpress 4.9 LTS release.

It’s a very good piece of software as it is. IMHO it does not need to ‘evolve’ into anything particular. It just needs to avoid becoming stale: refactor towards the latest PHP versions, apply security fixes.

If anything, I would like it to become even leaner. Modularize most of the functionality, so I can leave it out, or replace it with 3rd-party version. E.g. swap the default editor for a different one. Or just remove it completely if all my content is API submitted, etc.

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The main reason I would like to see XML-RPC is so that third-party blogging apps, like MarsEdit, can post direct to CP. MicroPub would be even better in that regard, and the IndieWeb suite of plugins, to enable interaction with other parts of the Fediverse, would also find some users.

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So you do not have any security concerns, correct? In any case, I do not mind if XML-RPC can be made as a plugin so that I can remove it from my site.

My security concerns are mostly covered by having robust authorisation procedures in place.