Wordpress has grown from the dream of a nineteen-year-old to a tool used by about 200 million people worldwide, affecting about 19% of the internet. This has happened over a scant ten years, in a community that largely runs itself.

Wordpress has extreme partisans, and also some detractors. About two years into its existence, Matt Mullenweg started bringing the community together at a Wordcamp, where best practices could be shared. The first one was at the Swedish American Hall on the edge of the Castro. The last few have overflowed the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center.

I’ve been to every Wordcamp, and I’ve picked up a lot of knowledge about Wordpress, most of which I just use to be a better power user. But the best part of these events for me is always the community; there’s something about people who use and create open source materials that brings out their best nature. Many of the people who make a living from Wordpress, by designing and developing, by instructing and supporting, are brilliant and fascinating.

For me, the only sad thing was that I could only attend one day of the two-day conference because of my travel plans. BUT: I got the t-shirt:-)