FAIR Shifts Focus Away From WordPress
🔗 **Source:** [FAIR Shifts Focus Away From WordPress](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-quits-wordpress-but-one-of-its-best-features-remains-as-a-standalone-plugin/)
> [!note]+ Document Notes
> tags: [WordPress, FAIR, TYPO3]
> author: Jon Henshaw
> source: Coywolf
> reference: [https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/]
> date created: 2026-03-01 12:00
>
> # 🏷️ Title: FAIR shifts focus away from WordPress
>
<!-- deep-read:sections start -->
## 🧭 Table of Contents
- [📝 Summary](#-summary)
- [📖 Main Content](#-main-content)
- [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes)
- [📚 References](#-references)
- [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase)
- [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter)
- [✅ Action Items](#-action-items)
- [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses)
- [📊 Methodology](#-methodology)
- [❓ Questions](#-questions)
- [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research)
- [💡 Implications](#-implications)
- [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment)
- [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment)
- [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment)
- [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity)
- [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis)
- [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion)
### 🔗 References
- Include links cited in or relevant to the article.
## 📝 Summary
- FAIR, created in 2025 to decentralize WordPress updates via a connector plugin, is pivoting away from WordPress toward TYPO3 after hosts declined to fund mirrors.
- This matters for WordPress governance, supply-chain resilience, and self-hosted update infrastructure.
- Stakeholders: FAIR team, hosting providers, WordPress site owners, AspirePress, TYPO3 community, plugin authors.
- Risks: centralization of update control, unmaintained connector plugin, confusion for admins.
- Bottom line: FAIR’s WordPress ambitions are paused, but its local-avatar feature survives as a standalone plugin.
## 📖 Main Content
- FAIR aimed to create “Federated and Independent Repositories” for WordPress Core and plugin updates, using a connector plugin and third-party mirrors (initially AspirePress).
- Hosting companies and major ecosystem players declined to invest, citing cost, political tension, and risk; they prefer the predictability of the current centralized system.
- FAIR will “stick around” but refocus on TYPO3 while keeping the WordPress connector available but effectively under-resourced.
- Coywolf removed the FAIR connector but wanted to retain its Gravatar-bypass feature; contributor Andrew Norcross extracted this into a standalone “Local Profile Picture” plugin.
- The new plugin lets WordPress admins upload and serve avatar images from their own domain instead of Gravatar, used on Coywolf’s bylines and bios.
### 🗒️ Notes
- FAIR was founded in June 2025 to decentralize WordPress updates and address concerns over Automattic/WordPress.org central control.
- Core mechanism: a connector plugin that could fetch signed update packages from multiple independent repositories instead of a single canonical source.
- AspirePress hosted update resources early on, but other providers never joined to create the intended network of mirrors.
- Joost de Valk reports extensive but unsuccessful outreach to hosts and “large ecosystem players”; they saw investment as high-risk relative to the perceived benefits.
- Reasons hosts declined: investment implies long-term commitment, political entanglements in WordPress governance, and non-trivial infrastructure cost.
- FAIR concludes the WordPress ecosystem lacks sufficient will to change the status quo around update distribution.
- FAIR will now focus on TYPO3, where there may be more appetite for federated update infrastructure or different governance dynamics.
- The WordPress connector remains available, but users should understand it lacks broad backing beyond AspirePress and FAIR’s limited resources.
- Coywolf decided that relying on an underfunded connector for critical updates is too risky, so they reverted to official WordPress.org updates.
- One FAIR feature still valued: serving avatar images locally rather than via Gravatar, improving privacy, control, and potentially performance.
- Andrew Norcross extracted that avatar feature into a standalone plugin (“Local Profile Picture”) now installable independently of FAIR.
- Usage: upload plugin via WP Admin, activate, open a user’s profile, upload a profile image in the “Profile Picture” section, save; avatars are then served from the site’s own domain.
- Coywolf uses this plugin for all author avatars and short bios, demonstrating a real-world deployment.
- The article implicitly contrasts infrastructure-scale reforms (FAIR’s original vision) with small, tractable wins (the avatar plugin) that can still move the ecosystem forward.
## 📚 References
- [FAIR project](https://fair.pm/)
- [Original FAIR initiative coverage on Coywolf](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/fair-initiative-decentralizes-wordpress-updates/)
- [FAIR WordPress connector plugin releases](https://github.com/fairpm/fair-plugin/releases)
- [AspirePress](https://aspirepress.org/)
- [Joost de Valk’s blog / profile](https://joost.net/@joost)
- [Local Profile Picture plugin by Andrew Norcross (GitHub)](https://github.com/norcross/local-profile-picture)
## 🗣️ Paraphrase
- FAIR, launched in 2025 to decentralize WordPress updates through a connector plugin and third-party mirrors, failed to secure sustained host investment, so it is pivoting to focus on TYPO3 while leaving the WordPress connector in a low-support state.
- Coywolf removed the FAIR connector to avoid relying on underfunded infrastructure but kept its local-avatar feature via a new standalone plugin by Andrew Norcross, which lets sites serve user profile images from their own domain instead of Gravatar.
## 📰 Newsletter
WordPress governance just lost a notable experiment. FAIR, the “Federated and Independent Repositories” initiative to decentralize core and plugin updates, is stepping back from WordPress after hosts refused to fund mirror infrastructure. The connector plugin still exists but is effectively in maintenance mode, and FAIR is refocusing on TYPO3.
There’s a silver lining: one of FAIR’s best ideas—serving avatars locally instead of via Gravatar—now lives on as a standalone “Local Profile Picture” plugin from Andrew Norcross. If you care about privacy, data residency, or simply owning your author avatars, this is an easy win to adopt in your stack.
For teams thinking about update resilience, this episode is a reminder: big governance shifts need concrete funding commitments from hosts and platforms. In the meantime, targeted plugins and small, deployable improvements can still move WordPress toward a more privacy-respecting, self-hosted future.
## ✅ Action Items
#### DevRel
- Highlight FAIR’s story in talks about open-source governance, funding, and supply-chain security for WordPress.
- Produce a short tutorial and code examples showing how to migrate from Gravatar to the Local Profile Picture plugin.
- Add FAIR and the avatar plugin to DevRel content calendars (blogs, streams, sample repos) as case studies in decoupling features from larger initiatives.
- Collect developer feedback on update decentralization pain points to inform future experiments.
#### OSPO
- Document FAIR as a governance and funding case: why mirrors didn’t gain host support in WordPress.
- Review internal policies on adopting third-party update channels; ensure SBOM and signing strategies cover scenarios like FAIR.
- Add FAIR-like initiatives to an inventory of alternative distribution mechanisms for risk assessment.
- Consider MoUs or funding frameworks for any future federated update projects across ecosystems.
#### Community
- Organize discussions or panels on what sustainable funding and governance for update decentralization could look like.
- Encourage contributors to participate in maintaining small, focused plugins like Local Profile Picture.
- Provide sponsors with clear narratives about the impact and risk-reduction value of infra projects like FAIR.
- Run tabletop exercises for cross-project incident response involving update infrastructure.
#### WordPress
- Core: Revisit conversations about signed updates, mirrors, and provenance; clarify where community contributions are welcomed.
- Core Performance: Assess performance impact of local avatars vs. Gravatar in real-world workloads.
- Core AI: N/A for this article; log as a potential future concern around supply-chain security for AI-powered plugins.
- **Core Program Team:** Track governance experiments like FAIR and synthesize lessons for the broader project.
- Mobile: Ensure mobile apps handle locally served avatars gracefully.
- Playground: Create a Playground scenario demonstrating FAIR-style update alternatives and local-avatar configuration.
- Community: Include FAIR’s trajectory in meetup talks and WordCamp governance sessions.
- Training: Add modules on safe update practices and privacy-preserving avatar strategies.
- Marketing: Clarify messaging around official update channels and third-party connectors.
- Support: Update support docs to warn about unmaintained connectors and suggest fallbacks.
- Design: Consider UX affordances for user-managed profile pictures in WP Admin.
- Documentation: Add examples for replacing Gravatar with local avatar solutions.
- Photos: Document avatar best practices for author images (sizes, formats, cropping).
- TV: Produce segments or talks on update security and decentralization experiments.
- Polyglots: Ensure local-avatar plugins are well translated for global adoption.
- Accessibility: Verify the Local Profile Picture plugin’s UI is accessible (labels, focus states, alt text guidance).
- Meta: Monitor directory policies and guidance around update-related plugins like FAIR’s connector.
- CLI: Explore CLI flows for toggling between WordPress.org updates and connector-based updates (documented carefully).
- Hosting: Develop guidance for hosts evaluating whether to support or mirror decentralized update projects.
- Tide: Reflect on how Tide scores might eventually incorporate provenance and update-channel risk.
- Openverse: N/A directly; note as a pattern for federated distribution conversations.
- Themes: Ensure themes render local avatars robustly in bylines and author blocks.
- Plugins: Encourage plugin authors to consider local assets and self-hosted images where appropriate.
#### The WPOCC
- Use FAIR as a case study in funding experiments and governance clinics.
- Explore microgrant or stipend models for infra projects that need multi-host backing.
- Offer documentation sprints or clinics to help infra projects communicate value clearly to hosts.
- Consider programs that support maintainers in sunsetting or pivoting responsibly.
### FAIR
- Technical independence: Preserve the architectural work on signed, federated update channels as reusable artifacts or specs.
- Policies and covenants: Draft explicit funding and sunset policies for future infra projects to avoid ambiguous expectations.
- Productized governance artifacts: Turn FAIR’s experiences into templates (charters, operator agreements, risk scorecards) that others can reuse.
## 🧪 Hypotheses
- H1: WordPress hosting providers are reluctant to fund decentralized update infrastructure primarily due to perceived political risk rather than pure cost.
- H2: Plugins that provide narrowly scoped, privacy-enhancing features (like local avatars) see higher adoption than broad governance initiatives.
- H3: TYPO3’s community and governance structure are more conducive to funding federated update infrastructure than WordPress’s current ecosystem.
- H4: Sites that switch from Gravatar to local avatars achieve measurable improvements in privacy compliance and user trust metrics.
### 📊 Methodology
- For H1: Survey and interview decision-makers at major WordPress hosting companies regarding FAIR; analyze stated vs. revealed preferences and cost models.
- For H2: Compare install and retention statistics across WordPress.org for governance-scale infra plugins vs. narrow utility plugins; control for promotion and age.
- For H3: Conduct comparative case studies of TYPO3 and WordPress governance decisions around infra funding; review budgets, sponsorships, and working-group outputs.
- For H4: Run an A/B test across multiple sites switching to local avatars; measure changes in privacy complaints, DSRs, and user sentiment.
### ❓ Questions
- What specific risk scenarios did hosts associate with FAIR participation (political backlash, operational incidents, legal exposure)?
- Under what conditions would hosts reconsider funding decentralized update mirrors?
- Could WordPress.org itself support a hybrid model that allows vetted mirrors without fully ceding control?
- How sustainable is maintaining the FAIR connector with minimal ecosystem investment?
- What governance or funding experiments could prevent similar infra projects from stalling?
### 🔮 Future Research
- Deep dives into alternative update distribution architectures across CMS ecosystems.
- Economic analyses of shared infra funding models (e.g., host consortiums, foundations).
- UX research on admin perceptions of update provenance and trust indicators.
- Security modeling of centralized vs. federated update infrastructures in WordPress-like ecosystems.
- Longitudinal study of privacy-related plugins (avatars, analytics, fonts) and their impact.
### 💡 Implications
- Practice: Site owners should be cautious relying on underfunded infra plugins for critical update paths; local avatars are a low-risk win.
- Policy: WordPress governance bodies may need clearer policies and funding paths for infra experiments.
- Security: Centralized updates remain a single point of failure; federated approaches require real, not symbolic, investment.
- Education: Training materials should contrast official channels with third-party connectors and explain risks.
- Funding: Foundations and host consortiums may be necessary to support infra that benefits the whole ecosystem.
### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment
- Reading level estimate: Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level ≈ 9–10, based on sentence length and vocabulary typical of web-tech news.
#### 👀 Visual learners
- Present: One clear screenshot-style description of the profile picture UI; mental model of “before = Gravatar, after = local.”
- Improve: Add architecture diagrams of centralized vs. federated update flows and a UI walkthrough of the avatar plugin.
#### 🔊 Aural learners
- Present: None explicitly.
- Improve: Provide a 3–5 minute audio summary or podcast segment explaining FAIR’s pivot and the avatar plugin.
#### 🗣️ Verbal learners
- Present: Concise explanations of FAIR, connectors, and local avatars with minimal jargon.
- Improve: Add more analogies (e.g., “CDN of update mirrors”) and a glossary of key governance terms.
#### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners
- Present: Step-by-step instructions for installing and using the avatar plugin.
- Improve: Offer a short “lab”: install FAIR connector in a test environment, then revert and compare.
#### 🧠 Logical learners
- Present: Causal reasoning about why hosts declined investment (cost, politics, risk).
- Improve: Include explicit decision trees and pros/cons tables for host investment scenarios.
#### 🧑🤝🧑 Social learners
- Present: References to conversations with hosting companies and community dynamics.
- Improve: Provide discussion prompts for meetups or Slack channels on infra funding.
#### 🧘♀️ Solitary learners
- Present: Article structure supports reflective reading.
- Improve: Add reflection questions at the end (e.g., “What infra do you depend on that is underfunded?”).
#### 🌿 Naturalistic learners
- Present: None directly.
- Improve: Use ecosystem analogies (e.g., monoculture vs. diverse habitats as centralized vs. federated infra).
### 📊 Accessibility Assessment
#### Screen reader semantics
- Present: Clear headings and paragraph structure.
- Improve: Ensure all images (e.g., profile picture UI) have descriptive alt text and proper language attributes.
#### Keyboard navigation
- Present: Standard web-article layout should be keyboard navigable.
- Improve: Confirm visible focus indicators and skip links; avoid interactive elements that trap focus.
#### Contrast and readability
- Present: Coywolf’s design typically uses high contrast for text.
- Improve: Audit specific pages against WCAG 2.2 AA, especially for smaller UI text around the plugin screenshot.
#### Text resizing and reflow
- Present: Responsive layout likely supports 200% zoom.
- Improve: Test reflow on narrow viewports and respect prefers-reduced-motion settings.
#### Media and captions
- Present: Mainly text; no auto-playing media.
- Improve: If videos or demos are added later, provide captions and transcripts.
#### Forms and interactions
- Present: Described WP Admin interactions rely on core WordPress forms.
- Improve: Ensure the plugin’s custom fields have labels and error states that meet WCAG.
#### Standards reference
- Map improvements to WCAG 2.2 AA criteria such as 1.4.x (contrast), 2.1.x (keyboard), 2.4.x (navigation), 3.3.x (input assistance).
### 🌍 DEIB Assessment
#### Cultural breadth
- Present: Focus on global WordPress ecosystem but largely Western-host centric.
- Improve: Include perspectives from non-Western hosts and communities relying on WordPress.
#### Inclusive language
- Present: Neutral, non-gendered language; technical but not dismissive.
- Improve: Add plain-language summaries for less technical readers.
#### Neurodiversity support
- Present: Chunked sections with clear headings.
- Improve: Use consistent patterns for callouts, minimize unnecessary visual clutter.
#### Representation
- Present: Mentions a small set of named individuals and orgs.
- Improve: Highlight a broader range of contributors and communities affected by infra decisions.
#### Psychological safety
- Present: Respectful tone when describing failures and disagreements.
- Improve: Add explicit encouragement for constructive governance debates and clear community guidelines if this becomes a recurring topic.
### ✅ Logical Validity
#### Strong reasoning
- Causal reasoning: Hosts decline to fund FAIR because investment entails cost, commitment, political tension, and risk; they prefer a stable, known system. This is supported by explicit quotes from Joost de Valk.
- Inductive reasoning: From FAIR’s failure to gain traction, the article infers broader reluctance in the ecosystem to change update governance; this is presented cautiously rather than as universal fact.
#### Fallacies
- None obvious; the article avoids overgeneralizing and notes that FAIR still welcomes contributors, leaving room for counterexamples.
#### Tone of voice
- Tone is reflective and pragmatic: acknowledges disappointment but emphasizes learning and small wins, especially around the avatar plugin.
### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis
- Deny: The article does not deny problems; it openly acknowledges FAIR’s lack of traction.
- Attack: No attacks on hosts or individuals; criticism is systemic and focused on incentives.
- Reverse victim/offender: No attempt to cast FAIR or hosts as victims of unfair treatment; the framing is “this is how incentives played out.”
- Overall, the rhetoric is non-defensive and avoids DARVO patterns; it frames the pivot as a sober decision based on evidence.
## 🎯 Conclusion
FAIR’s attempt to decentralize WordPress updates via a connector plugin stalled when hosting providers declined to fund the necessary mirror infrastructure. FAIR is pivoting toward TYPO3, leaving the WordPress connector in place but under-resourced. For WordPress site owners, the practical move is to rely on official update channels while selectively adopting durable features like Andrew Norcross’s Local Profile Picture plugin, which preserves FAIR’s privacy-friendly avatar approach without the governance baggage.
## 🧱 Refactor Appendix (append after 🎯 Conclusion)
### 📚 Literature Split Pad
- Purpose: Stage Konik CEE units that become per-source Literature notes.
- Split level: **H3**.
- Include verbatim quotes under 25 words and a [view highlight] link.
### [H1] 5–10-word present-tense claim
> [!quote] [FAIR shifts focus away from WordPress](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/) by [[Jon Henshaw]] via [[Coywolf]]. Published 2026-02-28.
> “FAIR was shifting its focus away from WordPress because hosting providers refused to invest in it.”
Two lines: context and use. Cite data if relevant.
[view highlight](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/#H1) #xref #articleseed ID:rw_[MISSING]
### [H2] 5–10-word present-tense claim
> [!quote] [FAIR shifts focus away from WordPress](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/)
> “A key part of FAIR’s initiative was a connector plugin made to decentralize and securely serve WordPress Core and plugin updates.”
Two lines: context and use.
[view highlight](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/#H2) #xref ID:rw_[MISSING]
---
### 🔖 Atomic Split Pad (Zettel Candidates)
- Purpose: Promote reusable claims into Atomic notes.
- Split level: **H4**.
- Each item: one idea, present tense, specific, testable.
#### [Z1] 5–10-word present-tense claim
- Scope/condition in one line.
- Pointer to page/time or dataset.
- Links: [[Parent-Concept]] [[Related-Idea]]
#### [Z2] 5–10-word present-tense claim
- Scope/condition in one line.
- Pointer to page/time or dataset.
- Links: [[Parent-Concept]] [[Related-Idea]]
---
### ✏️ Fleeting Queue (Extract by Selection)
- Purpose: Capture quick actions or sparks for Fleeting notes.
- Extraction: **Select one line** → “Refactor: Extract selection to new note (content only).”
- Keep each line short and self-contained.
- [F1] Review FAIR’s governance and funding lessons—context/https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/ #fleeting #inbox
- [F2] Test Local Profile Picture plugin on staging—context/https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/ #fleeting #inbox
- [F3] Draft talk on decentralized update infrastructures—context/https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/ #fleeting #inbox
---
<!-- deep-read:sections end -->
[[3. Resources/Readwise/Full Document Contents/Articles/FAIR Shifts Focus Away From WordPress|Full Document Contents]]
## Document Notes
---
tags: #WordPress #FAIR #TYPO3
author: Jon Henshaw
source: Coywolf
reference: [https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/]
date created: 2026-03-01 12:00
---
# 🏷️ Title: FAIR shifts focus away from WordPress
## 🧭 Table of Contents
- [[#📝 Summary]]
- [[#📖 Main Content]]
- [[#🗒️ Notes]]
- [[#📚 References]]
- [[#🗣️ Paraphrase]]
- [[#📰 Newsletter]]
- [[#✅ Action Items]]
- [[#🧪 Hypotheses]]
- [[#📊 Methodology]]
- [[#❓ Questions]]
- [[#🔮 Future Research]]
- [[#💡 Implications]]
- [[#🧠 Learning Styles Assessment]]
- [[#📊 Accessibility Assessment]]
- [[#🌍 DEIB Assessment]]
- [[#✅ Logical Validity]]
- [[#🛡️ DARVO Analysis]]
- [[#🎯 Conclusion]]
### 🔗 References
- Include links cited in or relevant to the article.
## 📝 Summary
- FAIR, created in 2025 to decentralize WordPress updates via a connector plugin, is pivoting away from WordPress toward TYPO3 after hosts declined to fund mirrors.
- This matters for WordPress governance, supply-chain resilience, and self-hosted update infrastructure.
- Stakeholders: FAIR team, hosting providers, WordPress site owners, AspirePress, TYPO3 community, plugin authors.
- Risks: centralization of update control, unmaintained connector plugin, confusion for admins.
- Bottom line: FAIR’s WordPress ambitions are paused, but its local-avatar feature survives as a standalone plugin.
## 📖 Main Content
- FAIR aimed to create “Federated and Independent Repositories” for WordPress Core and plugin updates, using a connector plugin and third-party mirrors (initially AspirePress).
- Hosting companies and major ecosystem players declined to invest, citing cost, political tension, and risk; they prefer the predictability of the current centralized system.
- FAIR will “stick around” but refocus on TYPO3 while keeping the WordPress connector available but effectively under-resourced.
- Coywolf removed the FAIR connector but wanted to retain its Gravatar-bypass feature; contributor Andrew Norcross extracted this into a standalone “Local Profile Picture” plugin.
- The new plugin lets WordPress admins upload and serve avatar images from their own domain instead of Gravatar, used on Coywolf’s bylines and bios.
### 🗒️ Notes
- FAIR was founded in June 2025 to decentralize WordPress updates and address concerns over Automattic/WordPress.org central control.
- Core mechanism: a connector plugin that could fetch signed update packages from multiple independent repositories instead of a single canonical source.
- AspirePress hosted update resources early on, but other providers never joined to create the intended network of mirrors.
- Joost de Valk reports extensive but unsuccessful outreach to hosts and “large ecosystem players”; they saw investment as high-risk relative to the perceived benefits.
- Reasons hosts declined: investment implies long-term commitment, political entanglements in WordPress governance, and non-trivial infrastructure cost.
- FAIR concludes the WordPress ecosystem lacks sufficient will to change the status quo around update distribution.
- FAIR will now focus on TYPO3, where there may be more appetite for federated update infrastructure or different governance dynamics.
- The WordPress connector remains available, but users should understand it lacks broad backing beyond AspirePress and FAIR’s limited resources.
- Coywolf decided that relying on an underfunded connector for critical updates is too risky, so they reverted to official WordPress.org updates.
- One FAIR feature still valued: serving avatar images locally rather than via Gravatar, improving privacy, control, and potentially performance.
- Andrew Norcross extracted that avatar feature into a standalone plugin (“Local Profile Picture”) now installable independently of FAIR.
- Usage: upload plugin via WP Admin, activate, open a user’s profile, upload a profile image in the “Profile Picture” section, save; avatars are then served from the site’s own domain.
- Coywolf uses this plugin for all author avatars and short bios, demonstrating a real-world deployment.
- The article implicitly contrasts infrastructure-scale reforms (FAIR’s original vision) with small, tractable wins (the avatar plugin) that can still move the ecosystem forward.
## 📚 References
- [FAIR project](https://fair.pm/)
- [Original FAIR initiative coverage on Coywolf](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/fair-initiative-decentralizes-wordpress-updates/)
- [FAIR WordPress connector plugin releases](https://github.com/fairpm/fair-plugin/releases)
- [AspirePress](https://aspirepress.org/)
- [Joost de Valk’s blog / profile](https://joost.net/@joost)
- [Local Profile Picture plugin by Andrew Norcross (GitHub)](https://github.com/norcross/local-profile-picture)
## 🗣️ Paraphrase
- FAIR, launched in 2025 to decentralize WordPress updates through a connector plugin and third-party mirrors, failed to secure sustained host investment, so it is pivoting to focus on TYPO3 while leaving the WordPress connector in a low-support state.
- Coywolf removed the FAIR connector to avoid relying on underfunded infrastructure but kept its local-avatar feature via a new standalone plugin by Andrew Norcross, which lets sites serve user profile images from their own domain instead of Gravatar.
## 📰 Newsletter
WordPress governance just lost a notable experiment. FAIR, the “Federated and Independent Repositories” initiative to decentralize core and plugin updates, is stepping back from WordPress after hosts refused to fund mirror infrastructure. The connector plugin still exists but is effectively in maintenance mode, and FAIR is refocusing on TYPO3.
There’s a silver lining: one of FAIR’s best ideas—serving avatars locally instead of via Gravatar—now lives on as a standalone “Local Profile Picture” plugin from Andrew Norcross. If you care about privacy, data residency, or simply owning your author avatars, this is an easy win to adopt in your stack.
For teams thinking about update resilience, this episode is a reminder: big governance shifts need concrete funding commitments from hosts and platforms. In the meantime, targeted plugins and small, deployable improvements can still move WordPress toward a more privacy-respecting, self-hosted future.
## ✅ Action Items
#### DevRel
- Highlight FAIR’s story in talks about open-source governance, funding, and supply-chain security for WordPress.
- Produce a short tutorial and code examples showing how to migrate from Gravatar to the Local Profile Picture plugin.
- Add FAIR and the avatar plugin to DevRel content calendars (blogs, streams, sample repos) as case studies in decoupling features from larger initiatives.
- Collect developer feedback on update decentralization pain points to inform future experiments.
#### OSPO
- Document FAIR as a governance and funding case: why mirrors didn’t gain host support in WordPress.
- Review internal policies on adopting third-party update channels; ensure SBOM and signing strategies cover scenarios like FAIR.
- Add FAIR-like initiatives to an inventory of alternative distribution mechanisms for risk assessment.
- Consider MoUs or funding frameworks for any future federated update projects across ecosystems.
#### Community
- Organize discussions or panels on what sustainable funding and governance for update decentralization could look like.
- Encourage contributors to participate in maintaining small, focused plugins like Local Profile Picture.
- Provide sponsors with clear narratives about the impact and risk-reduction value of infra projects like FAIR.
- Run tabletop exercises for cross-project incident response involving update infrastructure.
#### WordPress
- Core: Revisit conversations about signed updates, mirrors, and provenance; clarify where community contributions are welcomed.
- Core Performance: Assess performance impact of local avatars vs. Gravatar in real-world workloads.
- Core AI: N/A for this article; log as a potential future concern around supply-chain security for AI-powered plugins.
- **Core Program Team:** Track governance experiments like FAIR and synthesize lessons for the broader project.
- Mobile: Ensure mobile apps handle locally served avatars gracefully.
- Playground: Create a Playground scenario demonstrating FAIR-style update alternatives and local-avatar configuration.
- Community: Include FAIR’s trajectory in meetup talks and WordCamp governance sessions.
- Training: Add modules on safe update practices and privacy-preserving avatar strategies.
- Marketing: Clarify messaging around official update channels and third-party connectors.
- Support: Update support docs to warn about unmaintained connectors and suggest fallbacks.
- Design: Consider UX affordances for user-managed profile pictures in WP Admin.
- Documentation: Add examples for replacing Gravatar with local avatar solutions.
- Photos: Document avatar best practices for author images (sizes, formats, cropping).
- TV: Produce segments or talks on update security and decentralization experiments.
- Polyglots: Ensure local-avatar plugins are well translated for global adoption.
- Accessibility: Verify the Local Profile Picture plugin’s UI is accessible (labels, focus states, alt text guidance).
- Meta: Monitor directory policies and guidance around update-related plugins like FAIR’s connector.
- CLI: Explore CLI flows for toggling between WordPress.org updates and connector-based updates (documented carefully).
- Hosting: Develop guidance for hosts evaluating whether to support or mirror decentralized update projects.
- Tide: Reflect on how Tide scores might eventually incorporate provenance and update-channel risk.
- Openverse: N/A directly; note as a pattern for federated distribution conversations.
- Themes: Ensure themes render local avatars robustly in bylines and author blocks.
- Plugins: Encourage plugin authors to consider local assets and self-hosted images where appropriate.
#### The WPCC
- Use FAIR as a case study in funding experiments and governance clinics.
- Explore microgrant or stipend models for infra projects that need multi-host backing.
- Offer documentation sprints or clinics to help infra projects communicate value clearly to hosts.
- Consider programs that support maintainers in sunsetting or pivoting responsibly.
### FAIR
- Technical independence: Preserve the architectural work on signed, federated update channels as reusable artifacts or specs.
- Policies and covenants: Draft explicit funding and sunset policies for future infra projects to avoid ambiguous expectations.
- Productized governance artifacts: Turn FAIR’s experiences into templates (charters, operator agreements, risk scorecards) that others can reuse.
## 🧪 Hypotheses
- H1: WordPress hosting providers are reluctant to fund decentralized update infrastructure primarily due to perceived political risk rather than pure cost.
- H2: Plugins that provide narrowly scoped, privacy-enhancing features (like local avatars) see higher adoption than broad governance initiatives.
- H3: TYPO3’s community and governance structure are more conducive to funding federated update infrastructure than WordPress’s current ecosystem.
- H4: Sites that switch from Gravatar to local avatars achieve measurable improvements in privacy compliance and user trust metrics.
### 📊 Methodology
- For H1: Survey and interview decision-makers at major WordPress hosting companies regarding FAIR; analyze stated vs. revealed preferences and cost models.
- For H2: Compare install and retention statistics across WordPress.org for governance-scale infra plugins vs. narrow utility plugins; control for promotion and age.
- For H3: Conduct comparative case studies of TYPO3 and WordPress governance decisions around infra funding; review budgets, sponsorships, and working-group outputs.
- For H4: Run an A/B test across multiple sites switching to local avatars; measure changes in privacy complaints, DSRs, and user sentiment.
### ❓ Questions
- What specific risk scenarios did hosts associate with FAIR participation (political backlash, operational incidents, legal exposure)?
- Under what conditions would hosts reconsider funding decentralized update mirrors?
- Could WordPress.org itself support a hybrid model that allows vetted mirrors without fully ceding control?
- How sustainable is maintaining the FAIR connector with minimal ecosystem investment?
- What governance or funding experiments could prevent similar infra projects from stalling?
### 🔮 Future Research
- Deep dives into alternative update distribution architectures across CMS ecosystems.
- Economic analyses of shared infra funding models (e.g., host consortiums, foundations).
- UX research on admin perceptions of update provenance and trust indicators.
- Security modeling of centralized vs. federated update infrastructures in WordPress-like ecosystems.
- Longitudinal study of privacy-related plugins (avatars, analytics, fonts) and their impact.
### 💡 Implications
- Practice: Site owners should be cautious relying on underfunded infra plugins for critical update paths; local avatars are a low-risk win.
- Policy: WordPress governance bodies may need clearer policies and funding paths for infra experiments.
- Security: Centralized updates remain a single point of failure; federated approaches require real, not symbolic, investment.
- Education: Training materials should contrast official channels with third-party connectors and explain risks.
- Funding: Foundations and host consortiums may be necessary to support infra that benefits the whole ecosystem.
### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment
- Reading level estimate: Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level ≈ 9–10, based on sentence length and vocabulary typical of web-tech news.
#### 👀 Visual learners
- Present: One clear screenshot-style description of the profile picture UI; mental model of “before = Gravatar, after = local.”
- Improve: Add architecture diagrams of centralized vs. federated update flows and a UI walkthrough of the avatar plugin.
#### 🔊 Aural learners
- Present: None explicitly.
- Improve: Provide a 3–5 minute audio summary or podcast segment explaining FAIR’s pivot and the avatar plugin.
#### 🗣️ Verbal learners
- Present: Concise explanations of FAIR, connectors, and local avatars with minimal jargon.
- Improve: Add more analogies (e.g., “CDN of update mirrors”) and a glossary of key governance terms.
#### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners
- Present: Step-by-step instructions for installing and using the avatar plugin.
- Improve: Offer a short “lab”: install FAIR connector in a test environment, then revert and compare.
#### 🧠 Logical learners
- Present: Causal reasoning about why hosts declined investment (cost, politics, risk).
- Improve: Include explicit decision trees and pros/cons tables for host investment scenarios.
#### 🧑🤝🧑 Social learners
- Present: References to conversations with hosting companies and community dynamics.
- Improve: Provide discussion prompts for meetups or Slack channels on infra funding.
#### 🧘♀️ Solitary learners
- Present: Article structure supports reflective reading.
- Improve: Add reflection questions at the end (e.g., “What infra do you depend on that is underfunded?”).
#### 🌿 Naturalistic learners
- Present: None directly.
- Improve: Use ecosystem analogies (e.g., monoculture vs. diverse habitats as centralized vs. federated infra).
### 📊 Accessibility Assessment
#### Screen reader semantics
- Present: Clear headings and paragraph structure.
- Improve: Ensure all images (e.g., profile picture UI) have descriptive alt text and proper language attributes.
#### Keyboard navigation
- Present: Standard web-article layout should be keyboard navigable.
- Improve: Confirm visible focus indicators and skip links; avoid interactive elements that trap focus.
#### Contrast and readability
- Present: Coywolf’s design typically uses high contrast for text.
- Improve: Audit specific pages against WCAG 2.2 AA, especially for smaller UI text around the plugin screenshot.
#### Text resizing and reflow
- Present: Responsive layout likely supports 200% zoom.
- Improve: Test reflow on narrow viewports and respect prefers-reduced-motion settings.
#### Media and captions
- Present: Mainly text; no auto-playing media.
- Improve: If videos or demos are added later, provide captions and transcripts.
#### Forms and interactions
- Present: Described WP Admin interactions rely on core WordPress forms.
- Improve: Ensure the plugin’s custom fields have labels and error states that meet WCAG.
#### Standards reference
- Map improvements to WCAG 2.2 AA criteria such as 1.4.x (contrast), 2.1.x (keyboard), 2.4.x (navigation), 3.3.x (input assistance).
### 🌍 DEIB Assessment
#### Cultural breadth
- Present: Focus on global WordPress ecosystem but largely Western-host centric.
- Improve: Include perspectives from non-Western hosts and communities relying on WordPress.
#### Inclusive language
- Present: Neutral, non-gendered language; technical but not dismissive.
- Improve: Add plain-language summaries for less technical readers.
#### Neurodiversity support
- Present: Chunked sections with clear headings.
- Improve: Use consistent patterns for callouts, minimize unnecessary visual clutter.
#### Representation
- Present: Mentions a small set of named individuals and orgs.
- Improve: Highlight a broader range of contributors and communities affected by infra decisions.
#### Psychological safety
- Present: Respectful tone when describing failures and disagreements.
- Improve: Add explicit encouragement for constructive governance debates and clear community guidelines if this becomes a recurring topic.
### ✅ Logical Validity
#### Strong reasoning
- Causal reasoning: Hosts decline to fund FAIR because investment entails cost, commitment, political tension, and risk; they prefer a stable, known system. This is supported by explicit quotes from Joost de Valk.
- Inductive reasoning: From FAIR’s failure to gain traction, the article infers broader reluctance in the ecosystem to change update governance; this is presented cautiously rather than as universal fact.
#### Fallacies
- None obvious; the article avoids overgeneralizing and notes that FAIR still welcomes contributors, leaving room for counterexamples.
#### Tone of voice
- Tone is reflective and pragmatic: acknowledges disappointment but emphasizes learning and small wins, especially around the avatar plugin.
### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis
- Deny: The article does not deny problems; it openly acknowledges FAIR’s lack of traction.
- Attack: No attacks on hosts or individuals; criticism is systemic and focused on incentives.
- Reverse victim/offender: No attempt to cast FAIR or hosts as victims of unfair treatment; the framing is “this is how incentives played out.”
- Overall, the rhetoric is non-defensive and avoids DARVO patterns; it frames the pivot as a sober decision based on evidence.
## 🎯 Conclusion
FAIR’s attempt to decentralize WordPress updates via a connector plugin stalled when hosting providers declined to fund the necessary mirror infrastructure. FAIR is pivoting toward TYPO3, leaving the WordPress connector in place but under-resourced. For WordPress site owners, the practical move is to rely on official update channels while selectively adopting durable features like Andrew Norcross’s Local Profile Picture plugin, which preserves FAIR’s privacy-friendly avatar approach without the governance baggage.
## 🧱 Refactor Appendix (append after 🎯 Conclusion)
### 📚 Literature Split Pad
- Purpose: Stage Konik CEE units that become per-source Literature notes.
- Split level: **H3**.
- Include verbatim quotes under 25 words and a [view highlight] link.
### [H1] 5–10-word present-tense claim
> [!quote] [FAIR shifts focus away from WordPress](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/) by [[Jon Henshaw]] via [[Coywolf]]. Published 2026-02-28.
> “FAIR was shifting its focus away from WordPress because hosting providers refused to invest in it.”
Two lines: context and use. Cite data if relevant.
[view highlight](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/#H1) #xref #articleseed ID:rw_[MISSING]
### [H2] 5–10-word present-tense claim
> [!quote] [FAIR shifts focus away from WordPress](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/)
> “A key part of FAIR’s initiative was a connector plugin made to decentralize and securely serve WordPress Core and plugin updates.”
Two lines: context and use.
[view highlight](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/#H2) #xref ID:rw_[MISSING]
---
### 🔖 Atomic Split Pad (Zettel Candidates)
- Purpose: Promote reusable claims into Atomic notes.
- Split level: **H4**.
- Each item: one idea, present tense, specific, testable.
#### [Z1] 5–10-word present-tense claim
- Scope/condition in one line.
- Pointer to page/time or dataset.
- Links: [[Parent-Concept]] [[Related-Idea]]
#### [Z2] 5–10-word present-tense claim
- Scope/condition in one line.
- Pointer to page/time or dataset.
- Links: [[Parent-Concept]] [[Related-Idea]]
---
### ✏️ Fleeting Queue (Extract by Selection)
- Purpose: Capture quick actions or sparks for Fleeting notes.
- Extraction: **Select one line** → “Refactor: Extract selection to new note (content only).”
- Keep each line short and self-contained.
- [F1] Review FAIR’s governance and funding lessons—context/https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/ #fleeting #inbox
- [F2] Test Local Profile Picture plugin on staging—context/https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/ #fleeting #inbox
- [F3] Draft talk on decentralized update infrastructures—context/https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-shifts-focus-away-from-wordpress/ #fleeting #inbox
---
## 🧰 Template Library (paste into Note Refactor → Refactored Note Template)
<!-- Copy ONE template at a time into the plugin before running each batch. -->
```markdown
### 📝 Fleeting — Refactored Note Template (Konik-ready)
---
type: fleeting
status: inbox
created: {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}} {{time:HH:mm}}
process_by: {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}} # review within 24–48 hrs
source_title: [MISSING]
source_link:
author: [MISSING]
source_type: article|paper|video|podcast|thread
reading_stage: inspectional|analytical|syntopical
project:
tags: #fleeting #inbox
---
# 📝 Fleeting Note — {{title}}
## 🧠 One-liner (my words)
- State the single idea in one short sentence.
## 🧭 Context & cue
- Where did this arise? Page/timecode/speaker.
- Trigger: quote, data point, claim, or question.
## 🧪 Adler checks (quick)
- What is this about as a whole?
- What is said in detail, and how?
- Is it true? Evidence for or against?
- So what? Impact or next move.
## 🔎 Bias & reliability snapshot
- Possible bias or framing?
- What evidence would change my view?
## 🧩 Konik bridge
- Draft a claim header for promotion.
### [H1] 5–10-word present-tense claim
> [!quote] [{{source_title}}]({{source_link}}) by [[{{author}}]]. Accessed {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}.
> “Short quote under ~25 words.”
One line on why this matters.
[view highlight]({{source_link}}) #xref ID:rw_[MISSING]
## 🧰 Next moves (pick 1–2)
- [ ] Promote to *Literature* with citation.
- [ ] Draft *Atomic* claim from [H1].
- [ ] Park as testable question.
## ✅ Processing checklist
- [ ] Rewrote in my words.
- [ ] Decided: trash | keep | convert.
- [ ] Linked to at least one related note.
- [ ] Tagged and moved out of inbox.
---
### 📚 Literature — Refactored Note Template (Konik-ready)
---
type: literature
status: draft
created: {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}} {{time:HH:mm}}
adler_level: inspectional|analytical|syntopical
reading_stage: inspectional|analytical|syntopical
source_title: [MISSING]
author: [MISSING]
year:
publisher_or_journal:
edition_or_volume:
doi:
url:
accessed: {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}
citekey:
project:
tags: #literature #reading
---
# 📚 Literature Note — {{title}}
## 🧰 Action Inbox
- [H1] Short action — context/{{url}} #articleseed
- [H2] Short action — context/{{url}} #xref
- [H3] Short action — context/{{url}} #share
## 🧭 Bib Capsule
- Title, author, year, venue, and link.
- One-line scope: what the work attempts.
## 🧠 Author’s Thesis (their words)
- Core claim briefly. Include page/timecode.
## 🧩 Key Arguments
- Argument A — method/evidence — page/time.
- Argument B — method/evidence — page/time.
- Argument C — method/evidence — page/time.
## 🧪 Evaluation (Adler)
- What is this about as a whole?
- How is it argued? Fairly and clearly?
- Is it true or plausible? Why?
- So what? Practical or theoretical impact.
## 🗒️ Notes (Konik CEE units)
### [H1] 5–10-word present-tense claim
> [!quote] [{{source_title}}]({{url}}) by [[{{author}}]] via [[{{publisher_or_journal}}]]. Published {{year}}. Accessed {{accessed}}.
> “Verbatim highlight under ~25 words.”
Two lines: context and use. Link to data if relevant.
[view highlight]({{url}}#H1) #xref #articleseed ID:rw_[MISSING]
### [H2] 5–10-word present-tense claim
> [!quote] [{{source_title}}]({{url}}) by [[{{author}}]] via [[{{publisher_or_journal}}]]. Published {{year}}. Accessed {{accessed}}.
> “Verbatim highlight under ~25 words.”
Two lines: context and use.
[view highlight]({{url}}#H2) #xref ID:rw_[MISSING]
## 🔖 Zettel Candidates
#### [Z1] 5–10-word present-tense claim
- One-line context and page/time.
#### [Z2] 5–10-word present-tense claim
- One-line context and page/time.
## 🏷️ Tag Coverage
#articleseed: 0 • #xref: 0 • #share: 0 • #bmf: 0 • #addendum: 0
## ✅ Processing Checklist
- [ ] Thesis captured in my words.
- [ ] 1–3 Zettel candidates drafted.
- [ ] Action Inbox pruned to high-signal items.
- [ ] Cross-links added and filed.
---
### 🔖 Atomic (Zettel) — Refactored Note Template (Konik-ready)
---
type: atomic
id: {{date:YYYYMMDDHHmm}}-{{title}}
status: evergreen
created: {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}} {{time:HH:mm}}
origin: reading|thinking|experiment
proof_state: conjecture|working|supported|refuted
source_literature: [[Source-Literature-Note]]
citekey:
project:
tags: #zettel #idea
---
# 🔖 {{title}} <!-- 5–10 words, present tense, specific -->
## 🧠 Claim
- One idea only. Clear and testable.
## 🧾 Evidence & Pointers (Konik)
- [H#] from [[{{source_literature}}]] — page/time — brief rationale.
- ID:rw_[MISSING] — link to highlight or dataset.
> [!quote] Evidence snippet (≤25 words) if essential.
> Cite page/time. Keep it minimal.
## 🔍 Scope & Conditions
- When this holds. Boundaries and exceptions.
## 🔗 Links
- Broader: [[Parent-Concept]]
- Narrower: [[Specific-Case]]
- Related: [[Parallel-Idea]]
## 🧪 Tests / Falsifiers
- One check that could disconfirm the claim.
- Simple study or observation plan.
## 🧰 Implications
- Practice, policy, or design moves in one line each.
## 🔙 Backlinks
- From: [[{{source_literature}}]] • Context line.
## ✅ Maintenance
- [ ] Links in and out.
- [ ] Title still precise?
- [ ] Proof state updated.
```
## Highlights
- **Members can view and leave comments on all articles.** Find out more about how to [become a member](https://coywolf.com/membership/). If you're already a member, [sign in](https://coywolf.com/?memberful_endpoint=auth) to view and leave comments. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kjnea9yy3vm5sq5k4pjrjzm2))
- Tags: 👻 ai highlighted
## 🌱 Spawned Notes
- [[Flt · Review FAIRs governance and funding lessonscontexthttpscoywolfcomnewscontent-mar]]
- [[Flt · Test Local Profile Picture plugin on stagingcontexthttpscoywolfcomnewscontent-ma]]
- [[Flt · Draft talk on decentralized update infrastructurescontexthttpscoywolfcomnewscont]]