Announcing: The Guild  🔗 **Source:** [Announcing: The Guild](https://remkusdevries.com/announcing-the-guild/) > [!note]+ Document Notes > --- > tags: #wordpress #community #professional-development #craft #membership #education > author: Remkus de Vries > source: remkusdevries.com > reference: https://remkusdevries.com/announcing-the-guild/ > date created: 2024-12-28 19:30 > --- > # 🏷️ Title: Announcing: The Guild > ## 🧰 Action Inbox > - [H1] Evaluate Guild membership model for WordPress professional development — focus on structured learning vs. noise #education > - [H2] Consider paid community benefits for signal-to-noise ratio — assess membership barriers vs. accessibility #community > - [H3] Apply Guild principles to existing WordPress education efforts — depth over breadth approach #professional-development > ## 🧭 Table of Contents > - [[#📝 Summary]] > - [[#📖 Main Content]] > - [[#📚 References]] > - [[#🗣️ Paraphrase]] > - [[#📰 Newsletter]] > - [[#✅ Action Items]] > - [[#🧪 Hypotheses]] > - [[#📊 Methodology]] > - [[#❓ Questions]] > - [[#🔮 Future Research]] > - [[#💡 Implications]] > - [[#🧠 Learning Styles Assessment]] > - [[#📊 Accessibility Assessment]] > - [[#🌍 DEIB Assessment]] > - [[#✅ Logical Validity]] > - [[#🛡️ DARVO Analysis]] > - [[#🎯 Conclusion]] > ### 🔗 References > - [Within WordPress](https://withinwp.com) > - [Make WordPress Fast Course](https://withinwp.com/courses) > ## 📝 Summary > - Remkus de Vries announces The Guild, a paid professional membership for WordPress builders, developers, and agencies focused on deepening craft and technical skills > - The Guild aims to provide structured learning environment beyond typical forums or chat rooms, emphasizing practical application over content consumption > - Membership includes courses, frameworks, monthly deep-dives, office hours, and curated community discussion centered on real WordPress work > - Paid model designed to ensure commitment and maintain high signal-to-noise ratio among serious practitioners > - Launch pending completion of foundations and first two courses, with Make WordPress Fast already available > ## 📖 Main Content > Remkus de Vries, a WordPress performance specialist and educator, is launching The Guild as a paid professional membership community for WordPress practitioners who want to "hone their craft." This initiative represents an evolution beyond traditional content delivery toward structured, continuous learning. > **The Problem with Current WordPress Education** > De Vries identifies a gap in the WordPress education landscape: while content is abundant, context and practical application frameworks are lacking. He argues that practitioners need more than information—they need deeper understanding, better mental models, and improved decision-making capabilities. > **The Guild's Structure and Offerings** > The Guild will include: > - All current and future Within WordPress courses > - Practical frameworks, workflows, and decision-making tools > - Monthly deep-dive sessions on architecture and performance > - Office hours for member projects and questions > - WordPress Release Labs tracking meaningful platform changes > - Curated community discussions grounded in real work > **Community Philosophy** > Unlike typical online communities optimized for engagement volume, The Guild emphasizes usefulness and signal over noise. The paid model is intentionally designed to attract committed practitioners and maintain focus on substantive discussion. > **Future Plans** > Alongside The Guild, de Vries plans to launch CraftersConf, an annual in-person event with similar craft-focused principles. Both initiatives reflect a broader vision of elevating WordPress professionalism through deeper technical understanding. > ## 📚 References > - [Announcing: The Guild](https://remkusdevries.com/announcing-the-guild/) > - [Within WordPress Newsletter](https://withinwp.com) > - [Make WordPress Fast Course](https://withinwp.com/courses) > ## 🗣️ Paraphrase > - The Guild represents a shift from content consumption to practical skill development through structured learning environments focused on WordPress craft > - Paid membership model prioritizes depth and commitment over accessibility, creating focused community of serious practitioners rather than broad participation > - Initiative addresses gap between abundant WordPress information and practical application by providing context, frameworks, and continuous learning opportunities > ## 📰 Newsletter > **WordPress Craft Gets Serious: The Guild Launches Professional Learning Community** > Remkus de Vries just announced The Guild, a paid membership that could reshape how WordPress professionals level up their skills. This isn't another course library—it's a structured learning environment focused on deepening craft through practical application. > **What makes this different:** The Guild prioritizes signal over noise with monthly deep-dives, practical frameworks, and curated discussions grounded in real WordPress work. The paid model ensures committed participants who take their craft seriously. > **Key benefit:** Instead of consuming endless content, members get context, better mental models, and decision-making frameworks they can apply across projects. It's designed to actually improve your day-to-day WordPress work. > **Community connection:** The approach reflects growing interest in professional WordPress education that goes beyond surface-level tutorials to address real architectural and performance challenges. > Resources: [Learn WordPress](https://learn.wordpress.org/), [Developer Docs](https://developer.wordpress.org/), [WP-CLI](https://wp-cli.org/) > ## ✅ Action Items > #### DevRel > - Developer advocacy: Study Guild model for professional community building beyond typical forums > - Education: Evaluate structured learning approaches vs. traditional course libraries > - Developer experience: Consider how paid communities impact accessibility vs. quality tradeoffs > - Community management: Assess signal-to-noise ratio strategies for professional development spaces > #### WordPress > - Community: Analyze implications of paid professional communities for broader WordPress ecosystem accessibility > - Training: Consider how Guild approach complements existing Learn WordPress initiatives > - Documentation: Evaluate need for deeper contextual frameworks beyond reference materials > - Core: Monitor feedback from professional communities on WordPress development priorities > #### Community > - Maintainers: Assess how professional development communities impact open source contribution patterns > - Contributors: Consider barriers paid communities might create for new contributor onboarding > - Sponsors: Evaluate professional education as component of ecosystem investment strategies > ## 🧪 Hypotheses > - Paid WordPress communities produce higher quality technical discussions than free alternatives > - Structured professional development accelerates WordPress skill acquisition more than self-directed learning > - Focus on craft and depth attracts more committed practitioners than broad accessibility approaches > - Professional WordPress education market can support premium membership models > ### 📊 Methodology > - Survey comparison of paid vs. free WordPress community engagement quality > - Longitudinal study tracking skill development in structured vs. unstructured learning environments > - Analysis of retention rates and participation quality across different membership models > ### ❓ Questions > - How does paid community model impact WordPress ecosystem diversity and accessibility? > - What measurable outcomes differentiate craft-focused education from traditional WordPress training? > - How might professional WordPress communities influence platform development priorities? > ### 🔮 Future Research > - Long-term impact assessment of premium WordPress education on industry standards > - Comparative analysis of professional development models across open source ecosystems > - Study of community structure effects on technical skill advancement > ### 💡 Implications > - Practice: Professional WordPress education shifting toward structured, application-focused models > - Policy: Paid communities may create accessibility concerns while improving learning outcomes > - Education: Need for contextual frameworks and mental models beyond traditional documentation > - Funding: Professional development subscriptions becoming viable revenue model for WordPress educators > ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment > Reading level estimate: 12th grade (college-level business/technical writing) > #### 👀 Visual learners > - Present: Clear section headings, organized structure > - Improve: Add diagrams comparing Guild model to traditional communities, visual learning pathway maps > #### 🔊 Aural learners > - Present: Conversational tone, narrative structure > - Improve: Podcast discussion of Guild concept, audio overview of membership benefits > #### 🗣️ Verbal learners > - Present: Clear definitions of "craft" and "Guild" concepts, examples of practical application > - Improve: More concrete scenarios, analogies to traditional craft guilds > #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners > - Present: References to hands-on work, practical frameworks > - Improve: Interactive preview of Guild tools, sample workflow templates > #### 🧠 Logical learners > - Present: Structured argument for paid model, clear cause-effect reasoning > - Improve: Data on learning outcomes, comparison matrix of community models > #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners > - Present: Community focus, collaborative learning emphasis > - Improve: Member testimonials, peer learning examples > #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners > - Present: Self-directed professional development focus > - Improve: Individual learning path options, personal reflection prompts > #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners > - Present: Organic community growth concepts > - Improve: Ecosystem thinking about WordPress professional development > ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment > #### Screen reader semantics > - Present: Clear heading hierarchy, descriptive link text > - Improve: More descriptive section labels, landmark navigation > #### Keyboard navigation > - Present: Standard web navigation > - Improve: Skip links for long-form content, focus indicators > #### Contrast and readability > - Present: Clean typography, adequate contrast > - Improve: Larger text options, high-contrast mode > #### Text resizing and reflow > - Present: Responsive design > - Improve: Better text reflow at 200% zoom > #### Media and captions > - Present: Text-only content > - Improve: Audio version for accessibility, transcript options > #### Forms and interactions > - Present: Simple contact form > - Improve: Better form labeling, error messaging > ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment > #### Cultural breadth > - Present: English-language focused > - Improve: Consider global WordPress community needs, cultural context of "craft" concept > #### Inclusive language > - Present: Professional, gender-neutral terminology > - Improve: More accessible alternatives to insider terms like "Guild" > #### Neurodiversity support > - Present: Well-structured content, clear sections > - Improve: Better heading frequency, reduced cognitive load > #### Representation > - Present: Single author perspective > - Improve: Diverse voices in Guild concept, varied professional backgrounds > #### Psychological safety > - Present: Professional tone, respectful framing > - Improve: Address potential exclusion concerns of paid model > ### ✅ Logical Validity > #### Strong reasoning > - Deductive strength: Clear argument structure from problem identification to solution proposal > - Inductive strength: Draws on years of teaching experience to identify patterns in WordPress education > - Causal reasoning: Links current education gaps to need for structured professional development > - Analogical strength: Effective use of traditional guild metaphor for professional learning community > #### Fallacies > - Appeal to authority: Relies heavily on personal experience without external validation > - False dichotomy: Presents paid vs. free communities as only options, ignoring hybrid models > #### Tone of voice > - Overall tone: Professional and confident, with clear vision but acknowledging work required to achieve goals > ### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis > - Deny: No denial patterns present > - Attack: No attacks on existing WordPress education approaches, constructive criticism only > - Reverse victim/offender: No victim/offender dynamics > - Emotional cues and rhetoric: Appeals to professional pride and craft improvement, motivational but not manipulative > ## 🎯 Conclusion > The Guild represents a significant evolution in WordPress professional education, shifting from content consumption to structured skill development. While the paid model may create accessibility concerns, it addresses real gaps in practical WordPress education by prioritizing depth, context, and application over information volume. > The initiative reflects broader trends toward professional specialization within the WordPress ecosystem and could influence how other educators approach community building and skill development. Success will depend on delivering measurable improvements in member capabilities and maintaining the promised signal-to-noise ratio that differentiates it from existing free alternatives. > For WordPress professionals seeking deeper technical understanding and practical frameworks, The Guild offers a promising model—though its long-term impact on ecosystem diversity and accessibility remains to be evaluated. > ## 🧱 Refactor Appendix > ### 📚 Literature Split Pad > Purpose: Stage CEE units that become Literature notes. > Split level: H3 > ### [H1] Paid WordPress communities prioritize quality over accessibility > > [!quote] [Announcing: The Guild](https://remkusdevries.com/announcing-the-guild/) by [[Remkus de Vries]] via [[remkusdevries.com]]. Published 2026-04-28. Accessed 2024-12-28. > > "A paid membership creates focus. It brings in people who take their work seriously and allows me to invest in structure, teaching, and continuity over time." > De Vries argues intentional barriers improve learning outcomes through commitment and reduced noise. > [view highlight](https://remkusdevries.com/announcing-the-guild/#paid-model) #xref #articleseed ID:rw_guild_paid_model > ### [H2] WordPress education lacks practical context despite abundant content > > [!quote] [Announcing: The Guild](https://remkusdevries.com/announcing-the-guild/) > > "People do not just need more information. They need a place where their understanding can deepen over time." > Identifies gap between information availability and practical application frameworks in WordPress learning. > [view highlight](https://remkusdevries.com/announcing-the-guild/#content-vs-context) #xref ID:rw_guild_education_gap > --- > ### 🔖 Atomic Split Pad (Zettel Candidates) > Purpose: Promote reusable claims into Atomic notes. > Split level: H4 > #### [Z1] Professional communities benefit from intentional access barriers > - Applies beyond WordPress to any craft-based professional development > - See paid model rationale and community structure arguments > - Links: [[Community-Design]] [[Professional-Development]] [[Signal-vs-Noise]] > #### [Z2] Context matters more than content volume in technical education > - Universal principle for complex technical domains > - See education gap analysis and practical application focus > - Links: [[Technical-Education]] [[Learning-Design]] [[Mental-Models]] > --- > ### ✏️ Fleeting Queue > Purpose: Capture quick actions for Fleeting notes. > - [F1] Research other craft-focused professional communities outside tech — compare models #fleeting #inbox > - [F2] Analyze WordPress.org Learn platform gaps that Guild addresses — identify improvement opportunities #fleeting #inbox > - [F3] Track Guild success metrics once launched — measure claimed outcomes #fleeting #inbox Background pattern For years now, I have been teaching, writing, recording, testing, breaking, fixing, and sharing what I have learned from working with WordPress. A lot of that work has naturally centered around performance, security, architecture, and the practical reality of running WordPress well. But underneath all of that, there has always been a bigger throughline for me. The craft. Not in some romanticized sense of the word, but in the very practical sense. Understanding how WordPress works. Understanding why things behave the way they do. Learning how to make better decisions. Learning how to work in a cleaner, calmer, more intentional way. Building sites that are not only functional, but also well considered, maintainable, and reliable. That has been the deeper theme behind Within WordPress from the start, even when a piece of content was only about one specific thing. And over time, one thing has become very clear to me. There needs to be a place for serious WordPress Builders and Developers (and agencies) to keep leveling up together. Not a forum. Not another Slack or Discord. Not another place that starts with good intentions and then slowly turns into a stream of notifications, hot takes, and noise. The Guild. > > The Guild: The Guild for WordPress Builders, Agencies, and Developers wanting to hone their craft. > > > > > A place centered on the work itself. A place for people who care about doing better work. A place for learning, for sharpening your thinking, for understanding WordPress more deeply, and for leveling up in a way that actually shows up in what you build. That is why I am creating [The Guild](https://guild.withinwp.com) as part of [Within WP](https://withinwp.com). I’m launching , a paid Within WordPress membership for serious WordPress builders, developers, and agencies who want to deepen their craft. It is not meant to be another noisy Slack, forum, or course library, but a structured place for practical learning, better technical judgment, workflows, frameworks, deep dives, office hours, and useful discussion around real WordPress work. The focus is on understanding WordPress more deeply, making better decisions, and building more maintainable, reliable sites. Membership will open once the foundations and first two courses are ready, with already live. #### What The Guild is The Guild is a paid professional membership for WordPress Builders, agencies, and Developers who want to keep leveling up in the real work of building, managing, optimizing, troubleshooting, and thinking through WordPress sites. And I mean that quite literally. This is not meant to be a place where people just collect courses, pop into a few discussions, and then disappear again. It’s a place that helps you get better at the work itself. Better at making decisions. Better at understanding tradeoffs. Better at choosing tools. Better at building workflows that make sense. Better at seeing what matters and what does not. That is what I mean by leveling up. And that is also why The Guild is not for just one slice of the WordPress world. It is not only for hardcore developers. It is not only for no-code builders. It is not only for people obsessed with performance, or security, code, AI, or whatever else happens to be the loudest topic in a given month. It is for the people across the WordPress spectrum who care about their craft and want to keep growing in it. So whether you build client sites with page builders, work on WooCommerce builds, maintain sites for clients, write custom code, work inside an agency team, or simply know that you want to get much stronger over time, The Guild is being built for that kind of person. #### Why I’m building it The more I have taught over the years, the more obvious it has become that content alone does not solve this. A course can absolutely teach you something important. An article can help you see a concept more clearly. A podcast can expose you to a better way of thinking. All of that matters, and I care deeply about making that kind of material. But at some point I kept running into the same thing. People do not just need more information. They need a place where their understanding can deepen over time. A place where they can make sense of why something works the way it does, where they can sharpen their judgment, improve their workflows, and get better at spotting the patterns underneath the surface. That, to me, is the real missing piece. Because if you work with WordPress seriously, then you already know the internet is not short on content. It’s everywhere. What is much harder to find is context. Good context. Better mental models. Better frameworks. Better ways of thinking through tradeoffs. Better ways of working. And that is the part I care about most. I do not want to just keep publishing things into the void and hope people somehow stitch it all together for themselves. I want to create a place where the teaching inside Within WordPress can keep going, keep connecting, and keep becoming more useful in the context of real work. That is what The Guild is meant to be. It is where the teaching inside Within WordPress becomes more continuous, more practical, and more connected to the day-to-day reality of actually working with WordPress. The goal is simple. The Guild is here to help you level up in the work you already do. Not in some vague motivational sense. I mean in the actual day-to-day work. In making better technical decisions. In improving your workflows. In understanding WordPress beyond surface-level usage. In reasoning more clearly about tools, plugins, hosting, APIs, architecture, and tradeoffs. In spotting problems earlier. In fixing issues with more confidence. In building mental models you can carry from one project into the next. That is really the heart of it. I do not want this to become a place where people simply consume more material and feel productive because they watched another thing. I want it to be a place that actually helps you do better work. That is a very different standard. The Guild will house all current and future [Within WordPress courses](https://withinwp.com/courses), but it is not just a course library. I want to be very clear about that. The courses matter, obviously, they are a big part of the value. But The Guild is meant to be more than a place where courses happen to live. It is being built as a structured environment for learning, application, and useful discussion. So inside, you can expect things like all current and future Within WordPress courses, yes, but also smaller lessons, practical frameworks, and focused teaching built to help you understand not only what to do, but why. You will also find reusable workflows, templates, checklists, models, and decision frameworks you can actually apply across your WordPress work. There will be monthly deep-dive sessions on architecture, workflows, performance, tooling, and the real tradeoffs behind technical decisions. There will be office hours centered on what members are building, learning, testing, or simply trying to understand. There will be a place to share wins, lessons, discoveries, experiments, and things worth passing on. There will be workshops exploring the systems, APIs, and tooling that make WordPress work the way it does. And just as importantly, the environment itself will be structured for usefulness and clarity, not noise. I want it to be the kind of place where it is actually possible to find things again, follow discussions properly, and learn from what others have already shared. There will also be space for WordPres Release Labs for tracking and unpacking meaningful changes in WordPress itself. Each WordPress release brings new or updated things like APIs, tooling shifts, and the growing role of AI with it. And I want to feature those in depth. And over time, I fully expect to bring in contributions from others in the WordPress ecosystem who do the work at a high level and have something genuinely useful to teach. Think evergreen content. Not “check the latest new feature of plugin X or Y”. The community inside The Guild is not there to mimic a chat room. That is not the point, and honestly, I have very little interest in building yet another place where the main measure of success is how much chatter there is. What I want is something that feels more like a working guild. A place where the conversations are useful. A place where people compare notes, share what they are learning, ask better questions, and help each other think more clearly. That means the value is not in endless activity. The value is in being around people who care about the same things you care about: doing better work, understanding the details, comparing approaches, learning from tradeoffs, and steadily refining how they think. So yes, there will be discussion. But the discussion should be grounded, discoverable, and rooted in real projects, real tools, and real decisions. You should be able to step into The Guild, find something relevant, learn something practical, and leave with a clearer understanding of what to do next. That is the bar. Not noise. Not chatter for the sake of feeling busy. Not the usual pattern of online communities where everything becomes harder to find the more gets posted. I want something with purpose. Something with signal. Something that actually moves your thinking forward. #### Why The Guild is paid The Guild is paid by design. Not because access should be restricted, but because the kind of environment I want to build requires real commitment on both sides. A paid membership creates focus. It brings in people who take their work seriously and allows me to invest in structure, teaching, and continuity over time. Free spaces tend to optimize for volume. The Guild is built for depth. This is not about noise, constant engagement, or chasing attention. It is about creating something that stays useful, compounds over time, and maintains a high signal-to-noise ratio. A paid model supports that. It creates shared context, consistency, and a group of people who are here to understand the work more deeply. It also defines my role clearly. I am not here as a guru or to sell transformation. I am building this as a practitioner, focused on doing the work well and creating a space that reflects that. The Guild is intentionally designed for people who want to grow in their technical abilities, their judgment, and the quality of the work they put into the world. It is not built around agency hype. It is not built around shortcuts. It is not built around shallow promises. It is built for people who want to understand WordPress more deeply, work more intentionally, and keep leveling up in the craft itself. That is the spirit behind it. Aside: Alongside The Guild, I will launch an annual IRL event called CraftersConf. It’s very much in the same spirit, focused on craft, depth, and working with WordPress intentionally, but it stands on its own. CrafersConf will be an event like no other event you’ve seen within the WordPress world. It’s an event to step out of the day-to-day and gather with others who take this work seriously. More on this later. For now, The Guild is the next major step for Within WordPress. It is where the teaching, the courses, the frameworks, the discussions, and the practical realities of WordPress work come together in one focused environment. A place to keep learning. A place to keep leveling up. A place to keep building your craft. Membership will open once the foundations are in place and the first two courses are ready inside. The first course is already live: [Make WordPress Fas](https://withinwp.com/courses/make-wordpress-fast/)t. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to be part of, then [you will be able to join early](https://withinwp.com/the-guild/?#gf_7) and help shape the first wave of Guild members. Whether you’re here for personal reflections or deep WordPress insights, there’s more where this came from. I write two newsletters worth your time. Each serving a different part of my brain (and maybe yours too)., Announcing: The Guild, remkusdevries.com, 01kqa9hqptnrtp5794ntjvhjpk.