WordCamps aren’t just about workshops and talks. The most interesting moment is the After Party. And it is from this moment that I met the protagonist of the next interview: Rhys Wynne. Rhys is a WordPress Plugin developer, author and speaker.
On February 8, I was in Glasgow, Scotland for a WordCamp. Among the many speakers of the day was Rhys Wynne with the talk: A Developer’s Guide to Working with Marketing Teams.
Rhys is Welsh (The Scottish flag is for the two known people at the Glasgow WordCamp). He is the developer of WP Email Capture, a plugin downloaded over 100,000 times and author of the book: bbPress Complete.
We know Rhys better, with a few questions.
We met at the WordCamp Glasgow after party, what do you think of WordPress?
I guess on the whole I like WordPress! I’ve been working with it for over a decade now so if I hate it then it’s taken a long time to show. Sure there are things with the software I don’t like but overall I’m a fan. I love the community as well – some of my closest friends are from the community so it’d be sad if it ever goes away.
In your GitHub profile, there are many sources with GPL licenses. What is your opinion on Free Software?
Free Software is both a blessing and a curse. I could not have started or advanced my career as far as I like back in the day without it. However, there can be seen to be an expectation that free software should come with free support which is completely unsustainable. Thankfully, it’s a lot better nowadays at the unsustainability of support, with many premium software solutions going to a yearly model.
Are you also a developer of WordPress plugins, which ones you made?
My most famous one is WP Email Capture, but I’ve also release WP eBay Product Feeds and Inline Tweet Sharer. They are probably my biggest plugins. Or at least the ones I can talk about, as I do a number under non disclosure agreements with clients.
You have also written a guide on WordPress, do you want to tell us about it?
Yes! Not WordPress but bbPress. bbPress Complete was published by Packt Publishing in 2013. It’s a guide for setting up a forum and installing software using WordPress’ forked plugin – bbPress. Fun fact – it only technically went out of date last year! It was a great experience writing a book and it’s nice to have something physical when so much of our work is digital.
For those who want to follow your activities, in which social networks could they follow you?
It’s probably best to follow me on my socials with my companies – https://twitter.com/dwinrhys, https://www.instagram.com/dwinrhys/ & https://www.facebook.com/dwinrhys/. I have a personal Facebook/Twitter & Instagram but they’re a bit more random, but I do also do Twitch Streaming which if you’re into video games I’m looking to grow – https://twitch.tv/rhyswynne/ – so if you’re into video games follow me on that.
Rosadigitale Week
This interview is part of a series of articles dedicated to “the week of rosadigitale”, an event dedicated to equal opportunities.
This year I organized the interviews in pairs, with the same theme. The interview with Rhys is part of “Scottish Interviews” dedicated to wonderful people known in Glasgow.