May 24, 2018 / News

To the Daily Post Community: Thank You!

Saying goodbye is hard. Celebrating years of community and great blogging is anything but.

Almost seven and a half years ago The Daily Post opened its virtual doors to the WordPress.com blogging community. It’s been an incredible ride, and incredible rides, too, sometimes come to an end. As of the end of this month (and 2,000 Daily Prompts, 380 Photo Challenges, 260 Community Pools, and 100 First Fridays later), we will no longer publish new posts, prompts, or challenges on this site.

Where are we going?

The decision no longer to publish on The Daily Post wasn’t an easy one. We’re enormously proud of what we put out here — and of the hundreds of thousands of stories, essays, photos, and poems members of this community have shared with us over the years. The team behind The Daily Post isn’t going anywhere; we’ll be focusing our attention on other projects that help WordPress.com remain the best place on the web to publish, build an audience, and find a community. We hope to cross paths with many of you on other sites we run, including Longreads and Discover.

Will this site stay online?

Yes. The Daily Post will be around for as long as our servers keep chugging along, which we predict to be roughly 14,320,078 years (give or take). All your conversations, pingbacks, and favorite writing prompts and Blogging U. courses will still be available, and we hope you’ll keep exploring — and enjoying — our deep archive of resources, from beginners’ tips to writing advice to blogging etiquette.

Where can Daily Post bloggers connect with each other and find inspiration?

One thing we know many of you will miss is, well, you. This is a place where many bloggers — including many who were just starting out — found like-minded people to be part of their blogging adventure. We hope you continue to develop friendships and seek out the advice and support of others in the WordPress.com community. Here are some resources to explore:

What happens between now and May 31?

We’ll publish the last First Friday thread this week, as well as a Community Pool post and a Photo Challenge next week. (Daily Prompts will continue through May 31.) We hope you decide to participate in these final posts, and also encourage you to use their respective comment sections to make plans for keeping in touch with all your Daily Post friends.

One last note…

Our mission has always been to inspire others to blog more and to blog better, even if “blogging better” means something quite different in 2018 than it did back in 2010. The editors and contributors who’ve tended to this site have all changed, grown, and evolved, and so have the members of this community. What has stayed consistent — almost miraculously so — is the spirit of openness, respect, and camaraderie of the people who’ve made this place a part of their online journey. Yes, that’s you.

From those of us on the WordPress.com team who’ve contributed to The Daily Post over the years, thank you for being the best blogging community on the web, bar none. It’s been a total joy.

Joen Asmussen, Sheri Bigelow, Brie Anne Demkiw, John Godley, Jeff Golenski, Jen Hooks, Daryl L. L. Houston, Ben Huberman, Marcus Kazmierczak, Cheri Lucas Rowlands, Anne McCarthy, Donncha Ó Caoimh, Kathryn Presner, Kjell Reigstad, Zandy Ring, Sara Rosso, Wendy Scott, Chris Smith, Krista Stevens, Erica Varlese, David Watkis, Michelle Weber, and Xiao Yu.

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  1. I am literally in tears right now! I only got back into my blog a few days ago and the daily prompts have been such a help in getting me into the habit of writing and connecting with other bloggers who inspire me through a common thread! what are we to do now? Can’t someone take over posting the daily prompts for you? I would!

    Liked by 8 people

    1. I’m so happy the prompts have been helpful in getting you into a writing rhythm and connecting with the community, @jennavive72. And thank you for offering to continue the prompts — that’s extremely generous, though not something we can consider on this site (but it definitely shouldn’t stop other community members who might feel inclined to join forces and come up with their own grassroots daily prompt!).

      Liked by 1 person

  6. I started blogging few days ago, not even week, and the daily post really helped me in finding bloggers and connecting with them. It is really sad that you are going.

    Liked by 6 people

    1. The post mentions several other resources, and between those and the many, many blogging events that take place in the massive WordPress.com community, I hope you find other channels to find bloggers to connect with.

      Liked by 6 people

      2. Hi Ben, guess if those other tools you’ve mentioned were indeed effective we would all be there … this is truly deplorable, wrong … how else will we really connect with community in a genuine and creative way? This is not a good move … I left TED when they trashed conversations so maybe this is a death knell for many of us … 😦

        Like

  8. The Daily Post had become very much part of our blogging routine. I was always looking forward to the opening of a new thread on community pool on Mondays. I will really miss it!

    Liked by 7 people

  9. Damn. I’m really sorry to see the daily one-word prompt and the weekly photo challenge discontinued. I alway look forward every morning to seeing the one-word prompts and to coming up with posts that exercises my creativity and that I hope other bloggers might find entertaining and engaging. Any chance you might reconsider this decision?

    Liked by 6 people

    2. Alive and Trekking, I think we’ll each need to find the way to make our own community! I’ve looked up your blog and it is gorgeous! Now I follow you … 🙂 Here’s to the journey of life, cloudy skies and a camera and a few friends for the ride … Na’ama

      Liked by 2 people

  12. Time changes everything but for some reason this really surprised me and I do feel particularly sad. I loved your Weekly Photo Challenges, they were always such a source of inspiration and a wonderful way to meet fellow bloggers. Such a shame but thank you for this amazing platform which hopefully will continue to connect and inspire writers. 😌

    Liked by 7 people

    2. Hi Miriam,
      What a great comment! I’ve also found the challenges to be fabulous inspiration, and your tone now led me to check your blog. I think it is lovely! Now I follow you. 🙂
      May we all find ways to continue and inspire each other. Na’ama

      Liked by 3 people

  13. This is sad in deed, to find a community in need, of a place to prompted to write, with the hope, this rite and freedom of speech, continues to be relevant to and in our world. I will deeply regret your encouragement….tu

    Liked by 4 people

  16. I only started the prompts lately. Why so short-lived? Anyway, my best regards to the team. The prompts have been great. It has made blogging more fun. Thanks for helping bloggers like me to start out. To everyone, good luck in our endeavors. I’m sure our blogging roads will meet again. Until then…😄

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Hi @Eseness — I’m glad you recently discovered the Daily Prompts, and also happy to say that they weren’t short-lived at all — there are roughly 2,000 of them, and hopefully some of them will continue to inspire you and others. Thank you for being part of this community!

      Liked by 1 person

  18. This is the most surprising, as well as sad, news that I have heard; You guys have been such an incredible help to me…When I had launched my blog, first called “Dream In Music” and then now “KALEIDOSCOPE”, on November 12th, 2012, the very first things that I could turn to whenever I needed blogging help were you guys; Your prompts, Community Pools, and even your writing challenges were such a very big help to me. My blog is now 600+followers strong as well as being 5-1/2 years young! This happens to be a sad day for me as well as other bloggers who have been devoted to you guys all of these years, but I do understand that things have to change, so it is with that you have to end those features. On behalf of myself and from the very bottom of my heart, I would like to say a very heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you for helping me and for making all of my days, blogger-wise; May I wish each and every one of you the very best of luck in the next chapter of your journey. Take care of yourselves, and farewell, with 💘-JW 😢🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

    Liked by 9 people

  19. This is very sad news and unexpected. I started blogging last year and the prompts, challenges and community pool have been invaluable to me in helping me learn and develop in the blogging world and connect with others! I will miss it 😦

    Liked by 6 people

    1. Me too, seems so wrong as it’s been such a fruitful and delightful way to connect creatively with community … it will leave a huge hole!
      This decision should be reconsidered!

      Like

  20. Please don’t take this away!! It was a great inspiration for me to write blogs and find like minded people to support them. I don’t know how to reach out to the public without the community pools and first fridays. It was one of the best features that made wordpress to stand out from the rest of the blogging apps. Please will you consider changing your mind?

    Liked by 7 people

    1. Agree totally Athie, it should be reconsidered as it’s been an incredible tool to build and find community creatively! Will leave WP without a SOUL 😦

      Like

    2. Well said. Most of my followers I got from interacting in the pool. I looked forward to Monday’s because of it. I plan to do a blog for Monday thanking the people I’ve followed and those who followed me. 💕 from the Cayman Islands. http://comewithg.blog

      Like

  21. This is sad and unexpected.
    But nonetheless, Thank you Daily Post team for photo challenges and daily prompts which helped us in putting our thoughts to words and connect with other bloggers. You will be missed so much!!

    Liked by 4 people

  22. I am heart broken for me, this was the place which enabled me to have followers who have encouraging. The daily prompts motivated me to write as often as I was able.
    I am very grateful to the whole team for working so tirelessly helping us to publish our posts I wish you were not stopping but realise that you also want to do something different.
    My question is will I still be able to post on the reader? Will those who were getting e-mails every time I posted a new post continue to get that notification?

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Hello @encounters — yes, your posts will definitely continue to appear on the Reader and anyone who’s subscribed to your blog via email will continue to receive your posts as you publish them. Both of these are a core functionality of WordPress.com, which the Daily Post doesn’t affect in any way.

      Thank you for being part of this community!

      Like

  25. This is saddening. I always looked forward for Daily Post and it will be very disheartening to see it end. Will miss the platform that gave so much exposure to a budding blogger like me.

    Liked by 2 people

  27. Thank you for everything. Emails with daily prompts and posts from Discover always brightened my day. I will miss you all. Thank you, Ben, for all your work. I can never forget you. ❤ :')

    Liked by 3 people