Forgotten Birthday
Somehow in the rush of all the development that’s been going on lately we forgot the birthday of our favorite baby, WordPress.com.
However Lorelle remembered and wrote a great post. It seems fitting that our birthday post should come from one of our bloggers!
I don’t think I can add a whole lot on top of her post, so here’s some Automattic and WordPress.com trivia:
- Donncha was the first employee
- I had never met him when I hired him
- The main blog has a registration date of 2006-07-20, about a month after Donncha started
- Some early testing of MU was done at wordpad.org
- Andy was the second employee, starting August 28th (ish)
- The first server that ran WordPress.com cost $82 a month
- We still have that server around, it hosts webstandards.org and themes.wordpress.net
- When we launched it was invite-only, we got a few thousand people through that system
- The early days were rough, some pretty major bugs and downtime
- WordPress.com opened to the public in December 2005
- But we got virtually no signups until January, I don’t remember why
Now for some stats! Don’t forget to compare these numbers from those about 3 months ago.
In the last 10 days, WordPress.com users have…
- Created 18,329 blogs
- Added 63,198 static pages
- Tagged 231,267 tags on posts
- Gotten 501,111 comments
- Written 416,602 posts
- Had 16,621,767 pageviews!
Email Newsletter

August 17th, 2006 at 1:15 am
Celebrating the b’day of the best blogging platform
– Thanx Matt
August 17th, 2006 at 1:23 am
A spank for good luck!
August 17th, 2006 at 1:25 am
That’s great news, Matt. You certainly developed a great blogging service; I have yet a major bugs here.
August 17th, 2006 at 1:28 am
All The Best Things…..
August 17th, 2006 at 1:29 am
Happy Birthday! Though it always seems that the gift is given to us
August 17th, 2006 at 1:34 am
Happy bday! AND THANK YOU THANK YOU for the great service and continue to bless us bloggers with great supports and updates! Making everything easier sounds easy, but you guys made it happen!! Keep up the great job and here’s to many many more birthdays to come!
August 17th, 2006 at 1:41 am
Wish you Happy birthday.
August 17th, 2006 at 2:00 am
great job Matt. keep it going
August 17th, 2006 at 2:03 am
I’ve just Joined the WordPress family, but seriously, I’m already a fan. As we say in Argentina and América latina: Feliz Cumple!!! (Happy Birthday)
August 17th, 2006 at 2:22 am
Woo-hoo! Am glad to be a part of 18,329 strong community of WordPress blogs! Everyone is doing a great job behind the scenes! Keep it up!
August 17th, 2006 at 2:24 am
bon anniversaire wordpress! je t’adore!
August 17th, 2006 at 2:27 am
Happy Birfdee!!!
I’m sure you guys will keep werdprezz from drinking too much
August 17th, 2006 at 2:28 am
Happy Birthday! Shouldn’t that main registration date be in 2005?
August 17th, 2006 at 2:46 am
What a community! Wow! Happy birthday…belated.
August 17th, 2006 at 2:46 am
omedettou tanjyobi
August 17th, 2006 at 3:36 am
تولد تولد تولدتتتت مبارک !!!
August 17th, 2006 at 3:38 am
It was very happy share the joy on our powerful wordpress’ birthday! Many Many happy returns of the day! May I wish to grow more and more each day to empower the wordpress community with new ideas. Keep going!!
Again, Happy Birthday to you.. Happy Birthday dear WORDPRESS Happy Bithday to you…
zeezat
August 17th, 2006 at 3:42 am
happy birthday!
August 17th, 2006 at 3:53 am
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Been here for quite some time and never looked back. TQ!!
August 17th, 2006 at 3:59 am
That sounds like a rags to riches story. Well done!
August 17th, 2006 at 4:12 am
Happy B’day WordPress.com!!!
So where’s the cake & goodies Matt??
August 17th, 2006 at 4:17 am
It’s been a year already? Time flies by when you’re having fun!
Happy Birthday WordPress.com!
August 17th, 2006 at 4:21 am
Wow you’re a big one year old!
Look how you have grown… you have had teething problems and maybe a few sleepless nights of worry, but with all that you do, it has been worth it. I wonder what the next year will hold for you!
Best Wishes and may all your hopes and dreams come true in blogosphere!
V
August 17th, 2006 at 5:19 am
С Днём рождения, славный WordPress.Com.
Спасибо тебе за то что ты есть!
August 17th, 2006 at 5:32 am
Good day to open ioamo.wordpress.com!
(Io amo means I love in Italian)
I am really a fan of wordpress in general and wordpress.com in particular.
Google is making great things with blogger.com (in the beta version) but I think that wordpress remain the leading platform for every serious blogger.
I totally approve the Kiss Principle philosophy that leads every wordpress.com evolution.
Thanks guys
] marcomkc [
August 17th, 2006 at 5:36 am
वर्डप्रेसच्या वाढदिवसाच्या शुभेच्छा ! (Marathi langauge – “Happy birthday WordPress!”)
August 17th, 2006 at 6:02 am
Happy Birthday!
August 17th, 2006 at 6:26 am
Hey ..! I m singing here song for WordPress Can u hear..
Happy Birthday To U !!(2)
Dear WordPress.com
Happy Birthday To U..
Thanks Matt
August 17th, 2006 at 6:37 am
Here’s to another year! Happy birthday WP.com!
August 17th, 2006 at 6:50 am
Happy Birthday wordpress.com! 生日快樂!
August 17th, 2006 at 7:45 am
Happy birthday!!!!!
I wish you the best…
August 17th, 2006 at 7:51 am
Postbubble Podcast Episode 19 – Thursday, August 17th, 2006
Here is our podcast for Thursday, August 17th, 2006. Today we cover YouTube’s brief unplanned outage, WordPress.com’s 1st birthday, A Delicious redesign, and IAC’s latest purchase.
For those of you that want a separate feed for our p…
August 17th, 2006 at 7:57 am
Ευχαριστώ=Thank you
- for the typo-wise, narration-wise, intelligent WP platform and the WP.com
August 17th, 2006 at 8:09 am
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the combined forces of Flock and Slashdot/Digg had quite a bit to do with the mass January signups.
Flock had a lot of integration with wordpress.com, and for a while you got a free key into the beta if you simply accessed the site using it. That’s how I got here, anyway. After reading the Slashdot article about it, of course.
And lo, I compared it to Blogger and found template customization was lacking. But I started using it anyway because Blogger didn’t support trackbacks…
August 17th, 2006 at 8:14 am
buon compleanno wordpress!
August 17th, 2006 at 8:16 am
Happy Birthday WP.com!
August 17th, 2006 at 8:33 am
Happy Birthday…and may i add good show dudes!
Looking forward to more features, e.g. more photo-hosting! This is one area where Blogger beats you hands down.
It should be possible to have graded wordpress accounts, i.e. a free version on lines of the current one, and a bells-and-whistles paid upgrade.
August 17th, 2006 at 8:37 am
Feliz Cumpleaños!
August 17th, 2006 at 9:18 am
I’ve been here for three days and I’m already regretting the decision to not switch from Blogspot much earlier than I did. Happy Birthday!
August 17th, 2006 at 9:42 am
Happy Birthday WordPress
Thank you for introducing me to the wonderful world of blogging.
Congratulations all round
August 17th, 2006 at 10:33 am
Wow. I thought you guys were much older. I meen in terms of the WordPress. It has so much power and is the best blogging service I could think of. Thanks for keep on developing and adjusting for us. It’s just great.
August 17th, 2006 at 10:36 am
herzlichen glueckwunsch auch von deutscher seite. i live in the UK but really appreciate WordPress’ neatness and structure. i love the fact that it produces an active user.
August 17th, 2006 at 11:00 am
WordPress (the baby & the proud parents)
many many happy returns of the day.
You prosper, we are happy.
On your Birth day, I started this blog http://wordpresstour.wordpress.com …which is to take a tour to all the wordpress blogs as I can and say them hi and introduce them to the community.
In a year you have grown to 308,000 and by the time I complete few hundred blog visit, you would have grown to 1000,000
August 17th, 2006 at 11:14 am
WordPress.com – All my words gets pressed here!
Hppy BDay Buddy! Thanks so much for the wonderful service.
August 17th, 2006 at 11:21 am
Happy Birthday WordPress!!! Congratulations and thanks for a great blogging platform!
August 17th, 2006 at 11:24 am
Matt,
WP proudly says “Code Is Poetry”, so does Poetry proudly says “Code Is WP”.
The WP Team is dedicated and loyal to their subscribers, free or paid. Subscribers are loyal and dedicated to WP. Need more to say?
Happy Birthday for this annivercary and Many Happy Returns for the Future!
And in Greek “Chronia Polla, Na ta ekatostiseis!”
August 17th, 2006 at 11:45 am
Happy Birthday WordPress.
I’ve tried just about every blogging platform and wordpress is the best by far.
August 17th, 2006 at 11:50 am
Woohoo! I love WordPress! Happy Birthday! =D
August 17th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
wow, amazingly impressive
August 17th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
பிறந்தநாள் நல் வாழ்த்துக்கள் WordPress.com
[in Tamil "Happy birthday WordPress.com"]
August 17th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Happy Bday WP!
..and as they say here in Egypt “Shall you be 100 years old!”…
August 17th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
belated happy birthday to wordpress. WP makes blogging fun and how it should be.
August 17th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Happy Bday wordpress. My first and only blog site. Open a can of whoop a** on blogger for me.
August 17th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
Hey, everybody, Happy Birthday. I think I joined WordPress on February 14th, 2006…had no idea I was becoming part of a newly founded entity. Love it here. Love WordPress, all its services and the many friends I have made here.
Blessings,
Shirley Buxton
http://www.writenow.wordpress.com
August 17th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
For he’s a jolly good fellow, for he’s a jolly good fellow…..
Congrats on a top effort.
August 17th, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Many thanks for WordPress…and many many more happy returns…
August 17th, 2006 at 6:13 pm
Happy Birthday WordPress!
August 17th, 2006 at 10:26 pm
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
I thought it was a little bit older than just a year. I’ve been here for six months. If I was still at Blogger, I don’t think I would still have my blog. That’s how horrible it was there. Save me a piece of that cake!
August 17th, 2006 at 10:43 pm
Happy birthday – 18,329 new blogs in ten days – That’s awesome.
Many thanks for all the hard work
August 18th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
happy birthday, folks. my favourite platform. great work always
August 19th, 2006 at 4:35 am
Happy Birthday!!!!
August 19th, 2006 at 9:31 am
Happy Birthday WordPress.
Remember the song “Just the way you are.” by Billy Joel. This is for you:
“Don’t go changing, to try and please me, You never let me down before,…
Don’t go trying, some new fashion,Don’t change the colour of your hair,
You always have my, unspoken passion,Although I might not seem to care.”
I will change it a bit this way:
Go on changing, to try and please me, You never let me down before,….
Go on trying, some new fashion, Go change the colour of your hair,
You always have my, unspoken passion, Although I might not seem to care.”
That is it.
” Go on changing and try to please me, you will never let me down
August 19th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
Happy Birthday WordPress! Overall fantastic! May you have many many happy ones to come!
August 19th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
Happy birthday to wordpress!
August 19th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
تولدت مبارک
August 20th, 2006 at 11:59 am
Happy B DAY yaaay!!! i heart WP.com
August 21st, 2006 at 8:06 am
Happy Bday and thanks to the WP guys who made this blogging platform possible! I moved from others to here and convinced my company to use it as well, both the individual and MU versions. You rock!
August 21st, 2006 at 8:34 am
I love it here – thanks for the awesome platform. Happy birthday and many happy returns!
August 21st, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Happy b’day guys i am thankful that wordpress is here coz blogspot sucked
August 21st, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Wow thats so great Happy Birthday WordPress.com. I wish I would of found this back when it first opened.
August 22nd, 2006 at 12:43 pm
It is Great to know how WordPress Press toward the Goal. Cheers
August 23rd, 2006 at 1:49 pm
I only moved here from another, crapper, blogging service (Blogger) a few weeks ago but I love it, so happy (belated) birthday to you
August 25th, 2006 at 4:54 am
The Ruffman says happy bday as well.
Mine is tommorow.
August 25th, 2006 at 9:52 pm
Yeah Happy Bday little bloggy ….. this is great …. things have come along way for you …. COnga Rats ….. and heres to many more years
August 26th, 2006 at 2:21 am
Word Press is The Best!!!
Keep up the good work!
Thanks,
Neath
August 30th, 2006 at 9:13 am
WORD PRESS IS REALY NICE GOING
WANT TO MEAKE MORE ON IT
August 30th, 2006 at 8:15 pm
Nice to celebrate
August 30th, 2006 at 10:40 pm
thats so cool- i just need to finish mine now…
August 31st, 2006 at 1:08 am
WordPress is the best…