Regarding the rest: On the whole, WordPress is very simple to use. The complex parts come when you want to customize it. Upgrading works totally brilliantly smoothly for 95% of cases. The other 5% are 4.9% people having theme or plugin related issues, and 0.1% who experience an actual bug or something similar.

So yes, you do need to be a webmaster when you have to solve problems with a website. You also need to be a webmaster if you’re going to use plugins, customize a theme, or generally fool around with it above and beyond the most basic install+use scenario. That’s sort of my point there.

As every reputable software they should just deploy a “stable” version, where they release just security patches for, and keep it going at least 12-18 months, and a “cutting-edge” version for people who like to have the latest feature.
WP 2.5 with all the problems in the composing windows, 2.6 with permalinks problem, and the like are NOT stable and mature by any means, indeed.

What OTTO said make sense anyway, you have to understand wordpress is OPEN SOURCE … so the wordpress.org forums are filled with volounteers. If wordpress coders makes money they make it trough auttomatic (wordpress.com), they of course don’t make money from the software you freely download and install on your own server, so you can’t complain about that “free support” or the money they make. If you want real support on an opensource project you just hire someone and pay for it.

Also OPEN SOURCE means that if someone is willing to create and mantain a project called LEGACYPRESS starting from a 2.3 version where he does just security fixes and minor improvements, I guess he’s free to do so and plan his schedule so, ie, makes a new major legacypress release every 18months, i don’t know.

I also don’t agree with OTTO on some other stuff: for example wordpress.com is not an option for many people, unless you like your site to be STUFFED of google adsense commercials run by automatic, that logged-in people won’t see EVEN IF YOU PAY MONEY.
To verify my claim try install a clean web browser like Opera (or just clean your cookies in your current browser and logout from wordpress.com), open a search engine and search some page you know is on wordpress.com, click the link from the search engine and you will see your blog completely different.
That’s how real people see your blog, horribly stuffed with advertising! Maybe from firms you hate. Example: you have a green blog here you advocate against coal power, i don’t know, and you see an advertising where some energy company claims coal is clean. You have a wine blog, and you see advertising about canned synthetic wine&soda, that sort of thing. Wordpress.com is orrible in the way that you haven’t even got the option to remove this ads if you pay.

So at the end of the day if you wan’t to blog, but you don’t want the hassle of running a software, i agree with Otto except for the wordpress.com part … I suggest blogger.com if you want it for free, or typepad.com if you wanna pay a fee and get real support. Both allows to migrate your wordpress blog and run your own domain name (on blogger.com for free).

People who install wordpress are told before they click the download button on the wordpress.org site - “WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

More simply, WordPress is what you use when you want to work with your blogging software, not fight it.

New to blogging? Learn more about WordPress, then follow the three easy steps below to start blogging in minutes. Or, for the ultimate in ease of use, get a free blog on WordPress.com.”

I don’t think this is true anymore. Since 2.5, a lot of people have been fighting it. It doesn’t say there that you need to be a webmaster or have any special skills in order to blog. It is selling simplicity, ease of use, and you can start blogging quickly. Nowhere there does it say “you will have to constantly upgrade this software, so if you’re not technical Wordpress is not for you”.

So until Wordpress can be honest with people about what it really is, the support forums are going to have users who think they can install wordpress and then blog easily and simply. And those users are going to turn up looking for help when it turns out that it isn’t easy and simple. And when those users turn up looking for help, they’re not going to be real thrilled to find sarcasm and even in some cases outright abuse.

Secondly, I think the relationship between people and their blogging software is a lot more important than people admit. After all in some cases blogging is how people are earning their money. People have placed trust in Wordpress when they clicked that download button - trust that it will work for them, trust that they will be able to do what they need to do, trust that when they need support they will be able to find it in the support forums - Wordpress is not doing the right thing with that trust.

Otto, you are doing an amazing job, especially when you say you’re not being paid. I cannot believe how unfair that is, though. My understanding is that Wordpress are earning quite a bit of cash. They should be giving some of it to people like you. Without you, most of those support threads would have no intelligent answer.

In my view, coders are not there to make people feel like they need to be technically minded too, we are here to make life easier for everyone - whether you’re technical or not. For instance, instead of saying “go edit your config file”, I aim to provide settings that can be accessed within your browser.

I’m always looking for ways to improve Injader - comments are certainly welcome if you decide to give it a try.

The notion that “I’m a user of your software and so I’m entitled to being treated well” is flawed to begin with. If you were paying for your support, then you’re entitled. But I see a lot of people basically saying “I use your free software, I think it sucks, so by extension you suck, and you should treat me well even though I’m a complete jerkoff”.. That’s the way I read that sort of thing now.
Here’s the thing: I have no problem telling people to stop using WordPress if it does not fit their needs. Because the fact of the matter is that the users did NOT make WordPress what it is. The developers did. The people who write the code did. WordPress would exist even without little-old-users using it because the users aren’t the ones creating it.

Running a copy of WordPress on your own hosting is not “blogging”. It is “running a website” or “being a webmaster”. Until people realize this fact and accept it, then there’s simply always going to be friction. Running a website is more than just writing posts. Sorry, fact of life. “Webmaster” is an *actual job* at most companies. People get paid for it. And you think it’s supposed to be easy?

If somebody wants to “blog” instead of run their own site, then I highly recommend alternative solutions. Use WordPress.com sites instead. You can still get your own domain name going, even get it directly through them at good prices ($10 or so, they work through GoDaddy I think). All the fun of blogging, none of the hassles of running a website. Costs are probably lower too, considering normal hosting fees. Or heck, switch to blogger.com or one of the other myriad services. WordPress may not be right for everybody and it’s certainly not right for every web application. Yes, I like it, but you are not me and might have different needs. People are different.

Now, understand that I’m not trying to be rude or insulting here. I very rarely try to do that on the support forums as well. But such is the nature of text, what I see as a frank matter-of-fact statement can come across as rude. I have been on the ‘nets a long, long time, and am well aware of this fact, so anything I read like that, I take with a grain of salt. A lot of people don’t quite get that yet. Especially newbie bloggers who can’t even figure out how to search google for a solution to their problem (grumble).

@Snoskred: The people who help the most on the support forums don’t get paid. Me included.