If you work with any set of technologies for a long enough period, you’re going to develop a sense of what you love, what you like, what you dislike, and what you hate about it, right?

Honestly, I think this applies to just about anything we do, or we use regardless of if it’s related to our jobs or hobbies or what have you.

At this point, I’ve worked with WordPress long enough to develop a sense of all of that (and it’s not limited to the core application either).

And, to go ahead and be clear, this post is not about the problems that I see with WordPress or with anything tangentially related to it. Nor is it about the things that I think it does well.

Instead, it’s about asking why would anyone – you, me, or anyone else – keep using WordPress if they aren’t a fan of the platform for development?

Why Keep Using WordPress?

The whole catalyst for this was because I ended up overhearing a conversation where someone said they simply couldn’t muster a lot of interest or excitement when working on anything related to WordPress despite the fact that they willingly work with WordPress.

Note “willingly” being the keyword.

My Perspective

The way I see it is that I enjoy and I keep using WordPress because of what the platform affords for people, and because of the what the infrastructure allows us to do.

Why Keep Using WordPress?

The homepage presents it being software for creating sites, blogs, or apps.

That is, I’m specifically interested in the whole notion of online publishing from an open source standpoint (though I’m not anti-closed source software, either), and I’m interested in the problems that can be solved using WordPress as a foundation.

The fact that it powers so much of the Internet makes it an attractive solution for a lot of people and businesses. We, as those who use the software differently, see it differently. It’s only natural.

It’s natural.

But when so many people are using it for a variety of reasons that extend beyond blogging (which obviously hasn’t always been the case), it also allows us to create software on top of it that isn’t just for blogging, either.

That’s one of the reasons I still keep using WordPress and one of the reasons I enjoy it. It affords the use of solving creative problems that extend beyond blogging or content management.

That isn’t to say I don’t explore other technologies, that I try to learn them, and that I wouldn’t use them given the need (that is, requirements should drive the tools).

In short, I’m not WordPress-or-death ☠️, but I don’t harbor as much disdain for it as I see coming from others who work with it.

So Why Keep With It?

I’ve met some incredibly smart people through WordPress. I’ve met them via meetups, conferences, online chats via Twitter, etc. I’ve learned a lot, continue to do so, and I continue to look forward to interacting with others.

This isn’t about a getting social, though. This is about asking why one sticks with the decisions they do when more satisfying options are available.

So this brings me around to my initial question: If you’re willingly using WordPress but aren’t a fan of doing so, then why keep using WordPress?