Sys.WP_RIP
terminal EXECUTION RECORD: 2003—PRESENT

WordPress
Refuses to Die.

// SYSTEM LOG
Here lies WordPress. Beloved CMS. Survived by 43.5% of the entire internet.

// CAUSE OF DEATH
Killed by a framework tweet thread with 12 likes.

JOOMLA 2005 DRUPAL 2007 WIX 2010 SQUARESPACE 2012 REACT 2017 NEXT.JS 2020 ASTRO 2022 JOOMLA 2005 DRUPAL 2007 WIX 2010 SQUARESPACE 2012 REACT 2017

01: The_Murderers

A list of tech that "killed" WP.

ID: 2005

JOOMLA

"Remember Joomla? No? Exactly."

STATUS: LIFE SUPPORT
ID: 2007

DRUPAL

"Takes 3 senior devs to change a button color."

STATUS: GOVT SITES ONLY
ID: 2012

SQUARESPACE

"Beautiful templates. $45/month to add a contact form."

STATUS: SPONSORING PODCASTS
ID: 2017

REACT / GATSBY

"The killer died before the victim. Poetic."

STATUS: GATSBY IS DEAD
ID: 2020

NEXT.JS

"WordPress is slow! — said the framework needing Vercel's $150/mo plan."

STATUS: REWRITING CORE YEARLY
ID: 2024

AI BUILDERS

"Finally, a way to make every website look exactly the same."

STATUS: GENERATING CLONES

02: THE_ROTTING_CORE

Hover to decrypt core infrastructure.

CORE_COMPROMISED
DECRYPTING WP_LOGIC...

FATAL: wp_options OVERFLOW

7.4GB of transient data and abandoned theme settings forming a sprawling graveyard in the primary database.

WARNING: PLUGIN_BLOAT

43 active plugins detected. 17 tracking scripts competing for the main thread. Time to Interactive: 8.5 seconds.

LEGACY: PHP 5.6 LOOP

"We can't upgrade the server, the legacy theme will break." An eternal paradox echoing through cheap hosting servers.

03: IMMORTAL_PROCESS_PHP

Achieved state of quantum immortality.

PROCESS_ALIVE
SYS_INFO

"PHP is dead" has been said so many times that PHP achieved a state of quantum immortality. It exists simultaneously as both dead and alive, powering 77% of all server-side web applications while being officially deceased since 2005.

> 2005 LOG: "Ruby on Rails will kill PHP"
// Ruby on Rails is now a nostalgia trip.
> 2012 LOG: "Node.js will kill PHP"
// Node.js now has 847 competing frameworks.
> 2018 LOG: "Go/Rust will kill PHP"
// Your startup still uses Laravel.
> 2024 LOG: "AI will kill PHP"
// AI is literally writing more PHP.
_ PHP doesn't die. It just gets faster with each version while everyone pretends it doesn't exist. PHP 8.4 has fibers, enums, and readonly properties. But sure, it's "dead."

04: DIGITAL_CEMETERY

Tech that actually died trying to kill WP.

EXHUMING_ARCHIVES

MOVABLE TYPE

OFFLINE

WordPress was born from its licensing drama. The master disappeared into the void.

ERA: 2001-FADING GHOST_PROTOCOL

POSTEROUS

DATA_CORRUPT

"The simplest way to blog." Acquired by Twitter, then mercilessly terminated.

ERA: 2008-2013 TERMINATED

TUMBLR

REANIMATED

Sold for $1.1B, resold for $3M. Now its soul runs on WordPress infrastructure.

ERA: 2007-2018 HOST_PARASITE

05: STAGES_OF_GRIEF.log

I. DENIAL

"WordPress is definitely dead."

"Nobody uses it anymore. Sure, it powers 43% of the web, but those are old sites. My Astro blog with 3 visitors is the real future."

II. ANGER

"WHY does every client ask for WP?!"

"I spent 6 months learning Next.js! I have a Vercel Pro subscription! I wrote a 40-tweet thread about the JAMstack! STOP ASKING!"

III. BARGAINING

"What if we use it Headless?"

"With a React frontend, a GraphQL middleware layer, and Kubernetes? That way we're technically still using it but nobody has to know."

IV. DEPRESSION

"My custom blog broke again."

"It took 4 months and broke when I updated Node. My client's WP site has been running fine for 7 years with zero maintenance."

V. ACCEPTANCE

"You know what? It just works."

"My client can edit it. I'm going to set it up in 20 minutes, invoice the client, and go outside for the first time in weeks."

Grim Reaper Illusion
ASSET_CLASSIFIED

DEATH OF COMPARISON

The reaper comes for every framework that promises to finally put WordPress in the grave. The cycle is eternal.

Coffin Illusion

DIGITAL_SARCOPHAGUS

Where abandoned side projects and unmaintained headless repos rest eternally.

Death Handshake

HELLO_DEATH // ACCEPTANCE

warning
40%
60%
80%
MAX
90%
70%

ALTAR_OF_THE_VOID

Pay your respects to WordPress. Each candle is a prayer that it may rest in peace (it won't, it powers 43% of the web, but it's the thought that counts).

5 Souls Mourning

INTERCEPTED_COMMUNICATIONS.log

"I rebuilt my client's blog in React — took me just three days! Adding a new article? Easy, you just push to the repo, wait for the CI pipeline, and redeploy. Preview? Well… you kind of have to imagine it. But hey, at least it's not WordPress!"

REACT ENTHUSIAST gatsby build: 47 minutes and counting

"We migrated our client from WordPress to a modern JAMstack architecture. They now have blazing fast static pages. They also need to open a pull request to update their phone number. They called us 14 times last week."

SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT Client satisfaction: 404 Not Found

"WordPress is dead. I built my blog with Next.js, a headless CMS, a GraphQL layer, 3 microservices, and a Kubernetes cluster. It took 6 months. The blog has 4 posts."

SENIOR DEVELOPER Who definitely doesn't overthink things

"I replaced WordPress with a custom solution. My client now calls me at 3 AM because they can't figure out how to change a comma."

FREELANCE DEVELOPER Now making less money with more work

"I told my client WordPress is dead and we should rebuild in Laravel. They asked what Laravel is. I said it's PHP. They asked what PHP is. I'm now questioning my life choices."

FULL-STACK DEVELOPER Currently reconsidering

"WordPress has too many plugins! Anyway, here's my package.json with 200 dependencies and 47 security vulnerabilities."

JAVASCRIPT DEVELOPER npm audit: 47 critical