In 2005, I bought and registered a domain, plaintxt.org, so I could relocated my Peace Corps blog and blog about other things, too. I had a great vision to develop the content I had written during that time in to a great Peace Corps blog.
Things didn’t quite work out like that.
Instead, in the process of using some new (to me) software, WordPress, and getting my Peace Corps blog just like I wanted it, I started developing my own theme. Which lead to the creation and distribution of my first WordPress theme, veryplaintxt, a play on the name of the domain I was using then.
The response from releasing this theme was massive. Suddenly I went from getting some email every day to getting an email every minute. Questions, suggestions, insults, praise—suddenly I found myself involved in a vibrant, enthusiastic community. The WordPress community.
From veryplaintxt, I designed, developed, and released more themes. Development continued and, much like WordPress, it moved at a brisk pace. There was a time—however brief—where I was alongside few others at the forefront of theme development for WordPress.
From theme competitions to forum debates, I involved myself. I learned a great deal of PHP, CSS, HTML, and JavaScript, and found this sheer amount of learning I was doing quite exhilarating. I experienced a similar feeling when I was in the Peace Corps and I read, successfully, my first bit of Nepali. The feeling of power and accomplishment was intoxicating.
Then I got started on my great contribution, the Sandbox theme. The collaboration between me and Automattic handyman Andy Skelton helped produce, at the time, an entirely new and innovative WordPress theme.
The Sandbox theme has since been ported to Movable Type and Drupal, cited in WordPress for Dummies and Microformats: Empowering Your Markup for Web 2.0, and the proud father to many incredible WordPress themes. This was my masterpiece, the best I could offer the community.
Then, after years of not having a successful WordPress theme competition, the Sandbox Designs Competition. I decided that I would organize, operate, and execute a theme competition by myself. The reason all the other theme competitions had failed was because the organizers, frankly, were dodgy and had other motives than supporting and promoting WordPress theme development.
Supporters were secured, funds were obtained, rules and regulations were set in place, and a forum (sort of) was opened. The competition ended with some excellent winners, several of whom have since turned out to continue their contributions. I’m looking at you, Ian and Will.
And since that time, I have withdrawn from the WordPress community. Active development of my themes and plugins has stopped simply because I am unable to continue the necessary development. In a way, they have a life of their own.
My WordPress themes and plugins were inspired by other themes and plugins, many of theme long abandoned and forgotten. Yet they remained and influenced me. In this way, I know my contributions will continue. Now, though, I am letting what I created, plaintxt.org, live on without me—for better or worse.
Yes, I am offering the sale of plaintxt.org/sndbx.org. I am not desperate or broke. This is not about money. It’s about letting these projects, brands, whatever, live on without me. Because I just don’t have the time or interest to maintain what I started.
Which brings up an important point: Do I actually own these sites? I mean, the content is licensed by the GNU GPL, so it’s free. The projects are hosted on Google Code and WordPress Extend. The themes and plugins can’t actually disappear. But given that so much of the good that has come from them has come at the hands of volunteers.
So I’m a bit torn up about it—yet I look at it realistically. The only other conclusion would be that the content and domain would age into obscurity. Sooner or later, it would just be swallowed up by the blackness of the Intertubes. Haven’t you ever visited a site only to be greeted by 404s? Sooner or later, we all go the way of the dodo.
So in conclusion, here’s to tomorrow.
16 Comments
The WordPress community will miss you, Scott. And I know I’m better off for your support and encouragement, so I’ll miss you too. Good luck with the sale and all your future projects.
Scott, you have been a true inspiration to me during my initial and continuing forays into the WordPress world.
Thank you, and I wish you the best of luck.
Adam
Thanks for the great work best of luck
Your themes really inspired me and set an example to the whole wordpress community and beyond. Hope you don’t leave completely, and good luck in your future projects.
Just wanted to say thanks, Sandbox has been a huge inspiration and help. Best of luck in the future
The WordPress community and WP theme development will not be the same without you. Thankfully, you’re innovation and inspiration has made the community a better place.
The Sandbox Designs Competition and working with Sandbox helped me to really understand what was possible with CSS and how the markup (especially dynamic markup) of sites and applications can be so powerful.
Thanks for everything and I wish you the best of luck in everything you do.
Thanks, all. I am happy to have made my contributions and am glad to see the community still flourishing with creativity. It’s time I stop developing and instead start using. Cheers.
I’m deeply sorry to see you go, Scott. It was great knowing you through the Sandbox Designs Competition, and I learned a whole lot about WordPress theme development in the process. Your contributions have been great, and I hope your future endeavors will also thrive just as much as our WordPress community has. Good luck!
Within the past two weeks, I bought a domain name and have been painstakingly trying to learn CSS. Your themes are helping me through the babysteps. I’m happy for you for going forward, and want you to know that your contribution to this world is and will continue to be greatly appreciated.
I appreciate all your hard work!
Hello. Sorry for my English! Can u tell me where i can download this theme for wordpress. (This one what you use here)! Its so good and simple powerful.
Thank you … and cya
i was doing a search for a theme i entered into the competition because someone emailed me about it and this is the only place i had it available!
needless to say your news saddened me, especially because at this very moment i am working on a blog and using sandbox, and thinking about how awesome it really is because each page has a different look and all i need to do is edit the css because everything is already in place for the theme to work AMAZINGLY!!
thank you very very much for your contributions!
Thanks scott for your great contribution for wordpress community. We will miss you. Thanks for great sandbox theme
Sad to see this end. I have used your themes exclusively for the past years and though I’ve tried other ‘minimalist’ themes, I find yours are the most reliable / functional.
P.S. Poignant post, at least it was a beautiful end.
Thought provoking article. I suppose a possibility would be to gift the domains to someone in the WP community that shows the dedication to take up where you left off.
It’s a rare thing to see someone think about what they are doing in bigger terms. I should hope that we keep crossing paths.
T_T
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[...] Wallick, one of the founding developers behind the popular Sandbox theme for WordPress has published an announcement on his blog where he states that he is selling not only the Sandbox theme/website but also [...]
[...] so that I could tweak SS!AB, but all development seemed to have stopped a while back. Then, I see this post, where the creator says he is putting it all up for sale since he has no time for the theme [...]
[...] Scott Wallick is offering for sale his popular site, plaintxt.org, and his very popular Sandbox WordPress Theme to move onto new projects. The Sandbox Theme has long been touted as the next “default” WordPress Theme and set the standard high for other Themes to follow with a rich microformats and a powerful CSS framework. I’ve been a huge fan of the Sandbox Theme which I use here on Lorelle on WordPress, and wish Scott the best of luck with his sale and all the endeavours the future holds for him. Scott, you’ve been an invaluable member of the WordPress Community and helped change it permanently. Your absence will leave a big hole and you are welcome to return any time. Thanks for everything you’ve done for so many millions of WordPress users. [...]
[...] of his accidental (and spectacularly successful!) plunge into the WordPress learning community in On Selling Something I Sort of Own and his encounter with the learner as community member in An Ideal WordPress User; and at Portable [...]
[...] hoped that Sandbox would see new life when ownership of the domain and it’s assets changed hands (see Scott Wallick’s post on offering plaintxt.org for sale). The link to the posting on plaintxt.org no longer exists, apparently the new owner deleted [...]
[...] hoped that Sandbox would see new life when ownership of the domain and it’s assets changed hands (see Scott Wallick’s post on offering plaintxt.org for sale). The link to the posting on plaintxt.org no longer exists, apparently the new owner deleted the [...]