As part of the WordPress Rockstar series, I’ve asked Michele Butcher some interview questions. Michele is a rockstar because of her eagerness to contribute to WordPress, and teach people the importance of not just WordPress security, but security in general.
Michele lives in my neck of the woods, in Southern Illinois and heads up the Southern Illinois WordPress Meetup group. Michele works for WP Security Lock, helping to fix hacked WordPress sites and also to make sure they are secure.
I’ve been privileged to actually ride along with her to several conferences where both of us were attending. She’s a sassy lady and tells it like it is, in a good way. 🙂 I’ve also sat in on a couple presentations, and she really knows what she’s talking about.
You can click the following to view some Michele Butcher’s WordCamp presentations on WordPress.tv.
A little bit about Michele Butcher
Michele Butcher is the WordPress Specialist at WP Security Lock and a WordPress instructor at John A Logan College. Michele is also the head geek behind the blog for Can’t Speak Geek. When not cleaning hacked websites or teaching others how to use WordPress l, she spends her time with family or has her nose in between the pages of a great novel.
Interview with Michele Butcher
NILE FLORES: When did you decide to use WordPress for the first time?
MICHELE BUTCHER: In late 2010, I decided I wanted to start a personal blog. My best friend said that the best platform for me to use was WordPress. At the time I knew nothing of WordPress and jumped in feet first.
I never looked back nor ever tried any other platform. It was love at first site. At the same time, I started writing social media posts for his site. The love grew from there.
NILE FLORES: What is the most unique job you have done using WordPress?
MICHELE BUTCHER: I would say the most unique site would have been a fitness site I cleaned about a year ago. It was a sales, membership, and coaching site with three different WordPress installations on it. Between the three sites, it had everything from e-commerce, to videos, to forms. It had a bit of everything.
NILE FLORES: What would you like to see WordPress improve upon in the future?
MICHELE BUTCHER: My first answer is security but that is an ever evolving process. There is always more vulnerabilities being found and patches made every day.
I would also like to see the editor evolve. While the seasoned WordPressers know how to write in the shortcodes to make the editor do their bidding, many new users are expecting the editor to look more like Microsoft Word than what it does. I feel this would be benifiical to new users.
NILE FLORES: What’s the biggest piece or pieces of advice you want WordPress users to know about website security?
MICHELE BUTCHER: Nothing is ever 100% secure, but doing something is always better than doing nothing. It is always good to add security plugins, use secure passwords, and be pro-active of your website.
NILE FLORES: You’ve spoken at WordCamps in the past. In your own words, tell my readers what WordCamp is, and why you believe they should attend at least one in their area.
MICHELE BUTCHER: WordCamps are the best $20-$60 ever spent on education and networking within the WordPress community. They are typically 1-3 days of information overload mixed with a large dose of empowerment. There has never, nor will there ever be two WordCamps alike.
No matter if a person is thinking about using WordPress to the seasoned developer, everyone walks away learning something new and at least ten new people they can call WordPress friends. I have never heard of anyone feeling a WordCamp was a waste of money or they did not get anything out of it.
I have went to many different career conferences that cost quadruple the price of an average WordCamp and felt like I wasted the whole weekend. Never have I felt that way at any of the WordCamps I have went to. Not only do I urge everyone to go to their local but travel to the other WordCamps that are within a few hours travel.
You can find Michele at her website Can’t Speak Geek or through Slack by visiting her WordPress.org profile.
Have any questions for Michele?
I am on WP, but I paid someone to set up my site for me. I am not good with that kind of thing, so it was worth every penny!
This is a great interview. I love WP, but there are a few things that they could make a little more user friendly for new users.
Hi Stacie! On the part about making it more user-friendly, which areas or things do you mean?
I love how easy WordPress is to use. The only issue I have is logging in and security – not sure how to change over from “admin” login to a safer login. Any tips?
I still use blogger. I have thought about switching, but for now, I am happy with what I have. I do notice that WP blogs have a lot nicer look than blogger.
i enjoy reading interviews. I learn so much about a person and other things. I have a wordpress but really don’t use it. I use my blogger more.
I switched to WP from blogger a few months ago. Once I got the hang of it, I really liked it much better than blogger. It did take me a while to get used to it for sure.
Her tip of “doing something is better than doing nothing” seems so obvious,but so many people trust the default security of a site that it makes hacking inevitable.
What a nice interview! Total fan of Word Press also 🙂
I started my blog with self-hosted WordPress and have never looked back. It was so easy and I’m not tech savvy at all. Love WordPress.
I’m definitely happy I blog on WordPress now. The more you can learn about the WordPress system the better.
What an amazing interview, must have been cool to meet and talk to a person like this! I hope you enjoyed it.
I use Word Press for my blog. I had no idea there were things such as Word Camps.
For my personal site, I also use WordPress. Thank you for these great bits of information and advice. Invaluable!
I personally love wordpress because it is fairly simple to use. I jumped into blogging several years ago. My husband has been blogging/building websites for years so he was already somewhat knowledgeable. He shared with me how to work it. The rest is history.
I agree security is an area where I would love to see improved upon. I get people attempting log into my site around the clock.
I love wordpress. I’ve used it on and off for years (and greymatter! lol) and I still find wordpress to be the best of the best. Great interview!
We switched to WP four months ago and like her, we had no idea about the platform. So we jumped in feet first too. But since then, we’ve learned a lot and we’re loving WP big time.
I’ve been using wordpress since I started blogging. I like how easy it is to use and the plugins are really great.
What an awesome interview! I loved learning a little more about Michele in this post!
I wish I knew how to easily change my WP login from admin to something else – any tips?
HI Maria! This post may help. – http://blondish.net/changing-your-username-in-wordpress/
It’s cool to see a face behind part of wordpress. This was a very informative interview and I enjoyed reading it.