---
author:
    email: mail@petermolnar.net
    image: https://petermolnar.net/favicon.jpg
    name: Peter Molnar
    url: https://petermolnar.net
copies:
- http://web.archive.org/web/20190624130034/https://petermolnar.net/re-wordpress-crusade-against-technical-responsibility/
in-reply-to: https://www.rarst.net/wordpress/technical-responsibility/
lang: en
published: '2016-07-19T07:47:35+00:00'
redirect:
- 25881-2
- wordpress-crusade-against-technical-responsibility

---

> It is often stressed in WordPress circles that plugins and themes
> should be compatible to obsolete 5.2 version of PHP programming
> language.

> Why?

> Because otherwise you will break people's sites.

> Why?

> Because people still run their sites on PHP 5.2.

> Why?

> Because they don't know they should update.

> Why?

> Because we won't tell them.

> Why?

> Because they don't have to know.

> Wait, what?

> It took me a long time to grasp that "they don't have to know" is one
> of the most important and least obvious WordPress principles. I don't
> agree with that.

Hard, cold, sad WordPress truth. And I fully agree with it. "You have to
know." But how to do make people care? They will only want to know if
they care about their site.