I Write Her

Have you been seeing stats like this, too? I was aware of China’s data harvesting, but then I started seeing much higher numbers from the US as well. And frankly, just sick of not getting “real” data. I did some digging.

Here’s what’s going on per Google AI:

WordPress-Specific Data Harvesting

WordPress.org (Self-Hosted): These sites are generally considered “safe” from these specific partnerships, although they are still susceptible to general web crawlers.

WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org: This is a crucial distinction.

WordPress.com (Hosted): Automattic (parent company) has entered deals to sell public content from these blogs to AI companies. They automatically opted users in to share content with third parties for AI training, though they added an “opt-out” setting in early 2024.

According to WordPress’ Happiness Engineer:

You can turn this off directly from your site settings.
 
Please follow the steps here:
https://wordpress.com/support/privacy-settings/make-your-website-public/#prevent-third-party-sharing
 
You will see a simple checkbox option in your site’s backend. Check it, and third-party sharing will be disabled once you’ve saved your changes.

You’re welcome! :)

The 2025 submission cycle is closing in the next couple of weeks. Considering how strong the submissions came in early, I really thought I’d need to close it early this year, but I still have SIX spots left! If you’re on the fence about putting in your first submission, don’t hesitate; get it in. And if you’re waiting until the last minute, don’t!

This will be the last reminder. If I don’t get the submissions to post for the entire year, it will unfortunately have to be that way. I will be incredibly sad then. You don’t want me sad, or?