Profiles

Bio

I’m a semi-retired software engineer with 40+ years in tech, and a former core contributor to both WordPress and WooCommerce. I specialize in advanced WooCommerce and WordPress development, and I enjoy mentoring others, whether they’re learning to code or building something meaningful online.

I’m fluent in French, Spanish, German, and Japanese, with some conversational Polish. Outside of tech, I’ve been surfing for over 50 years and still hit the waves whenever I can.

I split my time between three homes in Turks and Caicos, Bucks County and Laguna Beach, California. I love traveling and meeting new people.

Need help or want to talk shop? Find me on WooCommerce Slack: @SenseiSenkōKamoku

Interests

Coding, Cyber Security, Surfing, Jeopardy, Traveling, Crossword Puzzles and Cooking.

WordPress Origin Story

I came into WordPress not by chance, but by curiosity.

Back when the blogging landscape was fragmented and rigid, I found myself deep in the early forks of b2. WordPress wasn’t just another tool, it was a rebellion against closed systems, and I was all in. From day one, I was tearing it apart, patching, testing, and contributing in the background.

As the platform matured, so did the challenges. My focus shifted to security—specifically brute-force protection and login vulnerabilities—long before WordPress had official teams dedicated to it. I wasn’t interested in recognition. I just wanted to help keep the foundation solid while the ecosystem grew.

When WooCommerce emerged, I saw the same spark—open, flexible, and built for creators. I got involved early, contributing to both code and strategy. Since then, I’ve helped shape high-performance stores, hardened payment flows, and advised on scalability issues most developers don’t hit until it’s too late.

WordPress and WooCommerce aren’t just platforms I work with—they’re systems I’ve grown with. And even now, decades later, I’m still quietly in the mix—helping the next generation build faster, safer, and smarter.

  • Member Since: January 27th, 2019
  • Location: Turks & Caicos, Laguna Beach, CA and Bucks County, PA
  • Website: thebonsaigroup.io
  • GitHub: StefsterNYC
  • Job Title: President + CEO
  • Employer: The Bonsai Group
  • Find me on:
  • Posted a reply to Checkout Block How to Override Value (PostCode), on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi @shahzeenfarooq - I took care of him on our Slack workspace. This ticket was…

  • Created a topic, PAYEE_NOT_ENABLED_FOR_CARD_PROCESSING, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hey Team, I noticed that someone else posted the same …

  • Posted a reply to Possible Bug? Fatal Error in PayPal Payments 3.3.0, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi @krystian-b Thanks for the follow-up. I don’t have a 100% reproducible sequence yet, but…

  • Created a topic, Possible Bug? Fatal Error in PayPal Payments 3.3.0, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi Team, just curious if anyone else is reporting a fa…

  • Posted a reply to Can’t change or Enter New Credit Cards in 10.3, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hey there @mostlybritts we've been seeing a lot of reports here about payment gateways not…

  • Posted a reply to Bug report, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi there, @mprudhon This is not a Woo bug. This is a ChunkLoadError, which indicates…

  • Posted a reply to Bug Report – Custom Post Statuses Injected into WooCommerce Product Queries, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @propluginslab you're welcome. Thanks for the update

  • Posted a reply to Cloudflare Turnstile widget invisible mode, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @mayy3321 I’m not looking for a workaround. I’m reporting a regression to @takayukister based on…

  • Posted a reply to Cloudflare Turnstile widget invisible mode, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @takayukister Managed mode doesn't work either. We've been using managed mode for year and all…

  • Created a topic, Bug Report – Custom Post Statuses Injected into WooCommerce Product Queries, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi @propluginslab We're seeing a bunch of SQL synta…

  • Posted a reply to Did You Revert Back PYS Pro 12.2.2???, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    It's easier for us to tell you about bugs here @pixelyoursitesupport rather than bother clients…

  • Posted a reply to Parameters Added After Import to Product Category, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @akshay-menariya are you supporting your app still or no? If not at least let us…

  • Created a topic, Did You Revert Back PYS Pro 12.2.2???, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    We updated a client's site from 12.2.1 to 12.2.2 and n…

  • Posted a reply to WooCommerce slowed down my site badly, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hey (@tsengco) This happens more often than you’d think. People add a plugin like Woo…

  • Posted a reply to Problem with coupons tied to email address, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hey @mare13ki I went and tried to replicate this. Are you saying that real users,…

  • Created a topic, Parameters Added After Import to Product Category, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Quick question here. Is it possible that when we impor…

  • Posted a reply to Prices are rounded incorrectly in WooCommerce when using custom filter, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Ya @gifiy unfortunately I can not offer anymore custom guidance on here. We really never…

  • Posted a reply to My Account page – Navigation styling broke, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @wpinthai do you know how to clear your server caches and browser cache? Chances are…

  • Posted a reply to woocommerce failed and pending actions, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hey @madleine Curious, are you using Elementor? If so, the broken fonts/layout often happens when…

  • Posted a reply to MNM plugin – sort child products alphabetically, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @themacmaker Congrats! Glad you found a solution!

  • Posted a reply to Proceed to Checkout Button Delayed Response on Cart Page, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi @amantyle I ran a few curl timing scans on your cart and checkout. Network…

  • Posted a reply to MNM plugin – sort child products alphabetically, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I'm guessing you figured it out @themacmaker seeing as this has been tagged Resolved?

  • Posted a reply to Prices are rounded incorrectly in WooCommerce when using custom filter, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hey @gifiy You can’t use raw_woocommerce_price for this. It overrides WooCommerce’s internal math and breaks…

  • Posted a reply to My Account page – Navigation styling broke, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @wpinthai sorry to hear about the issue with styling. Just go and add an importance…

  • Posted a reply to All Woocommerce pages fading before they load, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi @0108daniel that's most likely just the CF challenge page loading. Others won't see it,…

  • Posted a reply to nav.php 400 (Bad Request), on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi again @pipsi that just means their theme requires a minimum PHP version of 5.3,…

  • Posted a reply to All Woocommerce pages fading before they load, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @0108daniel You're very welcome!

  • Posted a reply to Blocks Error, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi @gohawks87 it's all good. We all started as beginners. It depends on your host.…

  • Posted a reply to nav.php 400 (Bad Request), on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hey @pipsi You're on exactly the right track! Contacting BAM theme support about PHP 8.3…

  • Posted a reply to Autoload wp_installer_settings, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    No need to apologize @staze just don't want you going down the wabbit hole. Deleting…

  • Posted a reply to Autoload wp_installer_settings, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @staze PLEASE do not use that command. That's very dangerous. Just turning things to no…

  • Posted a reply to Autoload wp_installer_settings, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @staze Do you know how to run commands in the (GUI) SQL? If so you…

  • Posted a reply to Autoload wp_installer_settings, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @staze Ah that makes sense! Genesis Framework definitely creates installer settings during theme setup. For…

  • Posted a reply to Autoload wp_installer_settings, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I hear ya @staze I was trying to help you get a better understanding of…

  • Posted a reply to Autoload wp_installer_settings, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @staze Thanks for getting back to me. Is this some sorta GUI interface where you…

  • Posted a reply to Order email not receive, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hi @shwetaarya your screenshot is of Woo logs, not email logs. @shahzeenfarooq is advising you…

  • Posted a reply to Media & Text Block, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @lsingh321 you probably have a reverse column set.

  • Posted a reply to Disabling tax depending on shipping option and shipping country selected, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I just want to add to what @jdembowski mentioned by letting you know that if…

  • Posted a reply to Autoload wp_installer_settings, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @staze have you checked to see what the top 10 apps are that are autoloading?…

  • Posted a reply to Blocks Error, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @gohawks87 this seems to be a permissions issue. Have you tried resetting permissions on the…

  • Posted a reply to All Woocommerce pages fading before they load, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I just got back to the office and have my laptop now and I do…

  • Posted a reply to All Woocommerce pages fading before they load, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @0108daniel not necessarily. You may have no overridden it or cache somewhere wasn't flushed. It…

  • Posted a reply to All Woocommerce pages fading before they load, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @0108daniel I'm not sure. You could add it to the Additional CSS in the Customizer.…

  • Posted a reply to All Woocommerce pages fading before they load, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @0108daniel I hear ya, but we’re seeing it on both. Either way this isn’t a…

  • Posted a reply to All Woocommerce pages fading before they load, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    I hear ya @0108daniel but it's there. That's why I took the screenshot to show…

  • Posted a reply to All Woocommerce pages fading before they load, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    @0108daniel found it. You have this on the body body { opacity: 0; animation: 1s…

  • Posted a reply to All Woocommerce pages fading before they load, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hey @0108daniel sorry I don't have pro and I can see you're using an Astra…

  • Posted a reply to All Woocommerce pages fading before they load, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hey @0108daniel it's definitely on there. It's called a page transition animation. Let me see…

  • Posted a reply to All Woocommerce pages fading before they load, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Your theme has some animation enabled @0108daniel this isn't a Woo issue. You need to…

  • Posted a reply to Checkout form broken, How can I fix it, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
    Hey @thuyanhlien I hear you. Like I said, it is either your custom theme or…