Contributing to core is definitely a big thing and difficult to do. Takes a lot of time and effort. I didn’t put in that time this release, which is why you’ll notice my name is missing from the credits screen for the first time in a couple years (none of my patches got accepted 🙁 ).
Still, this change was made 2 months ago. Anybody running the beta should have spotted it then. I realize that not everybody runs the beta versions, but that’s pretty much a prerequisite for having a say in the conversation, because without doing the testing as-it-happens, you don’t see the changes when they are actually made, just months later after release.
If you have a personal site, or a test site, consider using the Beta Tester plugin to get nightly updates to it. Sure, it might break once in a while (not often), but you’ll get to see what’s happening and changing as it happens and changes. We run all our sites (including this one) on the very latest and greatest code, so that we’re aware of what is changing and how it affects things. Stable versions are for those who cannot handle an unstable world. 🙂
BTW, I never really use the Title field myself. I just like having plugins to solve problems like this, when core changes in unexpected ways.
So this is what our opinions are now, irrelevant. That’s a pretty rough statement, and coming from an WordPress.org Tech Guy.
Personally, I will start looking for other CMS’s. And use them, at least until WordPress says its’ users opinions do matter.
Not everyone is a beta tester, so not everyone “should have noticed it a couple of months back”.
PS I can’t even begin to comprehend the huge amount of work in making stable WordPress versions. Much respect for that, and thank you. But I don’t think anyone out here would like to see it said to his/her face “your opinion is noted, but irrelevant”.
PS2 Thank you Otto for providing the plugin. And a side question please: are these title tags really irrelevant from a seo point of view? I was under the impression these little things matter.
In the end I also want to say, that I really respect the WP-Team and WordPress is a great Software.
But I don’t respect this ridiculous and stupid decision about the title attribute, but I have to live with that decision. Thanks to Otto fhe plugin! Hopefully it will be obsolete by one day.
I think all that is nice and bad have all been said.
The question has been answered adequately, whether it is a likeable one or not.
I’m closing this thread.
New version of the plugin is available in the Plugins Directory:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/restore-link-title-field/
Thanks to Sergey Biryukov for the refactoring. This version should be more compatible with other scripts and going forward in WordPress as well.
