Dan Q

I'm Dan Q. I've spent the last 25+ years creating and writing on the Internet.

I work at Automattic and volunteer with Three Rings. I live with my partner, her husband, two kids and a dog. I can sometimes be found out geo*ing, cycling, or performing magic.

I believe in open source, open relationships, and opening doors to marginalised groups.

Photograph of Dan, his ponytail hanging over the shoulder of his black t-shirt, smiling from behind his beard and waving to the camera.

  • We'll Pay You to Go (so we're confident in who stays...)

    This week, Automattic made a very generous offer to employees who didn't feel aligned with the company and its leader: to pay them to leave. 8.4% of the company took it, and it's been a heartbreaking time, but we'll build back stronger, I'm sure. Read more →

  • Digital Dustbusting

    I've been doing a bit of tidying-up of the mess that is my personal Internet hosting. I've made a lot of progress, but the rest is probably going to have to wait until later in the year. Read more →

  • What if Emails were Multilingual?

    Wouldn't it be nice if there were a standard for multilingual emails? Oh wait, there is! Let's see how it works, and whether it's (ever going to be) ready for mainstream use... Read more →

  • WP Engine's Three Problems

    Matt Mullenweg kicked off a battle of words between Automattic and the WordPress Foundation and hosting company WP Engine. Without weighing in on the legal aspects (IANAL), I've written up my thoughts. Read more →

  • D20 with Advantage

    D&D players spend a lot of time rolling D20s. Sometimes they 'roll with advantage' - that is, roll two dice and take the largest. Last night I dreamed I derived the probability matrix for such rolls, and it got me thinking... could you construct a single die that rolls 'D20 with Advantage'? Read more →

  • Idea: Meeting Spoofer

    Coworkers keep scheduling meetings in periods you've blocked-off for no-meetings, head-down focus time? Maybe you should try scheduling fake meetings in those slots instead and see if they respect those any better! (But perhaps there's a bigger cultural issue you oughta look at instead.) Read more →

  • Roll Your Own Antispam

    The Web contact form of a nonprofit I founded started attracting a huge volume of spam, and conventional tools weren't helping. But a little analysis allowed us to block almost all of it without compromising on accessibility, privacy, or the false-positive rate. Read more →

  • 2024 in Videogames

    With my busy schedule, I appreciate a video game that I can pick-up-and-drop at will and a prefer depth rather than quantity of content. This year, I've played and can recommend three games in particular - Horizon: Forbidden West, Thank Goodness You're Here!, and Tactical Breach Wizards. Read more →

  • So... I'm A Podcast

    As you might have already noticed, I started a podcast. Let's take a look (or listen!) into how and why I adapted my WordPress installation to double as a podcast host, and discuss what kind of content you're likely to find on it... Read more →

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  • Post: Pack Light

    Think I blew Ruth‘s mind this morning when I set off for a week in Mexico with only a medium-sized, underseat-suitable backpack. But since working for Automattic five years ago I’ve totally been bitten by the travelling-light bug. Highly recommended!× Read more →

  • Post: Heaven Can Wait

    Harry Segell’s 1938 play Heaven Can Wait went on to inspire such an extraordinarily long legacy of follow-ups.I’ve only seen the most-recent few and my experience is that the older iterations are better, so I probably ought to watch Here Comes Mr. Jordan, right?× Read more →

  • Note #24625

    This morning’s actual breakfast order from the 7-year-old: “A sesame seed bagel with honey, unless there aren’t any sesame seed bagels, in which case a plain bagel with honey on one half and jam on the other half, unless there aren’t any plain bagels, in which case a cinnamon and raisin bagel with JimJams on […] Read more →

  • What the heck is going on with WordPress?

    My colleague Paolo Belcastro invites you to play a little game: one of these phrases that begins "wp" is not like the others... Read more →

  • CSS Cycling Gradient Text

    Ana Tudor shared an absolutely gorgeous effect based on SVG filters, CSS properties, linear-gradients, and (after all of that) relatively-basic animations. It's pretty amazing. Read more →

  • Note #24599

    At work, we recently switched expenses system to one with virtual credit card functionality. I decided to test it out by buying myself lounge access for my upcoming work trip to Mexico. Unfortunately the new system mis-detected my lounge access as being a purchase from lingerie company loungeunderwear.com. I’m expecting a ping from Finance any […] Read more →

  • The Duck Song 4

    After fourteen years of waiting, The Duck Song trilogy finally got a (proper, official, canonical, by-the-original-creator) fourth episode. Read more →

  • Note #24593

    We made it! This young furbaby managed to pose a bleppy picture every single day of Bleptember. Thanks for coming along for the ride! × Read more →

  • Note #24591

    “You want more Bleptember pictures? I demand payment in the form of tummy-scritches!” (Wow, it’s the penultimate day of Bleptember. )× Read more →

  • Post: Bletchley Park

    The eldest is really getting into her WW2 studies at school, so I arranged a trip for her and a trip to the ever-excellent Bletchley Park for a glimpse at the code war that went on behind the scenes. They’re clearly looking forward to the opportunity to look like complete swots on Monday. Bonus: I […] Read more →

  • Undefined GC9GTV3 Drive Slowly; Fox Crossing

    Noticed while on a dog walk that the container looked a little loose, so came by to tighten it up. Noticed that the logbook was missing – muggled? – so replaced that while I was here. Ready to go! Read more →

  • Note #24584

    Tttttthbbptt. The sound of a bleppy dog deflating like a balloon, this Twenty-Eighth of Bleptember × Read more →

  • Transparency, Contribution, and the Future of WordPress

    Joost de Valk weighs in on the WP Engine drama, but pivots into some excellent ideas that think bigger about the future of the WordPress community, contribution, and collaboration. I'm not 100% convinced by his ideas, but I'm enormously impressed by his big-picture thinking. Read more →

  • Note #24566

    This Bleptember pic looks a bit like a political poster to me. Vote Dog, for a future with More Ham, Fewer Vacuum Cleaners! × Read more →

  • Wave Hello Trilogy

    The YouTube channel @simonscouse has posted exactly two videos. The first came a little over ten years ago. It shows a hand waving and then wiggling its fingers in front of a patterned wallpaper. The second came a little over five years ago, and shows a hand - the same hand? - waving in front of a painting of two cats while a child's voice can be heard in the background. In a comment on the latter, the producer promised that it's be "only another 5 years until the trilogy is completed". Where's the third instalment, Simon? We're all waiting to see it! Read more →

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