Update & standardize broken/missing showcase links on homepage templates

[jonoaldersonwp]

Dozens of our localised homepages link to invalid/broken/missing showcase pages.

E.g., see the "WordPress Users" section in the bottom right of:

• ​https://ido.wordpress.org/
• ​https://gu.wordpress.org/
• ​https://kal.wordpress.org/

Noteably, from this small sample:

• The Rolling Stones website is no longer powered by WP - ​https://wordpress.org/showcase/the-rolling-stones/ (note that this one is also featured on the wordpress.org homepage)
• The CNN tag is empty - ​https://wordpress.org/showcase/tag/cnn/
• The Motley Crue showcase page returns a 404 error - ​https://wordpress.org/showcase/motley-crue/

This is more than a little embarrassing (and harmful from an SEO / quality perspective), and I think it calls for a degree of standardization of this component across localized homepages.

Can we pick three prominent showcase entries, and update + manage these centrally?

[fierevere]

some locales still maintain a viable list of localized WordPress sites and therefore can offer a better showcase experience for local visitors.

[jonoaldersonwp]

Replying to fierevere:

some locales still maintain a viable list of localized WordPress sites and therefore can offer a better showcase experience for local visitors.

If they can guarantee that those links will remain valid and up to date, that's fine. But, I'm sure that's what they thought originally, and it clearly wasn't the case. Given how poorly loved and maintained many of these sites/pages are, I'd be keen to err on the side of caution.

[ocean90]

In 8995:

WordPress.org Main Theme: Update fallback list for showcase entries.

Fixes #4533.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to jonoaldersonwp:

If they can guarantee that those links will remain valid and up to date, that's fine. But, I'm sure that's what they thought originally, and it clearly wasn't the case.

FWIW, the links in question were a small portion of the global Showcase and were only displayed as a fallback if a locale didn't have their own list of notable sites.

[jonoaldersonwp]

Ah, interesting! :)