While I don’t typically look too closely at what she posts, this one stuck out due to my extensive background in programming, web development, and photography. I spotted a WordPress reference.

Laura Loomer’s X Post

Here’s the X post in reference:

Look, I’m into investigative journalism and all, but in this case, Laura Loomer has no clue how WordPress works.

As I’ve hinted at, this subject is in my wheelhouse. I apologize in advance for the techie talk below.

My 20+ Year WordPress Background

I’ve developed with WordPress since the “b2” fork over 20 years ago.

In 2005 I incorporated Watershed Studio here in Indianapolis where we specialize in WordPress development.

Past clients include numerous Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies. Household names that pretty much everyone would know. And companies that required (now expired) Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) to work with.

Years ago I wrote the very first version of a spam comment reporting plugin for one of the major cable news outlets. And I still use WordPress every single day. I know what I’m talking about.

Explaining the WordPress URL

Here’s the URL Loomer is looking at: https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/ashley-st-clair-conservative-activist-98630489.jpg?resize=1024,683&quality=75&strip=all

You start with the domain name itself, in this case, https://nypost.com/. This is the basis of every single link for the NY Post website.

Then you get to /wp-content/, which is the default area for things such as plugins, the website theme, plus any uploaded images and other files.

The “/uploads/” folder is where the uploaded images and files are located on the server.

Here’s where we get into the area that most people won’t be familiar with, even seasoned WordPress users.

The “/sites/2/” in the URL indicates that this particular site is using a “MU” (WordPress Multisite) setup of WordPress. Without boring you with the history and evolution of that feature, you just need to know that this means that the administrator controls multiple websites (or subsites and subdomains) from a single WordPress install. It simplifies the overall maintenance of WordPress when you’re dealing with numerous WordPress websites.

In this case, “/uploads/sites/2/” is the specific area where files for https://nypost.com/ are stored. The “2” DOES NOT represent a month or day, as Loomer was assuming. Months and days are always stored as 2 digits, such as 01, 02, 03, etc. The “2” represents which WordPress site the files belong to.

Now we get to “/2025/02/” which means they have their uploads organized into month- and year-based folders. There is no indication of a date, as there can be in the “permalinks” (the URL for a specific post or page).

All of that to say, they uploaded the file in February (according to the server date/time, which can be manipulated if you were actually up to something).

To conclude anything you’d have to look at the image file in question, ashley-st-clair-conservative-activist-98630489.jpg, and check the EXIF data if it wasn’t stripped out or changed before posting.

The information after the question mark, “?resize=1024,683&quality=75&strip=all”, is merely telling what size and quality the image should be displayed at.

The Proof Is In The EXIF

Looking at the EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) data which was indeed included in the photo, the photo was stamped “February 15, 2025 16:15”. This is NOT February 2nd, as Loomer had suggested.

Investigating the photo itself, you will see that the clock on the stove says 3:12. Assuming that is in the afternoon, as a professional photographer I’d assume that either the camera’s time or the stove’s time was off by an hour and some change. Trust me, this happens, especially with Daylight Saving Time (DST) or when you change the time to match the time zone that you’re in.

For our fellow photography nerds, here’s the other EXIF information:

Conclusion: Move On

As a WordPress developer for the past 20-some years and a photographer for as long as I can remember, I can confidently say that Laura Loomer is barking up the wrong tree with this one and should move on to something else. If there’s something to see here, it isn’t in the photograph’s metadata or WordPress.

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