The biggest threat to the growth of WordPress: perceived security

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Written By Joost de Valk

3 thoughts on “The biggest threat to the growth of WordPress: perceived security”

  1. I think it’s a much better approach to build security into the hosting platform and enforce certain standards. What WP faces is no different than any other software system it’s just more visible.
    I regularly tell people you are probably not going to like me Im going to tighten the screws on your website until it hurts, but it’s for your own good in the long run. Not everyone is a customer, but that’s OK.

  2. I agree on some points but also disagree. I’m pretty sure every experienced WordPress designer and developer has been in the position of taking over a site for a client, logging in to the WP admin only to find a hot mess of outdated and even obsolete plugins, and ads on the Admin that take up 3 page scrolls.

    WordPress has a low learning curve, so it’s easy for entry-level developers to jump on the bandwagon and become a designers. Not blaming them, that’s how I started out as well. The problem is that they will often describe themselves as “experts”. Add to that the fact that there’s a plugin for everything and at least 20 plugins for anything you need to do and it becomes a very scary game of which one do I pick. Which plugin won’t get abandoned in one year, in 2 in 5?

    Another reason are also cheap WP hosts. When you look at WP Engine (27$/mo for one site and Godaddy at 7$/site/mo) and only compare prices, you will end up with sub-par, poorly configured hosting.

    I agree there’s a lot of fear-mongering going on. Still, I think a bigger part of the problem is antipatterns built by junior devs taking on low-budget projects, which will sometimes lead to a bad experience for the client and a bad overall experience for the end user.

  3. When I think of the handful of themes that WordPress.org’s Marketing function (in whatever shape or form such a function has) should push, Security is one of them.

    It should be an ongoing effort. I will take time. Supported by the community, too. Including alliances within it.

    Perhaps the Enterprise angle is a good starting point. It’s a smaller segment and a number of players in the ecosystem that are already engaged in this space. Great if their success stories can be packaged up and messaged (which is why it makes sense to have a WordPress Media Corps).

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