Unannounced Changes To WordPress

Published on by Mother Wintermoon

Last month WP.com eliminated three out of five plans previously offered: Free, Personal, Premium, Business and Pro. The newly eliminated Personal Plan was the most budget-friendly and inexpensive. Among other things, the Personal Plan offered a free custom domain for a year and removed all of those tacky ads from your blog.

I have upgraded to Personal in the past, just to remove the random ads that display on your blog in your sidebar and beneath your individual posts. They are not visible all the time, but they will display randomly for the viewing displeasure of your readers.

At this moment in time, there only two plans available: A) Free with randomly displayed ads. B) Pro at $15 per month/$180 per year.

You can read more at: WordPress.com Makes Major Unannounced Pricing Changes, Slashes Free Storage Limits. In response to unhappy campers, WP announced they will be reviving the old à la carte upgrades for those that want individualized upgrades at various price points, without breaking their budget.

The influx of changes at WP.com appear to be favoring professional bloggers and e-commerce websites with a blog as the target demographic.

You can read about the à la carte upgrades “coming soon” and comments from WP bloggers regarding the barrage of changes at: Introducing WordPress Pro: One Plan, Infinite Possibilities. I personally abhor the tacky ads, but I’m not a professional blogger willing to pay $180 per year to vanquish them.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. It seems they are transitioning from a personal blogger’s community to a platform designed for professional bloggers and the e-commerce community.

I support both professional and non-professional bloggers and sincerely hope they will find a way to accommodate and balance both, but that doesn’t seem to be the direction of the shift. Only time will tell.

PS I updated my previous post Aggravations and Frustrations: A Blogger’s Plight. I miss the good old days at WP. 🙁

32 thoughts on “Unannounced Changes To WordPress”

      1. I had a long long long break… but feeling my way back MW… and hope we can stay the course with all that is being done to stop our freedom of expression.. ❤ Much love and hope you too are well MW..

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        1. I understand. I’ve blogged on and off on WP since 2007 and have taken some very long and extended breaks over the years. Not sure if I will continue, as I’m working on other projects, but I sure hope the blogging community will be able to overcome all the obstacle being put in our path. Keeping you in my heart and prayers always. Much love and many blessings to you, MW 💗

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            1. Amen to the great friendships forged in blogland! 💗 Do you remember when I had my blog Romancing The Crone? RTC for short. Close-knit community. We had a blast and things got a bit wild at times! 😅 I think the name incited it. We didn’t have ‘like’ buttons, the Reader or threaded comments. LOL. I think you and I connected in the post-RTC era on Mother Wintermoon. Here’s to Good New Days ahead! 🥂🥰

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              1. I remember MW… and yes no likes, no comment thread to reply back unless you went back to the original blog who had commented.. But we managed and it was fun.. I still have a few blogging friends to this day all these years later.. Eddie Two Hawks for one… 🥂✨💛

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  3. When they implemented those changes, it didn’t affect the people who were already paying for pre-existing plans – I was able to upgrade, and I’ve retained the same plan that I had been paying for. (thank goodness!)

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  4. I have noted my displeasure of the changes at WordPress.com. With that in mind I created a new Blogger site that I can migrate to if need be. It’s not as robust in features as WordPress but its better than nothing at all.

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    1. Hi Tony. I’m thinking of relocating my blog too or moving to a self-hosted website. I was on Blogger back in the pre-WP days. I think I will follow your lead on that. Thanks for letting me know and commenting. 🙏🏼

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Your words are a blessing to read and receive 🙏🏼

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