WordPress.com Forums » Topic: no plugin tab on my dashboard

timethief on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

timethief — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 18:08:46 +0000

Sticky post at the head of the forum > WordPress.com or WordPress.org ? The difference. > http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/please-read-me-first-before-posting?replies=1
Front page of the support documentation > WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org Check out our article on the differences. > http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

juliamoved on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

juliamoved — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 17:52:29 +0000

I searched for plugins byt it took quite some time to find the answer. However, I appreciate you guys take so much time sharing your knowledge!
Just don't understand the motivation to call people idiots here. Thanks again!

thesacredpath on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

thesacredpath — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 17:40:12 +0000

@juliamoved, search in the support forums. A search there for "plugin" would have brought the support document that says plugins are not allowed here and will also bring up relevant forum threads as well.

raincoaster on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

raincoaster — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:04:22 +0000

I could, but why?

juliamoved on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

juliamoved — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 11:44:34 +0000

I just read through all of this and found an answer to my question: why don't I have the plugin tab. It took me over 30 min of gooling to get here though, searching in wp doesn't work if you don't know the right wording or difference between ORG and COM.
Thank you for taking time to answer here!

But @raincoaster - I read all of your comments too - can't you just say nothing if you can't be halfway polite? This is a Q&A forum after all.

auxclass on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

auxclass — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 17:29:04 +0000

@fordtech1

Your beef is with Microsoft who threw you out not WordPress.com that gave you a way to keep your old material and not have it just dumped into the bit bucket of time. Being rude to people here that have tried to help you does not win friends. Now that you have your material free of the clutches of Microsoft you are more than welcome to Export your blog and go somewhere else.

timethief on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

timethief — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 16:50:07 +0000

@fordtech1
If not having plugins is a deal breaker for you there is an alternative. As wordpress.COM is a multiuser blogging platform individual plugins are not allowed on blogs at for security reasons.

Plugins are for individual self-hosted wordpress installs ie. free software from wordpress.ORG. The only security risks are to your own install.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/plugins/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

airodyssey on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

airodyssey — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 14:49:40 +0000

@fordtech1: Perhaps there are workarounds for them. If you want us to help you, I suggest you create a new topic and indicate what "plugins" you had on Windows Live Spaces. That will be a lot more constructive, eh?

fordtech1 on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

fordtech1 — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 14:32:28 +0000

This is CRAP! I had plugins on my LIVESPACES pages and never had a problem. I get conned into the WP.COM migration, and it is total CRAP!

thesacredpath on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

thesacredpath — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 20:00:56 +0000

@helpotherssucceed, People were not wondering if wordpress.COM used plugins in the backend as @auxclass mentioned. They were wanting to know how they themselves could use plugins and the answer is, they cannot.

I mentioned early on that if we knew what people were wanting to do, there might be workarounds, but if there are no workarounds then the only choice is going to be moving to a different host that allows the code, or self-hosting a blog using the software from wordpress.ORG.

timethief on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

timethief — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 18:18:29 +0000

~~auxclass
People who have done nothing wrong do not require a defense.

@helpotherssucceed
All wordpress.com members can go directly to paid Staff for assistance with any wordpress.com issue. Life is short and any additional time you invest in judging and lecturing those who are trying to help will bear you no interest. So here's the contact link to Staff for your convenience http://en.support.wordpress.com/contact/ Please bookmark it and use it as frequently as you need to.

auxclass on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

auxclass — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:46:01 +0000

In defense of TSP, RC and the other (including myself) - answering the same question 5 times a day because someone does not look back in the Forum even one day can be a bit trying for anyone - both of the above have provided many many thousands of answers over many years to many users - WordPress.COM would not be as nice a place to use if it was not for many Unpaid helpers like them.

helpotherssucceed on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

helpotherssucceed — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:30:52 +0000

Thanks for the answers here. Some of have been very helpful. FYI to the sacredpath, it seems you know a lot and can be a very helpful resource. I'd suggest focus on being a problem solver and look deeper into questions people pose. When people are wondering if there are plugins on wp.com, look at an answer such as that given by aux class: "WordPress.COM has taken many functions from Plug-in's and made Widgets out of those functions, so don't let the "no Plug-in" line make you think that it is the same as "no features" or "can't do"
This is a GOOD answer. It helps solve the problem we are facing, without being obnoxious, 'high and mighty,' of giving the "I'm better than you" vibe. I was comforted to know sacredpath doesn't work for wordpress. This would be a very poor reflection on the company. You may be good technically and can certainly improve on your people skills.

As for raincoaster, I'm glad you enjoy monitoring this blog so you can yell at us slaves from your high horse. You've contributed nothing other than berating people. It must make you feel good at the end of the day.

cookingdj on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

cookingdj — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 13:12:47 +0000

@timethief

Thank you so much :)

raincoaster on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

raincoaster — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 05:09:06 +0000

If people read from the start of the thread, they very quickly find the answer to the question. If people don't read the thread they're posting in, what does it matter what we say in the thread?

The thing is, if you read the thread, you'll see that we have been helpful. Repeatedly. If you read the thread, you'll click away long before you get to the smart remarks about how people don't read the threads they have posted in. We wrote down the answer to your questions already; if you don't even bother to read it, don't expect respect from those who put hours a day in giving the answers. Over and over.

firstwhistle on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

firstwhistle — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 01:26:15 +0000

I'm sorry-I'm really shocked by how rude and condescending some of you are. People are trying to learn, and need help. I think we could all skip the smarmy remarks. If you don't want to be helpful, then why are you volunteering to help with this thread?

timethief on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

timethief — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 19:33:38 +0000

@cookingdj
You have said:

I came here to know about the plugins, and thank you for all the explanation. All you need to do is READ, not just scrolling down and ask the same question that has been answered before repeatedly.

You are welcome and without doubt we Volunteers are in agreement with you. Every day we experience those who do not READ the information at the links to support documentation that we provide, and/or do not READ the threads they post into. :(

Best wishes with your blog. :)

cookingdj on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

cookingdj — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:22:39 +0000

I came here to know about the plugins, and thank you for all the explanation. All you need to do is READ, not just scrolling down and ask the same question that has been answered before repeatedly. English is not even my first language and I'm a bit tech challenge, but I can understand perfectly about the explanation of .COM and .ORG. It's as simple as .COM = FREE = NO PLUGINS, while the other one is .ORG = PAY = PLUGINS. As a .COM user, sure I'm disappointed that we cannot have plugins, but hey.. WP.com itself is already good enough for me. Thanks :)

timethief on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

timethief — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 20:46:18 +0000

raincoaster on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

raincoaster — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 07:41:36 +0000

It might be more useful to give that feedback to staff, rather than the volunteers who help out in the forum.

Not reading even the Titles of the sticky threads at the top of the forum, such as "Wordpress.com vs WordPress.org" makes you unobservant. Not reading threads you post in would make you something else entirely.

mbmiranda on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

mbmiranda — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 01:29:32 +0000

Since there seems to be so much confusion and repetition re: plugins in wordpress.com vs. wordpress.org, does it not behoove one or the other to be clearer re: the distintion between the two? Couldn't one or the other have given themselves a different name perhaps? No, all of us out here do not know the difference between a .org or .com website. Does that make us idiots? To you perhaps, but to all of us down here, we know we're not. It seems to me that WordPress.com (the non-self-hosted site that does NOT allow plug-ins for security purposes) should also practice some quality control over who they hire or allow to administer these forums. Seems to me you should join a basic social skills class or go back to sitting behind your computer and work on code.

timethief on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

timethief — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 19:04:02 +0000

is there a way to include a contact form (name, email, phone, question) on the side of a wordpress.COM blog for every page.

Please read the support documentation. Contact form > http://en.support.wordpress.com/contact-form/
You can create a contact form on a static page. A link to that page will appear as a page tab in your top navigation and it will appear on every page in your blog.
You can place a link to the static contact form page in a text widget and display it in a text widget in your sidebar. http://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/text-widget/

auxclass on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

auxclass — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 19:00:14 +0000

Make a contact form on a Post or Page then put a link to the Post or Page with the contact form in it - use a text widget is easiest.

performancesubaru on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

performancesubaru — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 18:56:02 +0000

is there a way to include a contact form (name, email, phone, question) on the side of a wordpress.COM blog for every page.

I understand that wordpress.COM does not allow plugins, but I was wondering if anyone knew of anyway to just add a simple contact form in the sidebar (i know you can create a sidebar for the blog post/page, but I want to have it on the side independent from the post and for it to appear on every page)

Thanks

raincoaster on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

raincoaster — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 00:06:32 +0000

Dumb people: Where do they come from? Can we stop them from breeding?

thesacredpath on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

thesacredpath — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 03:34:22 +0000

The advertising and upgrades pay for all the datacenters, servers and bandwidth used by all of these bloggers, not to mention all the staff that wordpress.COM has to keep everything running.

Everyone wants everything for free. No one wants to have to pay their way.

Meh.

thesacredpath on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

thesacredpath — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 03:23:10 +0000

This is a multi-user platform which means we all share the same underlying theme and wordpress files. A bad plugin or bad code installed by one person could potentially bring down 2.5 million bloggers. There are plugins out there that kill blogs because they are so poorly written, and there are plugins with malware in them. Sad but true. I know because I get paid a good amount of money to fix blogs where plugins or bad javascript have killed them.

If you want plugins, buy yourself a domain name, hire a web host and self-host your own wordpress installation. Then if you happen to install a plugin or code that kills or damages your blog, it is your problem and you don't bring down a bunch of other people with you.

agt098 on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

agt098 — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 03:19:47 +0000

and one more thing. If they are scared of any so-called virus or malwares being attached on the plugins well they should ask anyone or pay for anyone who has the brain to develop an anti-virus or anti-malware software that can protect the worpress.com system. excuses is not acceptable here since they are gaining money through advertising means to wordpress blogs or donations.being cautious is a good choice but they must put to their precious minds that helping this community will stay them on the top.

auxclass on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

auxclass — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 03:17:43 +0000

Run WordPress.ORG on your desktop - save on hosting if you just want to learn the WordPress software - Plug-in's can crash your whole site and poorly written ones can have major security and operating flaws. Not all Plug-in's work with their neighbor -

agt098 on "no plugin tab on my dashboard"

agt098 — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 03:12:57 +0000

I think WordPress.com is unfair to everyone of us. They must let wordpress.com users to use plugin so that we can try or test on how to configure a wordpress blog with plugin without wasting any money in the very first place. Not all of us is a tech genius here. With a monthly hosting rate of $10-20 is a really a big bite in the ass, plus when youré going to study the whole software within two months or more that is really a pain.