why do ‘users’ have to be wordpress.com users?
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I don’t understand why ‘users’ have to be wordpress.com users? What is a wordpress.com user, anyway?
OK, I’m a wordpress.com user because I’ve set up a wordpress.com blog, and I’m the admin. But i want to add some friends as contributors and authors etc. But why can’t they just be everyday joes with their regular personas and email addresses? Why do they NEED to be wordpress.com users?
Don’t understand the logic here, and as far as I can see it’s just inhibiting.
Davey
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Yes, it’s inhibiting for a reason. Here’s the FAQ on the different roles. Note that they don’t need usernames to comment on your blog or read it, unless you’ve set your privacy standards tighter than the normal WP.com ones.
http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/05/12/what-are-the-different-roles/
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Hi raincoaster, and thanks for the swift reply.
Your new contributor will receive an email inviting them to sign up for a WordPress.com account (and, optionally, create their own blog if they want).
Yes, but it’s this inviting them to sign up for WordPress.com that bugs me. Why? I can assure you that my intended authors would not want to (nor know how to) set up their own wordpress blog. Forcing my contributors to sign up to wordpress.com is forcing me to disappear over to Blogger!
A silly requirement which is just inhibiting…!!
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Okay, bye.
If they’re going to be blogging at WordPress.com, I don’t see why it makes no sense to you that they be WordPress.com bloggers. Seems really, really obvious to me.
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Hey, cool it!!
What makes you think they’re ‘bloggers’? They are just folk who might want to contribute some news on a particular, narrow, specific subject or interest. It doesn’t make them ‘bloggers’.
How many times a day are people on the net asked to sign up to this that or the other? It’s sooooo frustrating having to be endlessly signing up or registering for something until usernames and passwords are coming out of your ears.
These people are not bloggers. They are just people who I want to contribute some news to my blog; not comments, but original material. What’s the point of them signing up to WordPress, hmm?
Seems like you really, really miss the point.
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If they’re going to be posting on the blog, they’ll be blogging by definition. If you just want them to send you stuff, just use the contact form. Like I said, the blog is hosted by WP.com, so they need to be a part of WP.com to have access to be able to post in the first place. If you don’t want people to sign in at all, you probably want a wiki instead.
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Also, you miss the point: I’m not the one who makes the rules. I’m just a humble blogger who teaches blogging and blogs for a living. If you want to talk to staff, the volunteer-staffed forums are not the best place to do it.
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The contributors don’t have to have blogs here, all they have to do is sign up for a username. WordPress needs some way to keep track of who you have invited to contribute to your blog, and who you have not so they can let legitimate contributors log in to contribute.
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Also, you miss the point: I’m not the one who makes the rules. I’m just a humble blogger who teaches blogging and blogs for a living. If you want to talk to staff, the volunteer-staffed forums are not the best place to do it.
That’s a point I could hardly have known!!
I have in fact read several posts where I notice you helping people assiduously, and they, and I, are grateful for your help, I’m sure. It’s appreciated.
But no, I don’t want a wiki. I want Fred, (email visible only to moderators and staff), to become a contributor to my site. So I’d like to add him to my ‘users’ with the name Fred and the email address (email visible only to moderators and staff), and maybe a password.
And all that seems perfectly normal. What isn’t normal is that this procedure is blocked because Fred has not signed up to wordpress.com. Why does he have to? IT’S IRRELEVANT!!!!!!! I want to sign him up as a user to MY BLOG, not to wordpress.com!!
OK, it’s marketing, and wordpress want to collect lots of email addresses and user details etc. etc., so that a tidy little community is ‘locked in’ to wordpress. And that’s ok if that’s what they want to do.
But if I say to my friends, “yeah, you can be a contributor, but you’ll have to go and sign up at wordpress first”, and they ask “Why do In have to do that?”, and I say “Honestly, I haven’t a clue”….then they’ll just say “Forget it!”…..!!!
I’m sorry, it’s a complication too far and, in the final analysis, if it steers people away to another blogging service, then it’s an issue that needs to be addressed.
On the other hand, if I can create contributors/authors without them having to jump through hoops, these people , when they come and see the wonders of the blog site, might say “Whey, this is good!”….and they might notice the name wordpress…..and that might be good PR….. ;)
Anyway, enough. I think we will agree to differ. And it might be best to say this issue is ‘resolved’….even though it isn’t!
best regards
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Much appreciated.
Your blog is at WordPress.com; it is part of the structure here and we share the core parts of our blogs, meaning in some sense responsibility for security is shared, too. If someone wants to post to a WordPress.com blog, he must sign up because otherwise we could have malicious people posting harmful things to our blogs which would (for technical reasons) affect everyone else at WP.com using the same theme.
If you want someone to be able to post to your blog without joining your blog, you will have to find another hosting and security situation.
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we could have malicious people posting harmful things to our blogs which would (for technical reasons) affect everyone else at WP.com using the same theme.
…….Pretty interesting stuff!
If you want someone to be able to post to your blog without joining your blog, you will have to find another hosting and security situation.
……..I think you mean “without joining wordpress”, yes? That’s my problem. I want them to join my blog, definitely. I just think it’s unneccessary to have them sign up to WordPress.
But I accept your security comments. An alternative hosting situation is probably the answer.
Thanks for your interest.
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You are aware that your blog is http://dowlass.wordpress.com/. How, then, is it that you don’t think your blog is a part of WordPress.com?
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Is NOT a part of WordPress.com I meant.
I really just don’t see where you’re coming from on this at all. Your blog is here. It’s like your house being in a given country. If you want people to visit, they will have to have a passport to cross the border.
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