wordpress.com vs. wordpress.org
October 21st, 2007Wordpress.com didn’t exist when I started this blog. My few friends who had blogs told me it is important to host your own so that the content therein is really “yours”. With Jeff Harmon’s help I set up hosting with BlueHost and started my blog using software from wordpress.org. The learning curve was horrible! I spent hours figuring out how to use themes and plugins. I’m not a programmer and I’m far from a computer guru, but compared to most of my peers I am a pretty advanced computer user. Now over a year later, it is time to update my Wordpress software, and even though I want the new features, I keep putting it off because I’m sure it will take me hours (after updating the Wordpress software there is a good chance I will have problems with my plugins and have to update those too).
My wife recently started her own blog, brittanycrane.wordpress.com, and because I had such a negative experience hosting my own blog, I directed her to wordpress.com. I couldn’t believe how easy and seamless it was. Updates are automatic. Themes and plugins are literally “point and click”. Normal computer users can figure it out!
I don’t know what the consequences of not truly owning the contents of her blog will be, but I’m confident that hosting her own blog would have deterred her completely from blogging. So in this case a blog hosted by Wordpress is better than no blog at all.
November 13th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Later on if you want to monetize a blog you will have trouble as you are restricted if you’re not hosting it. I always tell people to get their own hosting company if they want to start a blog, it doesn’t cost that much and you can sell them later on if you want to.
April 25th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Ben, I remember reading this blog post a while back. How are you liking wordpress.org? Do you know the difference between w….org and w….com (company wise)?
April 28th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
After a few more months of using wordpress.org and watching my wife use wordpress.com, I’m glad I went with .org. I’m past the learning curve (at least for what I need) and I can get it to do what I want it to. Unlike my wife’s blog at wordpress.com, I have no limits in terms of uploads and theme edits. She has to pay if she wants to edit a theme or get extra uploading space. Most of her friends use Blogger and she has complained that she can’t find “cute” themes like they have.
To answer your question, Caleb, about the difference between wordpress.org and wordpress.com; to my knowledge, they are the same company. They have .org for the people who host their own blogs, and .com for people who let wordpress host their blogs.