WordPress.com

History

The website opened to beta testers on August 8, 2005 and opened to the public on November 21, 2005. It was initially launched as an invitation-only service, although at one stage, accounts were also available to users of the Flock web browser. over 77 million new posts and 42.7 million new comments are published monthly on the service.

In September 2010, it was announced that Windows Live Spaces, Microsoft's blogging service, would be closing and that Microsoft would partner with WordPress.com for blogging services.

In February 2024, Automattic announced that it would begin selling user data from Tumblr and WordPress.com to Midjourney and OpenAI.

Features

Registration is not required to read or comment on blogs hosted on the site, except if chosen by the blog owner. Registration is required to own or post in a weblog. All the basic and original features of the site are free-to-use. However, some features are not available in the free plan: install PHP plugins, customize theme CSS, write JavaScript, domain mapping, domain registration, removal of ads, website redirection, video upload, storage upgrades.

If the free plan is in use, readers see ads on WordPress.com pages, though WordPress.com claims that it is rare. On its support pages, WordPress.com says it "sometimes display[s] advertisements on your blog to help pay the bills". In order to remove the ads, users need to purchase a Plan that starts at $4 a month (if billed annually).

On April 9, 2025, WordPress.com launched a free AI-powered website builder that enables users to create websites using simple text prompts. The tool automatically generates layouts, text, and images, streamlining the website creation process for beginners and small businesses. Free users receive 30 prompts, while unlimited access is available to Premium and Business plan subscribers with plans to make it available to self-hosted WordPress sites in the future.

Politics

In August 2007, Adnan Oktar, a Turkish creationist, got a Turkish court to block Internet access to WordPress.com for all of Turkey. His lawyers argued that blogs on WordPress.com contained libelous material on Oktar and his colleagues which WordPress.com staff was unwilling to remove.

In May 2009, WordPress.com was blocked by China's Golden Shield Project.

WordPress placed a rainbow banner atop the WordPress Reader in June 2015, in celebration of the US Supreme Court ruling that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right. This was also done in advance of the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey of 2017.

In August 2018, WordPress.com began removing several pages that suggested the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.

References

References

1. "Writing a Plugin". Wordpress.org.
2. (2005-11-21). "WordPress.com Open". [[Matt Mullenweg]].
3. (2008-12-02). "WordPress.com and WordPress.org". Support.
4. "Create A Free Website Or Blog With WordPress.com". Mark Monyhan.
5. "Automattic".
6. (2019-10-29). "Automattic".
7. Reimnitz, Nathan. (2018-05-14). "WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: What's the Difference?".
8. (2018-12-09). "WordPress vs WordPress.com".
9. (2005-08-08). "Argolon Solutions company web-site re-launched as a Wordpress blog". Conor's Bandon Blog.
10. "Wordpress.com partners with Flock".
11. (8 December 2006). "WordPress.com Stats".
12. (2010-09-27). "Welcome Windows Live Spaces Bloggers". The WordPress.com Blog.
13. Cole, Samantha. (2024-02-27). "Tumblr and WordPress to Sell Users' Data to Train AI Tools".
14. "Plans And Pricing". WordPress.com.
15. (2006-09-06). "On Ads". The WordPress.com Blog.
16. (2008-09-18). "Go (Even More) Ad-Free". The WordPress.com Blog.
17. (2009-01-09). "No Ads". Support.
18. (2016-02-23). "WordPress Cost {{!}} WordPress Price {{!}} Compare Our Plans".
19. (2025-04-09). "Try Our New AI Website Builder for Free - WordPress.com".
20. Perez, Sarah. (2025-04-09). "WordPress.com launches a free AI-powered website builder".
21. (2025-04-10). "WordPress.com Launches Free WordPress AI Website Builder".
22. [http://wordpress.com/blog/2007/08/19/why-were-blocked-in-turkey/ Why We're Blocked in Turkey: Adnan Oktar] {{Webarchive. link. (2008-04-09 from the company's blog, August 19, 2007)
23. "AFP: Blogging guru chips away at Great Firewall of China".
24. Baeta, Hugo. (June 30, 2015). "#LoveWins! LGBTQ Bloggers Make Their Voices Heard".
25. (4 September 2017). "Sight Magazine - Christians join calls for WordPress to remove rainbow banner supporting same-sex marriage from hosted sites".
26. Jones, Rhett. (August 16, 2018). "Sandy Hook Hoaxer Blogs Start Disappearing From WordPress Sites". Gizmodo.