WordPress.com
 |
Type of site | Blog hosting |
|---|---|
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Owner | Automattic |
| Created by | Automattic |
| URL | WordPress.com |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Optional |
WordPress.com is a blog web hosting service provider owned by Automattic,[2] and powered by the open source WordPress software.[3] It provides free blog hosting for registered users and is financially supported via paid upgrades, "VIP" services and advertising.
The site 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.[4][5] There were over 56 million individual blogs with the service as of October 13, 2012[update].[6]
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 (including CSS editor, domain mapping, Domain Registration, Removal of Ads, Website Redirection, Video Upload, and storage upgrades) are available as paid options.[7]
There are nearly 60 million WordPress.com sites, which receive more than 100 million pageviews per day. Every day over one million new articles and over one million comments are published.[8] Some notable clients include CNN, CBS, BBC, Reuters, Sony and Volkswagen.[9][10]
In September 2010, it was announced that Windows Live Spaces, Microsoft's blogging service, would be closing, and that Microsoft would instead be partnering with WordPress.com for blogging services.[11]
Advertising
Readers see ads on WordPress.com pages, though WordPress.com claims that it is rare.[12][13] From The "Features You’ll Love" page: "Advertising. To support the service we may occasionally show Google text ads on your blog, however we do this very rarely."[14]
However, banner ads run by Google have shown up frequently when the comments page is loaded.
Ads can be removed from a blog if a yearly fee is paid.[14]
Censorship
In August 2007 Adnan Oktar, a Turkish creationist, was able to get a Turkish court to block Internet access to WordPress.com by 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.[15] WordPress.com was blocked in China, but like some other sites, it is intermittently unblocked and blocked.[16] and threatened to be blocked in Brazil[17] because the staff was unwilling to censor blogs. Matt Mullenweg said: “WordPress.com supports free speech and doesn’t shut people down for 'uncomfortable thoughts and ideas', in fact we’re blocked in several countries because of that.”[18]
In March 2013, a few Russian providers blocked two IP address and denied access to near 15 millions sites on WordPress.com's platform.[19]
Attacks on WordPress.com
On March 3, 2011 WordPress.com sustained "the largest and most sustained attack we've seen in our six year history", according to Matt Mullenweg. The distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack was neutralized the same day but the founder stated that there was a possibility it could flare up again.[20]
Bitcoin
On November 15, 2012, WordPress.com announced that Bitcoins would be accepted as a payment method[21][22] for everything except for domain and theme purchase outside certain bundles.[22] Bitcoin is an alternative to PayPal and credit cards as a form of payment in the WordPress Store. [23]
See also
References
- ^ "Wordpress.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
- ^ "WordPress.com Open". Matt Mullenweg. 2005-11-21. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
- ^ WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org from the company's website
- ^ WordPress.com partners with Flock from BloggingPro.com (retrieved Monday May 29, 2006)
- ^ Down Memory Lane With WordPress.com from wptavern.com. By Jeffro. July 31, 2009. History timeline using Wayback Machine internet archive.
- ^ "Stats". WordPress.com. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
- ^ Available Upgrades from the company's support website
- ^ "WordPress.com Stats". Retrieved 2012-11-23.
- ^ "WordPress.com Clients". Retrieved 2012-11-23.
- ^ "WordPress.com Notable Users". Retrieved 2012-11-23.
- ^ "Welcome Windows Live Spaces Bloggers — Blog — WordPress.com". Just Another WordPress Weblog — The latest news on WordPress.com and the WordPress community, en.blog.wordpress.com. 27 September 2010. Retrieved 2011-12-04.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help); no-break space character in|publisher=at position 32 (help) - ^ On Ads from the company's blog, Sept. 6, 2006. Matt Mullenweg explains their ad use that started in August 2006.
- ^ Go (Even More) Ad-Free from the company's blog, Sept. 18, 2008. Matt Mullenweg further explains their ad use.
- ^ a b The Features You’ll Love from the company's website
- ^ Why We’re Blocked in Turkey: Adnan Oktar from the company's blog, August 19, 2007
- ^ "Great Firewall of China". Great Firewall of China. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
- ^ WordPress.com in Brazil from the company's blog, April 30, 2008
- ^ The Pirate Bay Launches Uncensored Blogging Service TorrentFreak, April 16, 2008 with a note saying "Matt Mullenweg’s response was added to the article a"
- ^ Реестр за выходные: криво заблокированный Wordrpess
- ^ "Wordpress hammered by massive DDoS attack work=CNN Money". March 3, 2011.
{{cite news}}: Missing pipe in:|title=(help) - ^ Gilbertson, Scott. "WordPress Brings Bitcoin to the Blogging Masses". Wired. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
- ^ a b Skelton, Andy (November 15, 2012). "Pay Another Way: Bitcoin". WordPress.com. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
- ^ "Free WordPress Themes". KavTech. 2014-01-04.