This will be an on-going post about my adventures into Wordpress Multi User.
First what is it?
Wordpress MU is basically just a Wordpress install with one unique feature: you can host 1000’s of blogs within your site. It is a different package though with it’s own set of rules and procedures.
Uses?
One example I found that makes it easiest to understand was a Home school group. There was an admin account which one fearless individual agreed to manage (and there is a lot to manage). Then after the site is set up and the template set for the additional users, each home-school family could set up their own site to posts about their unique situations.
Why would would you do this?
Using the home school group, the benefits include:
- Spreading the costs out to each family or user or even offering to provide a free website.
- Each user who sets up a blog doesn’t need to get a domain as each site is defined simply as a sub-domain or categorically (e.g. smithfamily.my_site.com or www.my_site.com/smithfamily)
- You can now also build a social networking feature into your site using a great plugin called Buddy Press and with Facebook Connect/Twitter Connect features you can quickly build your own niche network.
But it’s not for the newbie or faint of heart (i.e. have some cash and a lot of free time ready)
Even though Wordpress and the MU code are free here are things t consider:
- You cannot use cheap shared hosting. Forget it.
- You will need at the least a VPS (Virtual Private Server) and possibly Dedicated server.
- This solution suddenly takes you from the relatively undemanding role of web designer/blogger to server admin. In other words you are now drinking from the proverbial fire hose. Think about it.All those neat features you have on your current shared server may still be available, but you will have to configure them. Again…think about it.
- But there is some consolation: This can be managed or not managed.Managed solutions will give you a human being on the other end to help you and watch over the server to some degree. Un-managed is for the true geek or person with unique skills in setting up a server environment.
- Costs:
- A managed VPS costs vary widely: from $29.00 to $499 per month last I checked. The point is it can get real expensive real fast.
- You also need to think about bandwidth. Even though most can and do provide copious amounts of bandwidth (e.g. 100gb -750gb/mo) a DNS attack could turn a sunny day with pink unicorns into a rainy day with wart nosed trolls real fast.
- Your time costs. Do you feel like a slave to your computer now? Try managing 500 other people’s blogs, and support issues (“I typed in my password a hundred times and it still doesn’t work” or “How do I insert pictures into my blog” or “Can I install this or that plugin on my site”) You get the idea.Also you may have dealt with spam on your traditional WP blog. With Wordpress MU you now enter to new world of Sploggers or Spam Bloggers. I have heard of sites having Spam Blog Bots setting up hundreds of blogs on their MU installs in one HOUR!
All this to say, I have weighed the issues and am going ahead for a new project I have been eyeing for quite a while.
For more information I recommend Andrea and Ron Rennicks site Wordpress MU Tutorials.
Good luck and if you do decide to go this route let me know….misery loves company:-)
