How to Control Your Users in WordPress

If you're concerned about how to label your users in your WordPress blog, never fear. Linda defines those roles so that you don't allow strangers total access and deny friends the same access.

Other User Assignments

When and if you ever want to change a user's role, you can do so through that drop-down menu shown above that points to "Author." While changing a user's password can prohibit that person from ever entering your site again, another way to reduce the capabilities for any role is to reduce the role of the user. If you work with another Admin, for instance, and you two aren't getting along, then you can demote that Admin to Subscriber and immediately terminate any friendship you may have had.

User preferences contain various bits of information that you, as an Admin, and/or the user can alter. The only pieces of information WordPress requires you to include in your Profile are your e-mail address, password and a nickname. It should be noted that WP requires your email address only for your blog's administration purposes. The email address is never sent to any other site and it is never displayed on your site unless you put it there manually. Only the other registered users of your blog have access to the e-mail address you provide. Also, beginning with Version 2.8, each user's email address must be unique.

Note: According to WP, t is possible for a theme to display your e-mail address (and the e-mail addresses of your other registered users) on your site, since the the_author_meta('user_email') template tag can be used for such purposes. This would be a poorly conceived theme, however, if it didn't inform you of that before you downloaded it. Neither of the default themes included with WordPress display any e-mail address anywhere on your site by default.

To learn more about user options, visit the WP Codex Users Your Profile SubPanel.

Conclusion

The Admin is the be-all and end-all when it comes to creating roles and altering those roles in a given blog as time goes on. If you are the Admin, you have the power. But, a word to the wise...if you do not plan, ever, to have another Admin share the responsibility of your blog with you, then be sure to create a list of the blogs you administer along with your user IDs and passwords for each blog. File that list away along with your will in a safety deposit box, if you have one. Your death, while hopefully not imminent, but without a doubt forthcoming some day, is one reason why you need to allow others to gain access to your site.

One reason for this option is to close your site down, if needed. Some hosts may continue to charge for a non-active site, piling those bills up for you while you are incapacitated or, heaven forbid, dead.

If you have a site that is a money-maker, then you need to bring someone in, train that person and show that person what to do if something happens to you. In some cases, individuals who own money-making sites often will them to family members or friends as a parting gift. That person may be the one who you can trust to safeguard your information. Remember to update your paperwork to reflect any password changes, which you should commit to at least every three months, if not every month.

If you own a Website as part and parcel of a bricks-and-mortar business, your estate administrator might consider that Web site part of your estate upon your death. If the new owners cannot gain access to your site, that issue could possibly and dramatically decrease the value of your business. So, think ahead. Think about the value of your creation and how it might affect the ones you leave behind.

In the end, you are in control. If you use that control wisely, you really can build an entity worth notice, and help others along the way. There's no notoriety better for a site than if one of your writers wins, say, the Nobel Prize. Aren't you glad you brought that person on board? Thought so.