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Seriously Old Plugin Challenge

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BlogAid Seriously Old Plugin Challenge

Let’s help each other!

Get your site ready for the move to PHP 7 plus get rid of major security issues by eliminating your seriously old plugins in this fun, free, and easy challenge for the month of May.

The more the merrier!

Tell all your friends about this free challenge.

Share this post with your blogger buddies and groups.

By pooling our resources we can:

  • Have fun doing it together
  • Save time
  • Avoid headaches
  • Make good new plugin choices

How the Challenge Works

Find Your Old Plugins Fast

See how to easily find and share the plugins you need to replace.

I’ll add your plugins to the Google Doc below.

Suggest or Find a Plugin Substitute

Let’s help each other cut down the research time.

  • Share an old plugin substitute suggestion that you’ve actually used in the comments of this post.
    (Be sure to call out the name of the old plugin and the new plugin replacement)
  • Check other plugin suggestions in the Google Doc.

I’ll add your suggestions to the Google Doc.

Get Best Recommends

It’s important to properly vet the plugins you use on your site.

Some may look pretty but may be real resource hogs that kill your site performance or have other issues.

Image indicates plugins I have personally tested and are best choices to use.

Brownie Points

Want to really do yourself a favor?

Download my Plugins Spreadsheet now
(It’s a Google Sheet, so you can download as that or an Excel sheet)

Make a list of:

  • all the plugins on your site
  • What function they provide
  • Where used on your site

When you need to make a plugin change, you will thank yourself for doing this!

Make the Move to PHP 7

Ready to make the switch?

See How and Why to Switch to PHP 7 for an in-depth guide that will help you avoid common bumps in the road.

Cherry on Top

The move to PHP7 is not all we have to be concerned with this year.

Sweeping changes are coming to WordPress.

Plus, all sites need to convert to HTTPS.

The PHP7 Plugin Compatibility Checker is not 100% accurate and it doesn’t tell you everything.

Go just one more step and check your plugin details.

See this quick tutorial for how to do that.

Add notes to your Plugin Spreadsheet for any plugins that have not been updated in more than 2 years.

Those plugins may be working now, but may not be for long, especially with all the core changes to WordPress.

Trust me, you’ll thank yourself later for taking the little bit of extra time to do this step now, while you’re head’s in it.

Need More Help?

Get a Live Plugin Review or Full Site Audit and let’s have a look at your plugins together.

Old Plugin List

Red plugins are seriously old and may have serious security issues
Green X indicates a substitute plugin I recommend
Use all non vetted substitute plugin suggestions at your own discretion.

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About MaAnna Stephenson

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English. She helps DIY site owners plus webmasters and designers create sites that are secure, perform well, and get noticed by search engines and readers.

This book could save you hundreds of dollars and months of frustration. Get it free with your subscription to BlogAid News plus my blog posts.
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Olivier Rebiere says

    May 1, 2017 at 7:04 am

    Hi MaAnna :-)

    Done the test with PHP Compatibility Checker and found this one, red-flagged with 2 errors:
    – MailChimp for WordPress Pro

    I have the “MailChimp for WordPress – Premium” by ibericode instead and think I have forgotten to unstall the “Pro” version.

    Merci for the heads up!

    Amicalement,
    Olivier

  3. Tammy Adams says

    May 1, 2017 at 12:56 pm

    I did the PHP Compatibility Checker and the only one which came up with a lot of errors was the Duplicate & Merge Post plugin. Still worked great and have been using it for so long.

    I deleted it and now am using Duplicate Page which is newly updated and PHP 7 compatible!! There are 6 errors in Genesis though.

  4. Gaye Levy says

    May 1, 2017 at 8:30 pm

    PHP 7 Compatibility: all passed

    But, I found two ancient plugins that are no longer supported.

    Custom Featured Post Widget “Provides a canvas for modifying Genesis Featured Post Widget”. Details deliver a 404 error. I don’t have a clue abut this one since it was added by my child theme developer.

    Macrokid’s Featured Posts: “Display a set of manually selected related items with your posts”. This plugin has not been updated ion 5 years. Ouch ouch ouch!

    Gaye

    • MaAnna Stephenson says

      May 1, 2017 at 9:56 pm

      Thanks so much Gaye!!!!!!

      There are a LOT of Genesis related plugins that are ancient. Most still work, but they haven’t been touched in years.

      Ouch is right for the Microkid’s Featured Post. I use that one too and there isn’t another one as light, that I know of. Dang!

      I updated our Google Doc with both.

  5. Arthur Morehead says

    May 1, 2017 at 10:54 pm

    So what you’re saying is you want $500.00 to check out sites and even more money when obviously you will find something wrong? Right now I don’t see anything wrong

    • MaAnna Stephenson says

      May 2, 2017 at 6:05 pm

      Arthur, not sure where you’re getting the $500 price. If you’re referring to the site audits, they are a deep check of security and performance and all total take about 5 hours, include a 20-30 page report, and a 2 hour live chat. That’s a whale of a bargain at $175. You see and understand every single thing that needs addressing on the site and you’re free to either hire me, do it yourself, or hire anyone you like.

      Glad you don’t see anything wrong on your site, so obviously you don’t need the service.

      But, your tone sure sounds like you’re accusing me of baiting folks instead of providing a valuable service, which I assure you is not the case. Just ask any of the folks who’ve had one. You can find them in the Site Audits Testimonials.

  6. Manny Oliverez says

    May 2, 2017 at 3:26 pm

    I have three plugins that are each 2 years old.

    Comment Redirect
    Gravity Forms: Force SSL
    OnlyWire for WordPress [OFFICIAL]

    All three plugins passed the PHP7 Checker.

  8. Blair Massey says

    May 4, 2017 at 11:23 pm

    aWeber Web Form: 1 warning, has not been updated in a year but I called them and they said it is secure. Not so sure about that!

    WP Clean Up: Not compatible with PHP 7, 22 errors, has not been updated in 7 years

    iThemes Sync: 2 errors. Not compatible with PHP 7

    • MaAnna Stephenson says

      May 5, 2017 at 7:46 am

      Thanks so much Blair! Added the last 2 to the Google Doc. And have a vetted substitution for WP Clean. Try WP-Optimize instead. (And be sure to include the hyphen! There is a similar plugin without it that doesn’t work as well.)

  9. Denise Wakeman says

    May 7, 2017 at 8:58 pm

    For me, the biggest question is how to find where an old, unsupported plugin is being used. Like the PushQuotes plugin for example. Is there a trick for search blog posts in order find where a plugin is being used if it’s post specific?

    • MaAnna Stephenson says

      May 7, 2017 at 10:26 pm

      Denise, I’m researching ways to do that type of plugin audit right now. There are several site audit tools, many of which are mainly for SEO, but very few tools to do something like this.

      I’m thinking that there are a LOT of folks with sites from 2009 and up that will need the same service. So it may be very worthwhile for me to invest in some of the audit tools available, if they truly help us find everything.

      I’ll keep you posted when I finish my testing.