Title: Plugin Phobia Last modified: August 20, 2016 --- # Plugin Phobia * [gondishapur](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gondishapur/) * (@gondishapur) * [14 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/) * I have crashed my site two time within the last month. They happened while uninstalling Plugins. My site is up now, again! I need someone to answer a few questions for me so I can get out of this plugin-phobia. I can’t think of WordPress without Plugins. * 1-Is there a safety standard for plugins? 2-Can Plugins be rogue, tricky on purpose? 3-Is there any other way to measure a plugin’s goodness other than from star reviews? 4-what is the general advice for a user like me? * Thanks. Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total) * [Jon Dingman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jdingman/) * (@jdingman) * [14 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/#post-2743691) * 1) Only use plugins by trusted developers. (you can tell this by the plugin ratings + how many downloads, usually) * 2) most certainly, BE CAREFUL * 3) downloads, ratings, and what people are saying in the forums * 4) just be careful. look at a developers site, does it look spammy? do they have other plugins? are they a contributor to the WordPress core? Mark Jaquith, for example, is a superb developer and core developer, he’s a trusted developer in my books. * [Rev. Voodoo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rvoodoo/) * (@rvoodoo) * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/#post-2743803) * All of [@jonathan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jonathan/) Dingman’s advice is spot on. * One thing to consider is that regardless of testing standards, etc. Sometimes a plugin will crash your site. * The reason being is that with so many themes, plugins, and hosting environemnts around – there is no possible way to test every possible combination of the three. * Good coding from reputable developers will definitely keep this to a minimum, but every now and then, something may still crash. A plugin may conflict with another plugin, or a theme. Or, especially with shared hosting, your host just might do something goofy which makes a plugin cry. * Moderator [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/) * (@ipstenu) * 🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/#post-2743832) * And if you find a plugin that is doing evil things and it’s from the repository here, please email plugins AT wordpress.org so it can be reviewed 🙂 * Thread Starter [gondishapur](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gondishapur/) * (@gondishapur) * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/#post-2743834) * I think there should be other ways of evaluating plugins. Merely going by the number of stars doesn’t seem sufficient. If a plugin’s use is not for average users, this should be mentioned clearly and a “warning” must be specified. “Risks” if any, must be specified. The two crashes mentioned in my first post occurred when I was dealing with cache related plugins. In the 2nd case all I did, I tried to uninstall it, the way it mentioned within the plugin. * Now as another poster said earlier, since we use a lot of plugins, incompatibilities can be cause. * Unfortunately, unless I take a course or two, I wouldn’t learn everything that I need to know. So, I will have a slow site for a while. [http://www.bemache.com](http://www.bemache.com) * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/#post-2743836) * > if a plugin’s use is not for average users * Define “average user”… * Moderator [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/) * (@ipstenu) * 🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/#post-2743837) * Define “risk.” * It’s not as easy as you’d think. With _all_ plugins, themes and whatnot, there’s a risk that something unforseen will happen. What you’re really asking is “how likely is it that this will happen?” And that depends on a lot of variables. * Thread Starter [gondishapur](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gondishapur/) * (@gondishapur) * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/#post-2743838) * Average may not be the right term! To me average user is one who doesn’t know exactly all the terms mean. In the cache plugin example, there are a lot of variables to consider and there are a lot of choices to make. An average user of WordPress, doesn’t know the meaning of all of the terms. All he/she may know is that the plugin potentially enhances the site load. I consider myself an average user. * Thread Starter [gondishapur](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gondishapur/) * (@gondishapur) * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/#post-2743839) * By “risk” I just had my own predicament in mind, namely, my site crashing. * Thread Starter [gondishapur](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gondishapur/) * (@gondishapur) * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/#post-2743840) * I have to mention one thing, so there wouldn’t be a confusion. I am very thankful that such a platform as WordPress exists. I tried another CMS, Joomla; I couldn’t figure it out as easily. The fact that I have a site is a miracle! Thanks to WordPress! 🙂 * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/#post-2743842) * > to me average user is one who doesn’t know exactly all the terms mean. * What terms? And at what point does the user progress from being average? “Average user” is a highly subjective term that can never be precisely defined to the satisfaction of everyone. * > I consider myself an average user. * Exactly. For every user, the definition will be different. So it’s simply not possible to come up with a system that would be suitable for such a variable audience – beyond what has already been tried on wordpress.org with “rating” and “does/doesn’t work” functionality (both of which are likely to be heavily skewed towards negative experiences). * The very best thing you can do is learn how to recover from the problems caused by a bad plugin – namely [resetting the plugins folder](http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_Troubleshooting#How_to_deactivate_all_plugins_when_not_able_to_access_the_administrative_menus.3F) by FTP or phpMyAdmin. That way, you can be up & running again within minutes 99.9% of the time. * Thread Starter [gondishapur](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gondishapur/) * (@gondishapur) * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/#post-2743843) * esmi: thanks for being ever so available and helpful. I have something to work on. I will look into learning about resetting the plugins folder just in case I have a problem. * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/#post-2743844) * No problem. And remember that, if you get really stuck, there should always be someone around here that can point you in the right direction. 🙂 * Thread Starter [gondishapur](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gondishapur/) * (@gondishapur) * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/#post-2743846) * I will esmi! and I can’t thank YOU enough. A great part of this for me has been, believe it or not, getting applause from friends and family for having this “ great” site. LOL Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total) The topic ‘Plugin Phobia’ is closed to new replies. * In: [Everything else WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/miscellaneous/) * 13 replies * 5 participants * Last reply from: [gondishapur](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gondishapur/) * Last activity: [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-phobia/#post-2743846) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics