When you have had WP installed for you directly

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Upgrading_WordPress

So what you are saying is that after that wonderful installation she did for me, I now have to muck it up myself? Hmmm. What is the danger in just leaving it alone in its present pristine state? I mean, if I use it for two years, it’ll work just fine as it is right? Or should I maybe abandon the idea of having it on my own domain, establish it someplace else, one of the hosted sites or wherever it is WordPress, does one click upgrades for you? I just want to write. I’m not a techie, I just want to write. I looked at freezilla and it scared the zilla right out of me, lol. Greek, I’m sure it was written in Greek. My domain is simple, some experiences, stories and events, and WordPress is there too, I link to it in a subdomain on my main, already hosted, domain. I opted for the free installation but might have made a different choice, if I had known I was going to have install and reinstall it each time a patch was needed. Sigh. Life just can’t ever be simple can it? :^)

well .. I’ll give the worse case scenario first:

Since all of the upgrades generally include secrity fixes..

The danger in leaving it up is that some turkish, iranian, candian, or american script kiddy will come along and not only exploit your wordpress install, but everything else on your domain; they will change your files, adding some malicious code to your files, they will upload a script that can be used to root other sites similar to how they rooted yours..

and you wont ever know it.

they might just delete all your mysql entries if they manage to get access to your wp-config

best case scenario:

Nothing happens.

—

Being a web master (especially if you using anything that is PHP based) is a responsibility, like having a dog, or a child, or a job (even). You can learn to do the stuff that comes with that responsibility or you can have someone else take care of that stuff for you. Lots of ppl do that sort of stuff (for cash).

err “security” fixes, that is.

Thank you. That was quite blunt. And appreciated. I’m not a webmaster, not a master anything. I just rented a domain name, from GoDaddy, who so far, have been very responsive. So I am putting up a website, have learned html, and its wonderful cousin, xhtml. The site is exactly what I want, crude, but mine. I had WP installed for me there, to avoid having to go beyond. So I login and find there are security updates. Now I’ve been a MS user a long time, not a puppy, so I know how often they muckup. And I have the standard protections running all the time, za pro, nod, and am sure no one can hack me here. But I am thinking that there is a leak now is all. I had WP installed on my “domain” for me, but what they did was put a pretty thing there. I have no idea how. I am still getting the hang of it. I haven’t even figured out how to make sure my blogroll stays on the side of every post, because ppl will want to look at my main site as they read, go back and forth. So I have a lot to learn, I know, and I’m not really a slow learner either, I’ve been wandering around this world for 57 years and have no illusions as to the good intentions of every soul on the internet. I was just hoping to keep this part simple. Have a forum I could speak in. So, you are saying, if I understand you correctly, that with each security fix, I have to do a clean install of WP? I guess that is okay, I’ll learn to do that if I need to, or I’ll move the links from my main site to the blog that does do one click upgrades. I was sort of used to things like ZA pro and Nod, that do the upgrades, and updates, in the background. So, what do you think? Would it be better to move to a hosted site for WP and link to that? Or to move to one of the free sites and link to that? I’m assuming both the hosted and free sites, do the upgrades as part of the service? And thank you for noticing and taking the time to answer! :^) gene

So, you are saying, if I understand you correctly, that with each security fix, I have to do a clean install of WP?

I haven’t said anything of a kind. Read what people write, not what you **think** they are saying, and when a link is provided in a thread, such as the one I provided above, read it. ??

Im not going to make suggestions about what you should do or should not do — except to say that leaving any application like wordpress up on site that you dont want to, or simply cannot take care of, is foolhardy, risky, and irresponsible.

I understand that a lot of people dont want to handle the technical bits of wp — again thats where sites like wordpress.com come in, or simply outsourcing that sort of stuff.

okay, holy gawd. have you tried, recently, clicking on ANY link here? you get taken to places that have wonderful information, and more links, each time you click one, you go someplace else. and sometimes you find yourself right back where you started. there seems to be no place where you can go, find a manual from start to finish, download it, and have something with which to work. i just want to write. and have the ability to keep the product current and safe. and have my other site always show up on the side. i have looked at themes beyond themes. i have searched the forums. and though there are lots of wonderful questions and answers, there is not one that answers this. i started with wp.com. that is how i eventually got to a place where i found you could have someone install it for you. so i switched my domain to linux, so they could do that. then i ran up against that upgrade thing, which seems like the ubiquitous windows patch. but xp handles that. wp does not. i am sort of getting that. so my solution, it seems, is to purchase a hosting site for wp, so that i don’t have to worry about that stuff, i can just write? i don’t mean to be persnickty but i just want to write, have my links on the right side all the time and not worry about the rest. i have enough to worry about as it is. I LOVE the default theme, but as soon as i write anything, the blogroll part disappears, and having it THERE is half the whole point.

I don’t want my blog lost in a forest. That is the only reason, I wanted it on my own domain. Really. It isn’t like it is important. I mean what is? me? no. i have figured out all of it, the admin panel and such, but it does seem like i need know about php files and css and such to make this work for me at all. Is that right? I mean I suppose that is okay, but that means I am months, considering time limitations, away from doing what it is I’d like to do tomorrow. Or settling for godaddy’s silly quickblog. Which I would rather not do, not only because they are so proud of it, but because of what I see as its limitations.

Why oh why, doesn’t WP just put together a manual people can download and read? It is those endless, sometimes looping back, things that make it seem impossible. I AM an organizer, maybe I could help with that? Where do I volunteer? Sometime, somehow, techie have to consider endusers, THAT is my strength. And I’m good at it. Wordy, but good at it. :^)

At our age (I am of the same age as you) one should speak much less and more wisely ??

For an upgrade you don’t need to click tons of Codex articles. Just one! And no need for php or css. Just simple FTP operations like delete file, upload file. That’s it.

As for volunteering in the Codex, just create an account ans start working…

Moshu is all philosophical today but he is right. Write less. Speak wisely. And for Gawd’s sake get to the frikkin point sooner rather than later. ??

Okay, a succinct question. :^). I want the blogroll to be always visible, alongside every post, every comment, etc. It has links that I want ppl to see, and use, regardless what they are doing. What do I do to ensure that part is always visible. It looks great on the opening page and I want it always there. Thanks. :^) gene

Either drop your extra templates, or add the call to sidebar to all of them. Adjust CSS to taste.:)

Well since I have added no extra templates, or at least not on purpose, then it ought be there alongside every post? Which I’ll soon learn as everything is going live tonight. :^) Sans upgrades, I’ll deal with that later. :^)

I did not say you had added any templates. I implied that if you had then dropping them would have the effect you seek. So now you need to proceed to option 2. Add a sidebar to all the other templates. This unfortunately is what happens when folk release fancy themes which do not use the template hierarchy properly because they want to do their own thing.