Hello, WordPress site owners!
We will be upgrading the WordPress software that runs sites.dartmouth.edu on Tuesday, January 21 starting at 10:00am. WordPress 3.8 includes security updates as well as a slightly different appearance to the administrative interface.
We don't anticipate any noticeable downtime, but please stay out of your site during the upgrade. Site owners will receive a reminder email shortly before the launch, and another email when it is safe to log back into their sites again.
As part of the upgrade, we are adding a new plugin: Password Protected, which gives you the option to lock your entire website behind a single password. The update includes one new theme, Twenty Fourteen.
We will also be removing several plugins and themes.
Plugins to be removed:
- WP-Post Ratings
- WP-Touch
- Weaver File Access Plugin
- Categories to Tags Converter (used in conjunction with the WordPress importer)
- Import Blogroll with Categories (used in conjunction with the WordPress importer)
- Promotion Slider
- Page Restrict
If your site uses any of these plugins, that functionality will no longer be available after the upgrade.
Themes to be removed:
- Atahualpa
- Blogolife
- Radius
- Delicate
- Graphene
- Mystique
- P2
- Pagelines
- Responsive
- Radius
- Weaver II
Please login to your site before the 21st and check to see if your site uses one of these themes (under "Appearance" in your Dashboard). If it does, please select a different theme that is not on the list to be removed. All sites that are still using one of the removed themes on January 21st will be switched over to the Dartmouth Custom theme. If that theme is not to your liking, you can change it later.
The reasons for a plugin or theme's removal may vary, but are generally due to security problems, functionality no longer working properly, the plugin/theme no longer being supported by its developer, conflicts with other plugins or themes, or its being overly complicated to use.
Auto-deletion of spam comments
After the upgrade, we will be turning on a feature that will automatically delete spam comments submitted on posts over one month old. Legitimate comments will be unaffected; this only applies to comments that are marked as "spam" by the spam filters. This process happens behind the scenes; most site owners will likely not even notice.
Questions? Please contact web.support@dartmouth.edu .