Francisco Torres 4:31 pm on February 20, 2025
Tags: directory ( 15 )

Plugin author now linked to WordPress.org profiles

The way the pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party author information is displayed in the directory has changed; it’s now linked to the plugin owner’s public WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ profile.

We refer to the field that is displayed under the plugin title and is preceded by either a icon depicting a person or the text ‘By’, this represents the author of the plugin.

A screenshot of what the plugin information looks like in the plugin listings of the directory.

A screenshot of what the plugin information looks like in the header of a single plugin page.

Who’s the author?

Previously

This value was taken from the plugin’s headers, from the “Author” and “Author URI” fields.

This made it possible for plugin authors to display any name and link to any website.

Now

This value is taken directly from the plugin owner’s profile. It shows the owner’s display name as set on their WordPress.org profile and a link to their profile.

This way, the plugin attribution you see is directly linked to the plugin owner’s WordPress.org profile.

FAQ

Can plugins pages still include external links?

Yes, as long as those links do not contravene the guidelines. External links can be included in the readme file so that they’re displayed on the plugin page, and plugin authors can also add links on their WordPress.org profile page.

Does this change apply retroactively to existing plugins?

Yes, this is a change to the way it is displayed throughout the directory.

Can multiple authors be credited for a single plugin?

While only the plugin owner’s display name and profile will be shown under the plugin title, multiple contributors can still be listed on the “Contributors & Developers” section. This can be set in the “Contributors” field in the plugin’s readme file.

Can plugin teams still list their company / team / group / brand name instead of a personal profile?

Yes, a company/team/group/entity can have one account to manage their plugins, In this case, they should consider the following:

Accounts belonging to a company/team/group/entity are not allowed to participate in forums. Community forums are a space for people, not companies or groups. Members can have personal accounts to participate in forums. They can be added as Support Reps in the advanced section of the plugin.
All plugins owned by a company/team/group/entity must be under the same account. This means that if they have 8 plugins, those 8 plugins must be under the same account, not under different accounts. When having different brands, you will need to decide what you want to display on all plugins, and users will be able to see all plugins published under that name.

I need to change how the author is displayed, what can I do?

If the plugin is associated with the correct WordPress.org account, you can simply change the display name in your WordPress.org profile.

If this is not the case, you can transfer your plugin to another account. Just remember that if you have multiple plugins, you are expected to transfer all of them so that they are owned by one account (see the previous FAQ for more information).

#directory

Eduard "RwkY" Doloc 5:58 pm on February 20, 2025
I actually like this idea!
Jeffrey Paul 10:12 pm on February 20, 2025
This sounds like a breaking change introduced with no warning for any pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party that was developed by more than one person not within the same company. In those cases one person would have originally submitted the plugin but more than one would have been listed as an Author. Unless you’re also saying that you checked the 59,000+ plugins on the repo to see there were none that fit that criteria?
- Jeffrey Paul 11:29 pm on February 20, 2025
  Said differently, this removes attribution to a pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party owner(s) without getting approval to do so from said owner(s). This change should be reverted unless this scenario has somehow been handled and not communicated as such in this post.
  - Jeffrey Paul 11:52 pm on February 20, 2025
    Perhaps an alternative implementation of continuing to use the Author field as a comma separated fielded of dotorg accounts and then deprecating the Author URI field? Though this should be communicated well in advance of forcing this on folks.
  - Francisco Torres 10:06 am on February 21, 2025
    Hi, the current attribution is literally to the actual pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party owner.
    If the actual plugin owner is not really the plugin owner, then the plugin owner is what is wrong in the equation, so that needs to be changed, as soon as possible.
    This can easily be changed by the actual plugin owner.
    During reviews the team checks that plugins submitted by a company/team/group/entity/brand have an owner representing the company/team/group/entity, and not a personal account.
    One of the reasons this is checked it’s because it’s a complication if, for example, someone leaves the company and that person with a personal account was the owner of that company’s plugins. But not only for that, also for accountability regarding the directory guidelines and brand ownership (if that’s the case)
    Setting the correct owner for a plugin is one of the most common issues encountered during initial reviews.
    I agree that this is a change that affects the way many plugins display the author, as it has been handled differently for a long time.
    - Jeffrey Paul 3:43 pm on February 21, 2025
      There’s also the very likely issue that more than one entity is listed in the license file or on a copyright line in the main php file which means we’d need to support more than one “owner” as displayed on dotorg. You need to revert your implementation as you’re almost certainly not showing accurate pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party owner information now on dotorg.
      - Francisco Torres 6:24 pm on February 21, 2025
        Hi, I didn’t do that implementation.
        There is a field in the readme file to set up contributors as comma-separated WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ usernames, setting them there will show them listed on the pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party page. This has not changed. I feel this is the closest we have right now to your suggestion.
        As for previous experience in reviewing plugins, I know that sometimes the list of contributors is not accurate, because sometimes they forget to set it up, or they put their real names instead of a WordPress.org profile username, or they forget to change the names from where they copied the readme file.
        So, personally, I feel safer with the author being the real, actual and unambiguous author of the plugin instead of an open list. But that’s just an opinion, and I understand your point regarding the possibility for listing more than one author. Although I think that would actually require a larger system of checking, requesting and accepting requests to be listed as a plugin author.
        Perhaps an implementation for adding additional authors? But I don’t know if that’s already covered by the contributors section. If you are a team, you can set up the team name as the plugin owner/author and then list individuals as contributors.
        That’s an option that would work right now and that WordPress.org plugins like “Create Block Theme” are using right now.
      - Samuel Wood (Otto) 11:03 pm on February 24, 2025
        The implementation will not be reverted. A pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party has only one owner on wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/, and that is the account that the plugin is tied to. We do have the means to correct it, all you have to do is email the plugins team if you need help with this. They know the correct way, for all cases, and can help you fix it.
        In other words, we knew this would be a “breaking” change for a lot of people, but it is only a display change. No data actually changed anywhere. So if it’s showing up wrong, that’s because the data was wrong, and you need to correct the data. Ownership is important, and we need to get this information correct for all plugins that have it incorrect.
        So, no, it will not be reverted, instead you just have to fix the plugin’s data problems.
Joe McGill 10:30 pm on February 20, 2025
It seems like this change is inconsistent with how plugins are displayed on WP.org profiles. For example, I’m now shown as the author of Enhanced Responsive Images but it’s not listed on my profile.
Is there a different expectation for how those should be displayed?
- Francisco Torres 9:28 am on February 21, 2025
  What we do know for now is that to display the pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party in your profile, you need to enter your WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ username in the ‘contributors’ field of the readme file.
  Perhaps this is an interesting change to complete the linking of plugins directly to the owner’s profile.
- Dion Hulse 12:12 am on February 25, 2025
  Is there a different expectation for how those should be displayed?
  Previously the Profile Listing & the “Contributors & Developers” section on the pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party page was based upon the Contributors: line in the readme.
  We’ll be updating both to use “Listed in Contributors OR Listed as the plugin owner” in the coming days.
Cullen Whitmore 1:19 pm on March 11, 2025
What happens to the pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party author link (and plugin) if an owner’s account gets banned/disabled on .org?
I see two recent scenarios here:
1. This was a single owner with no additional contributors.
2. The owner is banned, but there are other contributors who aren’t.

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Who’s the author?

Previously

Now

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