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How to find your WordPress API key
Monday, March 2nd, 2009 | WordPress, blogging, how to | No Comments
I recently migrated a blog from being a free WordPress blog to being a self-hosted blog.
Today, I noticed that my WordPress.com Stats plugin wasn’t working and my dashboard was sporting a shiny new warning about needing an API key to activate the plugin.
I immediately turned to WordPress.com – unfortunately, the information regarding API keys has not been updated to include where to find it using the new dashboard for WordPress Version 2.7.
So, to save other WordPress users the frustration, I wrote these instructions based on the new dashboard:
How to find your API key
- Log in to your WordPress account.
- Click Users > Your Profile.
Your API key is at the top of the screen:
You can copy the API key from there and paste it into any field where it is required.
In my case, the API key wasn’t there when I looked, and after frantically searching Google I discovered the issue: I migrated my free WordPress blog (http://myblog.wordpress.com) to a hosted account (www.myblog.ca) – so my API key was still associated with my free WordPress blog.
And here’s the really important part: the API key that was assigned to your free blog is the API key you will use for all of your WordPress blogs – hosted or not – if you want to activate plugins requiring an API key.
Retreiving an API key from a free WordPress blog
- Login to your free WordPress account.
- Click Users > Your Profile.
- Copy the API key.
- Paste the API key into the field where it is required on your hosted WordPress blog.
- Follow any remaining instructions laid out by the plugin or enhancement.
Your API key is at the top of the screen.
I found two great blog posts over at WordPress Max that go into even more detail than this post:
An API key is a useful thing to have to take full advantage of all the plugins and enhancements that WordPress offers – and there is a lot of great stuff!
Special thanks to WordPress Max for making API keys clearer!
Why “Me Too” Blogging Can Be Useful
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 | blogging, content, education, websites, writing | 2 Comments
I checked in with Twitter this morning to see what was new and noticed Justin Whitaker’s Tweet saying that he’d received his first nasty comment on his blog.
That made me curious so I went to his blog and found a post about “me too” blogging.
Justin is of the opinion that blogging is “incestuous” and that most bloggers “treat other blogs [as] grist for their own mill, as mere sounding boards for their own work”.
I agree that much of the content on blogs seems repetitive – and often these repetitive posts offer no new insights or information whatsoever. I’m not sure anyone could argue that all blog content is fresh and original.
However, I agree with Michael Durwin’s comment on Justin’s post that “me too” blogging does serve a purpose. “Me Too” blogging provides more access to content that is useful and relevant to people who might not see it otherwise:
I too often forget that most people in the world aren’t as tech savvy as those I talk to everyday. I talked to a recruiter the other day who wasn’t on Facebook because: “isn’t that site just for college kids?”. So before you accuse bloggers of writing “me too” posts to drive traffic, or to just regurgitate what other have already said, consider that not everyone has read all of those other blogs that you have. I live in Boston, arguably one of the most high tech cities in the US, home to countless colleges. I have 3 family members in college. I regularly speak at my alma mater. You’d be SHOCKED to know how few use Flickr, Facebook, or even know how to use Google.
It would be great if everyone could write new and fascinating content, but can’t blogging be a sort of conversation? You write something and I say, “I agree with that (me too!) and here’s my version and why I agree.” Does it matter that I’m “playing the blogging game” without bringing an “original voice to advance the discussion”?
I don’t think so.
If I were talking to someone in real life over coffee and I agreed with something they said and wanted to pass it along, would it be OK for them to say: “You’re not adding value to this discussion – you should stop talking.”
Again, I don’t think so.
A blog post has value if someone reads it and gets something out of it – who cares if 400 other people wrote about the same thing and hold the same opinion. The point is that the reader saw it and it was useful. It doesn’t matter if the other 399 blogs have the same information because the reader didn’t go there (and now doesn’t need to).
Justin suggests making a “concerted effort to kill “Me Too” blogging” in 2009 – I think our efforts would be better spent on making those “Me Too” posts well-written so that wherever a reader’s travels through the blogosphere lead – they lead to intelligent writing.
As a point of interest, Google “me too blogging” – there are lots of posts about this (including Justin’s), but since Justin’s post was the first one I came across, I stopped there.