Disable Author Pages
by Frank Neumann-Staude · Uncategorized
Also makes 12 other plugins · 7.2K+ installs across the portfolio →
Disable the author pages
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
D 50/100
Stale · Likely abandoned
Active installs
5K+
≈5.8K estimated
Momentum
+36%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “page” for “sourcecode”. “page” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “sourcecode” sits at #24 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
50 health vs 58 average across 25,734 Uncategorized plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →9.6%
of downloads still active
At least 5K of 52.2K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Uncategorized plugin keeps 0.6%, across 17,766 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Uncategorized plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
High removal-risk signals
63/100Maintenance and integrity signals that tend to precede a WordPress.org removal. Not an official status, a heads-up to act.
- Long abandoned. No update in 8+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 4.7.39, well behind 6.8.
Details
Recent review vibe
read from the latest 12 reviews to 2017-11-20Reviewers say it does exactly one job well, blocking author pages to stop login-name scraping and brute force attempts, with one asking for redirect and robots.txt options.
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Under-optimized
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 3259 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 4.7.39; the current branch is 6.8
4.9★ over 17 reviews, smoothed to 4.30★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description under 30 characters
To rank higher: Last updated 3259 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
Not enough tracked days yet to call a direction. Momentum needs at least three keywords measured a week or more apart.
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| sourcecode | #24 | #9 | 0 |
| page your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| post your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| shortcode your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| sidebar your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| widgets your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
1 search this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days. 5 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Swap “page” for “sourcecode”. “page” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “sourcecode” sits at #24 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 421 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
No release in a yearHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
0
releases in the last 12 months
9.7y ago
latest release · v0.11 · 2 Mar 2017
7
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 99% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “5K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 3 months ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just under 6K.
Install history since 12 May 2017
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ jh200019.0y ago
How can you disable certain authors vs all or groups. For example, there is only one author I’d like to disable a page to, or redirect it to a custom page. All other authors I’d like to keep as normal.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ mescalytequila9.2y ago
Perfect plugin
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ deanMKD9.3y ago
Working great. Nothing more to say !
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ paddotk9.6y ago
It does what it’s supposed to do. However, there are two features that I think would make this much better: – Have a robots.txt addition option that prevents search engines from crawling these links – Make it possible to redirect to the 404 or 403 page. Currently we can only choose ‘regular’ pages, and have to choose between 301 or 307 protocol (I’m not even sure what for).
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ hasanzoeiry9.7y ago
it worked good thank you
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Alex R.9.8y ago
Thanks for this great plugin!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ khaclamxd10.5y ago
Great plugins! Many thanks
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Just a Wordpress User11.0y ago
Awesome plugin to discourage all of the spammers.
Read on wp.org ↗
Latest updates
via wp.org changelogRecent releases and news for this plugin
- — Version 0.11 version tagging sync github / wordpress.org svn. Thanks to swissspidy fix: notice plugin_settings_link not static. Thanks to swissspidy 0.11
- — Version 0.10 DB clean up on uninstall added settings list on pluginlist 0.10
- — Version 0.9 fix: redirect to pages. Thanks to Georg changed text domain for translations via translate.wordpress.org added github updater metadata 0.9
- — Version 0.8 Updated German Translation, Urls and Description. Thanks to krafit Minor spelling correction. Thanks to tristanpenman 0.8
- — Version 0.7 Make it work if WordPress installed in a subdirectory https://github.com/staude/disable-author-pages/pull/1 Thanks to smeric Moved sourcecode to GitHub: https://github.com/staude/disable-author-pages Moved Issuetracker t 0.7
- — Version 0.6 Fix: When I choose redirect to “Profile” page and save, the dialogue reverts back to Homepage. ( Thanks to Tradedog ) 0.6
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.3
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 7 languages, 5 at 90% or more
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
2 of 8 pass · checked 27 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ! Says what it does Short description is 24 characters, too short to say what the plugin does.
- ✓ Has a FAQ 4 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 3 of 4 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ! Enough to quote 90 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ! Tags match the text Only 1 of 5 tags appear in the text ("post", "shortcode", "sidebar", "widgets" missing).
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-08-16 6K+ → 5K+ down after 4 days in tier
- 2026-08-12 5K+ → 6K+ up after 2 days in tier
- 2026-08-10 6K+ → 5K+ down after 382 days in tier
- 2025-07-24 7K+ → 6K+ down after 236 days in tier
- 2024-11-30 8K+ → 7K+ down after 245 days in tier
- 2024-03-30 9K+ → 8K+ down after 331 days in tier
- 2023-05-04 10K+ → 9K+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2023-05-03 9K+ → 10K+ up after 2 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
Remove noreferrer 5K+ installs · 4.5★ · 3 shared tags D -
Post Type Switcher 200K+ installs · 4.7★ · 2 shared tags A -
Display Posts – Easy lists, grids, navigation, and more 70K+ installs · 4.8★ · 2 shared tags C -
Reveal IDs 40K+ installs · 4.8★ · 2 shared tags A - W WP Admin UI Customize 30K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags C
-
Widgets on Pages 20K+ installs · 4.7★ · 2 shared tags C
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Disable Author Pages into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/disable-author-pages" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Disable Author Pages — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Disable Author Pages: 5K+ active installs, 4.9★ (17 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/disable-author-pages
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