Hopelessly Sensible: Simple Security Hardening
by Hebble & Stone CIC · Privacy & Consent
Security hardening for people who have better things to do. Seven options, plain English and clear information about what changes.
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
B 83/100
Few reviews
Active installs
10+
≈17 estimated
Momentum
—
no download trend yet
Biggest opportunity: “comments”, “privacy” and “security” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
83 health vs 69 average across 913 Privacy & Consent plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →3.6%
of downloads still active
At least 10 of 277 lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Privacy & Consent plugin keeps 2.1%, across 502 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Privacy & Consent plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
Details
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.
Excellent listing optimization
Most to gain: Rating quality
Updated 11 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
5.0★ over 1 review, smoothed to 4.12★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.
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.
38
Momentum
Mixed: one swing, the rest drifting
0.0
Velocity
places per keyword, 26d
14%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 26d
+0.1
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| hardening your tag | #17 | #23 | up 2 |
| comments your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| privacy your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| security your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| xmlrpc your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
7 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 1 listed. 6 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 4 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- “comments”, “privacy” and “security” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
Daily downloads
Since 11 Sep 2026 · 51 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 180 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #30,400 to #44,800, alongside the other plugins at 10+ installs. Plugins with the same install count swap places between wp.org requests, so this is where most of them sit. Checked monthly, last on 1 Nov 2026.
Update activity
Downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites.
Not enough installs to measure. This needs at least 100 active sites; below that, a handful of downloads reads as tens of thousands.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “10+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Modeled within the band wp.org reports; tightens as we track daily.
Install history since 15 Sep 2026
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
5 of 8 pass · checked 28 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ! Says what it does Short description names no action; say what the plugin does for the site.
- ✓ Has a FAQ 8 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 8 of 8 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for One audience phrase ("if you have"); say who the plugin is for and what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions WooCommerce.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 2 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ✓ Enough to quote 2,213 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 5 tags appear in the text; "privacy", "xmlrpc" do not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
No tier crossings observed yet.
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).
-
Gravatar Enhanced – Avatars, Profiles, and Privacy 100K+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags A -
Restricted Site Access 10K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags A -
The GDPR Framework By Data443 10K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags A -
SMNTCS Disable REST API User Endpoints 8K+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags B -
Stop XML-RPC Attacks 6K+ installs · 4.2★ · 2 shared tags A -
Remove XML-RPC Methods 1K+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Hopelessly Sensible: Simple Security Hardening into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/hopelessly-sensible" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Hopelessly Sensible: Simple Security Hardening — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Hopelessly Sensible: Simple Security Hardening: 10+ active installs, 5.0★ (1 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/hopelessly-sensible
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