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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “bulletin”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “bulletin”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 3 of the top 20. 1 plugin is pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Cite This Article – Author Box & Citation shows at wp.org #17 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 4 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 PDF Embedder – PDF Viewer & Embed PDF Files for WordPress 300K+ · 4.7★ (529) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Announcement & Notification Banner – Bulletin 2K+ · 4.6★ (20) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Mang Board 8K+ · 3.7★ (15) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Advanced Sermons 1K+ · 4.7★ (22) wp.org #4 5 WP w3all phpBB 200+ · 4.7★ (31) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Discussion Board – WordPress Forum Plugin 1K+ · 4.6★ (43) wp.org #7 ↓2 1 too low 7 Icegram Engage – Popups, Welcome Bars, Optins, Slide-Ins & Lead Generation for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (370) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 GDPR CCPA Compliance & Cookie Consent Banner 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too high 9 Mattytap Sermons 60+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 sqrip.ch 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #12 ↑2 2 too low 11 Easy Popups – Beautiful, Responsive Popups for Lead Capture & Announcements 30+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #11 ↓1 12 J JTZL’s Bulletin for bbPress — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↑2 2 too high 13 Seedcast Bulletin Library — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 14 DiscusHub — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 Postalion – Newsletter, Email Marketing & Automation 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓3 1 too high 16 Simple Notice Board – Easy Announcements and Notices 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 17 Redefined Zero Notice Board — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 Doc Mitayo — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 PulpitKit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 Deconde Virtuelles Schwarzes Brett — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21 Cite This Article – Author Box & Citation 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 IWS Interactive Church Sermon Notes — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Storycast by content-pulse.app – Newsroom Content Distribution Engine — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2 24 BizzyBees Content Aggregator — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓2

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.