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

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 “livejournal”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 5 plugins are 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

Algori Social Share Buttons shows at wp.org #8 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 1K+ 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.

Buried gem

Customer Engagement System – Popup Builder, Forms, CRM & Email Marketing Automation places #6 on merit, 4.5★ from 340 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5333) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 NextScripts: Social Networks Auto-Poster 20K+ · 3.3★ (617) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Social Login, Social Sharing by miniOrange 10K+ · 4.6★ (356) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Professional Social Sharing Buttons, Icons & Related Posts – Shareaholic 10K+ · 4.4★ (1053) wp.org #10 6 too low 5 Social Login 4K+ · 4.3★ (366) wp.org #9 ↓1 4 too low 6 Customer Engagement System – Popup Builder, Forms, CRM & Email Marketing Automation 9K+ · 4.5★ (340) wp.org #14 8 too low 7 Socicon 200+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 ShareToSocial – Social Media Share Buttons & Sharing Icons 100+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Social Snap — Social Share Buttons & Click to Tweet 10K+ · 4.2★ (58) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 Popular Brand Icons – Simple Icons 3K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 WiraKit For Elementor – Powerful Elementor Widgets And Theme Builder 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 L LJ-Moods 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 J JournalPress 100+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Algori Social Share Buttons 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↑1 6 too high 15 Lion Social Share — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too high 16 W WP Ya Share 200+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Unstoppable Share Buttons 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↑1 5 too high 18 A Avalicious! 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 LoudVoice Comments Plugin – Supercharge your WordPress comments 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 S Simple social buttons — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 SimpleSocial 100+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 L LiveJournal Crossposter 200+ · 2.3★ (6) wp.org #22 23 Post Avatar 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 LiveJournal Importer 7K+ · 2.0★ (7) wp.org #21 3 too high

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.