Here are three myths about WordPress that really annoy the sh*t out of me because they are just so outrageously outdated and so misinformed that it 100% piss me off to still hear such BS said in meetings – especially when it comes from the IT guy in a company.
However, I know it is counter-productive to shout at people for things they do not know, especially when they act out of lack of knowledge and are just repeating what some other uninformed person told them – so I thought it would be better for me to write about it and email it calmly to people (while pressing that “Send” button with rage…)
#1 WordPress is just a blog
Right, until 2004 WordPress used to be a blog only platform – They have introduce pages in 2005 – more than 10 years ago.
Breaking news: Technology is evolving.
Like your phone used to be attached to a wall with a cable and you could barely hear the sound properly when doing oversee call, today you can watch videos on it and literally switch on the air conditioning with it.
This is called progress… Deal with it.
#2 Wordpress does not work with high traffic
(Variant : WordPress does not work with more than XXXX users.)
Nope Nope Nope.
I don’t even know how not to curse on this one, but let’s try to keep cool and explain:
WordPress like any other piece of software on the web is running on a piece of hardware, commonly called a server – usually provided by a hosting company.
This server has a certain capacity – defined by its processor and its RAM and its configuration – the more horsepower you put into the thing, the more you can handle traffic/users/hits/etc.
End of story.
Today you will find more and more WordPress websites running with 10 millions hits per month.
Brands working with WordPress include major high-traffic websites like :
- TED
- Techcrunch
- Time magazine
- Fortune.com
- CNN espagnol
- NewYork post
- USA Today
- Quartz
- etc.
You can go and check by yourself the list of VIP sites that are using WordPress here.
Actually, the biggest is probably wordpress.com running a version of WordPress multi-site, with close to 6 millions blogs, and it’s working pretty damn fast.
If your WordPress site doesn’t work fast enough – then what you need a decent server and a sysadmin who knows what he is doing.
#3 – WordPress isn’t secured
Riiiiight… Compared to … what?
See, security is one of these things everyone like to talk about as if they knew anything about it.
WordPress, just like anything in the digital world, has security flaws which are fixed regularly since it benefits from a massive community providing feedback and regular checks and code updates.
Security flaws are a thing since the internet is around, and they are still a thing – and this include other CMS like Drupal, Joomla and others, as well as very secured systems like Unix and Linux and unsurprisingly Windows OS…
I mean, come on ! Yahoo and LinkedIn (just to name these two) were hacked not so long ago… And no, they did not use WordPress.
Security online is like security on the road : there is not such thing as 100% security and car accidents can always happen – so you need to be careful and monitor the road, but it really help to use a recent car that is properly well taken care of.
That’s why proper configuration and implementation of security best practice is what will make your site secure, not your CMS.
It is like saying which car is more secured – BMW or Volkswagen – it makes no sense. It is how you drive and the traffic you will be into much more than the brand of your car.
Conclusion
A CMS job is to help you manage your content online – and WordPress is doing a great job at it.
For everything else, you will need to use the proper tools to get it. Performance and security require to deploy the know-how to keep your stuff safe and fast, and it can be achieved on WordPress or any other piece of software out there.
So next time you hear these things said in a meeting, please forward them this article.
Thanks.