WordPress How to: Manage and Register Users

The primary goal of any website is to have visitors.  Nobody makes a website just to be ignored and forgotten, and how your website interacts with those users is very important.  Some sites work better with no sign-ups and simply as a page to read.  Others work with a simple like/comment area, and still more are best when creating a community where users can upload content or post on their own.  Luckily, WordPress makes it easy to work in whatever you need for your visitors.

Registering Users:

If you want visitors on your website to be able to register, go first to your settings–>general page.  Near the top, you’ll find a clickbox allowing visitors to register.  Right below, you’ll find a dropdown menu containing a few different possibilities for what these members will be called.  There are:

Administrators — They’ll have all the same admin privileges as you.

Subscriber — They’ll be able to access and change their profile. (This is your best bet for a member)

Editor — They can manage posts and pages, as well as other users’ posts.

Author — They can publish and manage their own posts.

Contributor — They can create posts, but they require approval to publish.

Managing your users:

Now that you’ve allowed visitors to sign up, you’ve still got one big issue; you’ve got to make sure that users behave themselves and, let’s face it, sometimes that just won’t happen.

Deleting an account is easy.  Simply go into the admin panel and click Users.  Hover over the user’s name that you wish to delete and click the delete link.  From there, you’ll be given the option of either deleting all the user’s content or attributing this to another user.

A good idea if you want to keep some (or all) of that content is to add a ‘user’ called Banned or Archive.  Really, it can be anything, but it’s not a good idea to just start deleting users and having their content suddenly given to other members.

There are also many different plugins that may be able to help you with deleting, banning, and otherwise managing your members in a way that makes your website smoother.  Never stop looking for ways to improve both your, and your member’s, experience.