Looks like many people blindly update their WordPress plugins. What is even worse is they do not notice changes in a plugins behavior, even messages that a function is being depreciated. Case in point, this Google query yields 62 relevant pages (out of over 4000 supposed results) that all updated to Breadcrumb NavXT 3.0, but have not updated their function calls. Come 3.1 their sites will break unexpectedly (If they are using the correct calling code their breadcrumb trail just won’t appear).
One cause of this blindness is the built in plugin updating functionality built into WordPress since 2.5. Don’t take this the wrong way, it makes updating easy and is a really useful feature. However, it has become too easy for a user to upgrade to a version of a plugin that may not work in their setup (they are still running PHP4–which they should not be doing, or using outdated function calls). There is no easy way for a developer of a plugin to make something jump out at the users telling them: “Hey this version no longer supports PHP4 and by the way make sure you are using this function instead of tHis old one.”. Thankfully, come WordPress 2.7 the situation will improve slightly, a “release notes” page link is available in the plugin management page.
When running a website it is important to really pay attention to what is going on. Those with this problem are not paying enough attention, and frankly are vulnerable to hacking and hijacking of their websites. Weblogs.us had another security breech back in late September–more on this at a later time. It was discovered through Google search. Even after only three days, the Google search results for this blog were poisoned with explicit content. Prevention through security is always the first route to take, but active monitoring for early detection of events is just as important.
As a side note, there is now a Frequently Asked Questions page for Breadcrumb NavXT. Users should read it before asking for help regarding errors and other things. It was compiled from actual questions asked by users, and search queries that were relevant to the plugin. By no means is it an exhaustive list, and will be added to as time goes on.
-John Havlik
[end of transmission, stay tuned]