Network Activation: Beware

When running WordPress MultiSite, you have a very handy feature called network activation. It allows you to activate a plugin for the entire network of sites. The trouble is that it only does half the job.

Some plugins have an install procedure that is meant to be run only on activation. However, when you do a network activation, that install procedure is only run for the current site. So, you end up with plugins not working properly on all the other sites.

What’s worse, WordPress doesn’t give any hints about the cause of the problem. I’ve opened a ticket to see how we can remedy this.

It seems MultiSite still has a few gotchas that need to be addressed before it can be recommended to casual users.