Plugin profile · observed daily since 02 Aug 2026
Parent Category Toggler
Active installs10,000+ rounded
Current authorBen Lobaugh (blobaugh)
Owner changesNone while we have been watching
Last release8.5 years ago 28 Nov 2017
Support— no recent threads
Releases on record6
Rating4.8 /5 · 15
Added to directory08 Dec 2008
Requires WP2.5
Requires PHPfalse
Version lag2.3 behind
Tested up toWP 4.8.30 WordPress is now on 7.1
PluginPedia reports published data and observable changes. It does not rate plugin quality or safety, infer intent, or make recommendations. These are observations rather than a verdict. How this works
Ownership
Held by Ben Lobaugh (blobaugh) throughout, with no change of ownership observed since daily tracking began on 02 Aug 2026.
Full observed history, including every field transition
Committing accounts
Read from the plugin’s public release log, so these predate this registry. A committing account is not an owner. Thirty accounts commit to WooCommerce and it has never changed hands.
| Account | Releases | First | Last |
|---|---|---|---|
| awflasher | 3 | 08 Dec 2008 | 03 Jan 2009 |
| blobaugh | 2 | 09 Nov 2012 | 02 Dec 2012 |
This registry did not observe a transfer; it read these names off a public log. Whether that reflects a change of ownership is not something the directory publishes.
Adoption
How widely the plugin is installed, and what the people running it think of it. WordPress.org rounds install figures to one significant digit, so they describe an order of magnitude rather than a headcount.
Widely adopted: 10,000+ active installs. Among the more broadly installed plugins in the directory.
13 downloads a day over the last 7 days, rising 11% against the 7 days before. Downloads are counted exactly and without a ceiling, so they show movement the rounded install figure cannot.
08 Aug 2026peak 23/day02 Sep 2026
Daily record
Every field we record, one column per observation. Fields that never moved are named once rather than repeated across every column. A row of identical numbers would be padding.
| Field | 20 Aug | 21 Aug | 22 Aug | 23 Aug | 24 Aug | 25 Aug | 26 Aug | 27 Aug | 28 Aug | 29 Aug | 30 Aug | 31 Aug | 01 Sep | 02 Sep |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downloads that day | — | 0 | 23 | 11 | 22 | 0 | 13 | 11 | 23 | 0 | 22 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
Unchanged throughout: ratings total (15) · active installs (10,000+) · version (1.3.4) · support threads (0) · threads resolved (0)
32 days of observation, most recent 14 shown.
Maintenance
When it was last released, and how far its declared compatibility has drifted from current WordPress.
Added to directory17 years ago 08 Dec 2008
Requires WP2.5
Requires PHPfalse
Version lag2.3 behind
Is anyone still maintaining this?
- No release in 3,200 days (8.8 years). The last was 28 Nov 2017.
- Declares compatibility only up to WordPress 4.8.30, while 7.1 is current. The author has not confirmed it runs on the last 23 releases.
- The same account maintains 15 other plugins, and none has been updated in over a year, the most recent on 05 Jun 2017.
A plugin that does one thing correctly may need no changes for years; a long gap is not, by itself, evidence of neglect.
History
Everything dated that this registry holds about the plugin, most recent first. Releases carry the author’s own release date; everything else is dated to when it was observed.
Entries marked from the release log predate this registry, and daily observation began 02 Aug 2026. They were read from the plugin’s public SVN history after the fact, not watched as they happened. Everything else was observed directly.
- 02 Aug 20261 month agoFirst observed by PluginPediaDaily snapshots of this plugin’s directory record begin here. Everything above this line is observed; anything before it comes from fields the API itself reports.
- 22 May 20197 years agoDormancy threshold crossed540 days since the last release (2017-11-28). Dormancy is a maintenance observation, not a judgement about the owner.
- 28 Nov 20178.5 years agoVersion 1.3.4 released
- 02 Dec 201213 years agoVersion 1.2 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by blobaugh.
- 09 Nov 201213 years agoVersion 1.03 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by blobaugh.
- 03 Jan 200917 years agoVersion 1.01 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awflasher.
- 03 Jan 200917 years agoVersion 1.02 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awflasher.
- 08 Dec 200817 years agoVersion 1.0 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awflasher.
- 08 Dec 200817 years agoAdded to the WordPress.org directoryReported by the plugin API as the date this plugin was added.
What we know, and what we don’t
Everything on this page in one place, including the gaps, so that nothing here is mistaken for a clean bill of health.
What we know
- It has been held by Ben Lobaugh (blobaugh) for all 32 days we have observed it.
- It was last released 8.5 years ago (28 Nov 2017).
- Its author declares it tested up to WordPress 4.8.30; WordPress is now on 7.1.
- WordPress.org reports 10,000+ active installs.
- It carries 15 ratings, averaging 4.8 out of 5.
What we don’t know yet
- No forum threads were open in the two months we measure, so how responsive its support is cannot be said. One new thread starts answering that.
What can’t be known
- Whether the quiet is neglect or a finished plugin. That is the author’s intent, which no dataset records, and a stable plugin can need no changes for years.
Every record on this site, this one included, works under the same limits. We read what WordPress.org publishes about a plugin, never the plugin’s own code, so nothing here says whether a plugin is well built or safe. Install counts reach us already rounded; a change smaller than a band step doesn’t show. We don’t track security advisories yet. For anything older than our first observation we rely on the plugin’s public release log, where one exists. What this registry can and cannot see
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Reach out about this record
Corrections, missing context, or anything else about Parent Category Toggler: a person reads every submission, and corrections get a reply within 5 business days.