Possibly the most noteworthy feature of the recent Wordpress 2.3 release is the new tagging function.

To use tags up until now in WP, it has been necessary to install a plugin, such as Ultimate Tag Warrior. While effective, some people feel UTW is just a tad too difficult to set up and use though.

And while WP 2.3 removes the need for third party tag plugins, enabling the new tagging function is not quite as straightforward as simply upgrading to WP 2.3.

Some WP users will need to insert a few lines of code into their templates to allow tags to display. This is because many WP themes in use today were created long before there was any thought of ever introducing a native tagging feature.

But the prospect of having to “open up the hood” and “tinker” with the theme code has been making a number of WP users a little uneasy, if some of the responses to Rich Gilchrest’s recent article How To Add Wordpress 2.3 Tags To Your Current Theme, are anything to go by.

While I am no programmer or developer, I still think it is necessary to at least have a basic understanding of how your interface templates work.

It seems to me the stampede to “make money online”, combined with the wide availability of blogging tools, themes, plugins, and widgets has fueled a mindset among bloggers that absolutely no “technical” knowledge at all is required, and that blogging is about as simple as instigating a “one click install”.

This little rant is in part inspired by a recent email exchange with a would be blogger who contacted me about the disassociated theme. They commented that it was “perfect” for a commercial idea they had, and wondered if I could “quickly explain” how I created it.

Considering it took me almost a week to produce, a quick explanation was pretty much out of the question, but I tried to oblige nonetheless. I said I had built the theme from scratch using my knowledge of XHTML and CSS, acquired during my past work as a web designer, plus making extensive use of the WP help forums.

After a few more “can you quickly explain” requests, it became apparent my correspondent no idea whatsoever about designing blog themes, and was hoping I’d simply hand over mine, complete with the modifications they wanted, for little more than a “quick” thank you.

When I said I had no time to take on paid design and theme creation work, the correspondence abruptly ceased!

Blogging is certainly going through an interesting phase at present. For me it has always been about the sharing of information and knowledge. Any information and knowledge. That could be specifications for building a Moon lander, how to cook a stir fry meal, or a report on what you did last weekend.

Sharing information isn’t the only motivation to blog though. Some people are inspired by the prospect of a little (or maybe a lot of) fame. Some by the possibility of making money. And each to their own I say.

But it seems there are some whose only motivation is pure greed. Please, put a lid on it…