How do I give access to a private blog to non-wordpress users?

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  mantisinfo · Member · Jul 18, 2012 at 7:06 pm

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  My blog is set to private and currently has one username and password for my clients to use to view the blog (I am trying to avoid asking them to all set up individual wordpress accounts). This works fine, except the clients have access to the user profile and can change the settings – username, password, email address. Is there anyway to avoid this? Would converting it to a self-hosted blog give me more options? Ideally I would like to my clients to be able to view the blog without having a wordpress account.
  Blog url: http://mantisinfo.wordpress.com/

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  jjonesftw · Member · Jul 18, 2012 at 7:27 pm

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  To my knowledge, with WordPress.com the only way to let others view a private blog is to add them as a user. If you add them with the “follower”role, they wouldn’t have the permissions to change any content, just view the site. See: http://en.support.wordpress.com/user-roles/

  If you may also make the blog public, block search engines, and just password protect each post. Anyone with the password would be able to view the post. http://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/post-visibility/

  Finally, yes, with a self-hosted WordPress install you would have the flexibility to use a plugin that would password protect the whole blog with one password. Just search the WordPress.org plugin directory: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/search.php?q=password+protect

  If this site is for a business, a self-hosted install may be a better fit for you, just realize you will be responsible for all of the site maintenance and security. It’s a trade-off for the increased flexibility.

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  timethief · Member · Jul 18, 2012 at 7:30 pm

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  Please note viewers do not have Admin access to blogs.
  Adding Viewers to a Private Blog
  If you want others to be able to view your private blog (and add comments, if you’ve enabled them) you’ll need to invite them to be a viewer. http://en.support.wordpress.com/adding-users/#to-enable-a-user-to-view-your-private-blog

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  mantisinfo · Member · Jul 19, 2012 at 2:41 pm

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  Thank you for your help! I will try the follower role.