On This Day by Room 34 for WordPress

I’ve been running a blog for years and honestly, most of my older posts just... disappear into the void. Then I found this little widget - it’s not flashy, but it actually works. It pulls up posts published on the same day in past years, which is perfect for reminding readers they’re missing out on stuff they already liked. I’d see one of my old travel guides pop up on the sidebar and suddenly get a few extra clicks. Kinda low-key magic.

The good stuff

The customization options are way more thoughtful than I expected. You can change the title, set a message like “No posts this day” when there’s nothing to show, and limit how many entries appear. I kept it at three because anything more felt cluttered. And hey, if a post has a featured image, it shows it - that makes the whole thing feel less like a list and more like a mini nostalgia feed. I also appreciate the category filter. My blog covers a lot of topics, so being able to only show “recipes” on this day keeps things relevant instead of random.

Version 2.0 added an archive page option, which I tried. It’s neat if your theme supports it - mine didn’t, so I stuck with the widget. But the fact that it’s even a thing tells me the dev thought about long-term use. Not every plugin tries to grow beyond the sidebar.

The not-so-good

It’s definitely not for everyone. If you don’t have enough old content, you’ll just see blank spaces or generic messages. I had a few months where I wasn’t posting much, so those days were… underwhelming. Also, no real stats or tracking. You can’t tell how many times people clicked the links, which kind of defeats the purpose of driving traffic if you can’t measure it.

And yeah, the developer is unknown. That’s a red flag for some, but the code seems clean, and it hasn’t caused any issues. Still, if you’re paranoid about security or support, you might want to look elsewhere. The lack of downloads or version info makes it feel a bit off the radar.

Bottom line

If you’re running a WordPress site with a decent backlog of posts and want to give them a second life, On This Day by Room 34 for WordPress is worth a try. It’s free, lightweight, and does exactly what it says. Just make sure your theme can handle the archive feature if you want it. For casual bloggers who want to recycle content without effort, this is a solid pick. Don’t overthink it - install it, test it, and see if it brings back a few curious readers. It might surprise you.