@wyatt WordPress in particular is not strictly not necessary; other server-side blogging software has analogous features.
- create and edit posts using Markdown formatting, possibly with custom extensions
- preview HTML rendering of a post before it goes live
- upload media to include in posts
- let other writers create posts
- send Pingback or Webmention notifications to sites your posts cite and receive them from sites citing your posts
- present paginated lists of posts in HTML and Atom forms
- filter these lists by date or category tag
- perform full-text searches and present their replies
- let readers create comments on a post or another comment, with preview of the comments
- set privileges on who may comment and what may appear in comments
- show, hide, or delete comments and mentions
Which of these features are dispensable?