@craigdesmarais Hi, there are lots of plugins that i love to use in blogs. Most plugins i use are aimed to make blog seo friendly and fast loading. Here’s list of my favorite addons that i use regularly.

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/clubs/blogging/forum/topic/some-useful-plugins-every-blogger-must-use-by-top-blogger-jeff-bullas/#post-24056

One that has saved my behind on more than one occasion:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/

Everybody focuses on the bells and whistles, but those don’t do you a lick of good if your database is corrupted or you get hacked and have to restore to an earlier, clean version.

This thing emails me a backup of the database on demand and on schedule, including all the added tables from other plugins.

Not very glamorous, but extremely useful.

@dianeaull Yes this is also a necessity! It would be devastating if you lost everything.  

WordPress SEO by Yoast
Digg Digg (social share buttons)
Blubrry PowerPress (mp3 player and podcast to iTunes)
Contact form 7
Akismet (anti spam)
SimpleURL (use for aff links)
WP Remote (keep plugins and WordPress up to date for multiple sites)

@craigdesmarais Here’s my short list. I keep my plugins to a minimum for performance reasons.

WordPress SEO by Yoast (I used to use  All in One SEO Pack until I tried Yoast!)
Contact form 7 (love how easy it is to customize!)
Akismet (must have, best spam protection)
CommentLuv (adds latest blog post from commenters)
Login Lockdown (slows down people who are trying to break in)
Executable PHP widget (lets me write code for a customized list of categories in the sidebar)

I keep my plugins to a minimum after getting hacked once and learning my lesson. Regina Smola over at WP Security Lock has given some good advice on that issue. Always keep them to a minimum, make sure you keep them up to date, don’t download plugins that aren’t updated regularly and make sure your plugins are compatible with each other. That said, here are my most important ones:- Wordpress SEO by Yoast - Akismet - Contact Form 7 - BackWPup - Commentluv - Sexy bookmarks (though I’m looking at switching to Digg Digg) - Redirection (for redirecting affiliate links)I’ll have to take a look at that Login Lockdown too. Sounds worthwhile.

All In One SEO Pack.adslot-overlay {position: absolute; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0.65); border: 2px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.65); color: white !important; margin: 0; z-index: 2147483647; text-decoration: none; box-sizing: border-box; text-align: left;}.adslot-overlay-iframed {top: 0; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0;}.slotname {position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; right: 0; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; padding: 3px 0 3px 6px; vertical-align: middle; background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0.45); text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden;}.slotname span {text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-transform: capitalize;}.revenue {position: absolute; bottom: 0; left: 0; right: 0; font-size: 11px; padding: 3px 0 3px 6px; vertial-align: middle; text-align: left; background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0.45); font-weight: bold; text-overflow: ellipsis; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap;}.revenue .name {color: #ccc;}.revenue .horizontal .metric {display: inline-block; padding-right: 1.5em;}.revenue .horizontal .name {padding-right: 0.5em;}.revenue .vertical .metric {display: block; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;}.revenue .vertical .name, .revenue .vertical .value {display: block;}.revenue .square .metric, .revenue .button .metric {display: table-row;}.revenue .square .metric {line-height: 1.5em;}.revenue .square .name, .revenue .square .value, .revenue .button .value {display: table-cell;}.revenue .square .name {padding-right: 1.5em;}.revenue .button .name {display: block; margin-right: 0.5em; width: 1em; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: clip;}.revenue .button .name:first-letter {margin-right: 1.5em;}a.adslot-overlay:hover {border: 2px solid rgba(58,106,173,0.9);}a.adslot-overlay:hover .slotname {border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(81,132,210,0.9); background-color: rgba(58,106,173,0.9);}a.adslot-overlay:hover .revenue {border-top: 1px solid rgba(81,132,210,0.9); background-color: rgba(58,106,173,0.9);}div.adslot-overlay:hover {cursor: not-allowed; border: 2px solid rgba(64,64,64,0.9);}div.adslot-overlay:hover .slotname {border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(128,128,128,0.9); background-color: rgba(64,64,64,0.9);}div.adslot-overlay:hover .revenue {border-top: 1px solid rgba(128,128,128,0.9); background-color: rgba(64,64,64,0.9);}Google Analyticator
Google XML Sitemaps
MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer
Pro Play for vidoes
Quick CacheRelated Posts Thumbnails
SEO Smart Links +Ultimate Google Analytics
Thats my list for my blog

As well as a number of the ones that are mentioned above, I like one called WP Simplicity. It helps me find topic related images and Youtube videos.

Thanks to everyone for sharing.  This discussion has been extremely helpful for me.  One more I would add Twitter @Anywhere Plus

The one I can’t live without is the one that gets me back up and running if something should happen to go wrong: BackupBuddy

If your site crashes you can be back up and running like nothing happened in a matter of 5 minutes or less. AND, it doesn’t require a Ph. D in Geek to use it either.

@ Cale … you don’t need a plugin for changing the author of a post. You can do it at the edit post level. Choose Quick Edit and use the Author drop down box.

This is all very useful, I have a question, should you get rid of the plugins that you deactivate, I’ve kept mine there in case I wanted to use again.

Also I did have http://www.sexybookmarks.com on my WP site, but had to remove it as it disallowed my logging into my WP admin to make any changes! So I’ve been using sociable, but would like pinterest to be listed there as well.

Own a GAMING blog – here’s my pluggin recommendations:

Akismet - blocks spam comments
Genki Youtube Comments – imports YouTube comments into blog comments
Share Buttons by Lockerz / AddToAny – easily share a post with other social websites
Topsy Retweet Button – Retweet/Track tweets from posts
User Role Editor – Good for limited access to multiple writers/contributors
Social Media Widget – Easily puts a widget with all your social media links/icon.

-Rob
http://www.coin-op.tv
http://www.youtube.com/user/coinoptv