Actually, wordpress is pretty darn easy to install. And the plugins aren’t so bad either. The only one that has really been giving me trouble is identikit.

So far, I have installed:

Akismet:  comes with WP; antispam
Brian’s Threaded Comments:  allows you to have threads. However, you must set the thread depth level manually. It’s easy to install, but you need to replace the comments.php in every theme.
LJ cross-poster:  self explanatory
Open ID:  Allows you to use open ID.
Post levels:  Allows you to set various levels of posts
Role manager:  Allows you to create roles
WP-Polls:  Allows you to create polls.

To install:
Some avatar plugin:  There are several, and I am studying them
Comment email responder:  Allows commenters to get comments emailed to them
Something to simplify updates
Some backup utility
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Any more suggestions?

Hurray! I just got a new blog at yuzutea.net/log. Am merrily installing all kinds of plugins and such.