I really like this list of wordpress plugins.  I especially like that they are focused on the admin user more so than they are focused on the general user’s experience when visiting a wordpress site.

This site has a list of 34 essential wordpress plugins for admins, but here are my favorite plugins from that list:

• Akismet, helps keep spam under control.
• cFormsII, great plugin for making/ creating contact forms.

The other plugins that were listed, seemed like they were useful, but  I just didn’t think that they’d be useful for me. The list was originally compiled in 2007, so some of the links go to old download pages, and other links go to versions of the plugins that are so old that I wonder if the referenced plugin works in WordPress 2.7.

There was another list of 13 underrated plugins on that same website, that list had better plugins on it, I just didn’t like any of them for myself.  Maybe you’ll find a use for some of these plugins, but like I always say, your mileage may vary.