WordPress Glitches

~ beetleypete

Every user of this platform will be aware of WordPress’s famous glitches. They usually happen when WP is making behind the scenes changes, and can be very annoying. Some of them stick around afterwards, and remain a constant irritation.

Unable to like a post or comment.

This is a common problem. Many times during a week, I am unable to ‘Like’ a comment left on one of my posts. Some followers mention in the comments that they have been unable to leave a like on one of my posts too. A simple fix that works for me is to just refresh the page on the screen, using Ctrl+R. So far, this has worked every time, though I am not sure how you would do this on a phone or tab. Maybe pull down the screen from the top to reload the page?

Disapearing comments.

Quite often, I will leave a fairly lengthy comment on a blog post, only to watch it disappear when I click on ‘Post Comment’. Sometimes, I will go as far as to contact the blogger concerned, to let them know I tried to comment. Occasionally, they will find my comment in their Spam folder, for reasons unknown to both of us. But one quick fix is to leave an additional comment on the post. Just one letter or number will do, and I tend to use a simple full stop. When you send that second comment, the first one almost always appears above it. This works for me at least 90% of the time.

WordPress slowdowns.

Some days when WP is ‘fiddling in the background’, the blog slows down noticeably. I will reply to a comment, and then watch as it takes what feels like a very long time for that reply to appear on my blog. Or if I am working on a draft, it takes twice as long to save it. When this happens, I just close down the page , and then click back on the shortcut to open WordPress again. This usually solves the slowdown immediately.

Just a few tips that might help some of you, based on my 8 years of constant frustration with being a WordPress blogger.

93 thoughts on “WordPress Glitches”

  1. Any tips on what to do
    1. When WordPress reduces your 2000 words blog to 707 words???
    2. Jumbled up the words written by you???
    3. Delete stuff on its own.

    You know my tip to myself is to quit blogging. 😡😡😤

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        1. I’m sorry to hear that you have theses continuing problems, and I hope they will be solved, too. I’ve never uised the WP app. So maybe I’m lucky. But I’ve heard of other users of the App who don’t have any problems.

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  2. I would never have believed that from joining every single instance of WordPress-bashing I might one day turn into a WordPress defender. 😉
    Well, here’s my piece:
    The glitches – sometimes not only just “glitches” but serious problems – we all, me included, experience with WordPress once in a while might not all be caused by WordPress (itself). In fact, I’m pretty sure they aren’t. They may be caused by an update in our browsers or in our operating system, e.g. – by these changes by themselves or by their interaction with WP.
    Let me give an example:
    Pete talks of his experience of his computer slwoing down because of WordPress “fiddling in the background”. Let me ask you, Pete, how you can be sure it’s WordPress. I have experienced that ever so often in may other programmes.
    Nowadays each and every software is so complex that no developer can program it correctly from tne beginning, and that even (beta)testing will not reveal all the glitches.
    For that reason, let WordPress know of every issue you habe, telling them as exactly as possible what your issue is. Be assured, they will try to fix it, even if you are on a free blog and don’t pay a penny. Don’t underestimate how much money they make from the ads they put on your blogs. That may generate more money for them than the $300/year they get from the ad-free blogs.

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    1. Pit, the slow-down I mention only happens when using WordPress, and not on any other application, email, or website. That’s why ‘J’Accuse’ WordPress of fiddling in the background. As for defending WordPress, feel free to do that. But don’t forget that they made their fortune by using those of us happy to use their free sites (or in my case, pay a small fee) and thereby be bombarded with low-rent advertising. Then once they became the market leader, they sought to attract business and professional users who pay a great deal more for the service. Then when those users asked for a ‘business-friendly system, they brought in the block editor, totally ignoring the countless complaints from long term users like me who did not want to tackle that learning curve.
      And that’s why I complain about them, and also why I will continue to do so. Don’t forget either that when I recently tried to bring attention to a work email that could be used to contact a staff member (God forbid we should be able to do that) they removed my text, and substituted a warning. We are ‘customers’, and we get zero ‘customer service’.
      That’s why I need a holiday, and a break from the blog that I may decide not to return to.
      Thanks for your thoughts, Pit.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  3. Excellent tips, Pete! I’ll remember Control+R. WP wants everyone to use Google Chrome. I don’t like it and use Safari. So, if I can’t ‘like’ a post, I can search for it in Google Chrome instead, and that always works to allow me to ‘like’ the post. What a pain!

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    1. I switched to Chrome as it made my emails more stable. Firefox used to be good, but then the email providers decided that they didn’t like it so much. Safari is an Apple system, so I have no experience with that.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  4. I have been using WP for 8 years now without any problems until about 4 months ago…Tha answer according to Wp was to change my browser which did solve the unable to comment and like problems. Not the problems with my stats which they seemed to think was the fault of my poor old laptop…I am now the proud owner at some expenses of a sparkling new one complete with windows 10…the problem persists…as does my inability to connect with Pinterest which they also put down to browsers and my laptop…I am on the verge of giving up…

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    1. I can imagine your frustrations, Carol. I changed from Firefox to Chrome some years back, after receiving similar advice. Chrome is smoother in overall operation, but it doesn’t change any of the issues with glitches. I am sure they happen when WP is making changes without telling us.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    2. And as far as Windows 10 is concerned, I think it is clunky and annoying, compared to 7. They also moved things to different places, for no good reason. But I don’t think the operating system has any impact on whether or not WP operates glitch-free.

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  5. Maybe its helpful for someone. After having trouble with liking and reposting articles in the past i had a look into the status line of the browser, and saw with loading the pages there is a regularely contact to Google’ gstatic-Server (also used for this Captcha thing too). WP’s Jetpack engine – the backend of the whole system – seems also to use Google’s gstatic.com-server. So i first had logged me into my Google mail account, then reloaded the page, and: Hurrah, i got the two buttons (Like and Reblog), and they worked. Maybe of interest for someone. Michael

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  8. I´ve heard of these issues but I´ve been a WordPress user for over ten years and have never had a problem. Now I don´t know if I´ll be able to say that once I have to use the new block editor.

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    1. Darlene, you have been very lucky indeed. I rarely get through a month without one kind of annoying glitch or another. As for the block editor, that is just one enormous glitch, as far as I am concerned. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  9. I’m going to give the refresh thing a try as I’m in one of those periods where I can’t like half of the sites that I visit. If I log out and log back in, then I can always like a comment, but that’s a pain when you have to do it so many times. I’ve read about a lot of others’ woes over the years, but I’ve been relatively lucky. One thing I’ve noticed is that this only happens at individual sites with a specific theme.

    Someone suggested I clear my cookies, and that worked before, but not this time.

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  11. Last week, I suddenly couldn’t edit posts in my Drafts folder. The solution was to clear the cache in the browser (Google Chrome). It took forever to do that, but fixed the problem. I rarely have problems with WP otherwise. Clearing cache should be done regularly, but it’s easy to forget.

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        1. That, btw, is not a direct result of the new eidtor, but it’s caused by the fact that – to install the “Disable Gutenberg” plug-in – my entire blog was switched to a subdomain. That really messed up the general handling of my blog.

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        1. The strange thing about it: it never happens on my desktop, and there’s nothing that helps on my laptop. But that has nothing to do with the new editor, btw. That’s a result from me being switched to a subdomain.

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  16. Well…the lost comments have happened to me multiple times. Usually most of the bloggers that I leave comments for are usually ones that comment on mine as well. What works for me is to answer a comment they left on my own post and let them know that I commented on their recent post. That always seems to work😊
    Another glitch though: I am now working with the new block editor….uggghhh🙈🙈🙈 Despite fraggle’s great tutorial video, I’m not a fan of this new editor.
    But well…little choice in the matter.
    Great post Pete, and thanks for the great tips! 😊

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              1. Well…I’m enjoying myself too much since my return to now give it up, so I’m going to try and make this work. Fraggle’s video really helps I have to say, but well…no questions about it, I really want the old editor back that’s for sure😊

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                  1. Thank you😊 I have a video from Fraggle that also helped, but it’s not the same though. For instance I can’t add captions to pictures when I use the classic block😢 This will definitely take some getting used to😅😅

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                    4. I can add captions noth in the old and in the new editor. Waht I don’t like, though: in tne new editor they appear IN the picture and not, as in the old editor, UNDER it. That sometimes really mars the picture.

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                    5. I luckily received a great tutorial video from Fraggle and am now able to place the captions in the pictures too. But yeah, I agree! As glad as I am that I at least got it working now, I’m not a fan of this new editor, that’s for sure😔

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                    6. Fraggle’s tutorials certainly are a great help. As to the new editor: keep trying and you’ll findout that it’s not difficult to handle. Maybe “mix” it with the classic one? That is still available through the “add a new block” button.

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                    7. Yeah, I’m definitely still using the classic block, as I’m unfortunately not a tech wizard😅😅 But thanks to Fraggle I luckily got it working, so I’m happy for that at least😊 I’m sure I will get the hang of it eventually, but it will take some time lol 😂😂 Thank you for your help too😊

                      Liked by 2 people

                    8. You’re welcome.
                      You really don’t have to be a tech wizard to use the new editor, not at all. Basically, there is not much ao a difference. You only find things in different places.

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  18. Thanks for this post. I wish I’d known about the Ctrl+R tip several months ago when I was having the “Like” problem you describe. The only way my techie daughter knew to solve it was to switch me to Firefox, which did solve it (or at least I assume so, because I stopped having the problem). In any case, I now know what to do if the problem recurs, thanks to your tip.

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  20. As I commented to Fraggle: Luckily I seem to have been spared minor glitches lately. But – and that was my own doing – I installed the “Disable Gutenberg” plug-in and, in that process, my blog was taken to a subdomain, with the absolutely annoying result that the general handling became more tedious. And, to top that, this changes can’t be reversed without loss of data. So I’m shackled to this.

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      1. Well, I don’t think you will be in danger as installing new plug-ins is only possible in paid-for blogs. I must admit that there was a warning i would be moved to a subdomain, but I don’t recall a warning that this would not be reversible. Knowing me, I could have overlooked it, though.

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    2. I would agree, at least recently there have not been any of those glitches Pete mentions. But I do have that really annoying glitch – actually it is more than just a glitch: after I had installed the “Disable Gutenberg” plug-in, my blog was taken to a subdomain, and now I’ve lost the line at the top with “my sites” and “reader”. I can only access them if I use a different log-in directly to the dashboard. Also: since then I’m unable to answer any comment in my blog from my laptop! I get this notification: “Invalid request signature.”. Strangely enough, answering comments work fine from my desktop. I’ll contact WP about that in a few days, as I’ve always found them helpful.
      But my warning here: DO NOT EVER TRY TO INSTALL A PLUG-IN THAT TAKES YOUR BLOG TO A SUBDOMAIN. The (unwanted) changes that brings about CAN NOT BE REVERSED.

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        1. Well, I just wanted to try this plug-in. I believed I could always de-install it. Nobody warned me that it’s impossible. One can deactivate it – which I did – but one can NOT ALL reverse the other UNWANTED changes it brings with it.
          Btw, I’m getting used to the new editor, even I’m missing a few featuers of the old one. For that I then revert to the classic editor as a block.

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  24. Another one: when I click on the notifications icon (top right corner), they won’t appear unless I’m in the “My Sites” section of the blog. I don’t have any fix, though.

    And now with the new Editor don’t get me started… :–(

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    2. It’s not totally true, unfortunately. Once you get treated with the new awful WordPress Editor, you can introduce “Classic” blocks in your posts which work more or less like the old Editor. Not the same thing, though. :–/

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