WordPress Strikes Early!

~ beetleypete

Well it seems that WordPress understands ‘Late 2021’ to be the last week in March. With no warning, the ‘Classic’ option was removed from my blog today.

I am now stuck with ‘their way or the highway’. In other words, the hated and detested Block Editor. Not-so-fondly referred to by me as ‘Mister Blocky’.

Fortunately, I had already completed the final episode of my serial, and I am using the cheekily-named ‘Classic Block’ to produce this post.

I know many of you have come to love Mister Blocky, so there’s no need to rush to its defence in the comments. But I HATE it, and will continue to do so, whatever you say.

I am hoping to receive a ‘work-around’ that will enable me to use the Old Editor again soon. But in the meantime, if I am not around on my blog, you will know why.

104 thoughts on “WordPress Strikes Early!”

          1. Good to know. Actually i am testing out a own installation of WP, on own webspace. Want to reopen the blog for all, but on WP i cant get the full information about all cookies, they are using. Actually i am also in some discussion with lawyers, so i cant risk getting claimed by them on such minimalistic problems. 😉

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  2. Another Block-averse blogger here.
    As a free user I too am stuck with the Block. I’m not prepared to pay $400 a year for a plan that provides the option of a Classic editor plugin.
    Funny thing is, I just had a look at the plugin page. And there’s quite a few plugins been created to enable Classic and disable Block. If Block was really that popular, why would so many people be going to the trouble of creating plugins to defeat it?

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    1. Thanks, Gregory. I have the cheapest paid plan, and I am reluctant to pay so much more to use Classic. You are right of course, WP knows that around half of the experienced bloggers want to retain Classic, so it seems they are intent on making us pay a substantial amount for the top plans if we wish to do so.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. Yes, after I discovered why it wasn’t working at first. I had 2-stage security set up, and needed to request a one-time code to access my settings. I did a post about that today, using another lady’s graphic that achieves the same result. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. I am only on the ‘cheap’ plan, TanrahJo. No plugins. But thanks for the thought.
      I am still using ‘cheats’ at the moment, so may have to rethink my blogging future in 2023.
      Mind you, I will be 71, and may well be rethinking my whole future by then. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  9. I hate Mister Blocky too. Been going on for months. I hit the plus sign and click on classic. I still have to be careful but that seems to work. But putting in hyperlinks is annoying too. They had it perfect and now…. anyway with that option I’ve been managing.

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    1. I can just about manage with that Classic Block as long as it is only text. I can’t get my head around adding anything else yet. I will carry on with my cheats for now.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  10. I keyboard the title into whatever the WordPress folks call whatever is on my screen after I click on “+write.” I then go to the text editor where my text is already entered, edit>select all then edit>copy then I put my cursor in the area below the title and right click then paste. Copy & paste and I have no idea how the block editor works. Warmest regards, Theo

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        1. I will see how long I can survive using the cheats, and decide later. Even if I didn’t post anything, I would still continue to follow all the blogs and leave comments.
          Best wishes, Pete. x

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    1. I had it until yesterday, then boom! Many others lost it last week, Willow.
      But if you look much lower down, at Chris’s comment, his work-around is still providing ‘Classic’. Though I don’t know for how long.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. Yeah, I went back and tried the little “/” and it seems to still be working as an option to access “Classic”…for now. I printed out the workaround just in case that “/” option disappears too!

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  15. Why is there now only the last few posts shown with pretty pictures, and not a list with options to choose from previous posts, or scheduled posts as before.
    Also I keep thinking its still a 24-hour clock, forgetting you have to select am/pm.

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    1. I noticed that the ‘word count’ has also been dropped, which annoys me as I use it for my serials. At the moment, I am using the link kindly provided by Chris. (See comment much lower down.) That takes me back to Classic, and works as it always did. But once a post is published, any edits or corrections have to be done in the BE.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. They never stop messing, Sue. I am using a work-around link at the moment, but it doesn’t work for editing or corrections, which have to be done on the BE. So I have to check very thoroughly before pressing ‘Publish’.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  18. Reblogged this on My Corner and commented:
    Beetleypete isn’t the only blogger who loathes what he calls “Mister Blocky.” I, too, hate the block editor, with a passion. Earlier this afternoon, I spent an hour on the phone with my tech guru. So far, there’s no work-around to bring back the classic editor unless, of course, you want to pay an astronomical fee to upgrade to a business plan that will allow you to download a classic editor plug-in.

    The good news is that I’ve figured out how to do most of the things on my blog that I’ve been able to do with the classic editor. But no matter what anyone says, I won’t change my mind about the block editor.

    WordPress doesn’t care about its customers. They have us where they want us because if we move our blogs elsewhere, we risk losing followers, and they know it. I’m extremely angry and disappointed with the folks at WordPress.

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    1. I know. I have been frustrated with them for years now. I tried to switch to another blog site but that didn’t work out well, either. For as long as I can remember (since around 2013?) WordPress has had the same glitches. At least they are consistent, but it’s strange they have never fixed them as part of all their “improvements”.

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  19. I, too, hate the block editor, with a passion. Earlier this afternoon, I spent an hour on the phone with my tech guru. So far, there’s no work-around to bring back the classic editor unless, of course, you want to pay an astronomical fee to upgrade to a business plan that will allow you to download a classic editor plug-in.

    The good news is that I’ve figured out how to do most of the things on my blog that I’ve been able to do with the classic editor. But no matter what anyone says, I won’t change my mind about the block editor.

    WordPress doesn’t care about its customers. They have us where they want us because if we move our blogs elsewhere, we risk losing followers, and they know it. I’m extremely angry and disappointed with the folks at WordPress.

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  20. I had the same shock when I logged on yesterday to write today’s post. I just fought through it, and was pleasantly surprised at how easy some things were, like embedding videos or creating links. But it seems to keep directing me into the app, rather than the website version, and checking whether changes I’ve made have actually happened is nigh on impossible. Hopefully it will settle down before I lose what is left of my sanity.

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    1. I tried using it before, and it drove me crazy. Many bloggers offered help and advice, and there are lots of tips on my blog if you type’ Block Editor’ into the search bar. I am simply too old and grumpy to have to learn blogging all over again now. I just hate the way they forced this on those of us who supported them in the early days.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. Do you follow their own blog? I do, and they posted yesterday about all the improvements they’re making. I vented my spleen in the comments. If enough people do, they might just listen…but I doubt it!

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        1. I have never followed the WP blog, Clive. I found it to be rather boastful, and whatever people wrote in the comments, nothing changed. At one time, ‘glicthes’ were more common. Every comment going to Spam, and so on. People complained bitterly, but nothing changed for years.
          Best wishes, Pete.

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  23. I HATE it, Pete…the prompts are different, who needs a “block” of material self-contained…it’s SO annoying but I just accepted it and moved on – but every time I type in it my blood pressure rises and that really wasn’t the point of blogging, right?

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    1. Lucky you, Karen. I confess, I am resistant to change, when it is for no good reason whatsoever. (Save the profits for business customers.) Almost 9 years of familiarity, swept away without concern for millions of bloggers like me.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  29. Yes, I’ve been reading all about this. I’m with WordPress.org, so it doesn’t affect me yet, although, as you know, I’m having other issues. I see you’ve found a way around it. Just in case, I bookmarked this post about it as well https://marciamearawrites.com/2021/03/26/editorwars-blockeditor-vs-classiceditor/
    If you check at the very bottom, it was followed by another post where Marcia included images that make it even clearer.
    I sometimes wonder what else… Thanks, Pete, and stay safe.

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    2. I am glad you shared, Marcia’s post here, Olga. I was also going to find it and share. I don’t mind the block editor. In fact [don’t kill me please] I prefer it. Sorry you don’t like it, Pete. I hope the workaround works for you.

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      1. If I was your age, and tech-savvy, I might like it, Robbie. But I am neither, so hate it with a vengeance that will surely make me give up blogging if it is the only option. I spent 60 years of my life ‘learning stuff’. Then I learned blogging. Now WP wants to make me learn blogging again. Enough is enough. It gets to the stage when it’s not worth the brain-ache.
        Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. I did, and it didn’t work. My Admin page looks totally different to your one. No idea why. I am angry, because I pay WP for a Plan. But they couldn’t care less. See Chris’s comment for a ‘good link’. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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        2. Pete, when that happens to me, I go to a completely different website, bookmark it, and open the bookmark manager and edit it. In there I overwrite the original URL and paste the new one I want to save into it (like https://beetleypete.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?classic-editor). Here’s how you can open the bookmark manager in Chrome — go down to Edit a Bookmark: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/188842?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en#zippy=%2Cedit-a-bookmark

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  33. I haven’t been able to see and the use the classic editor for months. It’s been gone a long time now. I did much prefer the classic editor too, mainly for the fact one could type paragraphs right away without having to keep choosing the size, font size etc in those blocks. It takes much longer to type up a post nowadays. The classic editor was way quicker and easier to use.

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    1. I was lucky to have been able to retain the Classic until this afternoon, WN. I think it might have been because I never logged off, and always used a shortcut to access WP. If I find a fix, I will let everyone know to contact me by email. Don’t want the Blog Nazis finding out!
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 1 person

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