Blogging

Making The Most Of Classic

~ beetleypete ~ 53 Comments

With my illness seemingly past its peak, reduced to an occasional cough and a feeling of exhaustion, I am back in the swing of blogging. Still able to use the Old Editor thanks to the numerous tips I received, I feel that my blogging mojo has been restored. Even allowing for some mildy irritating WordPress glitches going on, my current experience of blogging is identical to the one before it all fell apart with the imposition of the Block Editor.

So you can expect more posts in the days to come, and I will hopefully get back to adding more film reviews as well. If I carry on being allowed to still use the old system, fiction will make a comeback in the near future too.

For now, I am upbeat about blogging again, and not thinking about the old v new systems.

As long as the Classic option remains, I will be making the most of it in the time available.

The Dummy Is Back In The Pram

~ beetleypete ~ 62 Comments

(Translation for American readers. Dummy = Pacifier. Pram = Stroller. )

When a baby or small child has a temper tantrum here, we say “Oh he/she has thrown their dummy out of the pram”. That carries on into later life, whenever anyone has what some perceive to be an unreasonable outburst, or unexplained fit of annoyance.

As regular readers will know, the last few days have seen me rage at WordPress for forcing the Block Editor down my throat. This culminated in me leaving the world of blogging, with a sad farewell. Prompted by my unexpected departure, some members of our great community decided to send me the simplest of tips that my flu-confused and age-addled brain could actually cope with. I have already thanked them, in a previous post.

As a result, I am able to post this, and barring any sabotage by WordPress in the near future, I will soon be back to blogging in the old way, at least until the Classic option is no longer available after 2023.

So my dummy is back in my pram, and securely in my mouth.

For now.

Old Editor: Grateful For The Help And Tips

~ beetleypete ~ 104 Comments

After posting about my farewells from WordPress, I received two very easy tips that so far allow me to access the old editor.

Here they are, in case they help anyone else.

1) Enter this in your browser, substituting the name the name of your blog.
https://beetleypete.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?classic-editor

It will take you to the old-style editor where you can create a post.
Then bookmark that page for future use.

2) This was sent to me by Michel.
(Click on the photos for large print)
Go to the wordpress admin page and select all posts:

Once there, go the top of your screen and press the arrow next to add new and you will see that you get the option to access the classic editor:

Once you have selected the classic editor, it’s business as usual.

I hope these help somone else. If they carry on working for me, I will be back to blogging soon!

HELP PLEASE

~ beetleypete ~ 28 Comments

Can anyone help Lorraine with this issue? I don’t know what advice to give, as it is new to me. She is blind, so please be specific.

Oh dear I’ve made a mess! I was looking at Referrers, below the counties where viewers had come from, and there was one that said “reader” and another below it that said, I THINK, google.com but can’t remember for sure. I accidentally clicked on 3 dots, and ended up putting those Google viewers into spam. HELP. I didn’t want to put ANYBODY into Spam. Please help me to get them out.

Sent from my iPad

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Blocks and Blogging: The Great Divide

~ beetleypete ~ 90 Comments

The last few years have seen the world settle into pronounced divisions. People have been choosing sides, undoubtedly.

In Britain, we had the Brexit vote, leaving this country almost equally divided between Leavers and Remainers. The USA got Mr Trump, and after four years of him, the country is along the lines of a 56-44 split either for or against him.

Then this year saw the differing attitudes following the Covid-19 pandemic. Those who will wear masks and take precautions, and the others who think it doesn’t concern them, and might even be a gigantic conspiracy. Responsibility versus selfishness, you might think. I know I do.

More recently, WordPress began to force the Block Editor onto its bloggers, causing another division between those who think it is a useful improvement, and the rest of us who hate the very concept of the thing.

Returning from a holiday break and checking blog comments and emails, it seems to me that the Block Editor has created another worldwide divide. Already some long-term bloggers have changed from WP to other platforms, and in a few cases have stopped blogging altogether. Many have the other view, that the new system is easy to grasp, and better for them to use. Then there are the relatively new bloggers who had the first Block Editor and never knew the old one, so naturally see the revised version as a huge improvement.

Many people have shown just how generous the blogging community is when it comes to helping others. Adding links and tips, creating tutorials, and talking people through how to do things in blog comments and replies. Despite their kind and well-intentioned help, a number of bloggers either just don’t get it, or simply don’t want it. Like me, they just cannot be bothered to struggle to learn a new system at a certain time in life, and are hanging on like grim death to any chance of continuing to use the old editor.

Perhaps we have had our day? Every dog does, so they say.

If so, it is just progress, and blogging will continue with those willing and able to adapt.

Off The Blog

~ beetleypete ~ 75 Comments

From Sunday (tomorrow) afternoon, I am going to be off the blog until next weekend. I will not be replying to any comments, or reading anyone’s posts for a week.

I will try to catch up a bit when I get back, but previous experience has shown me that a few days away is hard to get on top of.

On top of that, I may well have been stuck onto the Block Editor by then. If so, anticpate further delays.

Anyway, just so you know I am not dead.

Have a great week, everyone. 🙂

WordPress Glitches

~ beetleypete ~ 93 Comments

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.

A ‘Just In Case’ Post

~ beetleypete ~ 83 Comments

After being told off by WordPress earlier, (see previous post) it has occured to me that they might well cancel my blog without warning. It’s not as if they need my money, and they do consider me to be in contravention of their guidelines.

So if I disappear, that will be why.

With that worst case scenario in mind, I would just like to say it has been a great pleasure getting to know all of you, and of course considering many of you to be my good friends.

(And if you email me, I will tell you how the current serial ends. But only if they ban me. 🙂 )
petejohnson50@yahoo.com

Pete. x