Yesterday’s issues with logging on to my blog have persisted today. I could not access WordPress from my usual shortcut, and was prompted to log in. When I did so, WP was not happy with my (same) password, and insisted on sending another authorisation code under the 2-step verification procedure.
Luckily, I had my phone to hand and was able to enter the code quickly.
Let’s hope that’s the last time this happens today.
This morning, WordPress has decided to pick on me for some reason. In the last 20 minutes, I have been asked to log into my own account no less than 5 times, and been sent verification codes to my mobile, only to be told that they are incorrect when I enter them.
I have now logged out of WordPress, and logged on again. I have no idea how long this access will last, so if for some reason you never see or hear from me again, you can blame WordPress. On the plus side, I did manage to resist actually throwing my PC through the window of the office room!
Always good to see an improvement on the previous month. Makes blogging feel even more worthwhile.
The March report from WordPress.
Monthly report
Here’s how beetleypete.com performed last month.
Visitors
2,566 ↑ 2,342 (1,046%)
Views
9,791 ↑ 1,561 (19%)
Likes
4,016 ↑ 807 (25%)
Comments
4,054 ↑ 402 (11%)
I experienced a new blogging frustration this morning. As I was leaving a comment on a blog post, I got a notification from WordPress asking me to prove that I was me by having to log in and add my password.
When I did this, they said they were sending a 2-step authorisation code to my phone. Living in the countryside, my mobile had no signal, so did not receive the code. When I tried again, I got the message ‘Session expired’, and was logged out of my WordPress account completely, for the first time ever.
So I went onto Google to try to work out how to recover my blog, and discovered I can link my WordPress account to my Google account, allowing me to log in using that.
Once I did that, I still had to pass the WordPress 2-step code, so had to connect my smartphone to the home wi-fi to receive the code.
After a considerable time, the code worked, and I was logged on.
My question is why? Why did WordPress require me to prove who I am? Considering I blog every single day, and have never been ‘hacked’ on my blog, I can see no good reason to make me jump through hoops to enjoy my own blog.
This post is for information only, in case the same thing happens to you.
Thanks to Hugh for his explanation of how to use, and get the best out of, the new style comments box. Unless you are self hosted, this will soon be coming to your blog, as it is being rolled out by WordPress.
Here is the link for great tips, and a clear guide. (I am unable to reblog the whole post)
So far this week, I have noticed two new pointless ‘changes’ that WordPress seems to have implemented.
The first one is that using keyboard characters to generate emojis in comments or replies seems to have been removed.
So the colon and right bracket 🙂 is no longer translated as a smiley face. (Or any of the similar ones) Except when I use it in a post, like now. It would appear that this is due to the Block Editor being implemented in all reply boxes. (See below)
Secondly, my own replies to comments have been changed to the Block Editor Format. Although I still compose posts using Classic Editor, once I publish the post and want to reply to comments, I am forced to use the Block Editor to do so.
Knowing me, you can imagine that has made me ‘rather annoyed’.
Has this happened to anyone else?
Since Christmas, every time I go back into the tab of my own blog, I get a pop-up telling me to accept cookies. If I ignore it, the pop-up box remains on the screen.
This also happens when I go from the blog page into the admin page, or to the stats or media pages.
Why do I need to accept the cookies on my own blog when I am already logged in and blogging? I don’t recall this ever happening before. And if I accept them once, why does the warning keep appearing every time?
Like I said, just a thought.
I sometimes feel that I need to look in a mirror to see if I have a target printed on my back.
This morning when I was looking at the posts of blogs I follow, I typed a comment into a box on one of those sites and then a notification box popped up.
“To Leave This Comment You Need To Log In. To Prove You Are Beetleypete Complete The Login Details Below”
It goes without saying that I was already logged on.
So I logged in to be able to leave the comment, and this appeared.
“We Have Sent A Security Code To Your Mobile Phone. Please Copy That Code Into The Box Provided”
Checking my phone, I found a text message with a numerical code. I typed the code into the box on screen.
“You May Now Leave The Comment. Please Note This Login And Code Will Only Be Valid For The Next 30 Days”.
Call me paranoid, but I think WordPress is out to get me!
I received an email from WordPress yesterday about my blog’s stats for December 2023.
This was a first for me, I don’t recall them ever doing this before.
WordPress.com
Dec 1 – Dec 31, 2023
Monthly report. Here’s how beetleypete.com performed last month.
Visitors
2,086
Views
6,780
Likes
2,547
Comments
2,603
Top performing pages
Home page / Archives 868
Ollie At The Vet: An Update 175
Ollie Update 131
It seems like Ollie still attracts the most visitors. 🙂
As suspected, WordPress is now using A.I. for customer support.
The Happiness Engineers have now become Happiness Bots.
For confirmation, here is part of an email reply I received.
Happy Bot (Automattic)
Jan 3, 2024, 18:40 UTC
Hello there! As an AI support for WordPress.com, I’m here to help you with any questions you have about the platform.
Just so you know…
beetleypete 