Warning WordPress Update Left Me Headless

Posted on February 7, 2008
Filed Under Announcements, Blog Promotion, Forums, Software

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Anyone who has a WordPress blog installed on their own domain knows about the trials and tribulations experienced with forthcoming upgrades! Don’t get me wrong, I am an avid supporter and happy WordPress user. But not all of us agree as Mark Wielgus, from 45n5.com expressed in his video “WordPress Sucks“.

I steered away from Blogger because I wasn’t too keen on their template designs and set up. TypePad has good reviews and is used by Frank Gruber and of course Seth Godin but when I started this blog it was because it was the easiest way for me to add content and make an SEO site without having to fiddle around with HTML pages.

With a blog, particularly WordPress you have a wealth of free and premium templates. That means you get a wide choice of designs and you can customize or leave “as is”. Besides, this is open source FREE software so what have you got to loose.

Just be sure to make a copy of each file you amend at each stage during your customizations. Also keep a copy of the original PHP file because if your code breaks your blog and you didn’t save the original file as a back up you’re gonna be so SORRY!

Anyway as the headline suggests… two days ago I lost my head!

What the heck does that mean?

Let me explain… as I logged into my admin account I saw the notification to update my blog software to the latest stable version for WordPress 2.3.3. The image below shows the reminder text prompts message which comes up on your WordPress Dashboard as you log into your admin interface much the same as the text prompts to download the newest version of your installed plugins.

I received a tip from a colleague that it may help to revert back to the default Kubrick theme while you’re processing the upgrade. I took his advice and completed the task at about 2am GMT in hope that my Australian readers were quietly tucked up in bed and my North American counterparts were chilling out for the evening. And as for my UK neigbors you “should” have been fast asleep (fingers crossed).

However if you dropped by during that time I do apologise for any inconvenience.

Anyway all went well except for my header file; once again the code for the AdRotator seems to be the culprit. So I changed back to the default WordPress theme, edited my header theme file from the Vertigo Electrified theme and carefully copied and pasted my customized code in several stages. Now I do have a test blog and everything went fine. But I find on this domain I always strike a dead end of mishaps and misfortune.

As always I double check with my trusted video tutorial to ensure I was completing each step correctly before proceeding further. However I was still left with only my header file showing and no blog! All is well now in paradise.

Top Tips

Change you password periodically as John Chow has rightly added in his own post. John has provided detail of one major file that prompted the update because of a security issue; however I prefer to go for the full upgrade of files as usual.

Make a list of your scripts on your server and check to see if you have update them to the latest version. Make sure you sign up to an email notification list to be sure that you know about changes, security issue or script enhancements.

Just remember to keep ALL of your scripts updated to the latest version to avoid hackers from placing Phising scripts, Trojans and worse on your server without your knowledge. This script can execute a command to collect sensitive credit card data and account information. As a direct result of this activity your web host can and will suspend your account. That means you’ll have an ugly “SITE SUSPENDED” note on your domain which will remain there until you contact them to confirm you are not trying to conduct illegal activity on your server. Believe me this IS NOT good for your web site visitors to see and your credibility is diminished. Any new visitors will be so put off that they will NEVER come back.

This reason alone has prompted me to REMOVE all scripts and programs that I no longer use like some WordPress plugins and old scripts that are no longer supported by the original author. Don’t forget to remove unused WordPress themes too.

Why?

Because you will not have any reason to keep in abreast with upgrades and may easily forget that they still reside on your server. Just ensure ALL redundant scripts and PHP files are removed your server.

I have one more script to remove from my server which I should have done a while ago. That’s a link tracking script that went completely haywire and caused an unprecedented amount of errors and broken links. I vowed, never again. The author of the script has since disappeared without a trace. Just when I was considering the option to purchase the paid version. I’m so glad I didn’t give him a dime.

That will be a long and arduous task that I’m doing in “shifts”. The problem with repetitive jobs is that it becomes so mind numbing that the brain literally falls asleep and you make so many typing errors here and there that you defeat the object of correcting your links.

Yikes!

With many web hosts who provide Fantastic for simple installation and free online video tutorials that walk you through each step of the installation process there really is no reason why you should put off setting up a blog.

For the lazy marketer or anyone who DOESN’T WANT HASSLES then your best course of action is to simple host your blog at Wordpress.com. That way all you have to do is write your posts as EVERY SINGLE UPGRADE is perform automatically by WordPress. However you do not have the flexibility to do whatever you want in comparison to a self-hosted installation.

Oh well I have only two more blogs to go and the evil deed (upgrade) is done. Sheesh!
Its HALF FPRICE when I convert into Great British Pounds (GBP) so there’s is absolutely no excuse not to have the most current version. If you don’t want to perform upgrade then I suggest avoiding hosting scripts on your server altogether or hiring a trustworthy programmer to do these jobs for you.

Other Hosted Scripts

Ultimate Affiliate script appears to be one of the most robust of scripts I have used. I have the latest version and it serves me well for a hosted in-house affiliate program. I was thinking of using PayDotCom but decided to go for an in-house option.

Amember is another script I need to keep up to date. You can see it here. The latest version is 3.0.9 priced at $179.95. I purchased a copy for $139.95 some time ago but I believe it is still a bargain for the price. Plus also you get to install the Amember script on an unlimited number of domains without having to purchase additional licences. There hasn’t been an upgrade for some months now but when they send me an email notification you can be sure that I’ll be upgrading immediately.

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Comments

4 Responses to “Warning WordPress Update Left Me Headless”

JContest on February 9th, 2008 12:13 am

Hey, if you are into contests there is a great contest on YouTube for Valentines Day. The contest is to create a video for the holiday. Actually its two contests, one is to make a video talking about your great love and the second is to actually do an online video proposal called “Will You Marry Me?” Here’s the URL http://www.youtube.com/greatestlovestories?cm_cid=twb8. If you have a last minute entry great, otherwise check out the contest winners next week.
Nancy P Redford on February 18th, 2008 12:50 pm

Hi there,

I’m not but my readers may want to share the love. LOL

Good one,

Nancy
junbert on March 1st, 2008 4:55 pm

I enjoyed reading this post. It’s not as easy as you think updating WordPress at all as sometimes you run into problems…
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