Adventures · Inspiration

Why, oh, why do I try?

So WordPress changed things again.  And made a terrible mess of a post that I tried to write in the new editor.

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So I just deleted instead of trying to save it.

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It was such a nice post – but spell checker had screwed up perineal for perennial – YOWZERS!  That’s an embarrassing effort moment if I ever saw one!  Funny, but still…

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So…I tried to correct it and discovered that my post’s words had eventually disappeared after several attempts to edit it.  I couldn’t rescue it no matter what I tried.

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So it’s gone for eternity – I hope.  Glad I took pictures.  Good thing I’m resilient against the changes in WordPress…I shall persevere just like the violets in my garden.

Post Inspiration – Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday 

PS – What the heck WordPress – way to mess things up again? Are we just being forced to move on with the new editor or what?  Did you have trouble with WordPress today?  On to flowers…um, does anyone have tips on weeding out violets?  They survive even through the rocks!  

 

79 thoughts on “Why, oh, why do I try?

  1. Sorry…I’m sure that whole hosting situation is annoying as h*ll some days, but that auto correct made me do a double take. LOL. I’ll be watching for that one.

    Anyway, good job on cleaning up your gardens…you’re ahead of me for sure! I have way too many things on my plate this week. But every time I look out the window, I know I’ve got to make time this weekend to get it done.

    1. I was so irritated. But I’ve let it go…! I did speed cleaning, the beds definitely need more TLC, but at least the little plants can breathe and reach the sun now. I couldn’t resist using my lunch break to accomplish the top layer removal. I hope the weather is nice for you this weekend so you can get out there and get it done! We’re supposed to get rain, so I took the chance when it presented itself…even though the previous weekend was the opportune time. LOL!

  2. Sorry about the battle loss. I fight with the new editor periodically, but I haven’t tried to rely on it yet. I don’t think its fully ready for prime time. Nice recovery.

    1. Thanks, Dan. Just when I think I’ve found workarounds, they change something. I agree, it’s not ready for prime time yet!

  3. Ugh! You’re not the only one struggling with WP. A friend just tried to check out a new theme, and accidentally changed it instead of demo-ing it–only to find that her theme had been retired. So then she had to scramble to find one that worked! That’s why I’m so reluctant to try anything new on the site. Scary!

    1. It’s frustrating. I’ve thought about updating my theme, but am afraid of trying that on top of all the WP changes that keep happening. Sorry to hear your friend struggled too. You’re smart to stay clear of it until it ‘works’!

    1. I started out in Blogger, moved to WordPress, ‘cuz it’s better…blah’. I have my doubts. No, I haven’t heard of RoundUp either!?! Have you?

      1. RoundUp is a weed killer. It’s very effective (as I recall, it was called Agent Orange in Vietnam), but there are questions as to how safe it is. We’ve used it for years and so far we haven’t had any deleterious effects. Just don’t get it on any plants you want to keep. You can get it at Home Depot, Lowe’s, Ace Hardware etc.

        1. Ah, yes, Round Up. Mr. uses that on the weeds on our driveway. I haven’t used it in my flower beds before. Thank you for the suggestion!

  4. Well, that explains the email I got (as a follower) with the headline: “How I rescued my perineal flower beds in a half-hour speed cleaning session” – along with the first few lines of what was promising to be a GREAT post. When I clicked on it, it led to your site under “page not found” – just to let you know what happened from the other end. That editor format looks nightmarish. I was also considering a theme update, but now I hesitate. Losing a whole post would be very upsetting!! And I thought those “happiness engineers” were supposed to help.

    1. Yep, that’s exactly what happened! It was a great post, but I had to ditch it. The new editor can be fun, but it doesn’t work well between my .org and my .com accounts. I was quite upset to lose the whole post, but I didn’t let it beat me! I think the Happiness Engineers have their hands full. So many issues must be hard to deal with!

  5. There is a plug-in to go back to the classic editor. Beware, though, it might make prior posts created with Gutenberg go wonky.

    1. I haven’t accepted the new editor yet. Maybe that’s why the post didn’t work!? I have to CHOOSE to use it, instead just be able to try it?! Sigh…I hope that’s not the case!

  6. I am *terrified* to try this new editor. I’m dragging my feet for now but someday it’s not doing to give me an option. I suspect I’ll be crying in a bowl of ice cream that day.

  7. It’s like WP is on crack, needing the next hit, doing anything to get it regardless of who they hurt in the process.

    As for the violets, I don’t know how to get rid of them either. But I do know that ignoring them seems work for me. I just pretend they’re exactly what I want and voilà I like ’em.

    1. That’s an excellent description of WP – it’s gone crazy.
      LOL – I must confess, I love your advice about the wild side of violets – ignore and they shall prevail just like I planned it. I wish the deer would eat them…did you ever write about violets and deer? No, that’s right, that was Pansies! 😉 They’re both purple, not fuscia, by the way!

  8. I agree with John Holton. Should WP retire the good old legacy editor, I’m gone for good! I really don’t see why anyone uses that stupid Gutenberg thing. It’s horrid!

    1. Thanks for sharing, I agree, the Classic Editor is more user friendly. I’m following you now so I can see how you navigate the world of Gutenberg! Congrats on taking the plunge!

  9. Every time WP makes some kind of improvement, I shudder. So sorry, you lost an entire post. I can imagine your frustration Shelley.

    Now, on my WP app, if I take a look at recent followers, I can only click into the most recent followers. all the other followers are no longer linked. So, they have made it even harder to reciprocate a follow or the courtesy of reading their work.

    Some day the geniuses at WordPress will get it right after they finish playing with their crayons and their Lego action figures.

    1. I appreciate the sympathy, Drew. I love your analogy about the crayons and Legos!! LOL! WOW – I didn’t notice that part of the changes re: followers. I’ve heard others complain about losing followers, that must be what they were talking about? As a paying customer, I don’t appreciate them messing with things, and treating us as if we all purchased the beta version. Sigh…

      1. Exactly. I don’t have a fancy site. I am a paying customer, but I try to keep my site simple because of my lack of faith in WP.

        Have a beautiful day

    1. I just was about to comment and say mine had too! I’ve installed Grammarly on my laptop now and that seems to do the trick!!!

      1. LOL – yes, it has been incorporated into the background. I have the free version of Grammarly on my computer, and that helps too.

  10. So sorry, you lost an entire post. I can imagine how frustrating it would be for you!
    I’m still hooked on the old editor, had installed a plug-in for that though.

    1. Thank you for your empathy!! So far, the new editor is the plugin I’m being tempted to try. You’re not alone in liking the classic editor – so many people prefer the ease of it.

  11. Have you tried cutting the heads and leaves off the violets and dabbing with salt a few days in a row?

    My WordPress is all wonky at the moment too… my spell check on the classic editor has disappeared and the one on Gutenberg doesn’t want to work at all… xxx

    1. Oh, my, no, I’ve yet to try that technique with the violets. Does it dry them up and they go away? Yeah, WP was acting funky for sure. They should have some special Happiness Engineer that writes a daily post about what might happen. The thing is I bet they can’t even imagine what is going to happen, so they just go for it with their fingers crossed and then deal with the aftermath. I hope it works better for you today.

      1. I’d assume so! The salt works really well with dandelions and other plants!

        That would be a good idea with someone doing a daily blog about what might happen! I’d read it! At least we could be a bit more prepared! Xx

        1. Wow – I’ll have to try that salt idea! Thank you for the tip.
          If only I knew enough about the WP changes to do so, I’d do it. You’d think they’d want to do it to help people!

  12. The violets and dandelions brighten my lawn as I’ve got a scary-looking grassless patch on my city property that is mounded up like a grave. It happened last year and I don’t think the squirrels are storing their peanuts there. I published a post today in Gutenberg, but I did it yesterday and set it to launch for today at 5:45, however … it did not launch at 5:45. I went in and checked the publish time – yes, 5:45 and it was after 6:00 so I launched it then, hoping I wouldn’t have a second launch later (my e-mail subscribers might think I lost it). I now know why there was a 404 error in your first post, after I clicked to go to your site. No words.

    1. Yeah, sorry for the post mishap! At least we’re both finding ways to find pops of colorful joy in our blogging struggle day(s)!

      1. It is a PIA – they want us to gravitate over there, but then there are issues. Because the weather folks are predicting a very stormy early evening, I got up at the crack of dawn to do a post about the goslings I saw yesterday morning. (I’d have waited until Friday night to post it, but that 5K is early Saturday morning and I need to get up, ready, out and there earlier than I’m accustomed to, so didn’t want to linger over comments responses Saturday morning.) So anyway, I have stayed in “G” since going there on 04/14. First, this a.m., no justification available – not a big deal as it doesn’t show up in Reader anyway, and I’m sure my e-mail followers aren’t saying to themselves “no consistency here” but annoying nonetheless. And I loaded a lot of pics and did captions. Somehow I forgot the header photo, and trying to put the *&^% header photo there after you’re done the rest of the post doesn’t seem to fly very well. I discovered that last week, when I decided to change header photos before launching the post. You cannot return to the the big headline and then insert an image … it goes to the bottom of the post … three times I tried (I might have learned the first time last time, but I tried anyway). The solution is that you have to insert your image after the first paragraph, then remove the first paragraph, and create a new paragraph after the header image. Otherwise, regardless of where you have your cursor, it does not work! That is annoying to me. The other day I put a subheading in and WP/”G” repeated that subheading again, and I don’t know how that happened. Even after what I thought was a thorough proofread in “draft” and then in “preview” I didn’t see it … saw it last night and cringed. “The sun was on strike!” appears twice. And I thought I lost my post this morning after I saved the final draft, went to preview to ensure everything looked good and it said “no post” but showed the link to what will be tonight’s post. ???? I clicked the “X” and returned to draft and selected “preview” again and it was okay. Don’t know what that was about either. I’m willing to keep using “G” since I draft in Word and copy and paste over and have my pics in folders, so if I lose it I just start over and any creativity is not lost in cyberspace like what happened to you Wednesday morning, but still … thanks for letting me rant, but I’ll share my issues with you and don’t know if I should share with WP too?

        1. That same thing happens to me with the Feature Photo. I have noticed that it seems to have a different meaning, i.e., it shows up as the little icon on recent posts if a follower has a widget that refers to ‘blogs they read or followed recently’. All I know is it isn’t smooth yet, and quite frustrating. I appreciate the ease of just writing right into the editor, versus Word. You’re a saint to keep trying. I’ll pay attention and see what you learn. Thanks for taking one for the team! PS – your post with Parker and the dandelions is delightful!

          1. It definitely needs smoothing out … I still having tried a side-by-side image/text and will try that in the near future. I would likely draft right in WP if I did not do my contribution to Patch.com to their community forum. When I copy-and-paste text from WP to Patch, I get those little marks like the small arrows or circles and if I use many small paragraphs it takes a while to move them over there, one by one. The individual post images are gallery style. Sometimes I think I’ll stop posting there but it is something else for my resume, should I ever need it down the road (hopefully not). Also I archive all the pics and posts. I will keep sharing what I learn with you Shelley. Glad you liked Parker – he was a cutie in those photos. You’ll like the goslings photos … some that I was able to get close up they look very sweet. I’ll get closer to them through the next 6-8 weeks and I wish I had taken the big camera, but I usually just carry the compact camera on a weekday. We are having a robust thunderstorm tonight – ugh.

          2. I’ll have to try a simple side-by-side Shelley … like you, my posts are usually long. Glad you liked the goslings. We usually have several families – last year three of them at all different stages. Within a month I predict I’ll be posting pics of these goslings, getting their gray and black coloring, almost as big as their parents, blocking the walking path and with a whole lot of attitude. Your best bet is walking on the grass to avoid getting them riled up.

          3. That post is stunning in B&W Shelley. I have never done a whole post in B&W. I intended to do so after attending a Model A car show in our city last year, but the B&W did not show how some of those old cars shone like crazy in the sun, so I did one car in B&W for the header and that was it. The ducklings are so sweet and cuddly – was one paddle Muscovy Ducks? A fellow blogger raises that type of duck and used to feature them on her blog and they were different looking. You captured the down and their sweet faces. I may try to get to Heritage Park after that 5K tomorrow to see the new ducklings at Coan Lake, but at Heritage Park they have a 12-hour Relay for Life Cancer Walk there so it may be difficult to get near enough to get to the pond to see those ducklings.

          4. Thank you. That duck family was adorable. I’m not sure what kind they were. They were also very cute in color too. The momma duck was very protective. I hope you find some to get photos of today! Enjoy your walk – hope the weather holds out for you!

          5. We have a Sandhill Crane in Kensington Park (not near me but I’d love to see this). She has adopted a gosling and raising it alongside her own offspring. The chicks are the same size and someone took pictures of the two babies, side by side – just adorable!

  13. But, now I want to know how you rescued your perineal flower beds. And I have a mental image of a perineal flower bed that makes me giggle! And I think if I ever develop perineal flower beds, I will try a good half-hour cleaning session to get rid of them! 😀

    I am only going to use the new WordPress editor when they drag me in kicking and screaming!

    1. LOL – I’m glad you found humor in my crazy mishap. I was laughing when I first discovered it, then panicked and worried…!
      I’ll be right behind you kicking and screaming too – the way they are rolling this out is ridiculous to me.

  14. I’ve gone back to the Classic Editor, because I found it too time-consuming, esp. after Linda told me she had to re-follow me when I switched to the new editor. Now I’m wondering if I’ve lost other followers? Or if some of the people I follow aren’t showing up for me either?

    1. I’m glad you found your way back to the Classic Editor. I just had someone comment that they had lost followers too. I sure hope they figure it out soon!

      1. That’s interesting, as the H.E. said he’d never heard of that. I will follow up with him.

  15. I lost my spellcheck with Word Press. I thought it was just me. That maybe I pressed the wrong button or something. Now, if I misspell something, the word is just highlighted and I have to search the internet dictionary to find out how to properly spell it. Annoying.

    1. Yep, it’s gone. I’m sure someone probably said, “It’s annoying to have to click on the spell-checker, just do it automatically.” So they added that functionality. Annoying that they take away the useful functions.

  16. I feel your pain! Something similar has happened and my whole post disappeared on my phone app.
    Glad you persisted and rewrote!

    1. Oh, man, I’d be so mad if I had typed it on my phone and then lost a post. Grr… Thank you for appreciating my rescue efforts for the post!

  17. Hi, Shelley – It’s ironic that in a post about rescuing your flower beds, you were unable to rescue the post itself. Call me a dinosaur, but I have stayed with the Classic Editor and ain’t moving until dragged kicking and screaming! At least for now, it works for me. 🙂

    1. I know, right – the irony in my life sometimes just has to make me laugh out loud or cry. Mostly laugh. I’m happy to embrace keeping the Classic Editor – it isn’t easy to just try the other one and go back like it was at first. So I’m with you in sticking it out until forced.

  18. Why change something when it’s not broken, I find the new editor troublesome! You’ve stirred a hornet’s nest with this post Shelley.

    1. LOL – yeah, Marie – it’s a hot topic. The Classic editor seems to be very user friendly, and the new one, not so much!

  19. Hi Shelley, I met you through Donna’s Retirement Reflection site. You have an amazing site. I love photos! Although, I am such an amateur photographer. I found out very recently a glitch on my WP site, where I can comment and reply only through Reader. In the past I was using mainly Dashboard, thinking all was okay. I found out my replies looked like comments and so on. I have a bandaid solution for now. Very funny on “perennial” mix up. Thank you for sharing:) Erica

    1. Hi Erica/Ericka (that’s funny…I’ve been known as Shelly/Shelley sometimes!). Thank you for stopping by and saying hi. I appreciate your kudos about my blogging efforts! Oh, my, I use my Dashboard all the time. It doesn’t WORK? WTH!?!!?!?!?!? That’s so weird. I better check it out, too! Thank you for sharing. Thank you too for stopping by and sharing your thoughts and tips! It’s nice to meet you here!

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