Wednesday, November 27, 2013

WordPress Wednesday

There’s a blogging meme I often see on other blogs called Wordless Wednesday. Knowing me as you all do, you’ll easily guess that wordy Perpetua doesn’t do wordless very well. However, I can’t resist borrowing and twisting the title to express my utter frustration at trying to comment on the WordPress blogs I follow. For the last two days it's been a case of sometimes I can, but mostly I can’t, and it’s been driving me up the wall.

A quick ferret around in the depths of the WordPress help forums has cast some light on the subject. Apparently one or more of the servers which carry communication between users with certain UK internet service providers and WordPress have been falling down on the job, resulting in much gnashing of teeth around these islands. Normal service appears to have been resumed, but I won’t hold my breath just yet. I’m glad it isn’t only Blogger that has off days.

When life is stressful, there’s one sure-fire way to relax and here it is…..


Image via Google

47 comments:

  1. Not the brightest cat in the world is he?, but very true to life. Thanks hadn't seen this one.

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    1. I'd missed this one too, Ray, and thought it was such fun. I can well remember our cats being very suspicious when suddenly faced with a mirror. :-)

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    2. One of our two sibling cats... who is not a cat but an alien... was so self aware when it came to mirrors that she used on in the bedroom to watch her brother coming under the bed...
      and body slammed him as he came out... it was quite fabulous to watch!
      Nowdays she uses the mirror to see to clean her face...
      and the bits of her rotund body...
      that she can't see to clean anymore...
      as well!!

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    3. That's rather unusual behaviour in my experience, Tim, so I can see why you think her an alien. :-) I'd love to see her in action. This kind of thing is one of the many reasons why I so miss having cats, but our lifestyle doesn't allow us to have them. One day, when we finally settle down in one place, I shall have at least two again.

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  2. Sometimes I can't comment on wp blogs either and I can't blame it on a UK server.

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    1. This is the first time it's happened to me, though some WP friends quite often have problems trying to comment on my blog. Sigh... It was even harder on some UK WordPress bloggers who couldn't even get into their blogs today.

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  3. My husband blogs on WP and he swears by it but I once tried to start a blog there and it gave me nothing but trouble. I noticed that you live in three countries. My in-laws do too. Their permanent home is in New Zealand and then they divide some of their time between Panama and the US; they live in our neighborhood when they are here. I'm interested to read about your time in different places; they seem to be enjoying the lifestyle.

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    1. I have my blog backed up on WordPress, but prefer Blogger as long as it's working properly, because it allows much more flexibility.

      Our long-term home is in Wales, but since we retired we've been spending longish periods of time in France and Scotland each year, though this year has been an exception because of health issues. Your in-laws are doing this on a much bigger scale - not just different countries but different continents. :-)

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  4. I know people have had problems commenting on my Wordpress blog and I have had problems commenting on Blogger too...
    I write the comment, do the authentification or just confirm according to the blog settings....and it disappears into the ether.

    I did prefer the ambience of Blogger....Wordpress seems to be so U.S. biased with featured posts you wouldn't feed to your dog...but it seemed to go so wrong so often that it became frustrating.

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    1. I've never had any problems commenting on WordPress blogs until the last few days, but it's certainly very flaky at the moment for quite a lot of British users. I also have some WP readers who sometimes have trouble commenting here for some reason. These things are wonderful when they work, but when they don't....grrr....

      Though I like some technical aspects of WordPress I wouldn't want to make the move now that Blogger seems to be behaving itself pretty consistently. There are too many features in Blogger I would really miss, such as the automatically updating blog-roll. As for the featured posts, I've read some interesting rants on WP blogs about the ones that get selected. :-)

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    2. I can remember kicking up when the high heided yins on WP decided that they would feature more 'foreign' blogs - when they were reporting on something 'big' - of international interest.
      More than discriminatory, I thought, given some of the U.S. based drivel they normally feature.
      Apply the same criteria to that and there would be little to feature.

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    3. Crikey, how patronising can you get? I know the US is the centre of the universe in some quarters, but blogging is international communication par excellence and should be treated as such.

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  5. Leave it to Simon's cat to chase away the blogging blues, Perpetua. As a WordPress user, who is usually pleased, I'm sorry that you've had problems commenting and hope the problem is fixed faster that Simon can chase his reflection. Hope all is well, otherwise, with you and DH. It is very, very unseasonably cold here right now. Brrrr.

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    1. Simon's Cat really is the cure for what ails you, Penny. :-) WordPress does seem to be a pretty stable blogging platform and I was tempted to migrate when Blogger went through a bad patch, but decided to stay put. The problems at the moment seem to be confined to some British ISPs having trouble linking to WordPress, but it keeps recurring, hence the frustration.

      Otherwise we are both well, thanks and the weather is about what we would expect in late November. Hope it warms up for you.

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  6. Oh that Simon's Cat, he cracks me up every time :)) I am so ignorant I don't actually know what WordPress is, but no matter, it probably means I don't need it right now. Thanks for the giggle, and hope your eye is going well for you!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed Simon's Cat, Patricia. It makes me laugh every time. Myeye is healing really well, thanks.

      WordPress is a very big US-based blogging platform like Blogger and it usually works pretty well. It's used for a lot of professional and commercial blogs and websites, which is why any malfunction causes such problems for the users affected.

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  7. I like the look of Wordpress blogs, they somehow seem to look more professional and less homespun than Blogger, but I think I'll stick to what I know, warts and all.
    Simon's cat should be available on prescription, or shown in doctors' surgeries!

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    1. I agree with you about the clean professional look of WordPress blogs, Jean, which is of course why WordPress is the blogging platform of choice for most professional or commercial bloggers and for small websites. However this is also why any problems there are such a nuisance. If your income depends on your blog or website working properly, any downtime hits your pocket.

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  8. I think my blog friends are all on Blogger, but I can understand the frustration not being able to communicate with your Wordpress friends. The interaction is the most enjoyable part of blogging and I'm glad the technical problem has been resolved. 'Simon's cat' is always so amusing, so thanks for the clip!

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    1. Most of my blogging friends are on Blogger, but I have some good ones on WordPress also and hate not being able to read or comment there. The problem has resurfaced again today and it's very hit or miss as to whether I can connect or comment. Sigh....

      Simon's Cat is truly inspired and I enjoy every one.

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  9. You have introduced me to Simon's Cat and I always enjoy! I hope that by now the commenting problems have all disappeared. Every now and then I have the same problem in reverse, and can't leave a message on Blogger! And then recently I've found comments in my Spam again. Oh well...we do the best we can, don't we? ox

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    1. Debra, I practically forcefeed Simon's cat to everyone I know. :-) Such wonderful humour is made to be shared.

      Sadly the commenting and connection problems are still recurring intermittently, which is very hard for those UK-based WP bloggers who can't reliably get into their dashboards. Let's hope someone can ghet to the bottom of it. I know you sometimes have problems, as so some other WP bloggers and there seems top be no rhyme or reason about it. Sigh.... I don't get comments in my spam folders, but I've been having quite a lot of spam there recently, luckily all caught before it appeared on the blog.

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  10. I only follow one or two Wordpress blogs but do contribute to one along with several others. It often asks me who I am and wants me to confirm my password etc which makes me irritable.
    Good old Simon's Cat can always relieve our blogger tensions.

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    1. I get this too when i comment on WordPress blogs. I'm registered with WP as I have a private blog there, and i often have to log in to comment. Google seems to have stopped asking this of us, which is very convenient.

      Simon's Cat is just wonderful - so funny and sweet.

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  11. Well I still have one or two Blogger blogs that I can't comment on. Just as Helen has experienced with Wordpress, I type my comment, then it disappears. Fortunately these bloggers are friends on Facebook so I can keep in touch, but it is annoying, and I can't find a solution so far.

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    1. I've never had any problem commenting on Blogger blogs, once they sorted out a few teething problems with the embedded format you and I both use. It must be so annoying for you. Are these blogs hosted in one particular country or is it just random? Thank goodness you have Facebook to fall back on.

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    2. Two of them are in the US so I wonder if that's the problem?

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    3. Heaven only knows, Ayak. The current WordPress problems don't seem to be affecting US users, but everything is so interlinked it's difficult to know what causes things. Sigh....

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  12. Hari OM
    ...in the end all systems can only run according to the hardware they are sitting on and how good the user is at interfacing... sigh...

    Loved this cat tale. My Jasper used to sit and admire himself for ages. Jade used to like watching me in the mirror and would often go up to say hello to the other dog...

    Typing this from foggy, damp and 'fresh' Baylham. Safely landed yesterday and now at Aitch and Lady V's place till the weekend. Now for the next chapter. Hugs, YAM xx

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    1. What you say is very true, Yam, but unfortunately in this case the users themselves can't do anything about it. It's a server connection problem being experienced particularly by TalkTalk customers in the UK,. but also some with other ISPs.

      It's such fun watching animals interact with mirrors and Simon's Cat sums it up rather well.

      Welcome home to the good old UK - cold, grey and very autumnal. I do hope you packed your thermal undies. :-)

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  13. I get such a laugh out of Simon's Cat. I had seen this one before, but it doesn't matter, as I still get a lift out of watching them. Hope you are having a good day, despite the interweb problems.

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    1. It's wonderful how all the Simon's Cat cartoons make us laugh every time we watch them, Bonnie. I've had a lovely day, thanks, with a friend coming to see me this afternoon (I'm still not allowed to drive) which is why I'm so late replying.

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  14. How maddening. I too am finding WP a bit annoying at the moment. It is taking me an *average* of FIFTEEN MINUTES to load EACH photo onto it! We've looked at what cd be causing that and I think it does probably come down to WP being overloaded or something. Also, Safari doesn't seem to recognise WP half the time, so I have switched to Chrome: the photo speed is still almost unworkable, but at least I can access WP in the first place! Grrr. Thank you, then, for Simon's Cat, who always makes me laugh at life. :)

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    1. Fifteen minutes per photo? I think I'd be tempted to give up if it took me as long as this. I always resize my photos before uploading to Blogger - often down to 600 pixels wide. I know that wouldn't work for you, but if you could shrink them somewhat, it might help with speed of uploading. I do hope you can get to the bottom of what's causing this.

      Unfortunately the access problem to WP blogs still continues for a lot of people, judging by the patchy results when I tested the WP blogs I follow this morning. Time to watch Simon's Cat again, i think....

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  15. Marvellous Simon's Chat!
    I've been increasingly frustrated by Pordwress...
    so I'm migrating the only blog I have used it for to....
    Blogger.
    Fortunately it is a fairly short set of posts and there was some wonderful software on t'Internet that did it all...
    posts included!
    But... it linked all the pictures back to their original locations and transferred the pix as the screen size version.
    That has entailed clicking on each pic...
    downloading the full sized version...
    uploading it back into the blog...
    copying the caption...
    deleting the smaller version and caption on that...
    and my blog entries tend to be fairly picture heavy!!

    Simon's cat has allowed me to smile through the frustrations...
    tarmuchly!

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    1. Isn't it wonderful, Tim! Sorry you've been having blogging problems too. I actually migrated a back-up copy of my blog to WP a couple of years ago when Blogger was going through a very bad patch and the software works well both ways. Given the current problems with WP I'm very glad I'm still with Blogger. :-)

      If your blogs are picture-heavy and you upload large versions, do bear in mind that Google isn't as generous with free photo storage as WordPress. I've known picture blogs hit the storage ceiling quite quickly because they didn't resize images before uploading. It's these modern cameras with all their pixels..... :-)

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  16. I hadn't come across or heard about these problems with WordPress Perpetua. As you know my blog is a WordPress blog but on my own domain, rather than hosted by WordPress. Therefore I'm less likely to be affected. I have had problems with some Blogspot blogs where the blogger hasn't adjusted the settings to allow me to comment using my name/url. Instead, I'm asked for my Google Account which I don't have & don't want!

    Loved the latest Simon's Cat. Our new kitten is fascinated by mirrors too.

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    1. You have a new kitten, Ricky? I want pictures of your very own Simon's Cat. :-)

      The WordPress problems don't affect everyone, but certainly there are numbers of users in the UK, US and Australia who are being badly affected. I know there can sometimes be difficulties with comment settings in Blogger, but this is a very different situation, with no connection being made to the blog at all. Judging from some of the comments in the WP support forums, there are likely to be migrations from WP to other platforms after this week.

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    2. He has his own page on Facebook

      https://www.facebook.com/youkittencat

      You should be able to access it without being on Facebook. He will get his own blog post on rickyyates.com in due course.

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    3. Ooo, he's gorgeous, Ricky, and hasn't Oscar accepted him well.:-)

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    4. Oh gorgeous - he's so like the kitten I had when I was a teenager. NOT a 'ginger tom', but a real red tabby, and so intelligent. Ours was called 'Ginger Sandy Marmaduke Mephistopheles' - Djinn for short, according to my mother - and he was a real little devil at times!! But gorgeous with it, of course. You can probably see the green aura in mid-Wales from there! I don't have cats any more (we lost the last one a year ago, and haven't replaced her, to my sorrow, but we do have 2 silver-grey miniature poodles).

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  17. It's interesting to see you are having trouble commenting on Wordpress blogs. I have been having the same trouble with one particular blog, but it isn't a Wordpress one. I have been reading and commenting on it for ages, and suddenly it won't let me comment. I have no clue what is wrong. I'm hoping it eventually cures itself.

    Have you received your copy of Ting Ting yet?

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    1. The ways of blogging software are sometimes very mysterious, Kristie. The WordPress problem is far wider than just commenting as I often can't even access the blog to read. Then when I can read I can't always comment. Grrr! It's even odder for you in that it's only one blog you have problems with. I wonder whether the blogger concerned has changed some of his/her settings?

      Ting Ting hasn't yet arrived, but I'm expecting her by every post. :-)

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  18. I get frustrated with Word Press too, and I don't live in the UK. I am forever forgetting my password. Blogger has its issues, but it works most of the time.

    Your little kitten is cute. I've frightened myself a few times by walking into a mirror that I didn't know was there.

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    1. WordPress has an annoying habit of wanting us to log in regularly, but this problem is much bigger and is affecting users in various places. Blogger has had problems but seems pretty stable at the moment, thank goodness.

      I find all the Simon's Cat cartoons very funny and appealing. They are so well observed.

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  19. I didn't see this post- is my eyesight going, or is Bloglovin' following WP's example? Non, mais.. ?! Sarah had problems with WordPress too - hope it's all ironed out now. Otherwise, I love their platform! Love Simon's cat - wish mine was more like hm (the cat, obviously. Not Simon. ALthough Simon seems to be a very nive guy too...).

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    1. It was probably the sinusitis distracting you, MM. I do hope it's improving.

      The problem started about a week ago, particularly for users of TalkTalk which is a very major ISP here, but not only them. There were times when I couldn't access a single WP blog or my own dashboard (private blog on there) It seemed to have been resolved this morning, but I'm now getting posts from an ongoing thread in the support forums to say that the problem is recurring yet again for some people. Watch this space....

      Simon's Cat helped to keep me sane.:-)

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