Can’t get rid of ‘duplicate post was created’; can’t edit URL slug;

  • Resolved mark_l_sanders

    (@mark_l_sanders)


    2 years, 10 months ago

    I have a post that is permanently displaying the A duplicate of this post was made. Please note that any changes you make to this post will be replaced when the duplicated version is republished message.

    The post has been updated multiple times. It does not display a Republish button.

    The post slug is /fine-art-2. I believe I accidentally created a ‘Rewrite and Republish’ copy of the original, and then deleted the original (or maybe the copy). That was my bad – I just wanted to see what Rewrite/Republish did.

    I now need to edit the URL SLUG back to ‘fine-art’…..even though I am allowed to do this in the editor, the change doesn’t persist.
    So I am stuck with ‘/fine-art-2’. When I visit ‘fine-art’ I get a 301 Redirect back to, of course ‘/fine-art-2’.

    Changing permalink structure doesn’t help. The slug remains the same.

    This is a bit of an SEO disaster :(.
    I believe the plugin has ‘taken’ the original slug and will not release it. Can I delete it from somewhere?

    The site is still in development but I will disable Maintenance Mode for a day so you can investigate. Help, please!

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Plugin Support Michael Ti?a

    (@mikes41720)

    Hi @mark_l_sanders

    When you use the ‘rewrite & republish’ feature, it creates a draft of the already published post with the added ‘— Draft, Rewrite & Republish of X’.

    The original post itself will have the message of ‘A duplicate of this post was made. Please note that any changes you make to this post will be replaced when the duplicated version is republished.’ so what you are editing is likely the original post itself.

    Can you try and locate the rewrite & republish draft of that post? Or if you’ve accidentally deleted it, could you check the trash filter in the posts overview section and see if it can be restored?

    Thread Starter mark_l_sanders

    (@mark_l_sanders)

    Hi Michael
    There is nothing in the trash.
    If I am looking at the original, do you know why it might have the ‘duplicate’ slug?
    Best – mark

    Plugin Support Michael Ti?a

    (@mikes41720)

    Hi,

    Using the ‘rewrite & republish’ function shouldn’t change the slug from /fine-art/ to /fine-art-2/.

    The post/page with this message or notification of “A duplicate of this post was made. Please note that any changes you make to this post will be replaced when the duplicated version is republished” would be the original post or page.

    It’s possible you have another post or page on your site that might have the same slug of /fine-art/ as it’s not possible to have 2 posts that have the same slug, which is why WordPress adds the -2 at the end.

    Thread Starter mark_l_sanders

    (@mark_l_sanders)

    Michael
    I am aware that it is not possible for two pages to have the same slug.
    As I wrote in the post: When I visit ‘fine-art’ I get a 301 Redirect back to, of course ‘/fine-art-2’.
    Any suggestions other than this, please? As a longstanding WP admin I am asking for your help as a respected plug-in developer before I go rooting around in the database.

    Thanks

    Plugin Support Michael Ti?a

    (@mikes41720)

    Hi,

    When checking ‘fine-art’ we do see that the x-redirect-by is being handled by WordPress and is 301 redirecting to ‘fine-art-2’, so you’ll need to check if there is a server-level redirect or something else on your setup – https://snipboard.io/uOHLqF.jpg

    Using the ‘rewrite & republish’ feature shouldn’t set up any redirects or change the slug as when it is republished, it should just be published and overwritten under the same slug.

    If you’re unable to identify where the redirect is coming from, we recommend that you reach out to your web host or developer for further assistance.

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Michael Ti?a.
    gabriel

    (@gabrielzalisz)

    I faced the same problem, namely the false notification ‘A duplicate of this post was made. Please note that any changes you make to this post will be replaced when the duplicated version is republished.’.

    It seems to me that Yoast Duplicate Post Plugin doesn’t remove an entry from wp_meta table with the key _dp_has_rewrite_republish_copy after republish is done. As soon as I removed it manually from database, everything got back on track and Rewrite & Republish button appeared again.

    @mikes41720 can you look at this, please?

    @mikes41720 I also have a similar problem – I have a post where the error message is displayed but there is no Draft version and nothing in the bin.

    How can I correct this error – just the manual DB update as suggested by @gabrielzalisz or is there a better way??

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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