Invisable admins

Have you checked the wp_users table in your database?

Hi esmi,
Yes, just did. There is only one admin listed in my database. But my WP dashboard counts three (and four users in total while there are only two!). (I’ve emptied all my caches several times) Is this something to worry about or just one of those mysteries?

Just had a brain wave; does it mean I’m administrator to three web sites? Even though I do have different logins for all three sites…

No.

How many users are there in the wp_users table?

two! one admin and one other.

Is 2 correct? You said that you created a new admin account and demoted the original admin, yes?

There’s a couple of possible reasons for the discrepancy:

– your database may need repairing. You should be able to do this via PhpMyAdmin

– one of your plugins is causing a problem. Try deactivating all plugins. If this works, re-activate the plugins one by one until you find the problematic plugin(s)

– your theme is the culprit. Try switching to the Twenty Ten theme and see if that helps.

Hi, esmi
Yes, two is correct.
I have my new admin user and my demoted one. However there have never been three admins for this website and I noticed that there were three before I changed the admin.
I have never “repaired” a database. Sounds scary. And the database is right about the amount of admins.
Are these ghost admins serious enough to get to the bottom of? If so,
I will try all the things you suggested tomorrow and tell you if it worked.

If there are no admins in the database, there’s nothing to worry about security-wise. The “ghosts” could be a side-effect of some minor database corruption or a bad plugin/theme.