cnwilsonbellsouthnet

Hi George,
I know you’re trying to help so I don’t mean to sound like a smart butt, but wordpress update, wordpress theme update- same thing to me ’cause it destroyed 20 or 30 hrs of work (and naggin’ from the wife about gettin’ off that computer!)

My provider charges a monthly fee for backup/restore. I have the files on my pc here at home but I’m leaning toward moving off wp because of this.

I’m not a programmer or developer, but I have been in IT for over 25 years. I am director of network ops at a very large company. I am Cisco ccie. Many years ago, I was a system admin on Novell and Windows NT systems. Never have I heard of an update method which destroys a subdirectory that contains custom files and re-installs. Amateurish method, at best. Trust me, where I work someone would be fired. Probably two people- the guy that did it and his boss. I’ve seen it happen more than once.

Keith I don’t know what you mean by “theme and plugin devs are made aware of this.” Do you mean developers or devices? It doesn’t matter either way because all I can tell you is that I did a lot of research on a package to use. I have never used it but WordPress claimed to be the best and most flexible for customization. I installed it and registered it about 45 days ago -even paid for a couple of plugins for it. I created some customization as described in the manuals and hints from forums….Spent a couple of hundred hours setting everything up and then “poof”. Nowhere did I see a warning that this could happen. So obviously I wasn’t made aware of it. I got no notice, no email, that my site would be upgraded (and trashed.) Had I received such notice, I would have probably opted out at this point because it is still a new install to me. If I did want the upgrade, I would make sure that there was a back-out plan in place. Truthfully, the way it is done in the real world, I would have installed it in a test region first to make sure it worked properly. Thankfully they didn’t touch my html or I would be completely down.

One point though about wordpress.
Whether I initiated an update, wordpress initiated an update, or a plug-in caused the update….

regardless. The update process should not delete files that are not part of the software distribution. Period. no matter what directory they are in. imo

If I install a patch to Word on my pc, it doesn’t go in and delete all my document files……….

my files were: display_gallery.php blank_page1.php blank_page2.php
slideshow.php and test.php they were located under themes/twentysixteen, which is precisely where the documentation I found said to put them.

It’s domain.com

I may have found the culprit- The mojo market. There is a page in their settings for auto update manager.. I turned everything off.

Still frustrated though… since the method of customization I had created (and it worked fine) by attaching pages to custom templates is no longer supported in the new 2016… or at least it can no longer be accomplished from a drop-down selection box. This drop-down was in the “add new page” area on the right panel heading “Page Attributes”. That option is gone now so I’ll have to go back to square one if I continue to use this product.

I may abandon WP altogether as it is not nearly as easy to customize (for an amateur )as claimed and I have had more responses hosting the forum/bbs functions on facebook. I can keep the rest of my site simple html where I am in complete control and it loads faster, too.

Here are the plugins that are installed:
akismet – supposed to help prevent spam
foo gallery – a photo gallery – installed but not active
formidable – forms plugin – active but not in use
huge it gallery – photo gallery
jet pack – i should deactivate this one
mojo market
w3 total cache
wp booklet

They’ve been back to see me again. I just logged in (for the first time today) and now other themes, one that are installed but not in use, were updated, too.
5:43am this morning. (While I was sleeping)

There are several different responses and questions here. I will try to address them all.

1. The wordpress update broke parts of my site.
One of the issues is that, prior to the update, one could go to the pages/add page section and there was an option to select the approriate template for the new page. (Or change the template for an existing page) That option is now completely gone. I had a few pages using templates that I created from scratch. Now they use the default template.

2. The wordpress update was done without my authorization or knowledge; it overwrote the 2016 theme package. In doing so, it also deleted several .php files that I had written.

3. No I did not manually initiate an update, either intentionally or accidentally. I just installed this less than a month ago so why should I already need an update? I have not even finished initial development yet. I had not even been on the system on the day that this occurred. The new files are time-stamped Apr 12, 4:09pm. I’m at work at that time and I can’t get on the system until I get home. And just an fyi to the gentleman who said that wordpress would not have updated the theme automatically…. Well clearly they did. WordPress files and the 2016 theme files all have the same new time stamp on them.

5. I did not make edits to the original theme. I simply created several custom page templates. (And wordpress deleted them.) Further, even if I restore or recreate them, they will no longer work because of the change wordpress made (#1 above). I find this counterproductive to a product that boasts and encourages modifications to “make it your own.”

4. I never said that hackers did this. I simply likened wordpress to hackers. Anyone that gains write/delete access to my site without my approval is, in my mind, a hacker. No hard feelings as that would even include my lovely bride.

5. Truthfully, the damage to my site can be fixed. I’m pretty angry about the amount of time I spent and now it’s in the toilet…. but it can be fixed. Of course, I’m also angry about the amount of time it will take to fix it. BUT… I am most angry about wordpress “hacking” into my site. It’s that same kind of feeling one gets after their home has been burglarized.

6. The URL… well I’ve had to remove some of the links to the broken pieces until I can get them fixed. Thankfully much of my site is straight up html so that part is still good. What’s left is at https://fentanylgeorgia.com

Theme 2016.. no child theme … no I did not update the theme… but wordpress did. Yes I have my site backed up.

For me there are two issues…
One is that wordpress broke my site…
The second is that someone was able to access my site and delete MY files. To me, this is the more serious concern… this borderlines on illegal activity. If you can delete MY files, then you can also gain access to sensitive data.
Now you may want to tell me that this is in some user agreement that I clicked on, but in no way was there a meeting of the minds on this subject.

My immediate plans are to discuss security options with my hosting company and then to re-develop my site using other tools. My site is a non-profit, community service site; it is funded completely out of my own pocket. I simply don’t need to have to deal with crap like this from a bunch of wanna-be hackers.