Haydenator

Good news,

The problem turned out to be an old index.php file in the public_html area. For whatever reason, the file had those two favicon lines at the end, after the wordpress lines.

It explains why, after I had deleted my wordpress installation and installed a fresh new one, it remained and continued to haunt me. I deleted it, copied one from the wordpress installation a few folders deep and edited it to point to the right direction.

Anyway, thanks again for your help Esmi. I’m glad to put this problem behind me.

Cheers.

Hello and thanks again Esmi,

That’s the odd thing. I haven’t used any plugins for it and it played up before I added a favicon via the premium theme’s options.

Funnily enough, I can now compare both feeds for the main site, at the same time. This totally ignores the extra test installation.

haydenator.com/woot/feed/

haydenator.com/feed/

It seems that Schrodinger’s cat has made it into my RSS as the problem both exists and doesn’t exist. Maybe it’s got something to do with my host. About six months ago we were having redirecting problems and they wrote a few rules around it. Maybe it effects my root URL.

Other than that, I’m still not sure.

Hello Esmi,

Thank you for your reply. I have now disabled all plugins. Moved the plugin folder to another location on the server and switched to the Twenty Eleven theme. I’ve also disabled my host’s cloudflare support. Everything is as close to stock as I can get it.

I’ve cleared my browsers cache but the problem appears to remain.

What I’ve also just done is create a new wordpress installation in another folder and slowly build up. First the theme, then the plugins, then a few fake posts… All fine.

I go back to my main site. Change the site address URL to match the wordpress address URL, eg. from .com to .com/main-install-folder. Problem goes away, RSS feed is happy. I change it back, RSS mucks up again.

I’m not quite sure what to make of it.

[email protected], I have simply explained my logic and answered the points you have raised. It is nothing personal, except a quip I have made about your excited promotion of another plugin on a support forum, which was not sarcasm. I was bemused.

I don’t claim to have any “facts”, simply observations. I don’t feel that either of us have the right to claim anything as fact in this regard. There is only one instance that I have claimed something as fact:

The fact you’ve made multiple posts of the same nature and then made a thread about it, deserved another side to it.

You have claimed fact no less than 21 times in this thread.

I have simply provided alternate explanations for your claims, ending with an even number of posts.

I have no further points to raise about the plugin, as I rebutted your statements and replied with my own experainces. I’m not claiming your experiences are wrong, but simply that your experiences and claims do not speak for everyone.

I have no need to rebute your statements with my own from now on, as I can simply quote what has already been said.
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R

I’m still trying to figure out why YOU have such an ax to grind to “protect” a free plugin.

H

WordPress doesn’t have many forum alternatives, and I know I’d rather support the people who attempt to support us.

H

I don’t think it’s respectful to create a thread on the forums as a bait-and-switch for another plugin.

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R

You take it as a “bash” on the developers, which it was not.

R

This is both hilarious and pathetic. I quote: “Have you been looking for a Forum Plugin for WordPress that just works? Then look no further!”

R

Best of all… it HAS an “Add Topic” button that “just works.” LOL

R

Big developer-credibility problem here! I HATE wasting my time. So, I hope my post helps steer people away from this junk to something that will work.

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R

YOU are the one who has been hostile from the outset, as I just pointed out.

As above +

R

you make logical leaps over tall buildings that would make Superman proud!

R

your idea that you can extrapolate ANYTHING from the relative “fairly low” number of people posting here is ridiculous on so many levels that I won’t even start to take the space to point them out. They SHOULD be obvious. Terrible statistics, and terrible logic.

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R

So, rather than to, again, impugn my character and motives, you might instead offer some explanation of how it can POSSIBLY be (in a properly functioning plugin) that the site ADMIN does not get the button!

H

If I cannot see “New Topic” I’ve found it’s generally because:

A) I’ve created a category, but have not filled that category with forums.

or

B) I’ve got a category and a forum but I’m viewing from the forum board level, not the forum level. EG. Forum hub (aka categories in back-end) > Forum board. Instead of Forum hub (aka categories) > Forum board > Forum.

It takes three (3) levels deep to make topics (commonly known as threads).

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R

You can debate on an on the relative merits of this or that plugin. Those are all going to be very subjective assessments. But the OBJECTIVE fact is that Mingle is the ONLY forums plugin in which for (some/many) people, the site ADMIN cannot even get far enough to create a topic in a forum!

R

But the OBJECTIVE fact is that Mingle is the ONLY forums plugin in which for (some/many) people, the site ADMIN cannot even get far enough to create a topic in a forum!

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R

And your idea that you can extrapolate ANYTHING from the relative “fairly low” number of people posting here is ridiculous on so many levels that I won’t even start to take the space to point them out. They SHOULD be obvious. Terrible statistics, and terrible logic.

R

Many people have the problem of this missing button after installation, and even Admin users don’t get access to it!

R

Many people are having the same problem, and the developer is not responding to this fundamental problem in timely fashion.

R

It does NOT “just work” for many users, which is the topic of this thread.

R

I myself was one of the many users that added to the download statistic you are mentioning here

R

But the OBJECTIVE fact is that Mingle is the ONLY forums plugin in which for (some/many) people, the site ADMIN cannot even get far enough to create a topic in a forum!

R

For some/many people, with Mingle forums, you’re just never going to get that far!

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R

It does NOT “just work” for many users, which is the topic of this thread.

WP

Mingle Forum
No “Add Topic” button

R

If you want a WP forum that in fact “just work,” check out Simple Press (not on the WP site). The free version is simply awesome, and you can purchase premium features, plugins, and additional themes. After pouring my time into the alternatives here on the WP site, I finally came across Simple Press, and it IN FACT “just works.”

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R

Oh, and I’m not going to get into a back-and-forth with you on this thread, so if you reply, I won’t be baited. The facts are what they are.

R

Sorry I didn’t chose a username that suits you… … …among the unlucky for whom Mingle forums does not “just work.”

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R

On a few occasions, I’ve argued with somebody like you in the past. I’ve learned that such arguments are not about facts; they are about “winning.”

As previous quote.
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R

You need to “win” by any tactics. So, whatever else you want to say, I’ll just concede: you “win.” I’m done.

H

I wish you the best with your forum, for everyone else, I’ve been using it for three months and it works >for me<.

It is interesting to see how personally you have taken my reply.

RE: Plugging. I never once said that you were affiliated with simple:press. Your username is the email of the president of conclusivesystems.com. It’s rare that I see an email address on a forum as a username, let alone as the companies president. Behaving so hostile representing one’s company must be great for image.

If it doesn’t work out, I’m fairly sure simple:press will hire you though as a brand champion. Besides managing to rubbish Mingle Forums in all of your posts on Support, you’ve do a great job marketing simple:press.

“I’m just finishing configuration of Simple Press, and so far I’m very impressed. The basic forum seems far superior to those on the WordPress plugins pages. And the settings are extremely fine-grained, yet intuitive! Both signs of back-end power and thoughtful coding.

The company charges for support, premium features, and plugins to the software. But the base forum is extremely configurable and robust even as a free version! You can even match component… “

In short, THIS is the forum application that installs neatly into WP, is wonderfully configurable, is incredibly robust, AND is in fact IS “Forum Plugin for WordPress that just works.”

Perfect integration with existing WP users and user groups. Even a “badge” system for ranking users by number of posts, WITH the ability to auto-assign ranks to user groups (so, for example, you could establish a ‘major contributor’ rank and auto-add somebody reaching that rank to the ‘moderators’ group. Very fine-grained in every way.

This is, honestly, the best forum software I’ve seen in or out of WP.

If you want a WP forum that in fact “just work,” check out Simple Press (not on the WP site). The free version is simply awesome, and you can purchase premium features, plugins, and additional themes.

Seriously.

It’s interesting to see that you’ve even made your very own thread, purely to tell people not to use this plugin, and instead to use simple:press.

RE: Statistics. It’s interesting that you can infer that by reading a handful of threads can mean that the plugin is “broken” for a large user base, and then go onto a crusade about it. I’ll resist slurring your abilities.

RE: Time. If your time is worth so much, you wouldn’t bother replying. I’d like to think about the time the developer has put in over the years for this plugin, to get nothing in return. WordPress doesn’t have many forum alternatives, and I know I’d rather support the people who attempt to support us. If not, at least be objective about it. It’s like people who mistreat the support forum volunteers, it’s just not right.

It’s odd that the core functionality of a plugin that has been around for 2+ years doesn’t work. Surely if there was something so drastically wrong, it would be really well known by now. Surely user error has nothing to do with it. Especially since I encountered similar problems and I thought the exact same thing. It’s easy to blame developers.

RE: Caching: I used the word “generally”.

RE: Just working. BBpress didn’t “Just work” for me, I had a few obstacles that took working out first. I’m not going to bash it. I appreciate the effort others put into it and it wasn’t what I needed.

RE: “Set up” / “configuration”. Either way something as expansive as a forum will always require that element.

RE: Leaping to the developer’s defence. I read through the other forum threads before deciding to rebut such a erroneous claim. The fact you’ve made multiple posts of the same nature and then made a thread about it, deserved another side to it.

Re: Suggestions. My suggestions were for other people who may come across this thread. In none of your posts have you even mentioned how you configured Mingle Forums. How can anyone help you? Did you even want help? I doubt.

Nothing is ever so black and white. I don’t think it’s respectful to create a thread on the forums as a bait-and-switch for another plugin.

I wish you the best with your forum, for everyone else, I’ve been using it for three months and it works >for me<.

Wow, you’re sure going out of your way to rubbish a developer who’s been providing free plugins for years. I’d be embarrassed if I shamelessly plugged my own company while disrespecting a developer of free products on the same screen.

I’ve had Mingle Forums installed since May and while I find some things are counter-intuitive, I’ve had no problems with it, nor likely most Mingle Forum users. Considering the number of users that download it each week (1,800 just for last), I’d say the number of questions on the support forum is fairly low. I also haven’t noticed much activity from the developer lately, but I don’t expect to considering that I don’t owe them anything.

I moved from simple:press because it was a bit bloaty for my needs and I couldn’t skin it the way I wanted. I had been using BBPress before that and found it didn’t suit me. There’s nothing wrong with them though but they don’t magically set themselves up or “Just work”.

Finally there is no “Add Topic” button. It’s “New Topic” and provided a user is A) Registered and B) added to the user group and C) user group assigned to the category (if private), they can see and participate in the forum.

If you’ve disabled “Registration required to post” obviously the above doesn’t apply. If an unregistered visitor makes a topic or post in a public forum and it does NOT show up for them, it’s likely due to caching (conversely, logged in users generally don’t get served cached data, so they’ll get the update in real-time).

If I cannot see “New Topic” I’ve found it’s generally because:

A) I’ve created a category, but have not filled that category with forums.

or

B) I’ve got a category and a forum but I’m viewing from the forum board level, not the forum level. EG. Forum hub (aka categories in back-end) > Forum board. Instead of Forum hub (aka categories) > Forum board > Forum.

It takes three (3) levels deep to make topics (commonly known as threads).

Nothing “Just works” without setting it up properly first.

I use it for our guild forums. So far we’ve gone through the BBpress and Simple:Press as options. The former was too light and the latter was bloated and ugly. Apparently simple:press now charge for access to their support forums.

We’ve been using Mingle since May and although Mingle Forums can be a bit light and doesn’t offer all the customisation that we’d want ideally for our niche use of it, I’ve found it to be reliable and we like it enough to start skinning it to match the rest of our wordpress. While admittedly not the most intuitive of forums that I’ve used (at least as a visitor), its caused me the least BS as an admin, and so I don’t mind compiling a little hints and tips section for our members who want to get the most out of it.

With the PM plugin also made by the developer, we’ve found the forums to be a happy medium. While sometimes I entertain thoughts of attempting to bridge PHPBB for a more complete and integrated package, I don’t think the wall next to me can stand too many more blows, nor could my forehead.

I did find youtube instructions for the Mingle Forums and they’ve been helpful. Maybe the reason why the forums appear blank is because the site admins have hidden the shortcode on a private page. We used to do that till we bit the bullet and decided to add members manually to usergroups to allow better access control.

I look forward to the developers next forum plugin and what I’ve read it’s going to go further than Mingle in functionality. A few searches indicate it’s been under development for a long time, but I think the person is a one man army.