jhaber31

To put it another way, what does that index/log file do, and can I easily replace it or even delete it hoping that WordPress will regenerate it? I’ve also since installed a security plug-in and activated its firewall.

Thanks, but I’ve read the standard document as you mention and indeed cite pretty much verbatim, and you may have misread the question. We have already scanned and pinned any issues down to two files.

I want to see if I can obtain clean copies of those two — or if I already have from the upgrades yesterday. (Note that I also updated all plugins and themes, including themes I would never use.) I want to avoid if I possibly can installing WordPress again from scratch, because it would be time consuming but also because I’m scared that I’d fail to replicate my site, which had assistance. I’ve backed up files, both by exporting my data with the export tool and by copying via ftp various folders to my computer. But then, of course, I’d be afraid to upload any files that might be themselves the problem.

Incidentally, Antispam Bee isn’t appealing. It just supplements Askimet by similarly moving things to the spam folder. Askimet already does a fine job of that, but I still have to flip through all the spam to check its accuracy.

Thanks. I’d already installed one plug-in (another one depending on Honeypot, since one listed here didn’t seem available), but of course I’ll consider others. I’m not inclined to require registration.

But I do wish you’d addressed the question! That’s just a generic reply. A robot like the one sending spam could have made it, and so could I, since I’d already eyeballed various tutorials after Googling.

Thanks a lot. I was obviously wondering why various Web tutorials kept saying the posts were in the uploads folders, since the folders were empty and intermittent, while my posts are still visible. That explains a lot.

Peter, I believe you misunderstand me. I wasn’t saying that someone had placed an unanticipated folder on my site. Indeed, my puzzlement was in part that I’d have expected a folder in wp-contents for each month, and I don’t have one, and mostly the folders I have go back well before any warning of infection. And they all appear empty, even of hidden files. I’m also not worried about infection as I’ve scanned all the folders with good software and as I’ve none of the symptoms that cause most people to suspect a hack and to panic, as that article describes. The site looks fine to me. But that’s not the issue.

Rather, I was just asking where my content resides, given that I’d read articles about where, and it led me to folders that look incomplete and empty. Oh, and again, what the I might have lost, if anything, by deleting the index file in one such folder

Thanks. To be honest, when I looked at the wrapper specs yesterday, and could not remember what the designer I worked with meant them to do, and I still don’t. It has me puzzled, although I do recall their being added to solve . . . I don’t know. I’ll give it a try later and see what happens.

Oh, absolutely it’s a css question, and I’m grateful if it’s ok to pose that in the use of WordPress to build the site:

https://www.haberarts.com/

Fine, which just happened to take me an hour or two. But the bug in WP that keeps every so often disabling all comments globally and, after correcting globally, leaving local changes required as well remains. No one seems to be able to explain it, and it’s a huge annoyance.

Yes, maybe we’re just not on the same page. I can’t learn anything by changing theme to check if comments work, since they already work. I’d have to wait until they stop working again, then run such a check. And, as I say, it’s not plausible to me anyway, since there’s insufficient correlation between events and any changes to my own theme.

You could be right, although I’m having trouble figuring out how changing css or a text line could muck up WordPress comments. But it’d be hard to analyze, too.

First, how long would I have to go with a generic theme with no problems before concluding that the problem was with my theme, even if I could live with that loss of branding and appearance? After all, it was at least a year before the first incident and then another 4 or 5 weeks to the second. Second, how would I then debug my theme?

I’m going to see if the upgrade will stay stable before doing anything else. And it does intuitively make more sense that the part of my site dependent on some programming, meaning WordPress, is or was the problem.

I just updated from v2.6, so cross our fingers that will handle it.

Unconformed, I do see your point that Askimet is a plug-in, but don’t see its relevance. I also see your point that everything is a theme, that in effect I modified a theme to start by adding content to header/footer and by manually changing the css, although there’s nothing much left. But that’s a long time ago, and I don’t see what’s to be gained by changing themes, other than suddenly having an ugly site that loses my brand.

FWIW, while this problem hasn’t occurred in a month or two (another reason not to blame my theme or plug-ins), it occurred twice, a little over a month apart. This is worrisome and, to me, also suggests that it’s spontaneous enough to arise from WordPress bugs themselves, which is worrisome.

(1) I use the WP version that comes with the domain host. (2) No change in plug-ins, which are minimal anyhow: just Askimet, which was preinstalled and is, I think, indispensible. (3) No change in theme, and indeed I can’t try a different theme. My style doesn’t have a theme; it is custom built.

Oh, forget it. I see it doesn’t matter. Anyhow, thanks again, and I’ll treat this all as resolved!