“Ms Fix It & The Pool Man” was originally designed using WordPress by our friend, Danielle. She gave me some basic training on blogging, then advised that if we had any problems with the site, just “follow the theme templates.” R-i-i-i-i-ght!
We’ve had no significant issues over the past three years, until I started receiving warnings that the version of PHP required updating…or else. Not having a clue what PHP was, I reacted with where I was most comfortable, ignore the warnings. This worked fine until the warnings turned RED, they became defined as “critical,” and I was threatened with either update or run the risk of damage to site security and performance. I researched PHP and found out is a recursive acronym for Hypertext Preprocessor: a widely used open source general-purpose scripting language that can build a wide range of applications, which includes personal blog websites. Well, this newly discovered knowledge wasn’t at all helpful, but I clearly had to do something…anything.
I unfortunately decided to try a DIY fix, which in hindsight is completely laughable. But I digress. I downloaded instructions on updating PHP. While they sounded easy enough, there was a bolded warning that my site needed to be backed-up before updating, or there was a risk of losing all the existing content. Yikes! Since I had no idea how to back up my site (wasn’t this supposed to occur automatically), I returned to IGNORE. Suddenly, I started having small issues with creating my blogs, a few of our followers alerted me to they were having trouble navigating within the site, and some said the site wouldn’t even load.
Sadly, I returned to attempting a DIY fix. Still afraid of updating PHP, I went instead to “Site Health” and found a list of recommended actions for improving security, as well as performance, and was foolishly convinced I’d found the answer. The first recommendation was to update site-needed plug-ins and widgets (yep, real terms). Actually, I had been doing this periodically but admittedly had fallen behind. No problem. With a few key strokes, all the plug-ins and widgets were current. The second recommendation was to remove an redundant theme called Twenty Twenty-two. I easily took care of this, and for cosmic reasons still unknown, I became emboldened enough to start playing with the remaining themes. Remember Danielle’s advice about theme templates?
I immediately saw that my actions had severely impacted my most recent, unpublished blog. Most of the content had vanished, and what remained was corrupted: fonts and formats were changed, and there were blanks with odd blue highlighted question marks where photos had been. I panicked and tried to undo all of the actions I’d taken but to no avail. Then to my absolute shagrin, I subsequently discovered all 95 of our posted blogs had been similarly impacted. Three years of blogging seemed ruined within minutes, and there was no one to blame but me (refer to photo above).
A “MAC Genius” we met at a repair shop in downtown Carrollton, TX suggested we go to FIVERR.com for help. FIVERR provides access to knowledgeable technicians with a wide range of experience with WordPress. I toyed with the DIY option for a nanosecond before logging on and typing in the scope of my request: Need latest PHP update, help with restoring corrupted blogs, and some blog site maintenance. I also provided an estimated budget amount and a desired completion deadline. Within minutes, I received no less than a dozen offers, all promising me they could complete my scope within both my budget and deadline. FIVERR rates each provider as Level 1 to 3, according to their length of experience and customer feedback. MFI and I agreed we’d be best served by going with a Level 1 provider at a higher cost. Enter Himeldhaka7 from Bangladesh.
Himel and I had three highly successful sessions. He set up an automatic backup for the site but couldn’t recover any of my original blogs. I was disappointed, frustrated, and angry, so I held a mental funeral for the lost blogs in order to prevent myself from going crazy emotionally. I played with the site before our final session and created a lengthy list of unresolved issues and new questions. He fixed all of the issues, answered my questions, and trained me (as we worked together) on customizing those damned theme templates. I truly learned a lot and now rue my early propensity for using IGNORE and DIY options.
I contacted several friends and family and asked them to beta-test our revitalized site. They have verified the improved site performance I’m experiencing. Fingers remain crossed. With this positive feedback, I’ve started working backwards on my recent blogs to fix the text, formatting, and photo content. I’ve completed and republished a half dozen and feel re-energized about our site once again.
