A message kept flashing on my WP dashboard asking me to upgrade for the past few days. The installer package was downloaded from the website and all instruction followed to the point. Upgrade went smoothly and as I started to work on the theme, I observed that the categories section was showing blank. Upon investigation, it was clear to me that all the category names have been deleted.
A search conducted on WP forum revealed that the missing categories problem is a known issue and yet, the buggy WP installer is made available for download; with no mention of such a problem. This action by WP is extremely callous and the damage done by them is irreparable.
David Cumps has been an angel to many like me who have suffered through WP’s callousness. He has devised a method of naming and placing the categories. The process is arduous but a lifeline.
It took me close to 2 hours to add all the 30 odd category names after matching the posts. Although I am tired and ready for some rest, I want to caution other bloggers not to fall into the trap just as I did.
1. WP should recall the latest upgrade and the last known stable version should be made available for download.
2. WP should thoroughly check new versions on new installations and upgrades before opening it for the public.
3. New versions are being released quite frequently. This takes a toll on bloggers to have it updated on a regular basis. My advice/request is to have fewer versions incorporating several upgrades in each release.
4. A plugin needs to be released to help bloggers like me add categories in a quicker way.
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July 25th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Sorry that you had a problem. Not saying the upgrader in not flawed, but I had no issues to speak of except for incompatible plug-ins…
July 25th, 2008 at 10:32 am
I don’t disagree that this is a problem that they should fix with the installer, but I feel like you could have been more careful too. Perhaps it would be in your best interest to test future upgrades in a dev environment or at the very least backup your database before applying future upgrades to a production site.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
to write that “This action by WP is extremely callous and the damage done by them is irreparable.” is saying that the WP devs did this on purpose? I don’t think so.
July 26th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Matt - I totally agree with you. Perhaps I took it a little casual assuming that WP would have everything in place.
Karen - WP devs knew that the problem existed and they have a code fix for it too. Yet, they have allowed the buggy files for be downloaded. Don’t you call that callous? At least, there should have been a warning message on their stating that some users have faced this problem.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
definition of callous: insensitive; indifferent; unsympathetic…hmmm..the devs work really hard making WordPress better and better for free! Perhaps they made a mistake this time..gee, they are human! I get really angry at users who have this sense of entitlement. WP devs don’t have to release this amazing software for free. But they do!
July 26th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I agree with Karen. Props to Wordpress to releasing such great free software!
July 26th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Karen - I used to love WP and adore the simple piece of software that made things so much easier. But, when you have hundreds of articles and you lose important data that you have created over the past few years, it hurts. It hurts real bad and that’s the agony I was going through. I still have great respect for WP devs but I feel that they should definitely check several times before letting it out for us to download.
I hope you agree with me that the data created by you/me is more valuable than the software that holds it together…
July 26th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
You lost the categories, not the content. And you were able to fix it. Yes it was a pain, but it happened because you skipped a lot of upgrades in between, right?
If your content is so valuable to you (and mine is too, don’t get me wrong), and you simply cannot risk anything happening to it, then don’t use free software. Go out and buy software where you also pay for tech support should something go wrong.
I’m not trying to be mean or anything, I just think that you’re being rather harsh and slamming WordPress devs unjustly.