I think WordPress is fire truckin’ with me…

Jo Bryant,

I pinched the expression fire truckin’ from THE HOOK for the purpose of remaining a lady…

Now on to my issue with WordPress.

A few days ago I posted about the coming change of the stats page with its move to the WordPress homepage, and the fact that are quite a few murmurs about it in the forums.

Some for the change.

Some with a wait and see attitude.

And quite a bit of negative thought about it all.

Much of the negative attitude has to do with two main issues as I see it.

1. WordPress has recently been making changes (such as the Infinite Scrolling debacle) without any consultation with users. Infinite Scrolling has since had modifications that have satisfied members.

Thank you WordPress staff for listening on that one !!!

To continue – sure it is a FREE service…not really people…as WordPress does sell advertising space on all of these blogs.

But I can live with that. I get something…WordPress gets something. All good people.

BUT…without WordPress users…no WordPress.

This brings me to the second issue.

2. Many members are upset at WordPress staff completely ignoring repeated requests for clarification on how the new system works, and not getting a lot of information back really.

They have also been asking for some comment from WordPress staff as to why the change is necessary. Not a lot of feedback on that either.

Some of the threads were put up in the support forum – because many users believed they were asking for support from staff regarding their questions over these changes.

Seems though staff are TOO busy to answer questions, they DO have the time to move these discussions to the OFF TOPIC forum.

Hoping the issue will get buried maybe ????

So this brings me to my issue with WordPress and why I think they are fire truckin’ with me…

I have tried to EXPORT my blog data repeatedly over the last few days.

NOT A HOPE IN HELL.

Everytime I get the same message.

Goshdarnit!

Something has gone wrong with our servers. It’s probably Matt’s fault.

We’ve just been notified of the problem.

Hopefully this should be fixed ASAP, so kindly reload in a minute and
things should be back to normal.

So…I went to the forums to seek some guidance and help.

I went to SUPPORT…and tried to post a new topic with the folowing.

Everytime I try to export my blog data…I get this message.

Goshdarnit!

Something has gone wrong with our servers. It’s probably Matt’s fault.

We’ve just been notified of the problem.

Hopefully this should be fixed ASAP, so kindly reload in a minute and things should be back to normal.

For THREE days now I keep getting this message…

Am I doing something wrong ?

And guess what I found…nothing. I pressed SUBMIT and got the following message:

Topic Closed

This topic has been closed to new replies.

Tried again…same message.

I have been trying for a couple of days to post a new topic about the EXPORT issue and also about the fact that I can’t post a new topic in the forums and no way, no how, not happening !!!

So next step.

I e-mailed staff with the following:

Everytime I try to export my blog data…I get this message.

Goshdarnit!

Something has gone wrong with our servers. It’s probably Matt’s fault.

We’ve just been notified of the problem.

Hopefully this should be fixed ASAP, so kindly reload in a minute and things should be back to normal.

For THREE days now I keep getting this message…

Am I doing something wrong ?

On another note…

I tried to start a new topic on the forums to get help with this issue and everytime I do I click submit and the next thing it says is TOPIC CLOSED. This topic has been closed to new replies.

Help please…

And I got the following reply:

Thank you for your support request:

Everytime I try to export my blog data…I get this message.

Goshdarnit!

Something has gone wrong with our servers. It’s probably Matt’s fault.

We’ve just been notified of the problem.

Hopefully this should be fixed ASAP, so kindly reload in a minute and things should be back to normal.

For THREE days now I keep getting this message…

Am I doing something wrong ?

On another note…
I tried to start a new topic on the forums to get help with this issue and everytime I do I click submit and the next thing it says is TOPIC CLOSED. This topic has been closed to new replies.
Help please…

Your message is flying through cyberspace to us as you read this. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Since then – NOTHING !!!!!!!

In the meantime I decided to comment on some forum threads already going…

This is one: http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/starting-soon-your-stats-page-will-be-on-the-wordpresscom-homepage-only/page/6?replies=156

On page 6 of the thread directly after this comment by
:

timethief
Member
Feb 22, 2012, 10:08 AM

@teamoyeniyi
Yes, this thread was correctly moved here to Off-Topic where discussions take place as it did not contain a support issue and that’s what the Support Forum is for ie. support issues.

***

came my comment…or so I thought…

jobryantnz
Member
Feb 22, 2012, 11:06 AM

Isn’t it surprising that WP staff can get so upset over people merely asking them to consider that they might have made a miscalculation ???

@ratinthebookpile – yes to the following…

Some of the ‘help’ above falls well short of ‘positive and productive.’

For days I have been trying to export my blog data. I keep getting this message:

Goshdarnit!

Something has gone wrong with our servers. It’s probably Matt’s fault.

We’ve just been notified of the problem.

Hopefully this should be fixed ASAP, so kindly reload in a minute and
things should be back to normal.

So I went to the forums to ask for help.

I can no longer start a forum topic.

I keep getting the message TOPIC CLOSED as soon as I hit submit.

I have e-mailed staff…nothing.

I found a topic in the forums with a similar exporting problem. Stated I too had this problem…asked for help.

http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/tools-export-function-not-working?replies=9#post-823876

The ONLY person who has bothered to reply is another member.

Now I find that all my comments to other blogs either don’t register or go to their spam straight away.

A few days ago I did a post on the stats moving, and WP’s seeming disregard for what users want on here…and their selective hearing problem.

Now ALL this is happening – I am not the paranoid type…but it has got me thinking !!!

I have always supported WP since I came on here a year ago.

I don’t ask for a lot of support…but I don’t expect to be ignored…or worse.

I was a little sad that no-one seemed to reply to my comment. Notice the bold comment in there. That was to a member I thought had replied…seems I was wrong.

This is another thread I commented on that I have been told you cannot see my comment on: http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/tools-export-function-not-working?replies=10#post-823929

You see I asked another member (I was beginning to get a little suspicious) to go to these forum threads  I had replied to, to see if my comments were visible to anyone else.

YOU GUESSED IT !!!

NOPE !!!

So why am I unable to post a forum thread ???

Why am I unable to comment on other forum threads ???

And why has no-one from WordPress answered my enquiries regarding this ???

AND WHY DO THE COMMENTS I MAKE ON FORUM THREADS APPEAR TO ME AS IF THEY HAVE ALLOWED IN TO THE THREAD, WHEN OTHER MEMBERS CAN’T SEE AND READ THEM ???

I’d just like some clarification…is THAT too much too ask ???

Related posts

Published by Jo Bryant

I was born in the land of Banjo Paterson, gum trees, and weather extremes. I am a freelance photographer. I love to make images that make people happy. To capture forever a precious moment. I am also a freelance writer/editor. I live in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, but still like to claim my Australian heritage. I graduated with a Bachelor of Communications in 2008. I am writing my first novel. I love to write poetry, short stories, and also write for the web. And there is nothing that is on a par with a sunny summer's day spent at Waihi Beach.

74 Comments

  2. Just wanted to let you know – nope, you’re not showing up. My guess (and it is just a guess, mind you) is that WP is doing the same thing to members who express discontent with their policies as it did to the staff/volunteers who voiced the same opinions. I also will hazard a guess that you will never be able to export your stuff (as, they don’t want you to take your stuff to another site, and therefore make it as painful as possible for you in the hopes you will stay here). Copy/Paste to another place is probably going to be your best and only option. I’m no expert, but I’ve seen these games before (most notably at MySpace, when a bunch of their users tried to export their blogs to another place). You know I wish you the best of luck with it, girlfriend. You’re gonna need it. My blog backup process has already begun, but am currently saving to my computer instead of trying to export to another place yet.

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    1. It certainly seems that way….grrrrrrrr !!!
      I find it incredible that they won’t let me speak in the forums…other people have been much more vocal than I and they still can comment or start threads…I can only assume they are pissed about the previous blog post.
      Which is really terrible if you can’t speak your mind without them employing dirty tactics as they have done with me.

      I mean making it look to me as if the comments ARE visible…that is really dirty pool…

      If they are going to BAN me from the forums at least have the DECENCY TO TELL ME !!!!!!!

      AND TO TELL ME WHAT I DID TO DESERVE THE BAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      I just wish there was some way to get my comments shown on the forum.

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  3. It looks like you’re paying the price for being too outspoken and non-compliant, Jo…Didn’t you know that the Thought Police don’t like it?
    I spent my childhood in a communist country where you had to watch what you said all of the time, at a time when the democratic, more developed countries rightfully condemned such breach of human rights…It’s funny and sad for me to see that the same democratic world who was – and always is – happy to judge and vilify any other political system or frame of thought has become nothing else but a communist-like system hidden behind words like “freedom”… Just look at how quickly the number of unelected governments in Europe is multiplying, almost over night …
    I admire your battle, Jo…Don’t be defeated and keep thinking independently …And, if you manage to “escape” the WP regime, please let me know where you are so that I can follow you 😉

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    1. Me too – I don’t know if it is related, but none of my comments are showing up on people’s blogs anymore either…so check your spam. It could be me !!!!!!!

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  6. Good lord, Jo. Can’t leave you without SURVEILLANCE…apparently! I’ve been off line for a bit now so I don’t know of the changes to which you refer. But I am sorry to read all the above! Seems there’s something in the air….sand (*insert other 4 letter s-word here)* storms have been a blowin’ where I am in the same vain 😦

    Tell me, now that there seems to be a definite lead for backing up our blogs…just in case…how should/can I go about doing the back up?

    Thanks for posting this one Jo. You’ll never be SPAM to me ;-D

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    1. …and so, I hereby solemnly pledge that I am ready to bruise my fingers by jamming madly on the “NOT SPAM” button as often as required…LOL!
      And yes, your last comment was indeed treated as SPAM on my blog! GRRRRRRR!

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    2. You can try going to ‘tools’ then EXPORT and see what happens. I have been trying for 2 days but have resorted to copy and paste…time consuming, but as WP won’t reply to me to help I don’t know what else to do.
      Maybe you can ask them what to do in the forums…

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      1. Just tried the export tool and got a message that doesn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy: 3This type of file risks to damage your computer. Do you really want to save filename…2-02-22.xml?

        And of course, intelligence would make me want to click “HELL NO!”

        Is there no other way?

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        2. Funny thing is on their page about how to do it they tell you that hell yeah…it is your work…you have a right to it and this will help you save all your work. Seems they have changed their mind. Maybe you should put the message you get on a forum posting asking them what to do…they may reply. One of the volunteers probably will…at least they seem helpful.

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  8. I don’t even know what to think. It all does seem a little fishy and I don’t want to feed into your paranoia. I do know that one of my followers ended up in my spam folder and once I said it wasn’t spam, it hasn’t gone there since. I hope this will be the case with you…but I can see why it is frustrating for you and the timing is curious. I hope you all of this is resolved quickly for you!

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    1. I hope so too – but if I can’t post questions on the forums, and staff don’t reply to e-mails I don’t see how it can be resolved.
      You can feed my paranoia all you want…hehehe. I already have the Demented Fox Terrier searching under the bed…
      😉

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        1. That would be great Harry. Just add the message I keep getting if you wouldn’t mind…that may help.
          🙂
          For an old bugger…you’re pretty cool !!!!
          🙂

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  9. When I first started my blog, i was extremely confused by the whole process so went to the support forums with questions. Each time I recieved such SNIPPY, CONDESCENDING replies it left me with a very bad feeling. I stopped seeking answers from the wordpress forums because of it. I now go directly to google with any wp questions and get third party answers. Have you tried googling, “wp is shutting me out because i spoke out?” or some other version of that question? You may find some info re: how others have been affected by speaking their minds.
    sucks…i’ ve never really had a good feeling about this blog platform. Sadly, your situation doesn’t surprise me. ;(

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    1. I thought WP was great at first…but I am having my doubts. I have tried a few things to get me unstuck…but nothing. I have e-mailed staff and no reply at all !!

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  10. I’m sorry all this is happening to you, hang in there, & keep your cool. Attitude obviously isn’t going to solve anything. I also [above comment] google wp questions as an attempt to lay low.

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    1. I have always been polite when dealing with WP…but surely debate is a good thing !! They say they welcome discussion as long as it isn’t rude…I tried that, and now…well who knows…maybe it is all just coincidental and the universe is just screwing with me…

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    1. Thanks Harry – I saw that and really appreciate what you did. She has flagged it for attention to the staff…so now it is wait and see I guess.
      😉

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  12. Goshdarnit Jo…. 🙂 They just dont know!!!! sounds more and more like WLS where I transfered my blog from.. Never any answers there either.. At least your not a Spammer on my blog anymore! 😉 Hope you get is all sorted out soon… xxxx

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        1. Harry I can’t help myself. I AM an Australian by birth and a Kiwi by choice…what the Hell else can you expect from a combo like that !!!!
          Besides…it’s fun…hehehe…when it is not frustrating.
          AND I HATE ANYONE TRYING TO GET THE BETTER OF ME BY UNDERHANDED MEANS…
          🙂

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        1. I think that you may be right Em…some hard (oh my…just thinking of it…well you know) action may be needed.

          followed by…

          and all the while I shall…

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  16. This is where I am at at present…though you can see my reply on here…last comment…it doesn’t show up for anyone else to see in the forum.

    Oh dear !!!

    This was posted in the support forum by DP to try to get someone to reply to my Exporting data problem…

    dribblingpensioner
    Member
    Feb 23, 2012, 7:59 AM

    A friend on wordpress is having a problem exporting posts, she keeps getting this message below.

    Goshdarnit!

    Something has gone wrong with our servers. It’s probably Matt’s fault.

    We’ve just been notified of the problem.

    Hopefully this should be fixed ASAP, so kindly reload in a minute and
    things should be back to normal.

    She can still post etc but when she comments they are looked at as spam, weather its here or a blog.

    timethief
    Member
    Feb 23, 2012, 8:03 AM

    Volunteers answering support questions cannot help with server issues. She has a Help link on the top right hand corner of her Admin page that she can use to report this export issue to Staff.

    dribblingpensioner
    Member
    Feb 23, 2012, 8:06 AM

    TT thank you, she has tried 3/4 times but it will not let her.

    timethief
    Member
    Feb 23, 2012, 8:13 AM

    Has she tried using the support link to contact Staff? http://en.support.wordpress.com/contact/
    Or has she emailed Staff here without the spaces of course? support @ wordpress.com

    anothertwistedsista – THIS IS ME UNDERCOVER….
    Member
    Feb 23, 2012, 8:22 AM

    Yes I have. I have triend on numerous occasions to start a forum topic about it…but I keep getting the page TOPIC CLOSED.

    I have e-mailed staff firstly about the export problem…and only once more (as I didn’t want to bother them overly) with questions about being unable to start a forum topic.
    To the first e-mail I got a standard ‘we are looking in to it’ reply.

    To the second e-mail – absolutely nothing.

    timethief
    Member
    Feb 23, 2012, 8:25 AM

    Are you the same person dribblingling pensioner is referring to ie. the person who has posted into 3 threads on this issue this morning?

    anothertwistedsista
    Member
    Feb 23, 2012, 8:31 AM

    DP offered to post something here for me as at the time I still couldn’t get anything to register on the forums, but then I posted (and it worked) on this thread:http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/cant-export-my-blog-data?replies=2
    not realising DP had already done that for me (for which I was very grateful). When I saw the title and DP’s name in the forum I came here and you had replied so I thought it best to continue speaking to you through this one.
    If I had seen DP’s thread first…I would not have started the other one.

    timethief
    Member
    Feb 23, 2012, 8:33 AM

    Okay. I just wanted to be sure if there was a single peson with an export issue or more than one.

    timethief
    Member
    Feb 23, 2012, 8:35 AM

    I flagged this thread for Staff attention but I suspect by the time they get to it the export issue will have been corrected.

    anothertwistedsista
    Member
    Feb 23, 2012, 8:37 AM

    No just me…though I have read other threads with similar issues when trying to discover ways to fix it without bothering staff, and one blogger friend I know can’t export either. She keeps getting this following message when she tries the export tool:

    This type of file risks to damage your computer. Do you really want to save filename…2-02-22.xml?

    This does not inspire her with confidence on trying to export.

    timethief
    Member
    Feb 23, 2012, 8:48 AM

    I was trying to clarify only if the person dribblingpensioner was referring to and created this thread about was you or not. Thanks for confirming that it is. I have flagged this thread for Staff attention. I can do no more than that.

    anothertwistedsista
    Member
    Feb 23, 2012, 8:54 AM

    @ TT thank you for trying to help by flagging this…I appreciate what you volunteers do for members.
    🙂

    macmanx
    Happiness Engineer
    Feb 23, 2012, 10:57 AM

    Sorry for the trouble, we’re looking into this.

    macmanx
    Happiness Engineer
    Feb 23, 2012, 10:58 AM

    Actually, before we can, would you both please clarify the URLs of the blogs you cannot export?

    jobryantnz
    Member
    Feb 24, 2012, 3:55 AM

    https://jobryantnz.wordpress.com/

    this is the one I want to export

    ____________________________________

    Since I replied on the 23rd…deafening silence from macmanx – Happiness Engineer.

    Sorry but I am not feeling much HAPPINESS from WP.

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  19. I’ve never really thought about leaving WP at any stage. But I haven’t used any other service either, so I don’t have anything to compare it with. I’ve always assumed my blog will always be around on WordPress. Reading through this post and comments made me realise I have no back-up at all! I write directly into WP editor, not on a document on my computer. Need to start backing up all the posts soon.

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  20. Hi Jo, I’ve only been out of the WP ball game for a short while but when I read this I thought ‘wtf?’ or should I say ‘what the fire-truck?’ I’ve many of your posts to catch up with so I don’t know the outcome of this situation but it seems you are chasing your tail and going round in circles here with no joy from the powers that be. I admire you for fighting your corner.

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    1. Yes well I am STILL WAITING for a reply from them though I can now post in the forum. Well I think I can.
      But they have never gotten back to me on how to fix the exporting problem…never replied at all.
      But you know something ?? Like Dean…

      I’m a Superhero…
      So…nothing will keep me down for long

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  21. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get the level of response of the forums that you got for this post Jo?

    I’ve received a lot of useful tips from the forums on “How do I” type issues, but only “Me no speakee” type responses from the staff regarding things that seem broken. I’ve since given up on both…

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