Before I get moving I want to get any new readers caught up to speed on things around here, I currently run a WordPress blog with the Thesis Theme and somewhere around 40 active WordPress plugins that play some kind of part around here. I have a pretty good size addiction to WordPress Plugins and even wrote a post with my 10 Most Requested WordPress Plugins, you know your addicted when you start creating plugins in your head.
One general rule for any blogger that uses the WordPress blogging format and dabbles in WordPress Plugins is to always adjust your settings as soon as you activate any new plugin on your blog, that and make sure you backup your files so nothing gets damaged. I recently failed to adjust the settings for a new plugin that I was testing and planned on discussing here at some point, WordPress Best Posts Summary Plugin.
I installed the plugin and ended up getting tied up in my Thesis Theme re-design that I never adjusted the settings, everything seemed fine as the plugin released Best posts on The Extreme John Blog from Oct 2009 and there was really nothing that I needed to do, a dream plugin for doing a weekly blog recap. You can also choose monthly as well as yearly if I remember correctly.
A few days after the post came out automatically on my blog I was going through some things and looking for a specific post on my blog (something I hate doing btw) when I noticed that there were three “Best Posts” showing in the related posts field. When I looked a little further I found out that the problem was much deeper than just three posts (all uncategorized of course).
Best Post Summary WordPress Plugin
As you can see by the screen shot above Best Post Summary went bananas and generated duplicate posts for specific months over the last year, to be exact Best Post Summary created over 1000 posts within a few seconds and posted them to my blog. Now before I go blaming the plugin I will say that it also could have had something to do with me not adjusting the settings or with my server getting locked up for a few seconds.
I will admit that I was lucky to have Mike from Daily Shot of Coffee @shotofcoffee helping me delete all of the duplicate posts, I plan on trying this plugin again….. once I get my nerve up. WordPress Best Post Summary Plugin would be an excellent addition to any blog for numerous reasons.
Download WordPress Best Posts Summary
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{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
These plugins don’t seem to work on my blog – I’m using wordpress online, not the software, is there any way I can use these plugins for the online version ?
Twitter: extremejohn
@Cindy Rencontre, I don’t believe there is a way to use it in the online version. Someone correct me if I am wrong.
Twitter: ShotOfCoffee
That was a very scary night. I was worried that it would just keep making and more posts! LOL
.-= Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee´s last blog ..Fresh Brews: Return Of The Coffee Wars And Topless Coffee Shops =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Mike from Daily Shot Of Coffee, oh I emember having that same exact fear run through my head….. “What if it makes 10,000 posts”
Twitter: freemanlegacy
This is good to know, I was wondering how you created the post but now I am hesitant to try it myself. But probably will as I am a glutton for punishment. LOL:)
.-= Ms. Freeman´s last blog ..10 Reasons Teenagers Shouldn’t Work =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Ms. Freeman, yeah I am sure it isn’t a common occurance, something crazy probably caused it. If you give it a shot let me know if it goes bananas.
Twitter: ditesco
So this was the plugin you were talking about in the past (I think). I do see the benefits of having this plugin specially for roundups and it does look scary after you have activated it and created all that post:) I am sure there is something on the setting options saying “start date” or something like that.
Which reminds me, where is the usual Sunday smash?
.-= DiTesco´s last blog ..Amazon’s Make Money With Twitter Program =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@DiTesco, it was actually fine the first few days than it just went crazy one night.
Twitter: alan_neville
What a pain in the ass. I’ll stay away from this plugin, I can’t even get the simple plugins to work properly so I’d be hopeless with this one. Hope it works out man.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Alan @ Glass Pipes, thanks Alan, but your missing out on half the fun…. and panic.
Twitter: Boomerblogger
Yeah John, that’s exactly why I don’t use too many plug-ins in WP, scared to death something like that is going to happen to me multiplied by 9 WP blogs! And I don’t have a guy like Mike around to help me. I may be missing out but I just upgraded to WP 2.7 and it seems to be giving me all I need, at least right now. I will read your top ten though and maybe add one or two.
.-= Boomerblogger´s last blog ..Experienced Professional Golf Balls =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Boomerblogger, yeah if your happy and content than I would stick with what makes me most comfortable.
This is an example why I have a database backup made on a daily basis and emailed to me. It uses some bandwidth, but I can always go back a day to fix something like this.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Jim@YourBlogSource, I have one of those too but I didn’t even consider slapping that in place. Good call and thank you for taking the time to comment I appreciate it.
Twitter: blogsterblogsire.com
John, I reckon when people came up with Murphy’s Law they were referring to me. They could well have called it Sire’s law because when shit happens it’s happens to me. Keeping that in mind I reckon I’ll give this plugin a wide berth.
.-= Sire@WassupBlog´s last blog ..Comments, The Lifeblood Of A Blog =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Sire@WassupBlog, haha yeah if you have the kind of luck I have I would stay away from trying it too.
Twitter: blogsterblogsire.com
So, does that mean we’re like two peas in a pod or shit happens to everyone, and it only seems that we’re the only ones that get crapped all over?
.-= Sire@WassupBlog´s last blog ..Comments, The Lifeblood Of A Blog =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Sire@WassupBlog, I would have to say we are the ones who gets crapped all over. We take the learning and teach others though, because we are nice guys. :laughat:
Twitter: blogsterblogsire.com
@Extreme John, yeah, that’s why we always get crapped on mate. Still at least we can sleep at night
.-= Sire@WassupBlog´s last blog ..Comments, The Lifeblood Of A Blog =-.
Hi John,
I came across that plugin before and I got a little instinct not to use it. I’m also using Thesis and the fact that you’ve gone such horrendous experience from using it, I guess I’ve made the right decision but like you’ve said, the plugin is not to blame.
Bugs could have caused the plugin to malfunction and I wasn’t an exception because I’ve been through a lot with plugins that even caused my blog to collapse and go offline especially cache plugins which I now dread the most.
Having said that, I became pretty meticulous about plugins and as much as possible, I wouldn’t want to read anything negative about it on the WP plugins repository otherwise, it’s going to be a no no for me.
.-= Mathdelane @Software Critics´s last blog ..The Power That Has Bing? =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Mathdelane @Software Critics, I only wish the WP repository was put together a little better for the sake of finding information and communicating issues and requests, etc.
Twitter: BlazingMinds
And there’s me thinking that this plugin sounds great, but now, I’m having second thoughts, I’m not too sure if I have the nerve to take the risk of having 1000′s of posts appearing on my humble little blog, but then again!
.-= Karen @ Blazing Minds´s last blog ..Who’s the Band – HealeyIsland =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Karen @ Blazing Minds, give it a shot whats the worst thing that can happen? It also took me about 4hrs to notice the issue, you might notice it a little faster and only have 500
Twitter: musicjudge
Haha! Interesting stuff
I generally blame these kinds of things on human error (though I used to stubbornly blame the angry computer gods!!). Point being, however, the human error in question might not be yours, but rather the developers of the plugin, it’s hard to know and the answer might not fix a single damn thing
.-= Hard Rocking South African@Music Judge´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Hard Rocking South African@Music Judge, so very true HRSA, so true.
Twitter: celebfickle
That can be really frustrating and time consuming… If I was you..I would never try that plugin again!
.-= Nehh´s last blog ..Beyonce and Lady Gaga team up for ‘Video Phone’ music video =-.
Twitter: myblog2day
It seems scary man and end up you need to spend extra time to delete these post, luckily you have Mike to help you do these. I’ve never tried the plugin before, perhaps not going to try too.
.-= Lee Ka Hoong@Make Money Online´s last blog ..MyBlog2Day Featured On New Straight Times =-.
Now there’s a duplicate content issue for Google to fiddle with! LOL
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..I Want You To Review Me. Part 1 =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Dennis Edell, hopefully getting them deleted quickly resolved that issue…. hopefully.
@Extreme John,
I’m sure there’s no worries, I just chuckled a bit when I thought of it.
I imagined a human editor with eyes bugging out, holy crap! LOL
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..IS An Advertising Page Really A Good Idea? An Interesting Opposing View… =-.
Twitter: CellPhones09
I installed that plugin on a couple of sites and it doesn’t seem to do anything if you don’t have comments on every post.
.-= Steve´s last blog ..How to Block Caller ID When Calling Someone =-.
i will try out this plugin.
.-= Kevin S @Free Vector Graphics´s last blog ..Valentine’s Day Collections =-.
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