If something seems too good to be true…

I have been working on creating some browser-based question generators to replace my drill spreadsheets (in case using Excel is somehow a barrier to students using the question generators). I have a few ready to go, so I looked into embedding html with JavaScript on my website. It isn’t possible with my hosting plan for security reasons, so I asked the WordPress.com support team whether my question generators could be embedded if I upgraded and if so could I upgrade (but pay monthly rather than yearly, because I could not afford the upgrade fee all in one go).

The kind person from WordPress.com support said that they could enable plugins and html+JavaScript embedding on my current plan for free! Wow, what a bargain! So I said that I’d like them to do that as long as it doesn’t break my website. I added that caveat because WordPress.com have done back end updates before that have broken things.

The person at WordPress.com said that the free upgrade wouldn’t break anything. I trusted them. At 6am yesterday, they upgraded my hosting to enable plugins and html+JavaScript embedding. At 6:01am I noticed that the website was no longer rendering properly.

Some pages would load part way and then just stop, others would have significant formatting issues, and most of my additional CSS that I’d written to get around some design limitations with my WordPress.com plan had stopped working entirely. Floating fixed buttons stopped being floating and fixed. Some buttons colouration got scrambled.

I got straight back on to WordPress.com and told them to undo what they had done. “Put it back how it was”, I asked.

I then had to cycle to work. In the rain. Whilst simultaneously chatting with WordPress.com technical support while they kept saying they were trying to fix it. There’s a story about that cycle ride that I’ll get to later, because it’s not directly relevant*.

After about 40 minutes, and several “there it’s fixed” from them (each with a “no it’s not, I just checked. Have you actually looked at it?” from me) they offered to restore a previous backup… from 30 minutes ago.

Now, I do not get angry often, but I am a human being and from time to time I am subject to the same emotions as other human beings. I started to get grumpy. Yes, my grumpiness could be justified, but there is no place for “righteous indignation” in Buddhism! I let myself down a bit. No, I didn’t shout or swear or outwardly display anger at the WordPress.com technical support, because I am sure they were doing all they could, but I felt angry, and that can have a subtle knock-on effect on interactions with others.

Throughout the day I kept telling them the problems, whilst trying to find workarounds my end. I discovered the exact blocks that were causing the issues (none of which had caused issues before 6am and none of which had been changed). At one point, they came back and said they’d found an unpaired curly bracket on my additional CSS that has caused the issue. I keep backups locally, so I checked my additional CSS and I can assure you there was no unpaired curly bracket. Any unpaired curly bracket that appeared after their free upgrade was on their end, not mine! But, no, despite them saying “it’s fixed now”, it wasn’t. Not even close.

I even deleted ALL additional CSS and the bugs were still very much present. The bug was not on my side, and they finally conceded that. They said it was a “very very unusual case”.

Fourteen hours later (!) the case was finally passed up the chain to someone with a bit more control. I yet again recommended that they restore my website and settings to how it was before 6am (downgrading my plan), then clone my website, upgrade the clone, then work on the clone to fix the bugs, then tell me when it’s working again, let me test it, and then and only then would I agree to my website being upgraded again. They finally got it. They finally agreed to do just that. At 8pm last night, my website was fixed and everything worked as it should again.

Luckily, I do keep backups of things, and maybe it was my threat to find hosting elsewhere that did it, or maybe it was me starting an official complaint that did it, but after two shift changes at WordPress.com HQ they finally did the easiest solution.

Ironically, while I did have plugins and html+JavaScript embedding enabled, and in-between fighting with technical support, I tried to embed my question generators and there were html tags that were still blocked “for security reasons”, making the whole thing completely futile anyway!

I guess the moral of the story is 1) do not trust a free upgrade, and 2) always keep backups. There is no way I would pay to upgrade the hosting now, how could I trust that it wouldn’t break stuff?

*Ah yes, the cycle ride. The hydraulic brakes on my bicycle were getting squishy. Too squishy. I wanted to take it in for a service during the half-term break but two days ago (the night before yesterday’s calamities) I decided it was not safe to ride, so I made a quick adjustment to the brakes to see me through to the half-term break. Alas, I had adjusted them badly and hadn’t realised the back brake was stuck on because it’s an electric bike and the pedal assist does a lot for the hard work for me. I realised I was in trouble yesterday morning on the way to work in the rain whilst frequently stopping to type to the WordPress.com support team. My ebike battery gauge was indicating the stored energy in the battery was reducing at an alarming rate. I got to the bottom of the biggest hill in my journey to work, and the battery was completely empty. I had to pedal my 25kg bike uphill with no pedal assist and a locked-on rear brake in the pouring rain. Because it was raining I had to keep my coat and various layers on, so I got really hot and sweaty. It was very unpleasant. I dropped off my bike for its service yesterday evening.