This past couple of weeks has resulted in disaster.
My blog was apparently hacked and I was forced to abandon my theme and revert to a default theme.
Then, in an attempt to make the blog hacker-proof, I upgraded to the latest version of WordPress and changed my password.
In the process of doing all that, the links to the Categores and Static Pages became non-functional and the Static Pages themselves seem to have disappeared.
I ended up reverting to the previous version of WordPress, which restored the links to the Categories, but somehow created thousands of separate posts for all the images and PDF files I had incorporated into all my posts.
I attempted to restore from backup, but that process did not work.
So now, I’m going back and manually deleting all the extra posts and recreating the Static Pages.
I’ll try to participate in the Geneal-Blogger Group Games, but I won’t have much time for that as I continue to work on the blog.
Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko
Steve, sorry to hear about your blog troubles. I know only too well how much energy and time it takes to try to restore things. Take care!
Thanks, Miriam!
I can use all the kind words I can get! I think I’ve recovered just about everything, including the Static Pages. It’s just a bit of a mess right now.
Steve
Steve,
Your disaster comes on the heels of the Blogger problems that locked out many Genea-Bloggers a couple of weeks ago. It is a reminder that we need to broaden our idea of “backing up.” I’m so sorry that you are having to deal with this. It must feel like such a violation, especially since your blog is so much your family and your heritage. I’m sending you good thoughts.
Steve,
Who would hack into your blog? That’s awful. I’m sorry for your troubles, and I hope it gets better soon.
Donna
You have my sympathy Steve. I noticed the change in your theme on a previous visit and wondered about it as it just doesn’t seem to be your style! It’s too bad that some people have to be so cruel. Vandalism comes in a multitude of ways I guess. I’m just glad you have recovered and are getting things back in order.
Thanks Kathryn and Donna,
I have things cleaned up for all of 2008 and I’ve recovered most of the Static Pages, but it will take a bit more work before I’m finished.
In the process of all this, I discovered that my server has problems with certain file names that I’ve been using, which prevented me from restoring from backup. I’ll be changing my file-naming conventions, now!
Steve
Yikes! This is scary to hear about Steve. It sickens me to think that there are such evil people on the net with nothing better to do than to make your life miserable. Unfortunately, you’re the second blogger I’ve heard about this past week who was hacked. The other person (a digital scrapbooking blogger) had her computer hacked and lost ALL of the files on her hard drive. Nothing was recoverable. Sad. Very sad.
Tomorrow I back up my blog. I don’t know how yet but I’ll have to figure it out!
Thanks for your concern, Becky and Jasia!
It’s great to have such a wonderful support group of Genea-Bloggers!
I’ve learned some lessons here. I think I may have lost two posts and I definitely lost one comment. Even so, things could have been much worse.
Steve
Steve, Like the others, I was sorry to read of your blog problems. You have put your all into your wonderful blog, but I am glad the site is pretty much back to normal. I know the feeling of lost information, it is awful.
Arrrgh! Who does this sort of stuff? Some people just have way too much time on their hands!
I was so sorry to hear of your hacking incident, and also the one Jasia mentioned. You both (plus a healthy does of fear) inspired me to write the article I posted last night, Don’t Be Blog Gone: Tips for Keeping Your Blog Backed-Up and Secure.
I hope that you’re able to recover as much of your hard work as possible with a minimum of grief.
~Elizabeth
Thanks for your kind words, Barbara. You’ve followed my blog from the beginning, and I truly appreciate your support.
Elizabeth, your article is a must-read for all bloggers! Thanks for writing such an outstanding post!
Steve
I’m so sorry to hear of your problems! I truly do not understand why anyone would want to wreck something that someone else has worked so hard on.
Hi Steve,
Sorry about your hacking troubles. At some point please blog about what, exactly, happened(as far as you know) and how you went about recovering the data that you did recover. I’m sure quite a few of us would be interested in the details so that we can prevent similar things happening to us in the future.
You still have the best genealogy blog out there!
Oh Steve! What a nightmare! I hope things are moving along for you in your recovery of everything……….very sorry to hear this happened to you. Please do update us on what you have had to go through with this when you can!