The WordPress Re-Installment That DIDN'T Happen

[Rocknation]

Last edited Thu Jun 15, 2023, 01:12 PM - Edit history (5)

Went to my WordPress blog home page -- was greeted with their "white screen of death":



Never got a "site admin email."

Rounded up the usual suspects -- the plugins and the databases -- but they both "tested clean."

It looked like I'd have to do a complete re-install. But it's been years since my last one, and apparently the WordPress "famous five minute install" is now the stuff of ancient history.

I decided that the smartest route to take was via the latest edition of the WordPress installment instructions. One of their very first instructions? "PHP 7.4 or greater."

Consulted my Web host's PHP section. My account was set on PHP 7.3; my Web host's current maximum is PHP 8.1.

Two clicks later, my blog was back: WordPress complete re-install NOT accomplished!!!


Rocknation

[CloudWatcher]

1. WordPress fun

Some months ago, installed WordPress on a Linode virtual server ($5/month).

A couple of weeks porting our site over to it from Wix. Looking cool.

Ran 'tail -f' on the logfiles.

Continuous stream of bots attempting to break in. Old WordPress script hacks, ssh brute-force login attempts. Ugh.

Spent the next couple of days tightening up all the hatches.

Finally running clean. Only gitch was when I upgraded to newer PHP and Apache needed a swift kick.

Still stunned at how quickly the bots found my new WordPress site. If I had more time I'd do a controlled
install on a new machine and try and see where in the installation steps the bots started to arrive. I suspect
the bad guys have access to something central ... e.g. a log at WordPress that shows checks for updates. Dunno.