Will The Plugin Work?
Think Twice Before Installing A WP Plugin.
I’ve had more than enough problems with WP plugins. They can happen at any time but especially when there is a WP update and the plugin is not updated to work with the new WP version and stops functioning properly.
Sometimes it continues to function and does what it was created for but it can interfere with other functions of your site that have nothing to do with the function the plugin was intended for.
For example I had a plugin for Google Analytics which after a WP update disabled the setting of my site which allowed links to open in a new window. After that WP update all links were opening in the same window in spite of the WP settings to open in a new window. After deactivating and deleting the offending plugin the problem was solved. But it was a long and hard time to find out what was causing the problem.
Plugins for WP are a two edged sword.
Plugins of course can do an incredible amount of good and are of great help. But sooner or later they are very likely to create problems. The recent one is one that I haven’t been able to solve yet. Nothing I’ve tried so far worked. That includes about 20 to 30 minute chat with a WP specialist company’s wizard. All his ideas and suggestions were unhelpful. The last thing he suggested was that I subscribe to their paid service and that they would solve the problem for me. Needless to say, I didn’t pull out my credit card.
So what is the current problem I’m experiencing with a plugin now?
I’ve tested so many like plugins and none of them seems to work properly now.
One worked initially until I used its settings to exclude the like button from the home page and a couple of posts.
The exclusion worked but it became permanent. When I wanted the like button to show in the places where I excluded it from, there was no way for me to do it. In the settings it failed to show the 3 places from which it was excluded so I couldn’t put the settings back to having the button show on the home page and the couple of posts.
I thought that by deactivating the plugin and installing a different like plugin the problem would be solved. But alas, it was not. In spite of making sure that the settings don’t exclude the home page and the posts which were disabled with the previous plugin, the like button still wasn’t showing in those places.
My next step will be contacting the creator of the like plugin I have installed now to see if they can help.
If they do I’ll be sure to let you know. If I find a solution to this I’ll write about it here, updating this post.
Please comment and share your views on this and on WP plugins in general. What issues have you encountered with WP plugins?