Blogger doggerel on latest WordPress update

Dear WordPress
this is just to say
you are not so very
dear to me today.

So every now and then we get
the latest WordPress update.
Sometimes the updates go OK.
Sometimes they irritate.

I feel mildly put upon
by your sulky
sound asleep Add Media icon
and your sneaky

Set Featured Image feature
and your tricky
Insert Image
(evil laughter) Gotcha sucker!

You think you did
what you did
for my own good
and I honestly would fix it if I could

but I need to be properly advised
and there’s nothing about this in Wikipedia
and so I’m paralysed
without my precious media

my wonky drawings
my snooty cat photos
my periodic placebo poetry podcasts
and my earnest wee videos.

The good you have done me with this latest WordPress update is bugger-all
and till you fix yourself you can bet
I’ll resort to the world’s worst blogger doggerel
and that’s no empty threat.

Signed: Rachel McAlpine
Witness: Ursula the cat
Images: Zero

PS In response to my personal appeal, WordPress has fixed the problem

Normal service will be resumed shortly.

 

32 thoughts on “Blogger doggerel on latest WordPress update

  1. Anonymous says:

    Love this! I totally agree with you

  2. You are the second blogger to complain about adding photos today. I wonder if an update came and I haven’t had to use it yet. Good luck to all of us!

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      Ouch. I’ve always used the Classic Editor, which may be the problem. We shall see.

      1. I figured we’d have to switch to the block editor eventually, so I switched months ago. Updates can really throw us for a loop. I hope you can solve your problem quickly. Your drawings are so much fun!

      2. Rachel McAlpine says:

        Thanks Anne! Yes time to bite the bullet I guess. I’ll play around on my sandpit site.

      3. The Happiness Engineers have been quite helpful to me. Maybe they could help before you hit your head against a brick wall.

      4. Rachel McAlpine says:

        Good point. Should have done that days ago!

  3. Sadje says:

    They are a big pain in the backside.

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      So good except when they’re not

      1. Sadje says:

        Exactly.

  4. Oh, yes… when they switched from Classic, I struggled for poems and I know Paula Green also with her Poetry blog came unstuck. Why do they think we need new tricks when we love the old ones. Good Luck.

  5. Alan Ralph says:

    I’ve been using the Blocks Editor for over a year now, and for the most part it has been fine. However, I have a few gripes. Nested quotes are now impossible, as far as I can tell. And it can be a pain in the you-know-where sometimes to insert a new block in the middle of a post — when I hover the mouse between block, no magical ‘+’ appears, so I have to return to hitting the Return key from end of the previous block, hope it creates a new paragraph, then change to the block type I want.

    I’m not sure what’s behind the loss of access to your media library. My blog is self-hosted, so my media isn’t in WordPress’s clutches, perhaps that’s why I’ve not had any issues.

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      I’m not the only one and it will surely be sorted soon. It was good to vent!

  6. Cathy Cade says:

    I’ve been using blocks almost since they started pushing them – while I could still revert if I needed to – but I still found I needed the Classic block to format some parts of the story I’m currently serialising. I have a nasty suspicion that will disappear too in time, but I hope they leave us the option somewhere to do our own formatting.

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      I (eagerly) believed that we small fry would be allowed to use Classic forever. For poets, the paragraph block is a curse. But I will try again. Oh WP, hear our cry!

      1. Cathy Cade says:

        There is a block for verse (although it’s a tad boring). If your click on that + for the new block and go to Browse All at the bottom, you have to scroll a little way down the list of blocks that appears in a left-hand panel. I prefer the Classic block though if I need anything more adaptable.

      2. Rachel McAlpine says:

        Thanks!

  7. Anonymous says:

    Agreed how non-intuitive this update is! Finally figured out insert media was their gallery, which meant something else in my mind and now find that insert photos are being saved somewhere else than the featured images. It just seems more difficult than it needs to be. Frustrating for sure.

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      Oh wow. That’s a clue. Tricky.

  8. Dan Antion says:

    Nicely done. I like that it’s witnessed 😉

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      So glad you noticed 🙂

  9. Gallivanta says:

    Well-doggerelled. I expect I will be lost for words when I have to deal with the new editor.

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      I will try the Happiness Engineers today. They won’t want us to be unhappy.

  10. alison41 says:

    Agree completely. Not a fan of the new block editor. Strength to your arm. I always enjoy your drawings, and as you know, I am self-appointed President of the Ursula Admiration League, Southern Hemisphere Chapter. So no drawings? no Ursula advice? woe is us.

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      Oh, this is what fan clubs are for! Ursula is leaning on me hard to find a solution and I will, I must! She lifts a languid paw in your direction. And swipes me one for dilly dallying. 🙂

  11. ~MyLa says:

    We can still access the classic editor from (y)our dashboard… personally, I hate, absolutely hate the block editor, any version of it… the limited time I have to write needs to be spent writing, not frustrated about what I can’t do/find… I’m seriously thinking of saying bye to WP for good…
    PS: Always love reading you 🙂
    ~Marcela.

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      So can I and now (nearly) all is forgiven now the glitch is fixed. I will be back in action soon. I think the block editor is more for designers than writers 🙁 PS: thank you Marcela!

  12. Elizabeth says:

    The block editor is actually for businesses. It also seems to have been designed by boys in their 20’s who don’t even realize that we exist but just love playing with software. I cannot figure out the image formatting at the moment.

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      Let’s hope it just comes right, as mine did yesterday. Now I’ve got some catching up to do!

    2. Rachel McAlpine says:

      Elizabeth, your comment reminds me of my survey of older bloggers. One trigger for this was realizing that all research into bloggers was indeed focused on business blogs, not personal blogs. but we survive in the undergrowth!

  13. I’ve been cursing at my screen for months as I made myself learn the block editor. On the plus side, I’ve come up with some really creative curses. I think I worked it out and once I get really comfortable with it…. something new will replace it!

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      How true. But you’ll be ready with the swear words 🙂

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