Been using WordPress for years without hitch. I recently however upgraded to 2.9.1 and nobody can now post comments. If I try to post a comment, the page goes blank (on this url http://eastlower.co.uk/wp-comments-post.php#comment-)

Worse, all my previous comments from 606 posts appear to have disappeared (at least it says they have on the dashboard).

I’ve contacted my administrator who says my database in phpmyadmin is fine – though the comments table says ‘in use’.

I logged into phpMyAdmin and sure enough, the comments table says “in use.” I scrolled down a little farther and this comment seemed promising:

In Cpanel click on MySql Databases. On the next page you should see your MySql DBs. click on the “repair” button for the db you are using for your site. Hope it helps. Worked for me and I had the same problem.

I had some trouble finding this “repair” button and once I found it, I thought I would do a little step by step for others that had problems. This is using phpMyAdmin version 3.4.5.

Step 1: Log into your cPanel (located on your server, separate from WordPress) and then log into phpMyAdmin. Click on your WordPress database. BACK UP YOUR DATABASE BEFORE GOING ANY FURTHER.

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Step 2: In the list of tables, locate wp_comments and click the check box next to it.

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Step 3: Scroll down and choose “Repair Table” from the drop down box.

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Step 4: Success! It’s been repaired successfully.

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And now all my comments are back, even those lovely spam comments

See, that wasn’t too hard! Hopefully that helps you!

Also kinda crazy is how I haven’t updated my website in 6 months, wow. That’s pretty sad. I just feel like I can’t be as open on this website anymore as I am on livejournal, where I can control who reads my posts, and I actually get more feedback, too.

I’m thinking about incorporating my Shared Items on Google Reader page into my blog, since I update that almost daily.

I’m also working on getting a new theme up, which actually inspired my upgrade, haha.

I’ve also finished putting the first version of BigJohnMazmanian.com online for a good friend of mine. Check it out and let me know what you think of it. I am thinking of adding a message board on there — a really simple one. Any suggestions for a good, light weight, simple script?

Normally I’ll begin in Photoshop and do a mock up of what I’d like my final theme to look like, including link colors, text colors, and etc. Then I’ll go and try to find an existing theme (usually from my collection) that will fit this idea. I then tweak the CSS and code around to get the theme to work, and I always give credit to the original creator of the original theme. Sometimes the theme works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Lately I’ve been contemplating building a theme from the ground up, without borrowing code from other themes, and it’s a little daunting. How do I start? Should I just build a page without WordPress in mind using CSS, and then try to fit WordPress into it afterwards? Should I try to build my theme around WordPress functions I know that I want to use?

Other things I try to do when envisioning a new theme is to check out the websites of my esteemed peers. Websites like beccary.com, tehsheriff.org, pure-essence.net, bubblessoc.net (even though it’s down at the moment), and veerle.duoh.com are all created with that clean, sophisticated, and elegant style that I love. There aren’t too many elements distracting you, all are very simple and clean and all of the elements match well and work well together.

How do you go about creating your themes? What is your process?

And let me know if you notice any errors

*edit* 3:32P — Well, I’ve been trying to restore my custom smilies fromKawaiiness.com but I’m still having some trouble. So I guess I’ll have to stick with the ugly default WP ones for now.

Now I’m going to install some new plugins. Hopefully they will make it easier for me to update this site!

One plugin I’ve installed is Comment Timeout. This plugin automatically closes comments on posts older than 120 days old. And I’ve also installed Bad Behavior, which is supposed to be a really good plugin to guard against spam. So I’ve opened up comments without moderation, hopefully I won’t be inundated with spam… *crosses fingers*

Well, my neice’s baby shower is today, so I need to get off of my dead butt and clean up a little bit. Yes, my neice is having a baby. That will make me a great aunt at 21. Help!

*edit testing out linkifier — nevermind it doesn’t work.

&+*edit again — installed akismet, hopefully that helps with the spam. something is wrong with my WP grins… i’ll figure it out later when I’m less tired x)

I added a new page: 150 movies in 2006!!