They’ve been at it again…

Posted on November 4, 2017 by Sue Vincent
Cartoons by IndieBerries
Cartoon by IndieBerries

*

Dear WordPress… what have you done now?
This latest game’s a joke…
Why did you have to tamper
With a thing that wasn’t broke?

‘Press This’ had always worked so well
I was over the moon
When I found I could schedule posts
Reblogging was a boon.

It made short work of setting up
A timely scheduled piece,
It needed the odd tweak or two…
But this latest release?

I do not like the way it works,
Or how it loads, a bit…
You’ve taken something useful, once again
And made it… hmmm…

*

First, the ‘Press This’ marklet ceased to function, warning me it had been ‘deprecated’. Unfamiliar with this particular application of the term, but having the sneaking feeling I knew all too well what it meant anyway, I Googled…

Sure enough, it has ceased to function altogether and needs the new version installing.

Now, ‘Press This’, for those unfamiliar with its beauties, is an exceedingly useful function that allows you to reblog or share anything from the web, not just from WordPress. Not only can you select which parts you wish to share, you can format it to suit your own blog, schedule a reblog for a time that suits you (thus ensuring you don’t forget or lose all those wonderful posts you would love to share but not right at this minute…) or even write an article around the bits you are sharing. You can format the text to suit and it even adds the source link and title for you.

Brilliant!

I first came across the ‘Press This’ marklet thanks to D.G. Kaye and it solved my biggest problems with reblogs… how to reblog when there is no reblog button…and how to schedule a reblog for a future date. Hugh also wrote an excellent ‘how-to’ on it. What could go wrong?

Well, as we all know, as soon as something is working well, WordPress can go wrong… they just have to tamper.

So, I duly deleted my ‘deprecated’ version of ‘Press This’ and, with some trepidation, installed the new and improved version.  Wonder of wonders, it appeared to work! Then we got down to the nitty gritty…

On the ‘up’ side, the article to be reblogged now opens in an editing screen with a full set of editing tools! This is fantastic… it was the one thing that bugged me about the old version. It was easy to work around, though, because all you needed to do was press to publish later and it opened in the main editor anyway… where you could tweak to your heart’s content.

On the down side… it takes you to the ‘new and improved’ editor immediately… and then, it loads only what it decides you are going to reblog. And it loads it as a block quote, like it or not. Without pictures. And, just to add insult to injury, it takes ages to load the title and all the twiddly bits that go with it.

To get around this you have to select, copy and paste the text and pictures you want to reblog, replacing what is in the block quotes. Then fiddle with the placement of the pictures. By this time, if you are lucky, the title will be loaded… and it will refresh itself and you can paste the whole thing again…

Then you can add the tags and categories and schedule the post (ignoring the fact that the drop down menu for ‘publish’ makes it too easy to accidentally publish now instead of later and that you hate the fact that you can’t use a 24 hour clock but have their silly am/pm option).

And when it is all set up, you can go navigate your way to the classic editor and solve all the formatting problems caused by the imposition of block quotes…

The alternatives?

  • Use the reblog button if there is one…but you can only reblog instantly with it, not schedule for a time of your choosing. It also does some strange things with formatting which you cannot alter and it will not automatically add tags and categories, you still have to go in and add them manually.
  • Or… you can set up a new post as normal, cut and paste the text and images you wish to share, add tags and categories, add a link back to the original post to create a pingback and redirect readers, and schedule as usual.
  • Persevere with the new ‘Press This’ and hope they sort the glitches before you have torn all your hair out…

About Sue Vincent

Sue Vincent was a Yorkshire born writer, esoteric teacher and a Director of The Silent Eye. She was immersed in the Mysteries all her life. Sue maintained a popular blog and is co-author of The Mystical Hexagram with Dr G.M.Vasey. Sue lived in Buckinghamshire, having been stranded there due to an accident with a blindfold, a pin and a map. She had a lasting love-affair with the landscape of Albion, the hidden country of the heart. Sue  passed into spirit at the end of March 2021.
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89 Responses to They’ve been at it again…

  1. Mr. Militant Negro says:
    November 4, 2017 at 06:11

    Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™ and commented:
    Tell me how/where to download this new Press This so I can take it for a spin….

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  2. Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, MCC, SCAC says:
    November 4, 2017 at 06:16

    NOT that they listen or give a damn WHAT we want — or would even understand it, since they **clearly** do not use the platform (and have long since lost the willingness to read any words not surrounded by otherwise useless symbols).

    WordPress — do you WANT us to run away screaming and not come back? PLEASE – stop crap like this!!!
    xx,
    mgh
    (Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
    ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
    “It takes a village to transform a world!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  3. Pingback: They’ve been at it again… – The Militant Negro™

  4. conniejjasperson says:
    November 4, 2017 at 06:22

    I think I will NOT play the WordPress game with this–they have made me FAR too crazy as it is with their continual fixing what ain’t broke. I’ve been unable to recommend their platform to new bloggers, and feel that in many ways, Google’s Blogger platform is a better choice, despite how pretty WordPress is in comparison.

    I will simply use the Pingback method–and thank you for mentioning that. It will take less time, is easy to schedule, I can have the important text and images as the enticement to encourage readers to click back to the other blog, and my hair will still be in place, lol!

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply
    • Sue Vincent says:
      November 4, 2017 at 07:18

      II still think it is by far the best platform, and new bloggers coming in will not feel the changes…not for a while at least… But I still prefer the old desktop based editor and hope they allow us the choice. If it all goes mobile oriented, I’ll have to reconsider…

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  8. jenanita01 says:
    November 4, 2017 at 08:36

    You lost me at ‘deprecated’ ! Think I’ll wait until they sort it out…

    Like

    Reply
  9. Smorgasbord - Variety is the Spice of Life. says:
    November 4, 2017 at 09:15

    Thanks Sue I came across this yesterday and wondered WTF was going on… there are rumours of worse things to come in the New Year… thanks for the explanation. x

    Like

    Reply
  10. Smorgasbord - Variety is the Spice of Life. says:
    November 4, 2017 at 09:16

    Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
    If you have wondered (As I had) about why your Press This function was not working… Sue will tell you why (the Happiness Engineers have been upgrading without notification again)Surprise, surprise………

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  11. OIKOS™-Redaktion says:
    November 4, 2017 at 10:39

    Thank you very much for this information, Sue! I realized this change yesterday, and i thought i am crazy. New game, new chance! LOL Michael

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  13. Lucinda E Clarke says:
    November 4, 2017 at 10:54

    it takes me so long to discover how to do anything once and then they go and change things. I’m still trying to work out what a pingback is!

    Like

    Reply
  14. D. Wallace Peach says:
    November 4, 2017 at 14:01

    This post triggered a stress-induced hot flash. Ha ha. Thanks for the warning, Sue. Why do they do this time and again? Hmm.

    Like

    Reply
  15. pensitivity101 says:
    November 4, 2017 at 14:41

    Oh lord, I’ve only just got to grips with scheduling!

    Like

    Reply
  16. -Eugenia says:
    November 4, 2017 at 14:53

    Reblogged on BrewNSpew.

    Like

    Reply
  17. -Eugenia says:
    November 4, 2017 at 14:53

    Reblogged this on BrewNSpew and commented:
    Sharing post relating to WordPress changes.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  18. Hugh's Views and News says:
    November 4, 2017 at 15:22

    Gutted Sue, I’m gutted by what WordPress has done. I’ve had a rather long chat with them this morning to try and find out why they’ve disabled the original version of ‘Press This’ and all they would tell me was this –

    “Only the bookmarklet has been deprecated in an effort to prevent phishing attempts There are plenty of other sharing buttons to use, or you can install the plugin for the other version of Press This.”

    I’ve had a long think about what they said and have come to the conclusion that ‘pingbacks’ also operate similarly when a link is added to comments. I wonder if that means ‘pingbacks’ will be next on their chop list? 🤔

    Like

    Reply
  19. dgkaye says:
    November 4, 2017 at 16:48

    Holy moly Sue! What a production! And thanks for the mention btw. ❤ Well, thank goodness I've yet to encounter those nightmares with Press This, as it's the only tool I have access to as a self-hoster to reblog. And like you said, it's great because it's not an 'insta reblog', it goes into our drafts.
    I don't know why the heck WP has to complicate everything! The way mine works (and still does) is: the editor box opens and only the Source: link to the post is in it. Sometimes it will grab a few lines from the post, sometimes not, because that's irrelevant to me. The main thing is that the post is saved in my drafts. When I'm ready to create a reblog from that draft I click on it to open then click on 'preview' where another tab will open with the same draft, only the link is live and clickable. I click on the live link and it open up to the blog post I want to reblog. From there I can copy and paste to my hearts delight from the one tab and over to the draft post which only shows the link source, then I paste and add whatever I else I want to the post and publish or save for later.
    Sheesh, if they took away that tool it would be like going back to pre-historic blogging like having to set up a draft and copy and pasting from whatever page we're trying to reblog, exactly in that moment while we're on the page or we'd never remember to go back to it. 🙂 ❤
    Great share as always on your WP findings. 🙂 ❤ xx

    Like

    Reply
  20. Ritu says:
    November 4, 2017 at 17:39

    I have installed the new Press This on my PC, but it doesn’t help on my phone! And I use that if I am out and about and find something I want to Press!!! The settings on the mobile site don’t even show the Press this Icon to save! Grrrrr!
    I have only just got into using it, as it really does save on your own storage!
    Pingbacks it is then!

    Like

    Reply
  21. Marilyn Armstrong says:
    November 4, 2017 at 17:55

    Press it never worked for me like it did for you. All it would do it insert the title of the post and a jump link to the original. NO text. NO pictures. I would copy and paste from the original and I was OK with it. I guess I have to try it again. I fear the worst.

    Like

    Reply
    • Sue Vincent says:
      November 4, 2017 at 21:19

      It was hit andmiss with what it copied automatically, but if I highlighted text in the original post it would copy it over…and pics could be added from a menu at the top. Fairly simple…I always use it for the challenge reblogs. Not sure I will be using this new contraption…

      Like

      Reply
  22. Marilyn Armstrong says:
    November 4, 2017 at 18:58

    DEPRECATE? What happened to delete? And in any case, WE didn’t put it there — THEY did.

    I deprecated it since it stopped working and now we have what appears to be their ORIGINAL version of reblog back again, the one they abandoned about three years ago, give or take a lie or two. Oh lord spare me from having them “help us.”

    Like

    Reply
  23. Widdershins says:
    November 4, 2017 at 20:10

    It’s like they have this compulsion to dance with death every so often.

    Like

    Reply
  24. Mary Smith says:
    November 4, 2017 at 22:01

    What I can’t understand is how, when they start tweaking with features, they never make them easier to use but less user-friendly, more complicated, less useful.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  25. Tina Frisco says:
    November 4, 2017 at 23:44

    Thanks for the heads up, Sue. I added the ‘new and improved’ version, but there’s no option to save to drafts in order to work on the post later. Leave it to WP to change something that’s actually working 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  26. Pingback: What To Do Now WordPress Have Deleted The ‘Press This’ Sharing Button – Hugh's Views & News

  27. Judy E Martin says:
    November 5, 2017 at 15:41

    After never being able to use it due to having a self-hosted site, I suddenly found that ‘Press This’ bookmarker thing. I am kind of scared to use it in case I bugger everything up (again)! Why WordPress have to fiddle with stuff I never know. I am cross with them anyway as they have banished me for all eternity to wallow in Spam folders!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  28. Terri Webster Schrandt says:
    November 5, 2017 at 17:28

    Sue, I just shared your post via pingback and Hugh’s post about this. Thanks for letting us unsuspecting bloggers know!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  29. Pingback: WordPress Deleted “Press This” Button | Second Wind Leisure Perspectives

  30. Pingback: Writing Links 11/6/17 – Where Genres Collide

  31. Robert Matthew Goldstein says:
    November 10, 2017 at 19:51

    Thanks Sue. I only recently started using the ‘press this’ option and now I find it’s broken. For me, WordPress is about the the people. The editor is buggy and annoying but the people are where the magic is.

    Like

    Reply

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