Sometimes complaining helps. All the people who complained that they can’t use the new format have been offered the option of retaining (forever, apparently) the “classic format.” I was up at the Forum and there were tens of thousands of complaints, mostly from long-term bloggers.
The thing is, there IS a Classic Editor plug-in, but you can’t use it unless you are a Business Plan user — which is a $25/month hit for retirees. Most of us really can’t afford much more than we already have.
I certainly can’t do it. Forget about the minor detail that I don’t have a business nor have I any plans for one. WordPress is going whole-hog for getting a lot more money. I guess they figure Google, Amazon, and Facebook are rolling in the big bucks, so why shouldn’t WordPress be rolling in it too?
WordPress is not hard up for money. They are earning more than enough, but in today’s world, there’s no such thing as enough money.
Greed is good.
Remember when “good” meant doing something kind and generous for someone else? Now “good” means getting it all for yourself and keeping it while making sure no one else gets any.
It’s an international trend. Not, I think, a healthy one.
But — just this once, WordPress is willing to offer anyone who asks for it (you have to go to the forum and complain officially, but they may make this available for everyone soon) the option to dump Gutenberg and keep the classic. They admitted there’s a strong possibility that even business users may not want such a complicated formatting app, so probably they will keep the classic format intact and let only those who prefer Gutenberg use it. The Forum shows an incredible number of complaints and I suspect I wasn’t the only one who said either I can use an application that makes sense in the context of what I really do, or I will finally give up.
They heard me.
So now, if I genuinely need an application this complicated, I will wait until it is properly tested and then do my own testing. See if it works for me. I’ve got a lot of stuff packed into this site.
WordPress’s search engine hasn’t been sturdy enough to deal with the thousands of photographs, images and 8,400 posts in the “old” format and the new one is worse.
Anyway, if you have somehow gotten yourself into the Gutenberg loop and you don’t like it, you can get out of it. For once — for the first and probably only time — WordPress heard us. I didn’t think it was possible.
I am deeply grateful.
Share this:
Categories: #Blogging, Cartoons, Money, Software, Technology, WordPress
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Sometimes I have to wonder. Don’t they ever test market this crap?
LikeLike
No, they don’t. But this was way too complicated an application to throw out like this without testing. They could have done a release to those who volunteered to test. Put it out, get some feedback, fix the problems, get some more testers, fix more problems. It takes time to debug an application. I used to do it and it was a slow job. I think this time, the complaints were so huge, they didn’t have a choice but to pull back.
LikeLike
Good job Marilyn, I’m so glad they listened.
Leslie
LikeLike
And I thanked them. Because it makes everyone feel better when they do the right thing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
Something to be thankful for. Now if I read your post correctly, one must ASK WP in order to be able to keep the editor they use? Where does one find the forum page you were talking about? I’ve always used the same editor since I started here in 2013, although they’ve tried to take it or make it ‘easier’ (read harder to use) once or twice. If they PAID for the testing phase, I’d do it. But it’d have to be some substantial coin. And I bet I’d be standing in a long line … and that also would affect WPs bottom line, which won’t happen.. ah. Silly me.
LikeLike
If you never download the new one, you can keep using your old blog. But if you use the new one, you can’t go back. That’s when you need to complain. Somewhere in one of my posts, I gave the location for the forum you need to write to, but if you haven’t changed, you’re good. Just DON’T change unless you want to be a Beta tester for WordPress.
LikeLike
Thank you, Marilyn! I just x’d out the ‘try the new editor’ and hope it stays x’d out!
LikeLike
It will be back. At some point, if they offer you a trial that lets you revert to the previous format if it doesn’t work for you, THEN try it. It really depends on how complex you need your text to be. In a different world where I was doing longer and more complicated pieces, it might have been a good idea perfect — assuming it actually worked properly which it doesn’t do, yet. It needs a very serious period of beta testing, preferably by volunteers who like testing. And who have a small site good for testing. Most of us don’t want to test on our primary site!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Marilyn. I post small amounts of text, but always a photo. When I could not figure out how to select a photo, I knew there were problems. Good advice you give here! Thanks, again. Much appreciated.
LikeLike
The inability to properly assign a photograph was a big issue for me, too. I write, but at least half my posts are more photographic than text. They need to fix a LOT of bugs before they release it to anyone.
LikeLike
Do you think we are safe is we keep ignoring the pop-up about the new editor? They won’t try to force it on us will they?
LikeLike
Ignore the pop-up — unless: (1) you want more complex design options AND (2) you have a relatively SMALL site. Not 6 years of daily posting with thousands of pictures. It isn’t ready for that big a site and may never be. And there are a lot of bugs, some small, some not so small, and many involving graphics.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I keep seeing a pop up message when using WordPress.com in my Safari browser on my iPhone asking me if I want to “learn more” about the new editor and I keep on clicking “x” to get rid of it, but I haven’t seen an option yet to permanently choose the classic editor.
LikeLike
You don’t get a return ticket when you test it, which is one of the things that really bugged me. “Learn about it” should not be the same as “make a permanent switch.” They will let you switch back if you complain really loudly, but I have heard that it doesn’t work well on telephones. It needs more real estate.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do notvwantbtomswitch over, far too complicated. Just keep the format I have been using up to now
LikeLike
Stay with whatever works for you. That’s what I’m doing. I don’t think they’ve sent it to Europe or Australia yet anyway. They need to do some bug fixes first.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good news.
LikeLike
It’s not that the new version is a bad idea, although it is needlessly complicated for blogging. It’s that it’s also full of bugs which do not affect everyone equally, but for me made using it actually impossible.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am not going to try it in a hurry. 😊
LikeLike
I haven’t even seen the option to switch yet but it is good to know that I don’t have to. Let those people who would find it useful (when it is fixed) use it and the rest of us can keep on doing what we are doing. As they say, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
LikeLike
You might like it, but wait. They need to do a lot of bug fixes before it’s ready for most people’s use. Some people aren’t having problems, but many are having serious issues — like unusable graphics and lost categories and an inability to reach back and find older posts. I think most of us who have those problems are like me. That is people with really big sites and a ton of information.
When they are ready and assuming they offer a test run, I’ll try it. As for now, can’t do it.
LikeLike
I’ve never been one of the “If it is new I must have it.” crowd. I’m more of a “Wait till they sort out the bugs.” kind of person with most technology.
LikeLike
If everyone were like that, we wouldn’t have so many issues with “new” (untested) software.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good for you. If I haven’t switched over, need I worry?
LikeLike
No. You should be fine.
LikeLike