I tried out the block editor and now I can’t get rid of it. If I try to use the classic editor from my dashboard, I have to select it separately. As for older posts, it does NOT leave them as they were. Instead, it makes a godawful mess of earlier posts which it insists on opening using the block editor no matter how they were written. Which essentially makes them unreadable.
I have 11000 posts. Does this mean I can’t open old posts and rewrite them without completely reformatting each one? Seriously?
Have I mentioned that I really don’t think WordPress wants my business?
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Categories: Anecdote
THE GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE BOOMERS WAS DENIM 
BUDDING LILACS ABOUT TO BLOOM 
JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS 
LILACS ALWAYS BLOOM FOR MY SON’S BIRTHDAY 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
I write then insert photos and now that i have figured it out I can do it in the block editor. If the photo doesn’t go where I want I shuffle the blocks around till I’m satisfied.
It is harder to work with old posts though. When I open one it opens in classic editor and asks me if I want to turn it into blocks. I’ve had a couple turn into a horrendous mess so I don’t always want to do that. I can change text with no problems but if I want to insert photos they have to go after the original text which is basically a single block.
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I don’t have the time to do that much work on a post. I take a long time to write anyway, so adding an extra 50% timewise on the process makes me far less productive and frankly, it just aggravates me. I want software to respond to MY needs. That’s they way it is supposed to work. We — customers — are NOT supposed to have to change our working style to match the developer’s idea of how we should do it, especially since those developers aren’t writers OR photographers and have no grasp of what we need or want. Maybe if I didn’t have more than 35 years in the business, I’d be more patient, but I’m not. When I’m paying them, I want the product to meet me my needs — at least halfway. I’ll make minor adaptations, but not wholesale adaptations in the name of someone else’s software. And I think I deserve to get what I pay for.
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I can still use the classic editor in wp-admin on my phone and on my laptop and what I call “classic lite” is still available in the WordPress iOS app for the iPhone. I don’t bother with the block editor, but if the get rid of the classic editor on wp-admin and on the iOS app, I’m leaving WordPress.
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Me too. You can access it through the Posts function. You get to pick block or classic and that’s also true of editing (block or classic). But I think they are trying to get rid of us. If not, they are sending the wrong message.
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🤯
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I never signed up for it but I think I’ve got it. @#$%^&&!
Leslie
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They aren’t giving us a choice.
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Marilyn, have you tried doing what I advised? Go to the Administration page..See the square upper left were it says Posts. Right to its right it says “Add New.” Click on it and it takes you to the old editor.. exactly like before. Have you tried this? Everyone who has has said it works. Do not go to the place where you normally go to post.
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Yes, but it doesn’t always work. 50-50 at best.
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So it would seem…
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I emailed WP and said I don’t want block and in minutes it was gone.
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Well be careful and don’t try it again. But they aren’t supporting the classic editor, so it will eventually become useless anyway.
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I have a blank copy of the classic editor stored (bookmarked) on Safari I use to creat posts. I don’t know what will happen if I get a new device.
Can’t WP understand how much we are disturbed 😦
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What they really don’t understand is that they have created a way to work that doesn’t work fo many of us. It’s fine if you are a daily 500 word writer who posts an occasional picture. It’s awful if you write stories that wrap around both pictures and words. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to continue. It’s really hard to get anything done in a reasonable amount of time. Yes, i can eventually do it, but not the way I do it.
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Gosh I can’t agree more. I prefer one or 2 photos a a few words. Are the catering to news journalists? Not Artist?
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There must be a way to change back. I went into this post in editor and it is the old one. I am not going to look at the block editor for fear I can not change back.
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I watched the video and the block editor looks like more work. There is a way to change back here: https://wordpress.com/support/editors/#classic-editor
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That is no longer working. It WAS working before. Now, I have to click “Post New” on the Post page and next to the post box is a clicker, Block or Classic. The block works, but it is a real pain in the ass. It takes all the easy stuff and makes it not impossible, but much more difficult.
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It looked to me the block editor was more difficult. I am not going to change.
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That’s what happened to me. I figured “Okay, lets see how this works.” Then I couldn’t go back.
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I think there is a way back, but complicated
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and it isn’t REALLY back. And they are NOT supporting the classic editor, so there’s a shelf life on it one way or the other.
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Sad
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Oh, there is no turning back now. WP says, “Give us your money and we’ll give you what we want.” I’m using the Block Classic, which is very close to the Classic Editor I had been using. And as for the Happiness Engineers–they will not make you happy. Another blog buddy was told he was asking for ‘old person things’ so to just forget it and they will get back to him. Which, of course, they never did. Good luck, Marilyn.
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So I can’t use the classic from the Admin menu anymore. I have to open from the Post page and there’s a clicker next to it to choose “block” or “classic.” They really don’t want us. I don’t think they could make it any more clear. I wish I had the money to start my OWN blog site.
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If you click the little ‘plus’ sign on the ‘write a new post page’ it opens the Block Classic. I found that to be pretty straightforward, Marilyn. But, you are right; it is what WP wants. It is not about us…if it ever was.
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It’s more or less straightforward if you are creating a new post. It is impossible when you have older posts that were NOT done in the block editor. I have 11,000 previous non-block posts. And for people like me who first write and then put in photographs, it is a nightmare because it will NOT insert the image block between two existing blocks, so you have to put the images at the bottom of the page and then move them. OR you have to decide IN ADVANCE what pictures you are going to use which is often impossible because sometimes, I haven’t even taken the pictures yet. So straightforward for people who work the way WP thinks you ought to work and really awful if you don’t work the way they think you should work. I will never work that way. I don’t think I can work that way ever. I’ve been writing a long time and I have a style that doesn’t fit WordPress’s formula. And I deeply resent being forced into a format that ill-suits my needs and will probably never work for me. I suspect i will give up sooner rather than later. I can’t create posts where I know in advance what I will do. I write, then I edit, then I edit some more. I move graphics around. I rewrite entire sections of posts. I often use an older post as the basis for creating a new post. There’s no room for this in the block editor. There’s no freedom at all.
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Did a “Happiness Engineer” (I hate that name) actually say that to your friend? That’s appalling, rude and ageist. Do they think only young people blog. I’m sure there are far more older people writing blogs than youngsters. It would be interesting to know.
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Yes, the HE did say that. Old people blog and the HE’s are youngsters? Wow. Not only was my blog buddy angry/frustrated that he could not get Blocks to work, but he was insulted by some kid who hadn’t a clue how to help. Talk about going to hell in a handbasket! If I have problems, I send out an SOS post and usually get help that way. The Happiness Engineers do not make me happy.
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Oh Marilyn, I’m so with you on the block editor – it’s a nightmare! I was forced into using it for my last post because they appear to have switched off the classic editor – at least on my site – and I had a horrendous time with it. I feel the same as you entirely.
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It’s not impossible to use. It’s just a lot more difficult and takes a lot more time. Just the whole thing of not being able to write then insert photos where you want them triples the amount of time it takes to set up a piece. If you aren’t using a lot of pictures, you can just use the “classic editor” block and it’s more or less the same, but if you also use a lot of photographs, it’s awful.
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I don’t know why they couldn’t have just kept it simple. We have a saying over here: ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t mend it’. It was fine as it was.
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The worst part is that editing and moving photographs around is nearly impossible. I don’t know if I can work like this. I’m pretty sure no one else who works on Serendipity will be willing to work like this either.
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Same here.
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Oh boy. I tried the block editor a couple months ago and was not impressed, so I went back to classic. I am not looking forward to the day when they force me there.
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They will, though. What I did is I created a “classic” format post and set up a dashboard item called “Classic editor” that automatically opens to it. But it won’t last. They’ll force me out. They will force all of us out who don’t want to pay them for a business site when we don’t have a business. But I also think they will force themselves out of business too because on the commercial market, they are NOT number one. Not even close. And they are more expensive than other commercial sites, too.
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Oh no. I haven’t been forced into the block editor yet, and now I’m worried about both future and past posts. Ugh.
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Good luck. They’ll push it on you one way or the other. I feel like I’m being pushed out. Maybe it’s just time for me to give it up.
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