Title: Mailchimp plugin kills my PHP…
Last modified: August 22, 2016

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# Mailchimp plugin kills my PHP…

 *  [aka4751](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aka4751/)
 * (@aka4751)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/mailchimp-plugin-kills-my-php/)
 * The plugin is suddenly causing my site to go down when I have traffic surges (
   500+ simultaneous visitors). My hosting company (Synthesis) said that it’s the
   mailchimp plugin and “its CSS is loading using PHP instead of a single CSS file”,
   which causes it to use over 100% CPU on every single page view. Once I disabled
   the plugin and rebooted PHP, the site went back up.
 * Have you ever encountered this before, and is there a fi for this?
 * Thanks!
 * Asaf
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/mailchimp/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/mailchimp/)

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

 *  [mc_elliot](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mc_elliot/)
 * (@mc_elliot)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/mailchimp-plugin-kills-my-php/#post-5177856)
 * Hey aka4751,
 * Thanks for swinging by the forum. I certainly understand the concern over that
   unexpectedly high CPU usage.
 * One option that might help in this situation would be to dig into the code for
   our plugin, while commenting out some of our CSS. Fortunately, another MailChimp
   List Subscribe Form user that encountered a similar problem was kind enough to
   post a solution on their blog. In our testing, we’d also found that commenting
   out lines 108 and 109 (as well as **111**) helped.
 * Here’s their blog post: [http://www.limecanvas.com/how-to-stop-the-mailchimp-plugin-slowing-down-your-website/](http://www.limecanvas.com/how-to-stop-the-mailchimp-plugin-slowing-down-your-website/)
 * To locate the PHP file, log into your WordPress admin panel, click _Plugins_,
   and click the _Edit_ button next to MailChimp. From there, select the mailchimp/
   mailchimp.php file. From there, try commenting out the code shown here:
 *     ```
       wp_enqueue_style('mailchimpSF_main_css', home_url('?mcsf_action=main_css&ver='.MCSF_VER));
       	wp_enqueue_style('mailchimpSF_ie_css', MCSF_URL.'css/ie.css');
       ```
   
 * It may also help to try and comment out this line:
    `$wp_styles->add_data( 'mailchimpSF_ie_css','
   conditional', 'IE' );`
 * This guide from the W3Schools may help with getting that commented out, should
   you need it:
    [http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_syntax.asp](http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_syntax.asp)
 * However, it’s worth noting that updates to the plugin will remove the changes
   made to the PHP file, so it may be necessary to remove that code again in the
   future.
 * Let us know if there are any questions, or if the problem persists. We’ll be 
   happy to help! 🙂
    -mc_elliot
 *  Thread Starter [aka4751](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aka4751/)
 * (@aka4751)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/mailchimp-plugin-kills-my-php/#post-5177867)
 * Thanks, I’ll try that. Is there any risk / damage caused by doing this? Aren’t
   these pieces of code creating some functionality?
 *  [mc_elliot](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mc_elliot/)
 * (@mc_elliot)
 * [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/mailchimp-plugin-kills-my-php/#post-5177939)
 * Hey aka4751!
 * It’s good to hear from you.
 * I totally understand the apprehension when it comes to possibly altering the 
   underlying code. Fortunately, commenting out those 2 or 3 lines wouldn’t prevent
   the plugin from working. Instead, it will alter what we’d be bringing in, which
   should hopefully alleviate the performance issues.
 * That said, the change is completely reversible, if you decide it’s not wanted.
   The commented out code could be removed from the php file at any time, and future
   updates should actually remove it, regardless.
 * Let us know if that doesn’t quite address the problem, and we’ll be very happy
   to offer up some additional suggestions.
 * -mc_elliot
 *  [Steven Christenson](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stevenstarcircleacademycom/)
 * (@stevenstarcircleacademycom)
 * [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/mailchimp-plugin-kills-my-php/#post-5177990)
 * Forgive me for being naive, but if the code causes problems and removing it doesn’t
   cause problems, then it should be removed for everyone.
 * Having an inefficient hack to try to pretty up a page is not worth the sacrifice
   in performance and the corresponding drop in page rank.
 * By removing the offending code no one else with a spike in traffic will have 
   a similar issue *on every single pageview*.
 * On the other hand, another issue that I opened is a show stopper for me as well
   so I’ve deactivated the plugin. Deactivating does stop it from consuming CPU,
   right?
 *  [mc_elliot](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mc_elliot/)
 * (@mc_elliot)
 * [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/mailchimp-plugin-kills-my-php/#post-5177995)
 * Hey Steven,
 * Thanks for hopping in.
 * I do see how it would be valuable to remove that bit of code, and we’re happy
   to pass that feedback along internally.
 * As always, feel free to post any future questions in another thread!
    -mc_elliot
 *  [Steven Christenson](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stevenstarcircleacademycom/)
 * (@stevenstarcircleacademycom)
 * [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/mailchimp-plugin-kills-my-php/#post-5177997)
 * I think the question about what happens at Plugin deactivation is directly related
   to the original question, but sure, I’ll create a separate question.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

The topic ‘Mailchimp plugin kills my PHP…’ is closed to new replies.

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 * 6 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Steven Christenson](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stevenstarcircleacademycom/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/mailchimp-plugin-kills-my-php/#post-5177997)
 * Status: not resolved