non-functioning trackbacks

  • Doodlebee

    (@doodlebee)


    18 years, 8 months ago

    Hey all – I’ve been searching all day on this issue, and I have yet to find a solution that works. I’ve *just* noticed that trackbacks and pingbacks don’t work on my site. The first thing I did was revert back to the default theme and shut off every single plugin I had – and they *still* don’t work.

    From what I’ve found in several threads, I could place this in my .htaccess file:

    <Files xmlrpc.php>
SecFilterInheritance Off
</Files>

    and it should work…but it doesn’t! It screws *everything* up royally, and the error logs basically say there’s no such thing.

    The only other thing I can come up with is renaming my xmlrpc.php file (the host is pair.com, and from research, they apparently don’t allow you to have such a file on your server, but it’s been said you can get around it by renaming the file) – but it still doesn’t work. Most likely reason is because I’m not that familiar with .htaccess rewrites, and my rewrite format is incorrect.

    I’ll play with it a bit more and see if I can get it to work, but the .htaccess file is located in /cms/ (same level as wp-content, wp-admin, etc.) and I have this:

    <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /
    # to find renamed xmlrpc.php file
    RewriteRule ^xmlrpc.php$ BlogXMLrpc.php [R,L]
    </IfModule>

    I also have an .htaccess file in the root (same level as /cms/ – this area houses a parent website), and placing the above code in that one doesn’t work, either.

    As I said, I’ll be playing with the rewrite a bit to see if I can get it to take, but in the meantime, would anyone else have any suggestions for me? I’d surely appreciate it!

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Thread Starter Doodlebee

    (@doodlebee)

    18 years, 8 months ago

    Well, pair.com has “whitelisted” the xmlrpc.php file and is letting me use it. However, it’s still not functioning. I’ve unplugged all plugins, and reverted the theme back to default – and no trackbacks or pingbacks are showing at all.

    I found another one that suggested reverting permalinks back to the default status, and maybe that would do it – but no go there, either.

    I’ll continue my investigation, but would anyone else have any ideas?

    Additional Note: I’ve also checked the file itself. I can’t imagine that it’s corrupted, since I use this exact same file when I do install4Free installs, but I got a new one anyway. I checked it, and it appears to be working fine (when I call it up specifically in the browser, it says “XML-RPC server accepts POST requests only.” – so it appears to be working fine.)

    Thread Starter Doodlebee

    (@doodlebee)

    18 years, 8 months ago

    Well, I had emailed pair.com, and they have verified that the xmlrpc.php file has been whitelisted, and is allowed to be used.

    Yesterday, I completely reverted the site to default, and disabled the widgetized sidebar, as I had found references that the “Recent Posts” plugin (which is now a default widget) could have conflicts with trackbacks/pingbacks. I also disabled every single plugin, and removed them from the plugins folder. Trackbacks started working.

    One at a time, I began uploading/turning them on, to see which one conflicted with trackbacks. I found a couple that did (“Subscribe to Comments” and “SEO Title Tag”), but when I hit the “Fold Page List” plugin, I had a doozy. The “Fold Page List” did interfere with trackbacks, however when I shut it off, they did not return. Unlike the others – which, when I removed the plugin, the trackbacks came back – when I turned off “Fold Page List” and removed it from the server, trackbacks still have not returned.

    I contacted pair.com, and they have, again, verified that the xmlrpc.php file is still whitelisted. But now I’m back to where I started – I cannot get a single trackback or pingback to appear on the site. I’ve tested from within the site itself, and from a couple of other websites I have. I can send them out just fine, but none will come in.

    This is day #3 of trying to figure this out – would anyone have any ideas for me, please?

    Thread Starter Doodlebee

    (@doodlebee)

    18 years, 8 months ago

    Okay, final thing – I just backed up the database and dropped everything. Deleted absolutely everything possible. Got a fresh copy of the 2.2.2 files. Reinstalled from scratch. Brought it back up, renamed the default “functions.php” file to “functionsOLD.php” to turn off the widgets –

    and the trackbacks/pingbacks still don’t work. This is as bare as I can possibly get it, and it still doesn’t function.

    Chris_K

    (@handysolo)

    18 years, 8 months ago

    For clarification (I’m slow) is the issue that your blog can’t receive trackbacks or that it can’t send?

    Anything in your web server’s error log that would be helpful?

    Thread Starter Doodlebee

    (@doodlebee)

    18 years, 8 months ago

    Can’t receive. I can send just fine. Nothing whatsoever in the error logs.

    Thread Starter Doodlebee

    (@doodlebee)

    18 years, 8 months ago

    Ah! It’s working…I don’t know why though. Here’s what I’ve been doing…

    After I dropped everything, I went to the “tamba2” site for the ping tests. *those* were working (they weren’t, until I dropped absolutely everything) So then I used that site to test the trackbacks wile enabling the plugins one-by-one. One plugin had been corrupted by my droppage of the database, so I re-imported the database, and suddenly Tamba was no longer coming through.

    I double-checked, and although Spam Karma wasn’t running, the tables were now in the database. So I went in and *purposely* whitelisted Tamba’s IP. While I was in there, I also purposely whitelisted my own other IP addresses for three other sites I have.

    Viola – ALL of them showed up. Every last one – even the pingbacks.

    It’s weird though – Spam Karma was completely shut off, and I had looked through the database tables the other day and I wasn’t blacklisted there. Activated or deactivated, it was being blocked. But I had to purposely *whitelist* my IP’s to get them to show.

    It also appears that, if I trackback to any particular post more than once (I haven’t checked to see if there’s some kind of “time limit” I have), then suddenly I can’t trackback to the site anymore – I appear to be blocked.

    So right now, I can post a trackback on each test post I have – but I can’t do it more than once.

    Very weird, but at least it’s working on some level!

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

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