Title: Plugin issues: update Last modified: May 19, 2019 --- # Plugin issues: update * Plugin Contributor [David Artiss](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dartiss/) * (@dartiss) * [6 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/) * Original update: [https://wordpress.org/support/topic/empty-needle-error-please-read/](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/empty-needle-error-please-read/) * I know – it’s been weeks. I am actively looking at this but I’m drawing a genuine blank. * Here’s what I know… with version 1.0 or above of this plugin, after a number of days the settings are being wiped and slowness and general problems occur as a result (the plugin wasn’t designed to cope with a lack of settings for the simple reason that it should never happen). I’m able to recreate it on my own site but, as you can imagine, it takes a week each time to get it to fail and then, debugging added to my site, isn’t yielding anything useful. I’m still digging but if anybody has any ideas, it would be appreciated. * If you get the error then the simplest way to restore your site is to head to Settings -> Footnotes and put your settings back in again and then click the save button. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 24 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/page/2/?output_format=md) * [Antoine.Borg](https://wordpress.org/support/users/antoineborg/) * (@antoineborg) * [6 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11594708) * Thanks David – I’m seeing this too and haven’t been able to see a pattern emerge. I can tell you it happens more frequently than once a week; (About every 3 days is my estimate) Might I suggest something? You write that the plugin doesn’t cope with a lack of settings. Could it be modified so that if there are no settings, it defaults to *something*. If so, something would be better than nothing and it wouldn’t cause the weird errors. Does this make sense? * Plugin Contributor [David Artiss](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dartiss/) * (@dartiss) * [6 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11594713) * Well, that’s the weird thing – the plugin is already designed to cope with missing settings (which is what it does when you try and use it the first time). So, it’s not as clear cut as them simply being missing – what’s odd is that in my debugging it wasn’t triggering the default settings being loaded, despite the fact that they’re not there. * I’m wondering if they ARE there but just all blank. So what would cause all the settings go blank after a few days? This is a truly odd one. * [Antoine.Borg](https://wordpress.org/support/users/antoineborg/) * (@antoineborg) * [6 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11595217) * Hmm – I see your point, yes. * And also it’s something that started happening recently (approx 4-5 weeks). So it must be tied to a PHP or WordPress update, right? * Plugin Contributor [David Artiss](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dartiss/) * (@dartiss) * [6 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11595256) * That was my thinking. I don’t think there was any WordPress update around that time and those reporting it are on different levels of PHP. It could be another plugin that’s interfering. * Plugin Contributor [David Artiss](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dartiss/) * (@dartiss) * [6 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11595258) * One of the reasons why it’s taking me so long to get to the bottom of this is because I can’t recreate it on my test sites – on my live, production website. Which makes things tricky but also makes me wonder what the difference is – plugins mainly! * [fjvanittersum](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fjvanittersum/) * (@fjvanittersum) * [6 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11688427) * I have been using this plugin since 2 months. No problems till yesterday. After reinstalling the plugin, everything was OK again. However, within 12 hours the settings were lost again and my home page was filled with a very long list of rubbish. * I added a post with many notes on June 11th; last week I upgraded tot WordPress 5.2.2. There was also an upgrade of GeneratePress Premium; the recent GeneratePress basic theme upgrade was installed after all problems started. * [Joe](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sabbathbreaker/) * (@sabbathbreaker) * [6 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11699011) * Any update? I still experiencing error once in a while but it will reduce my site uptime * Plugin Contributor [David Artiss](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dartiss/) * (@dartiss) * [6 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11699017) * No update yet, Joe – as soon as you see a new release of the plugin, then that should contain any fix. * [Antoine.Borg](https://wordpress.org/support/users/antoineborg/) * (@antoineborg) * [6 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11699868) * I’m happy to report I haven’t seen the problem for the past 3 weeks or so. Something’s changed – and for the better * Plugin Contributor [David Artiss](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dartiss/) * (@dartiss) * [6 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11699931) * Which version of WordPress is your site on Antoine? * [Antoine.Borg](https://wordpress.org/support/users/antoineborg/) * (@antoineborg) * [6 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11700554) * I have 3 sites – They’re on WP5.2.2 which I installed on 19 June. I had experienced the problem on all 3 and now I haven’t seen the problem since approx 15 June. * A * Plugin Contributor [David Artiss](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dartiss/) * (@dartiss) * [6 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11700582) * Thank you. There was a theory that this was a bug in 5.2.1, so seeing it go after 5.2.2 is… interesting. * I’ll test myself and see how I get on. * [seuser](https://wordpress.org/support/users/seuser/) * (@seuser) * [6 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11710365) * Hi David, * Looking ‘footnotes-made-easy.php’ it seems this code gets called unconditionally when the plugin is active because you have this in the constructor of `class swas_wp_footnotes`: ` if( !empty($_POST[ ‘save_options’ ] ) ) { ` Would suggest changing this to something like ` if( !empty( $_POST[ ‘save_options’ ] ) && ! empty( $_POST[ ‘save_footnotes_made_easy_options’ ] ) ) { ` and adding a hidden var to ‘options.php’ like ` ` To ensure that this gets called only when this plugin is saved, otherwise your options will be overwritten with empty options if any other plugin or wordpress code submits anything that contains a POST val of `save_options`. * The same issue happens with reset options – it is likely reset more often than desired if triggered by some other plugin or core. * Hope that helps! Scott * Plugin Contributor [David Artiss](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dartiss/) * (@dartiss) * [6 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11713269) * Thank you [@seuser](https://wordpress.org/support/users/seuser/) – you may just be a life-saver! * > The same issue happens with reset options – it is likely reset more often than > desired if triggered by some other plugin or core. * I’ve taken a look at this and can’t see where this was even supposed to be triggered( I’m wondering if it’s redundant code left over from the plugin pre-forking). Have you any thoughts on this? * Plugin Contributor [David Artiss](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dartiss/) * (@dartiss) * [6 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/#post-11713285) * I think I’ve answered my own questions. It looks as if the previous developer added a second button to the options screen to reset all options, which then mysteriously disappeared later. * So, okay, I’m going to remove that functionality entirely. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 24 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/page/2/?output_format=md) The topic ‘Plugin issues: update’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/footnotes-made-easy/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=3057822) * [Footnotes Made Easy](https://wordpress.org/plugins/footnotes-made-easy/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/footnotes-made-easy/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/footnotes-made-easy/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/footnotes-made-easy/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/footnotes-made-easy/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/footnotes-made-easy/reviews/) * 24 replies * 7 participants * Last reply from: [David Artiss](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dartiss/) * Last activity: [6 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-issues-update/page/2/#post-11844964) * Status: not resolved