website content disappeared

  • Resolved asv19

    (@asv19)


    1 year, 8 months ago

    This week I had unexplained situation and need some input from community to understand what went wrong. My experience level with WordPress is zero.

    WordPress hosted by provider, latest version installed, plus Elementor and Starter plugins. Page created with Starter theme, in media library there are some images from Starter.

    Day 1: during page editing images refuse to upload, even smallest ones. Contacted support, they modified something in settings and suggested clear browser cache – problem solved. Website saved, PC turned off.

    Day 2: Website loaded exactly as I left it day before, done some modifications, but getting image uploading errors, same as day before. I remember the drill (see Day 1) – saved the website, cleared browser cache, closed/opened browser. Page I was editing does not exist anymore. There are some pages present, modification date is about a week ago. Contacted support – they don’t monitor changes on the site so have no idea what happened with the content. In Media Library – only my images from Day 1, everything from Starter is gone.

    I’m still puzzled and concerned how to organize the work with such unpredictable behaviour. Maybe I did something wrong? Don’t know how to mitigate risks in the future.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    1 year, 8 months ago

    Based on your description, it sounds like you or your hosting provider restored an old backup of your site.

    If you didn’t, then I recommend asking to speak to someone higher up at your hosting provider’s support to detemine how and why that happened.

    Thread Starter asv19

    (@asv19)

    1 year, 8 months ago

    Thank you @macmanx, the response from provider was:

    We don't keep track of changes made inside your wordpress website, so we cannot provide you with any explanation on what happened because we won't have any logs of changes made inside wordpress. WordPress itself also don't keep track of these kinds of changes. There is no point in escalating your conversation because we don't have any kind of logs of changes made inside a wordpress website, so none of our teams would be able to help you with that

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    1 year, 8 months ago

    I guess my challenge would be to them that, based on your description, 1 of 3 things happened:

    1. You, or someone with your password, logged in to your site and deleted content and reverted edits to a very specific time period. You would indeed need a logging plugin already installed to have known that. That sounds unlikely, it’s a lot of work for destruction when just deleting everything is easier.
    2. You, or someone with your password, logged in to your site and restored a backup of your site to a very specific time period. You would indeed need a logging plugin already installed to have known that, and you would have needed a backup plugin to have backups in the first place. If malicious, it also sounds unlikely, it’s a lot of work for destruction when just deleting everything is easier. But also, it is an easy mistake to make if you’re already using a backup plugin.
    3. The hosting provider restored a backup of the server or your account to a very specific time period without telling you. WordPress wouldn’t log any of that, but your hosting provider would have, unless either they’re trying to hide it or they don’t keep logs (which is very bad). Either way, in my experience, this does happen from time to time, hosting providers can make mistakes.

    This is a public support forum, and you’re welcome to link to this if you want to keep discussing with them, so they can see our replies.

    Otherwise, it sounds like you’re going to have to re-build what you lost. You might also want to consider moving https://developer.wordpress.org/advanced-administration/upgrade/migrating/#moving-to-a-new-server to a new hosting provider: https://wordpress.org/hosting/

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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