I cannot get anything to work, and nothing makes sense

  • Unknown's avatar
    oregondissenter · Member ·

    Just started here but I cannot figure out even how to make the page look a certain way. These ‘blocks’ are bizzarre, and make zero sense to me. They appear and disappear with any random click. I can’t get things to even happen, the site is terribly unresponsive and often fails to load pages. I can’t add or remove any elements or images or text from the blog and posts don’t even appear on the home page. What is going on? Is this a blog or a website creation tool? I just want a simple, text-based blog. Why does every sentence get inserted into the ‘blocks’ and how do I get rid of those things and go back to a simple, no-theme, no-design, just-words blog? This is extremely complicated and very difficult to understand. I’m not a programmer, I’m not a techie, I’m a writer. I will not be becoming tech savvy or smarter, so I need to have a dumb site. If that’s not wordpress, then at least have the decency to say ‘adios’ because I’m so frustrated that I literally am now bleeding from my forehead. I literally bashed my own head into a wall in uncontrollable frustration with how impossible you site is to use or understand.

  • Unknown's avatar
    oregondissenter · Member ·

    Hello? I thought this was as support chat? I cannot get my new blog to work at all. It keeps reverting back to previous states and no matter what I click I never end up at the same place again. I can’t find my way around, and there are no tooltips or even labels on anything. so I’ve been sitting here for hours now, literally screaming ‘what are you even doing?’ over and over. Nothing is working intuitively, and I can’t seem to change even minor settings or even get posts to appear on the blog. I go to the URL and it’s basically placeholder and keeps inserting ‘generic’ template photos and texts into my published pages, which is embarrassing. I just want a simple interface where I add text and maybe a photo. How does one do ANYTHING here? I am utterly mystified. The tutorials are… I mean… are you trying to make it as difficult, technical, and confusing as possible? And why is the site so badly unresponsive? What in the world is going on here? This is NOT the wordpress I was using a few years ago. Where is that site and how do I get it back???

  • Unknown's avatar
    writer0001 · Member ·

    @oregondissenter,

    Hello? I thought this was as support chat?

    This is a public forum, so there are many other people who also need assistance. This thread has been tagged for staff attention, so please be patient and wait for their reply.
    Sharing the URL of your site will also help.

    If you have a paid plan, you can access Live Chat Support (https://wordpress.com/support/help-support-options/#live-chat-support) which is directly with staff. Please bear in mind however that live chat support is slightly slower at the moment due to increased questions.

    Thank you for your patience :)

    They appear and disappear with any random click.

    Do you mind clarifying on that? It sounds like a possible bug.

    back to a simple, no-theme, no-design, just-words blog?

    You can’t get rid of having a theme, however you can choose a theme which has little design distractions if you want to. https://wordpress.com/themes/.

    These ‘blocks’ are bizzarre, and make zero sense to me.

    The Classic Editor is still available in WP Admin.
    https://wordpress.com/support/editors/#classic-editor
    There is a block called ‘Classic Block’ (you can find it by searching in the insert block search bar, or under the Formatting heading) which works in the same way as the Classic Editor. You can find out more about this block here:
    https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/blocks/classic-block/
    If you’re having trouble using blocks, here’s a tutorial:
    https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/#blocks
    If you wish to try out blocks, this support post will help you bridge the gap between the classic editor and blocks:
    https://wordpress.com/support/replacing-the-older-wordpress-com-editor-with-the-wordpress-block-editor/
    If you have more feedback or questions about Blocks, head to the Forum thread https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/feedback-thread-for-the-block-editor/.

    I hope this helps!

  • Unknown's avatar
    writer0001 · Member ·

    Hi again @oregondissenter,

    how to make the page look a certain way.

    Try using the Customiser by going to My Site > Design > Customise.
    https://wordpress.com/support/customize-your-site
    https://wordpress.com/support/customize
    If that doesn’t help, please could you give specific problems that you’re facing?

    the site is terribly unresponsive and often fails to load pages.

    For staff to help with this, they will probably need the URL.

    I can’t add or remove any elements or images or text from the blog […] I cannot get my new blog to work at all. It keeps reverting back to previous states and no matter what I click I never end up at the same place again.

    This sounds like another bug. Please could you tell us which browsers you are using, whether you have any extensions enabled, what you expect to happen and what actually happens.
    Sharing screenshots might also help: https://wordpress.com/support/make-a-screenshot/.

    posts don’t even appear on the home page.

    If you go to My Site > Design > Customise > Homepage settings and select ‘posts page’, your homepage should display your most recent posts. Tell us if this isn’t happening.

    I can’t find my way around, and there are no tooltips or even labels on anything.

    Please could you share a screenshot of what you’re seeing? Is this on your main My Site dashboard, or when you’re in the editor?

    Nothing is working intuitively, and I can’t seem to change even minor settings

    Try going to My Site > Manage > Settings and changing any settings there. Is this not working for you?

    or even get posts to appear on the blog.

    They may not be published. Go to My Site > Site > Posts > Drafts and find any unpublished posts there.

    I go to the URL and it’s basically placeholder and keeps inserting ‘generic’ template photos and texts into my published pages.

    Your Customiser may still be a draft. Go to My Site > Design > Customise and make sure you’ve selected ‘save changes’.

    I just want a simple interface where I add text and maybe a photo.

    The classic editor is a good option for this, although the emphasis is on trying the block editor. For text you can use paragraph blocks. All you need to do for that is type. It behaves in the same way as ordinary typing, although I admit at first the appearance of a new block each time can be distracting.
    If you want an image, press enter, type /image and press enter again. Then you’ll be able to add an image.

    I hope this helps :) Ask if you have any more questions.

    Just a reminder that this forum is for WordPress.com hosted websites. If you use the open-source WordPress software, you’ll need to go to their forum to get help: https://wordpress.org/support/forums/
    If you want to know more about the differences between WordPress.com and the WordPress software you can read the support post:
    https://wordpress.com/support/com-vs-org/

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