Migration Solution Needed
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You are now talking about WordPress.org users who will install this plugin to easily move their sites with plugins and custom themes between hosts. This has nothing to do with WordPress.com and how things work here.
Respectfully, it has everything to do with WP.com, because their use of migration plugins demonstrates convincingly that the migration tools built in to your service are inadequate. They have access to the same import/export tools that I do. Why are they not using them? Answer please.
Apologies, and meaning no personal offense, but while you are an expert on WP.com, I am regrettably expert at this debate dance we are doing together here, and the facts are not in your favor. Instead of debating me to the inevitable loss of face, or vanishing to the same result, it would be wiser to simply admit there is a technical problem and seek to fix it.
You can upgrade to Business plan and, if you’re not happy,
Well, as you can see, I’m already unhappy (not mad, just unhappy) that you have sold me a service which in one important respect does not work, and that your team continues to insist it does work in spite of ample evidence to the contrary. So I will not be giving you hundreds of dollars to help you fix YOUR company’s problem, sorry.
My counter offer is this. You have sold me broken software. To make that right you can give me FREE access to a Business account for at least a couple of days. That should resolve the issue one way or another.
Or, if your answer is final, I accept that, and can take this typoholic WordPress Migration Evangelist vaudeville show on the road, where you will have no control over it. I’m a blogger, I type all day long about things that interest me, and at the moment this is it. Please don’t make me write the story of how I invested 6 months in WP.com and then had to throw it all away. I don’t want to write about any of this, I want to get back to fighting nuclear weapons. The sooner I get there the better off we’ll both be.
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Please note how you ignored my report that I have made a good faith effort to use the tools your team suggests, and in something like 100 tests on multiple installs on multiple hosts (an enormous waste of time) they failed to work even once. That has something to do with WordPress.com, don’t you think?
That is admittedly an anecdotal report from a single user, so I backed up my claim with a huge pile of undisputed data from another source with no skin in this debate, WP.org. Literally millions of people ignoring the migration tools built in to WordPress.
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Here’s an imperfect but constructive attempt to upgrade the migration tools (import/export) built in to WordPress.
Best I can tell, and based on reports from others here, it seems one of the problems with the current built-in migration process is that it requires transferring data over the net from one host to another host.
It might be more reliable for the user to download the XML and images to their computer as they do now when they backup, and then transfer these files to the destination server via FTP. Then those files could be processed on the server, with no connection to another host server needed.
This would admittedly require basic FTP tools and knowledge which some users won’t have, thus I wouldn’t label this a perfect solution. But at least for those comfortable with FTP it might be step forward.
If this solution already exists and anyone can educate me on how to find it, please do so with my many thanks.
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Hi, just so you know, we have an option to migrate your site from a self-hosted one and you can read about it here:
https://wordpress.com/support/moving-from-self-hosted-wordpress-to-wordpress-com/#option-1-migrate-from-self-hostedSince you are trying to export your site and import it on the self-hosted site, though, we have already explained everything here and here.
We would appreciate it if you do not open new threads for that same topic, thanks.
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staff-mckluskey
We would appreciate it if you do not open new threads for that same topic, thanks.
As already explained, I can discuss this topic here where you have control, or elsewhere in the WordPress realm where you don’t have control.
By discussing migration problems here I’m giving WP.com staff the opportunity to rebut any of my claims, provide proof that I may be mistaken, educate me where I am mistaken, and so on. So far you’ve been unable to do any of this, but I’m still listening.
By discussing migration problems here I’m alerting you to, or reminding you of, a significant weakness in WP technology which can surely be remedied if there is a will to do so. Should that weakness be addressed that would benefit everyone involved, especially your employer, whoever owns WP.com. I am doing WP.com a favor here, not the other way around.
I realize that hearing about problems can be inconvenient and annoying, and that I am not always the best messenger. But this topic is already being discussed by others across the WordPress universe. Those discussions will continue no matter what happens with me, my site, my WP.com account, or my posting privileges on this forum. And there’s nothing you can do about that except….
Fix the problem.
When I first raised these questions multiple members of your support team cheerfully told me in good faith that migrating a WP site is simple, easy and automated etc. That is not factual information, and thus WP.com is not well served by it’s dissemination. If I can find these migration problems so can many many others, and to the degree incorrect information is being sold by your well meaning support team, the credibility of this site will suffer.
I realize that I may be putting you on the spot, as you may not have the power to do anything about the migration problems, nor perhaps even the power to publicly agree there is a problem. If true, sorry about that, it’s not personal.
But this is the forum WP.com has established for discussion of such issues, so here I am discussing. Please remember, you guys sold me software that doesn’t fully work, so discussion of that is reasonable. You can try to sweep all this under the rug, run and hide, close it down etc, but all that will do is move this conversation to other sites.
I’ve offered you a solution to my concerns that will cost WP.com nothing. If you decline that good faith offer, that becomes part of the story too. It’s your story WP.com, write it as you wish.
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Would someone from WordPress.com please acknowledge that you’ve taken my money and rented me software that in one important respect (migration) does not work.
Would someone from WordPress.com please acknowledge that when multiple support staff made a good faith well intentioned effort to inform me that migrations were simple, easy and automated that this information was not factual.
Would someone from WordPress.com please acknowledge that it’s not very sensible for anyone at any host using any software to invest a lot of time in any site which they don’t have the power to move as needed. Could you please acknowledge that I am addressing a valid problem which should be of concern to all your users, at least those below the Business plan level. (It remains to be seen whether plugins can make migration reliable, unknown at this time.)
Would someone from WordPress.com please acknowledge that your company bears some responsibility for the situation I find myself in, and make a good faith effort to assist me in resolving the problem. I’ve proposed a solution which will cost you nothing (temporary access to Business plan account). Could you please explain why you have not taken advantage of this opportunity to resolve the issue?
In return I am happy to acknowledge that the vast majority of the services within my account do work as advertised, and that on all issues other than migration support staff has been consistently very helpful in my WordPress education. Further, in all cases including migration support staff has been consistently polite, professional and well intentioned, which can not be said of most hosts I’ve used over 25 years.
Thank you.
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Hi, as a matter of housekeeping, I’m going to go ahead and merge all of your threads about migration into this one.
While I’m sure it’s not your intent to make our work difficult, you have scattered your issue across multiple threads, making it difficult for us to track. It’s also inconsiderate of the rest of our community, and is against our community standards.
I can see that staff-mckluskey has asked kindly before, so we will reiterate once more: do not open multiple threads on the same / similar issue. Thank you!
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OK. While I don’t feel comfortable merging this entire related thread into one specifically on migration, it seems they are along the same lines: basically you’re ending up not getting all of the images in as expected.
Here’s where it seems we’re talking past each other. As WordPress.com free support forum staff, we don’t have a lot of control on the free, open source WordPress.org xml importer, nor on how various servers handle it. We also don’t have a monthly plan we can offer you.
But as staff, we can take care of bugs with our tools. So I’d recommend checking the XML file that is exported from our service. Is it pretty consistent each time? If not, please send more details on the file differences.
If what you’re getting from us is consistent every time, but you are getting inconsistent results on import, the problem may be with the importer, or with the host, or both. Or possibly with the network as in cases where the data imports correctly but the image files themselves do not.
If the problem is with the importer, you can contribute to making a better importer if you’d like. It sounds like you’ve got the skills for that. Or, if you don’t have time, you can pin down the specific bug and file it. However, that’s not done here in the forums for free WordPress.com hosted installations. I’d recommend checking out this page:
I hope this helps clarify what we as WordPress.com forums staff can do in this situation, and I hope you’re able to find something that works well for you.
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