What is causing 'This is embarrassing .. page not found' messages on site?

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  lfields1 · Member · Dec 31, 2015 at 4:58 am

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  My privately published site on WordPress.com (free) looks fine to me. All pages are private. But viewers I have invited see only the header (including title, picture & menu) and footer and a ‘this is embarrassing … page not found’ message in the content area. This Twenty Eleven theme site is all static pages. I have looked at the WP forums and other help items for assistance, but no luck. Any ideas on the cause and potential fixes?

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  justjennifer · Member · Dec 31, 2015 at 6:38 am

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  There are two different Visibility settings on a site.

  The first setting is site-wide (Site Visibility Settings) and allows you to publish your content and invite only selected viewers to see it. See here: https://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/privacy-settings/

  The second setting is per post and per page (found in the Editor’s Publish module), which allows you to privately publish those posts/pages. The only people who will see those posts and pages are site Admins and Editors. See here: https://en.support.wordpress.com/post-visibility/
  https://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/page-visibility/

  From your description it sounds like you have not only enabled site wide Privacy, but also privately published your posts and pages as well.

  In order for your invited viewers to see your content you will need to change the Post and Page visibility to Public. This can be done by changing the setting post by post and page by page or in bulk on the Edit Posts/Edit Pages screens:
  https://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/edit-posts-screen/#bulk-edit
  https://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/edit-pages-screen/#bulk-edit

  Let us know if you need more help or have more questions about that.

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  justjennifer · Member · Dec 31, 2015 at 6:40 am

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  Just to clarify, changing the per Post and Page visibility to Public does not make it visible to everyone, but only to the people you’ve invited to view your Private site.

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  justjennifer · Member · Dec 31, 2015 at 7:16 am

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  Nope, need to say that a little better…

  Just to clarify, changing the per Post and Page visibility to Public on a Private site does not make it visible to everyone, but only to the people you’ve invited to view your Private site.

  Hope that’s clearer.

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  lfields1 · Member · Dec 31, 2015 at 5:02 pm

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  Thank you so much for your meticulous replies!! Your last reply clarified it for me — Public within a Private site. I understand now that Public is not exactly Private, and a “double Private” is double-trouble, depending on the site settings.

  You nailed it. I had both Private-oriented site and page settings turned on simultaneously. My dashboard looked a little different from what was described in the WordPress.com links you provided, so I opted to change the Visibility settings to Public page by page, as you suggested.

  I think I got tripped up in the generalities of the terms Private, Public, etc. I thought I was being careful, but I have learned that I’m going to have to pay very close attention to the language and use of apparently general terms that actually carry very specific meanings in WordPress.

  Thank you again for taking the time to share your knowledge, and for helping me wrap up this volunteer project before the New Year — with about 12 hours to spare!!

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  justjennifer · Member · Dec 31, 2015 at 6:26 pm

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  You are welcome! WordPressdotcom’s Support site search bar is really very good if you need to look up information. Here’s a lexicon for you: https://en.support.wordpress.com/lexicon/ :)

  Have a happy and productive New Year!

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  lfields1 · Member · Dec 31, 2015 at 7:52 pm

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  I will go there and learn. Thanks again, and a Happy New Year to you, too!