Common Issues and Solutions

Start here when something in WB Member Blog is not behaving as expected. Each entry names the symptom, the usual cause and the fix. For narrower problems see Posts not showing, Permission issues and Editor and media issues.

Member posts are not going live

Cause. Review is on. New sites start with Publish immediately off, so every member post waits in Posts > Member submissions. This is expected behaviour, not a fault.

Fix.

1. Open Posts > Member submissions (or click Review now on the Overview tab’s Needs review card).
2. Click Approve on each post, or Reject with a reason.
3. If you do not want to review, go to WB Plugins > Member Blog > Access and turn on Publish immediately.

Administrators and editors always publish directly, so test as a regular member to see what members see.

A member sees a posting limit banner (Pro)

Cause. The Post Restrictions module is on and the member has reached a limit for this hour, day, week, month or year. The banner names the limit and when it resets, for example “Resets at midnight (site time)”.

What still works. The member keeps the composer, can save drafts and can update posts that are already live. Only publishing a new post is blocked.

Fix. Raise the limit under Restrictions, add the member to Exempt Users, or set a personal limit on their user profile under Blog Posting Limits (Override). See Restrictions.

A member cannot publish because of credits (Pro)

Cause. The Post Credits module is on, Block at Zero Balance is ticked, and the member’s balance does not cover Credits per post.

Fix. Add credits to the member under Post Credits, lower Credits per post, or untick Block at Zero Balance. Administrators and editors are never charged.

If an approval is blocked for this reason, the notice reads “Not published: the author has no post credits left and “Block at Zero Balance” is on (Post Credits settings)“. The post goes back to the author’s drafts. Grant credits, then approve again.

The composer does not load

The composer sits on “Loading editor…” or shows an empty box. See Editor and media issues. The most common causes are a script optimisation plugin, a strict Content Security Policy and a blocked REST API.

Saving, uploading or autosave fails with a network message

Cause. The front end talks to the server through the WordPress REST API at /wp-json/wbcom-member-blog/v1/. If a security plugin, firewall or server rule blocks /wp-json/, the composer cannot save, upload images or autosave. There is no fallback route.

Fix.

1. Visit https://your-site.com/wp-json/ while logged in. You should see JSON, not an error page.
2. In your security plugin, allow the REST API for logged-in users, or allow the wbcom-member-blog/v1 namespace.
3. Ask your host whether a firewall rule blocks /wp-json/ requests.

Follower or notification emails arrive late or not at all

Cause. Member Blog does not send email while a post is being published. It queues the emails and sends them a few seconds later through WP-Cron, so publishing stays fast. On a site with little traffic, or with DISABLE_WP_CRON set and no server cron, the queue waits.

Fix.

1. If DISABLE_WP_CRON is set in wp-config.php, add a server cron job that calls wp-cron.php every minute or few minutes.
2. Make sure WordPress can send mail at all. An SMTP plugin fixes most delivery problems.
3. Check the feature is on: follower emails need Follow writers on the Features tab, and the digest needs Digest email on.
4. Check the member has not switched the email off on the Settings tab of their blog home (Pro).

Emails work on every platform. Only the on-site notification bell needs BuddyPress.

Settings do not save

1. Use the save button in the sticky bar at the bottom of the tab: Save Settings on most free tabs, Save Features on the Features tab. Each tab saves only its own settings, so save before switching tabs.
2. Pro’s Manage Modules switches save as you flip them and need JavaScript. If a switch does not stay on, check the browser console for errors.
3. Clear any object cache (Redis, Memcached) after saving if the old value keeps appearing.

A page is missing or shows “Shortcode missing”

Go to Pages and click Auto Create Page next to the affected page. It creates the page, or repairs a mapped page that lost its shortcode, and saves the setting.

404 errors on blog pages or profile tabs

Go to Settings > Permalinks and click Save Changes without changing anything. This rebuilds the rewrite rules. Clear your page cache afterwards.

A feature I switched on does not appear

1. Check it on the Features tab. Some features depend on others: Clap and save on post lists needs Claps or Reading list, and Digest email needs Follow writers.
2. For a Pro feature, check its module is on under Manage Modules.
3. Clear page caches and hard-refresh the browser.

Pro shows a notice and does nothing

Cause. The free plugin is missing or older than Pro requires. Pro deactivates itself when the free plugin is missing, and pauses itself when the free plugin is out of date.

Fix. Install or update WB Member Blog to the same version as Pro. A paused Pro starts again on its own; a deactivated Pro needs reactivating.

Finding a plugin conflict

1. Switch to a default theme such as Twenty Twenty-Five and test again.
2. Deactivate every plugin except WB Member Blog (and Pro), then test.
3. Reactivate plugins one at a time, testing after each, until the problem returns.

Frequent culprits: security plugins that block the REST API, and optimisation plugins that combine, defer or delay JavaScript.

Collecting debug information for support

Add these lines to wp-config.php, reproduce the problem, then send the relevant lines of wp-content/debug.log:

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );

Include your WordPress, PHP, WB Member Blog and Pro versions, your theme, and whether you use BuddyPress, BuddyBoss or PeepSo.

Related

• FAQ
• Quick Setup Guide
• Admin settings