Is this how it's going to be?

If your plugins are failing every time there’s an update, you would benefit from setting up a test site where you can iron out issues before updating the live site. This could be either at a subdomain or a local installation. Also if you have current file & database backups before updating, you can easily revert the site back to the original state by restoring.

Is this how it’s going to be forever with using WordPress? You update your version, then I get to spend the next three days fixing our plugins? This happens every time!

Depends entirely on the plugins. I didn’t have any issues, as my plugins were all updated in good time for 3.4.

If you’re paying for these plugins, me thinks you got the short end of the stick :/

Okay, well, to be honest, all my high-end purchased plugins keep working — so far. It’s the free ones that I install that give me trouble. I donate to many of them — especially if the plugin plays a vital role in the operation of my site (the way I want my WordPress site to function).

WordPress is awesome, and I will always use it.

Thanks for the replies. It will be a bit of a fight, I’m afraid, each and every time WordPress is updated.

It’s the free ones that I install that give me trouble.

Have you tried contacting the plugins’ developers?

Or telling us which ones? ?? Maybe we know ??

I contact the developers often. Many of them are very good at getting back to me. It’s just scary knowing that it can sometimes take a few days to get the issue resolved, waiting for their result and a fix.

I have no idea how something as complex as WordPress functions. I’m not mad, and I hope I didn’t give anyone the impression I was. I’m beginning to think that updating WordPress (for the WordPress developers), is a bit like needing to use a tractor in the middle of a flower garden. There’s no easy, simple way to get the tractor into the garden without something becoming tangled or trampled. The garden is free to develop on its own, and the pathways pretty much always become overgrown between updates.

The last thing I want is to go for months without updating. I could end up with a dozen or more plugins that no longer function, instead of one or two. I always update as soon as I possibly can.

Today, Contact Form 7 tangled with NextGEN Gallery after the updates (3.4 and the CF7 respective update). The last time I updated WordPress, I couldn’t get NextGEN to work at all. Infact, it crashed my site. At the time, to get NextGEN to work again, I had to take a crash course in memory allotment and tweak a php.ini file. I go for days not having the time to properly take care of some business matters. When updates cause troubles, it’s never really a good time.

Today, when Contact Form 7 caused photo upload troubles with NextGEN, I found a different contact form to use. I like the clean, simple aspect of CF7. I will check with them in a week or more to see if they have their issue resolved.

Today, Contact Form 7 tangled with NextGEN Gallery after the updates (3.4 and the CF7 respective update). The last time I updated WordPress, I couldn’t get NextGEN to work at all. Infact, it crashed my site. At the time, to get NextGEN to work again, I had to take a crash course in memory allotment and tweak a php.ini file.

Have you seen https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/plugin-contact-form-7-not-working-with-wordpress-34?replies=2

I like the clean, simple aspect of CF7.

It’s also one of my favourite plugins and the support for it is excellent. The problem all plugin devs have is the sheer number of other plugins out there. The resulting number of permutations is positively scary. Eve with the best of developers, you do sometimes get rare occasions when 2 plugins simply will not play well together and the best you can do – as a plugin dev – is to warn users of possible inter-plugin incompatibilities. Even so that’s a big job and relies heavily on feedback from users.

I have no idea how something as complex as WordPress functions.

Magic ?? And Kittens.

Honestly I am surprised, since I run the trunk build (no more than 4 hours off), and maybe one day a month I have an issue with a plugin (or with a theme, or core itself). Not saying it’s perfect, but a well written plugin rarely has issues in my experience. Or I’m just insanely lucky…

CF7 and NextGen are both ‘big’ plugins though. Much like when I had BuddyPress installed and broke my site but good, it’s really easy to take everyone down. Which is why we make backups and, if it’s important, test first. But if a plugin’s gonna break, it’ll be the most complicated one :/

Or I’m just insanely lucky…

I’m running or looking after about 12 WP sites – the oldest of which is now about 8 years old. I’ve never had a real plugin problem but then I’m conservative with what plugins I do install and tend to do a lot of research before I try a new one. The theme issues I’ve had are ones that I’ve (literally) created. ??