WordPress 3.6.1 or bluehost the problem

There were no changes in WP 3.6.1 that should have resulted in such a degradation of performance. Can you replicate the problem using the default Twenty Thirteen theme with all plugins deactivated?

Yep, I did so on another site I have. I have since updated it with backup files. But when I used the site I had the same issue. Basically I had a page with hardly any content and no plugins with the twenty thirteen theme and it took 4 seconds to load. I previously had my site with 500kb and 80 calls loading in 0.6 seconds. So something is not right, but I’ll be damned if I can figure out what?

This sounds like a server issue to me. Have you spoken to Bluehost about it?

I have and they keep saying things like “try our pro”, or here have you tried W3. They have told me (and rightfully so if it is not their servers) that they don’t deal with the wordpress side of things. However since I know of other sites which are having similar issues I am starting to wonder if it is their servers.

I have had a lot of trouble with bluehost lately, and I wonder if this is just another part of those issues. I have run up against so many walls now trying to fix this, and the only thing left is either bluehost, wordpress 3.6.1 or a combination of the 2.

It’s not WordPress and you’ve ruled out theme and plugins. That just leaves the server. So you need to go back to Bluehost and nag them into looking at your issues again. Feel free to point them at this topic and remind them that:

1. We do monitor (and tag) the support that they offer to WordPress users via topics here.

2. They should be able to sort this out for you – especially as they are featured on https://www.ads-software.com/hosting/ for their WordPress hosting.

If you still get no joy, please do let us know.

Thanks mate, I will do. Unfortunately this will be the third time I have tried with them. I was hoping not to have to switch hosts as they have been pretty good on support in the past. But at the moment it kind of seems like I’m having to ask them all the questions and only getting answers to those instead of suggestions.

I’ll update you when I know anymore.

Thanks again

Any chance bluehost are throttling back their cheap hosting…

It would be wrong of me to speculate about that either way, but I can tell you my account has been getting throttled occasionally and that nobody has said anything to me about any premium plan. Rather, they keep reminding me that I could save money by paying for more than six months at a time. And in my own case, one of the Support Techs there spent about an hour with me on the phone with me at my cPanel while he explained some things about my slow sql queries and what I might do about them.

Unfortunately it is hard to tell how much of this slow down and the inability to repair it is due to my obvious inadequacies in the real backgroundy stuff and how much is due to bluehost not being able to give me the right information.

The thing is I am good at designing websites and fairly good at optimizing them, but the real technical stuff is beyond me, hence 1 click installs on bluehost. I guess what I would like is for technical support to sort out the technical stuff for me.

The plain fact is, I updated to wordpress 3.6.1 on bluehost, and the next time I checked my page load time jumped from 0.6 seconds to 20 seconds. That is the only thing that happened, it could be a coincidence, but if it is then what is the problem?

This is what I would like bluehost to help me with, and despite them trying so far they have not been able to sort it or help me sort it.

The search continues!

I have just responded to a Developer about my own sites, and here is some of what he had just said:

I stopped using [a certain plugin] awhile back when it first started developing issues, it updated and locked me out of my site creating an endless loop when logging in that crashed the site. Most of the debug errors triggered that I saw on your site were from that plugin…

…I think WordPress is headed down a good path and I hope to see some big changes over the next several years. The leaps it’s taken even from 2.5 to 3.5 have been gigantic and I think it is only going to continue to get better…

I have a couple clients running WordPress on PHP 5.4, WordPress itself appears to be stable but we have run into the same issue with plugins not being ready…

note: Possibly check your PHP version in your primary htaccess file. My recent (and very brief) test of 5.4 at my own sites caused disasters.

I typically have WordPress debug running at my sandbox site, but I presently have it turned off since I have plugins that cannot play well alongside WordPress debug! So overall, and as much as either of us might rather not have to deal with this stuff, our slow queries and the issues our plugins either are or might be causing are likely significant and in need of attention.

My only other thought here at the moment is along the line of what I had already mentioned where the BlueHost Support Tech had told me an account such as mine with three small sites should not be having issues leading to throttling. However, maybe your own case is different if your total demand at the server is greater than mine.

Hey esmi and leejosepho, I pointed them here and after a very long round about the following was the final answer I got.

I’m not 100% sure what the nature of the issue is, because for me and one of my coworkers, it loaded in about 2-3 seconds for both of us in different browsers, but some things that do commonly cause problems are things like the slider image, and the embedded facebook plugin. It might take hiring a developer to fix it, or you could even just try changing your theme or temporarily deactivating things like that plugin, just to test it out and see if you get different results. You can try caching plugins or Cloudflare, that might give you a little boost, but probably not very significant for those loading it for the first time. Double check to make sure that all of your stuff (wordpress core, plugins, theme, etc) are up to date, and give it some trial-and-error tinkering around, you might randomly find that everything works fine when you deactivate one plugin and your theme just had a hard time with it. Unfortunately, they don’t really give us that kind of advanced training so I won’t really be able to help you further.

So it would seem they just dont know how to fix it. I am probably going to move to dreamhost or at least look for another host and try them out. Any suggestions?

So it would seem they just dont know how to fix it.

At BlueHost or at any other host, their only actual responsibility or obligation (see TOS) is to make sure their servers are working properly when someone clicks a link to a given site being hosted there. Some of the Support Techs at BlueHost use WordPress themselves and have gone above-and-beyond their own job descriptions to be as helpful to me as possible at times, but those answers you were given are the kinds of answers I also have occasionally heard just as I suspect we would likely hear from any host when whatever problems we might be experiencing are WordPress issues rather than server issues.

Well they couldn’t sort it out. And a few friends of mine are having similar issues (https://www.so-many-places.com) and bluehost says it cant see anything wrong. So I am going to move hosts and see if that fixes it.

It’s a shame because it is a lot of work and I actually like bluehost. But I can’t have a slow site for no discernible reason.

I think I am going to try a trial on dreamhost, drag all my stuff over and see if with the same content it is faster, then I will know for sure.

hey mr booth

how did you go with your load time issues did you change or fix it ??

i am just looking for a supplier for hosting

as myself and a few friends of mine have just started a small agency,

we were doing work at large agency’s running multi million dollar accounts but now we banded together

i have looked at some USA based providers but came across this forum and the recommendations, so i am very interested to hear how you went

thanks david

Hi maddavid888,

Unfortunately we never came to a solution. The guys at bluehost pretty much told me they are not trained to deal so much with the wordpress side of things, and despite hours on the instant chat with them we could not fix it. In the end I have completely erased my tellthemisaidsomething.com database and reinstalled wordpress. I am currently building the new site on there but it is looking to have solved the issue. I will know for sure when I relaunch it.

Bluehost have had a few problems lately, but in general I have had very good experiences with their hosting and more so with their support. Good luck with your new business!

Cheers
Ty