Dewdrop plugin (deletes itself?) and Scrollbars Gone from Site

  • Hello. The site is in development, I can’t show it yet.

    This is a very strange situation. I have a pair of websites, one English and one French. I cloned the French site from the English, copying all the plugins over to the new site to translate it into French.

    Dewdrop was working ok in the English site. And also in the “French” site that I was translating. By “working ok” I mean, the scrollbars showed up, and they were colored as I had designed them. After each work session, I saved a backup the site.

    I briefly worked on the French site on March 28th, and on March 29th when I logged in again, the scrollbars had vanished from the site. I look at to the installed plugins page, to my surprise, Dewdrop was gone. It had been deleted. I didn’t delete it. Since when can a plugin delete itself? So, the site had no scrollbats AT ALL, and the Dewdrop plugin had been deleted.

    I zipped a copy of the Dewdrop plugin from the English site and installed it in the French site, and turned it on. No scrollbars on the site.

    It seemed to me it must be hacking. Somebody deleted Dewdrop and hacked some code to shut the scrollbars off altogether.

    I spent 5-6 hours “testing” to try to find the problem. I reinstalled the site several times, on different servers.

    In the end, for no apparent reason, the default scrollbars reappeared on the site; but when I then activated Dewdrop again to color them, all the scrollbars disappeared. When I turned off Dewdrop, the default scrollbars all came back.

    Please tell me, can a plugin delete itself? This is a mystery. Dewdrop is still in my English site and is “working ok”, meaning the site scrollbars are visible and are colored. Why would the same plugin suddenly stop working in a clone of that site… and then delete itself… while leaving the site with all the scrollbars vanished.

    Thank you.

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
  • Thread Starter kmp2

    (@kmp2)

    Answering @mdshak from https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/where-do-scrollbars-come-from/

    I’ve reactivated Dewdrop plugin and the site scrollbars have disappeared again. I presume the plugin has to be active to be debugged. Thanks very much.

    Thread Starter kmp2

    (@kmp2)

    Sorry, way past my bed time, here’s the url:

    https://patriationandlegitimacy.net/francais/

    Thread Starter kmp2

    (@kmp2)

    Ok, let me try to straighten this mess out.

    When I logged in on 29 March, I found no scrollbars on the site, and Dewdrop had been deleted from the “installed plugins” page.  I was worried it might be hacking, that’s why I asked, ‘where do scrollbars come from?’

    I spent 5-6 hours trying to figure out how Dewdrop could have been deleted, and whether code had been injected somewhere to shut the scrollbars off.

    Then, suddenly, after a lot of reuploads of the site and other backups, the defaukt scrollbars reappeared.  By then, I had reinstalled Dewdrop, so I now activated it, and the default scrollbars seemed to disappear again.

    I just had another look. It seems that Dewdrop defaulted to a style with a tiny scrollbar that was hidden behind the web site header was invisible in the margin, and it looked like the scrollbars were gone, but in fact they had been restyled to the point they disappeared.

    I have just now restyled the scrollbars back to the way they were before I found Dewdrop deleted, so they match the English site, and they are showing up again.

    Conclusion:  how did Dewdrop get deleted in the first place, I didn’t do it.  I had no reason to do it, I wasn’t working on the site design at the time, I’d been working on the translation.  So, we’re back to my worry that it’s a hacker.  I changed the admin pass when I migrated the site to this host.  Nobody had the password but me.  Nobody could get into the site but me… and the host.  So now I’m worried that the host deleted the DewDrop plugin.  I’ve had a previous host delete a wp-avatar plugin in another site which eliminated the profile pic (I don’t use gravatar).  So, now, do I have another invader and do I have to move my sites again?

    Thread Starter kmp2

    (@kmp2)

    Wait! It’s happening again. You think I’m crazy.

    It’s happening NOW to the English version of the site.

    I just went over there to consult a couple of footnotes, and the PAGE would not scroll down, it was frozen, the whole site was frozen, nothing would scroll, but THIS time, the DewDrop designed scrollbars were visible. Hit page-down all you like, nothing moved.

    I then went into plugins and deactivated DewDrop. I also deactivated Lightspeed cache.

    Came back out, hit page down, nothing doing. No default scrollbars anywhere. But I had already accessed the English site an hour ago to check something, and it was not frozen. I did not touch the design or the plugins, I just verified some text of mine. And now, an hour later, the whole site is frozen, and has no default scrollbars. This has to be hacking.

    https://patriationandlegitimacy.net/3-29/

    Thread Starter kmp2

    (@kmp2)

    Wait again. In order to get at the footnotes I need, I hit EDIT on page 3-29.

    I was instantly taken inside the WP editing window, and the default scrollbars popped up! They work in editing, they do not work in viewing online at this moment.

    Thread Starter kmp2

    (@kmp2)

    OK, this time, I edited. i added two footnote numbers, 13 and 14, because I missed putting them into the English. I saved. I then hit VIEW the page, and there are NO DEFAULT scrollbars again on the outside of the site. So, please, someone tell me, WHERE ARE MY SCROLLBARS? Because right now, DewDrop is deactivated and so is Lightspeed cache. Thank you.

    https://patriationandlegitimacy.net/3-29/

    Thread Starter kmp2

    (@kmp2)

    Back on the English site, with Dewdrop still deactivated, the pages are still frozen and won’t scroll, no default scrollbars showing.

    So, I just installed a DIFFERENT plugin, Scrollbar, from the WP repository. The design shows up, but the PAGES still won’t scroll.

    So, does that suggest that whatever is stopping the vertical scrolling action from happening on the whole site is not related to the Dewdrop plugin, or to the new Scrollbar plugin. Again, is it hacking?

    AND AGAIN, I ASK – NO ANSWER YET – WHERE DO SCROLLBARS COME FROM? If somebody wanted to disable the default scrollbars as shown on the VIEWED site, where would they do it? How would they do it?

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    I ASK – NO ANSWER YET – WHERE DO SCROLLBARS COME FROM?

    ?? Hi, I’m sorry, I don’t have an answer for you, but I do want to point out that this plugin hasn’t been touched for 6 years, and the most recent reply from the developer is 5 and a half years ago.

    I don’t think you’ll be getting an answer.

    Perhaps your time would be better spent finding an alternative or abandoning custom scroll bars altogether.

    Its entirely possible this plugin is not compatible with WordPress versions higher than 4.9, and maybe even no longer compatible with modern browsers.

    Thread Starter kmp2

    (@kmp2)

    Thanks for the comment. Yes, I know the plugin is old.

    However, the first time i found the scrollbars frozen, the plugin had been DELETED. Plugins don’t delete themselves, as far as I know. They are deleted by humans. I now have proof it’s not the plugins. I moved to a new host on 10 March 2024. I changed all admin passwords at least twice. Nobody but me has access; and the host, who can get in through cpanel.

    Tonight, on a different site of mine I spent 3 hours writing a post and putting it up with a video embedded and some images and commentary. I then backed up the site and downloaded. I don’t yet know if I was quick enough… someone immediately destroyed the whole post, removed it from the top menu, deleted the pics from the media folder, went into cpanel and deleted the swl back for THIS date that was done around 1;30 am. This is not ordinary vandalism it’s gangstalking. You want to know who the host is, let me know, I’ll tell you privately by email. Vicious deliberate vandalism

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Malware doesn’t need your admin password to affect your site.

    Carefully follow?this guide. When you’re done, you may want to implement some (if not all) of?the recommended security measures?and?start backing up your site.

    And, if you don’t feel safe with your hosting provider, you should move: https://developer.www.ads-software.com/advanced-administration/upgrade/migrating/

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
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