Facebook? Comments? Bizarro!

Try decativating all plugins. If that resolves the issue, reactivate each one individually until you find the cause.

If that does not resolve the issue, try switching to the Twenty Ten theme to rule-out a theme-specific issue.

To elaborate – you can only see the problem if you go to an article page – any page. Note that the whole page does not load. I don’t know what the F is going on here. Again, I have changed nothing.

Yeah, i’ve been messing with the plugins, it’s not doing anything. Sure it’s “theme specific” but since I haven’t edited the theme, that doesn’t really help! I can’t just switch to some horrid default theme… what in the world could have changed this?

I honestly wouldn’t know without digging in the files. Have you switched to Twenty Ten momentarily just to confirm that it’s theme-specific?

yes, I did. Commenting works fine. So yeah, it’s obviously “theme specific” But I’m not sure how that helps me since NOTHING has changed

I think it’s got to be disqus [moronic explicative deleted] things up again, but I’m baffled that it still stays screwy even when I disable disqus!

So yeah, it’s obviously “theme specific” But I’m not sure how that helps me since NOTHING has changed

It helps, because it confirms that it is theme-specific. You’d be surprised at how many similar problems are caused by plugin conflicts, core WordPress file corruption, or server issues.

Can you run a Diff between your current theme files and a recent backup? I have a feeling that some corruption or perhaps even a hack snuck in there.

If the files are literally exactly the same, then it’s a possibility that some external media (javascript, flash, video, image, etc) referenced specifically in that theme is failing and taking the rest of the page with it.

I’m baffled that it still stays screwy even when I disable disqus!

I bet you didn’t uninstall it completely:

* Once in your WordPress Admin click Comments
* Head over to Advanced Options
* Click Uninstall

Note: If you remove the plugin from your webhost, this will not work.

What does it mean to run a “diff” … one of the things that sucks so much about wordpress is I have to actually download files and FTP them up to edit templates. It makes managing this shit almost impossible. IE most changes are probably lost since I just make them in the WP edit sreen.

What’s the best way to do it? especially considering I’m on a Mac and only the worst programs available to do this…. Can I just download everything in my theme directory? Are there any free programs for the mac to use to edit this stuff?

as for disqus… right, i did not uninstall. I just deactivated.

What continues to blow my mind is the logged in vs logged out thing. There must be some difference in the theme that’s skunking if you’re not logged in…. you’re right it’s got to have something to do with this worthlesss Disqus plugin…. but shouldn’t disabling it solve the problem the same as deleting it?

shouldn’t disabling [Disqus] solve the problem the same as deleting it?

Not necessarily. I recommend correctly uninstalling Disqus before you dive into the diff stuff, as it could resolve the issue.

What’s the best way to [run a “dif”]? especially considering I’m on a Mac and only the worst programs available to do this

Oh, I beg to differ. ?? If you by chance have the OS X developer tools (free) installed, just use File Merge. If you don’t, try this one (also free):

https://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/25426/diffmerge

You’ll need both a copy of the current theme files and the previous backup files present on your computer as both applications require you to open both the current file and the backup file to compare side-by-side.

If you use TextWrangler (it’s free too), you could open both the current and backup theme directories side-by-side and it’ll scan through all of the files, but it’s quite a bit more than just a simple diff tool.

Yep, it’s Disqus and you’re not alone:

https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/plugin-disqus-comment-system-disqus-241-bye-bye-comments

THANK YOU! For working with me on this. I’m going to try and get rid of disqus and see what that does

You’re welcome!