Leave a Reply takes you to "Oops, Page Can't be Found"

Hi, tbtforsolotravelers, & welcome.

I’m thinking perhaps you may have disabled comments under ‘Settings > discussion’. If that be so, then:
a) Edit your blog page;
b) Click the ‘Screen Options’ link, & make certain that ‘allow comments’ & ‘Allow Trackbacks & Pingbacks are checked–this will allow you to see those options on every page;
c) Once assured that they are, check the box to enable comments. You may also wish to check the box to allow trackbacks & pingbacks as well if you expect links from other bloggers.

If that helps, would you please mark the thread as ‘resolved’ so we can proceed to offer assistance to others. Thanks.

Allow people to post comments on new articles is checked in Settings > Discussion. Comments and Discussion are also checked in the Blog Page and “Allow comments”, “Allow trackbacks and pingbacks on this page” and Discussion are all selected for each post. Please say you can think of something else?

Hi again tbtforsolotravelers. Well, I had to ask, you know? I was afraid it might sound glib, but I’ve found over the years that when I didn’t cover the bases, it always came back to bite me.

When trying to leave a comment, it actually redirects to the homepage. So–could you please provide us w/a copy of your .htaccess file?

1 thing we almost always ask you to do in situations like this is to change your theme to a default theme like 2014 & deactivate plugins to see if this sort of behavior goes away. But let’s have a look at your .htaccess & see if there’s anything noteworthy there.

Has this just occurred recently? Can you think of anything that may have changed, i.e., a new theme, a new plugin, etc.?

Thanks for your patience as we try to resolve this.

Not a problem. I completely understand and I just appreciate your help in getting to the bottom of this. That’s interesting that it redirects to the home page for you but takes me to an “Ooops” page. Here is a copy of my .htaccess file:

# BEGIN W3TC Browser Cache
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
Header append Vary User-Agent env=!dont-vary
</IfModule>
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css text/x-component application/x-javascript application/javascript text/javascript text/x-js text/html text/richtext image/svg+xml text/plain text/xsd text/xsl text/xml image/x-icon application/json
<IfModule mod_mime.c>
# DEFLATE by extension
AddOutputFilter DEFLATE js css htm html xml
</IfModule>
</IfModule>
# END W3TC Browser Cache

# BEGIN W3TC Page Cache core
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Encoding} gzip
RewriteRule .* – [E=W3TC_ENC:_gzip]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} w3tc_preview [NC]
RewriteRule .* – [E=W3TC_PREVIEW:_preview]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !=POST
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} =””
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !(comment_author|wp\-postpass|w3tc_logged_out|wordpress_logged_in|wptouch_switch_toggle) [NC]
RewriteCond “%{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/%{HTTP_HOST}/%{REQUEST_URI}/_index%{ENV:W3TC_PREVIEW}.html%{ENV:W3TC_ENC}” -f
RewriteRule .* “/wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/%{HTTP_HOST}/%{REQUEST_URI}/_index%{ENV:W3TC_PREVIEW}.html%{ENV:W3TC_ENC}” [L]
</IfModule>
# END W3TC Page Cache core
# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ – [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

tbtforsolotravelers, I should have been clearer. It takes me too the ‘oops’ page. What I meant is that the url ends in /home.

Indeed, when I click on a post, for example, “Why Very Few Americans Want to Travel Overseas”, I get a ‘not found’ page, too, & the url is:
https://www.travelbuddytrips.com/home

That also yields a ‘Not Found’ error, but it states that the page ID is 34, &, indeed, if I type in https://www.travelbuddytrips.com/34, I’m brought to your homepage. All that suggests to me a problem w/your settings, your permalinks, your plugins/theme, or the .htaccess file. I’ll address these issues now.

First, could you please do this for me? Could you go to ‘Settings > Reading’ & make sure your front page is set to ‘Home’ & your posts page is set to ‘Blog’. Make certain that the home page is in fact titled ‘Home’. You may need to go into ‘Pages > All Pages’ & make sure that the homepage is in fact entitled ‘Home’. If you made any changes, save them, then try to leave a comment. If it works, you’re done. If not, please continue.

2nd, could you please go to ‘Settings > Permalinks’, set the permalinks the way you want them, then save your changes. Again, test to see if you can leave a comment.

It that doesn’t work, then let’s do the following:
1) Using either your web hosting control panel or an FTP client, please rename your .htaccess file. Just eliminating the beginning . will take away its functionality.

Next, go to ‘Settings > Permalinks’ in your dashboard, select your desired permalink structure, & save your changes. This will recreate a very abbreviated .htaccess file.

Try to leave a comment & see if that works. If not, then please continue.

Next, deactivate all plugins. Again, try to leave a comment. If it works, you may reactivate 1-by-1, each time testing to see if you can leave a comment, until the problem plugin is found.

Lastly, if it still doesn’t work, choose the 2014 theme & see if that doesn’t help.

I know this looks like a lot. You’ll be fine–take it step-by-step. I know it’s frustrating, but this will get fixed.

Ok, I got as far as renaming the .htaccess file to htaccess file and now when I go to my blog page, it takes me to a 404 page that isn’t even as nice as the previous 404 page which at least used to show my menu. I stopped when this happened.

tbtforsolotravelers, I realize this feels a little bit panicky right now. I want to assure you that by renaming the .htaccess file back, you’ll regain its functionality, which is precisely why I didn’t ask you to delete it. I understand that by asking you to do various things w/your site, I’m treading on very sacred ground, & I completely respect that. Believe me, I’ve taken my shoes off, as it were. I really won’t put you in a situation that you can’t back out of.

I have a nagging suspicion that either your pages are not set correctly, or there’s a problem w/your Total Cache plugin.

Could you please log into your site, & make certain of the following:
1) Go to ‘Pages > All Pages’ & ascertain that you do indeed have a page entitled ‘blog’ & a page entitled ‘home’.
2) Go to ‘Settings > Reading’ & make sure that you have your frontpage set to ‘a static page’ & that the page is indeed entitled home. Also, please make sure that your posts page is entitled ‘blog’.

If everything is ok w/that, then let me know & we’ll take the next step. If it isn’t, then please make whatever changes are necessary, & see if it works the way it should. Either way, please keep in touch.

I trust you! I just didn’t know if that was what was supposed to happen.

I have a page entitled, “Blog” with the permalink: https://www.travelbuddytrips.com/blog
Now I will say there is nothing on this page.

I have a page entitled, “Home” with the permalink: https://www.travelbuddytrips.com/

I am looking at my Reading Settings > Front Page Displays > Static Page :Front Page: Home / Posts Page: Blog

Thank you for your help and for your patience!

tbtforsolotravelers, Could you please rename your plugins folder now? Then try just to go to your blog page.

Also, just out of curiosity, what does your siteurl & wordpressurl say under ‘Settings General’?

Ok, I went to my Filemanager and renamed my plugins folder (it looks like all my plugins are deactivated) and I still get the 404 page when I go to my blog page.

WordPress Address (URL): https://www.travelbuddytrips.com
Site Address (URL): https://www.travelbuddytrips.com

Ok, could you now log in & change to the 2014 theme?

Do I lose everything?

1 of the best things about WordPress, tbtforsolotravelers, is that it does a great job of separating appearance from content. So the answer is you won’t lose 1 jot or tittle.

Ok. I changed to Twenty Fourteen but the blog page still goes to a 404 page.

Also, when I first activated this theme, I received this error:
W3 Total Cache Error: some files appear to be missing or out of place. Please re-install plugin or remove /hermes/bosoraweb118/b437/ipg.travelbuddytripscom/wp-content/advanced-cache.php.

tbtforsolotravelers, thanks. Would you please now go to ‘Settings > Permalinks’ & take note of your selection. Choose another permalink selection, such as the default, save it, then choose what you originally had, save it again, & try to go to your blog.

Just out of curiosity, how long has this site been up & w/this particular hosting company?