Possible to remove php @session_start()?

Hi @jeffmcneill,

Clients hire us day in and day out to optimize their sites, and we write plugins that help improve PageSpeed, so that’s one area we specialize in and would never let a plugin slow a site down.

You’re looking at one element of site speed and scalability, but we’re actually way ahead of you. ??

That is there for a very specific reason, and the way that we’ve implemented it, does not hinder site speed. We manage and support many high performance sites, and all of them have PHP sessions enabled, and outperform comparable sites that don’t have sessions enabled.

We’ve actually already got an FAQ that covers how the plugin is optimized, in depth. Please take a look at that.

When the plugin detects a situation where it needs to, it will switch to Compatibility Mode, which modifies how it works with PHP Sessions, along with some other optimizations and method changes. You can manually force it to run in Compatibility Mode if you like.

I would recommend becoming familiar with the plugin documentation for more info.

Just a note: If you’re having a specific problem, it’s more helpful to plugin developers if you can ask for help solving a specific issue, instead of asking us to remove a section of code…you may not fully realize the functionality that requires it, or what would be lost by removing it.

So, if you are having any specific issues, we’ll be happy to help further.

You will need to take the following steps:

1. The Troubleshooting Guide and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are the place to start.

   Please take a few minutes to work through these, as they solve over 90% of issues users have. (Please be sure to follow all the steps, not just read through them.) The issue might not be what you suspect.

   Once you have gone through the Troubleshooting Guide and FAQs, if that doesn’t solve the issue, we’ll need a bit more info from you on the specifics, and we’ll need to email back and forth, so you should move on to the next step.

2. Submit a support request using the secure form at the WP-SpamShield Support page, our main support channel for the plugin. We have an excellent diagnostic process.

– Scott

Please note that the WP-SpamShield Support page is our main support venue, not the WordPress forums here, so that will always be the best way to get a quick response and resolve any tech support issues. Please direct any further support questions there.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 12 months ago by redsand.

Well, that doesn’t quite answer the question, but I’m game. I went through the pages you mentioned and found no mention of the word “session”, so my guess is the answer is no. No in terms of being able to turn sessions off (if that is possible, by all means let me know how) and no to removing the session code (without possible unknown ramifications).

It’s great that you have customers and manage fast sites, so do I. Removing the use of @session_start() is one way I go about that. It is fine that you don’t do it that way, but I don’t have a use for your plugin under these conditions. My environment does not use sessions to speed sites up, but rather removes sessions to speed sites up. Both are in fact possible, if you think about it.

Hi Jeff,

Removing @session_start() by itself won’t speed up sites. Even disabling PHP sessions altogether by itself won’t speed up sites. Unfortunately there is a lot of bad info floating around that promotes disabling sessions. It’s simply not necessary. There is a workaround for literally every reason people can provide as to why they think sessions should not be used. We’ve worked with all manner or caching systems, and provided advice to web hosting companies on improving their performance. This is one of our areas of expertise.

Sessions are an important element of PHP and provide functionality to store data about a specific user currently visiting the site. We use sessions for security, not to speed sites up, but the way we implement it, it also doesn’t slow them down.

As I mentioned:

Just a note: If you’re having a specific problem, it’s more helpful to plugin developers if you can ask for help solving a specific issue, instead of asking us to remove a section of code…you may not fully realize the functionality that requires it, or what would be lost by removing it.

So, no we’re not going to remove it.

I did mention Compatibility Mode which does modify its session usage. If it wasn’t clear how that changes the session functionality, or you need help solving a specific issue, I’ll be happy to explain the specifics if you submit a support request at the WP-SpamShield Support Form.

As noted:

Please note that the WP-SpamShield Support page is our main support venue, not the WordPress forums here, so that will always be the best way to get a quick response and resolve any tech support issues. Please direct any further support questions there.

– Scott