weird problem trying to show random post

Nothing strange going on in there either. Can you drop a copy of your header and sidebar into the pastebin?

oh sorry I had connection problems so… here we go,

Sidebar: https://wordpress.pastebin.ca/1406317
header: https://wordpress.pastebin.ca/1406325

:S

Ok – I’m officially stumped. I can’t see anything wrong in the code snippets that you’ve posted. The only thing left to try is deactivating all plugins in case one is interfering.

?? like me… it’s very very interesting / frustrating… I will try ur suggestion and report back.

Hi, sandrodz!

I had the same problem (not really the same). I wanted a single random post before my regular posts.

The problem is that the random post could be seing only when i was logged in, and the post wasn′t a random post (it always displayed the same post)

I reactivated all my plugins, and deleted the ones I was not using. It didnt work… Then I tried this solution from esmi (I just deleted the tag selection).

This worked for me! I hope this can help you… Here is the code I′m using:

<?php
$taggedposts = get_posts('category_name=Humor&showposts=1&orderby=rand');
foreach($taggedposts as $post) :
    setup_postdata($post);?>
    [ do stuff ]
<?php endforeach; ?>

I had a similar issue where I needed to include the content of custom fields from a random posts in a specific category in my sidebar. In case it helps anyone, here is my hodgepodge of code. — I was rather proud of myself ??

<?php query_posts('category_name=bonus_benefits&showposts=1&orderby=rand'); ?>
<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
          <?php // check for thumbnail
$thumb = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'Sidebar Thumbnail', $single = true);
// check for thumbnail class
$sidebar_text = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'Sidebar Text', $single = true);
$thumb_class = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'Thumbnail Class', $single = true);
// check for thumbnail alt text
$thumb_alt = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'Thumbnail Alt', $single = true); ?><?php // if there's a thumbnail
if($thumb !== '') { ?>
	<p>
	<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><img src="<?php echo $thumb; ?>"
	class="<?php if($thumb_class !== '') { echo $thumb_class; } else { echo "sidebar-thumbnail"; } ?>"
	alt="<?php if($thumb_alt !== '') { echo $thumb_alt; } else { echo the_title(); } ?>"
/></a></p><p><h3><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
<?php echo $sidebar_text; ?>
	</p>
<?php } // end if statement

// if there's not a thumbnail
else { echo ''; } ?>      

<?php endwhile; ?>
<?php endif; ?>
 <?php wp_reset_query(); ?>