Blogging stress
I upgraded to a new version of WordPress today (for which I’m still working out the kinks) and embarrassingly lost my most recent blog entry for a while. It was terrifying, because it was a long overdue post filled with phrasing I doubt I could recreate if it had been lost due to my own stupidity. (I exported all of my entries to an xml file first thing this morning, then decided to blog before upgrading. And then I forgot to export again. And then I overwrote my database. A really, really dumb mistake.)
After trying to access various caches, I handed my database over to Ben to see if he could perform any forensics tricks. After a short while, he gave me the bad news that it was gone. I subsequently had a minor emotional breakdown, twittered desperately seeking someone else’s cache, and starting calling people. It’s possible that I sounded like I was drunk dialing, but I assure you I was not.
Meanwhile, Ben kept calmly poking around my database searching for I-don’t-know-what but that’s what he does with computers: he gives you the bad news but doesn’t give up. Bless his intensely dedicated computer geek soul. And then Isis projectile vomited in the other room, and I was about ready to just delete my whole blog, because really, what’s the point? And then—wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles—Ben found the lost entry.
If you ever lose your most recent entry after upgrading wordpress and you have access to your database, check to see if MySQL created an automatic backup of the last version before you overwrote it. Not the automatic once-a-day backup, but another secret hidden one that was created just before you realized the dumb thing you did. Because I’m probably not the first person to have done that.
I’d ask Ben for specifics on where he found that entry in my database, but he’s currently engrossed in Grand Theft Auto III and he deserves not to be disturbed. Especially because he cleaned up the cat vomit in addition to solving my idiot problem. Benjamin, YOU ARE THE MAN.
