Update: Tech Issues and ISBF

Background

So, over the past 5 days I have been struggling with technical issues with the website, the purple one you all love to ignore.

Now, it is entirely possible, quite probable, that you had no idea there was a problem.

Which is fine. I shall cry about it quietly in my office, in my spare time. Of which I have very little, this being the litany… what? I’m digressing? Handsomely? In all directions? 

Ok, then!

The Problem

This is the second time in a year that a plugin provided by this particular plugin provider has conspired to cause all my careful curated content to cease working as planned.

I have pages dedicated to certain types of content. The thingy is supposed to find specific posts that match a given criteria and display ONLY those posts on the page. In brief, the thingy was ignoring my carefully constructed categories and showing EVERYTHING I had ever written. In brief, (yeah!) it was duplicating the “Everything Chronological” page.

Nineteen pages were affected! 19!! As below!

• Nepal
• 1960s
• 1970s
• 1980s
• 1990s
• 2000s
• 2010s
• 2020s
• Music
• Miscellany
• Cricket
• She Seeks
• Guests
• ISBF 2025
• ISBF  2024
• ISBF  2023
• ISBF  2022
• ISBF  2021
• ISBF 2020

As you can see, ALL of the Festival pages were messed up. With the Irregular SloWord BirthMonth Festival content waiting for upload and final edits before the 1-Aug, 2026, time was of the essence.

I needed to:

1. Finalize the template for the Festival
2. Get final content approved
3. Upload content, bios and links
4. Test
5. Fix
6. Test
7. Repeat Steps 4 through 6 until satisfied (or bored!)
8. Schedule publication

With the technical issue, I was forced to apply my erstwhile techieness to the pressing need for a solution.

The Search for a Solution

If you’ve ever been a techie
You look this way and that way

(Sing it! You know it!)

And, then, when all has failed, in the middle watches of the night, you wake from your nap on the floor of the computer room, wipe your eyes, blow your nose, blink three times rapidly and make a decision.

The solution that took me back to the days of yore, one made rarely, and as a last resort, but which held great and grave consequences.

I speak, of course, of

The RollBack Plan

Well, the plan was not easy. There seemed to be no easy way to rollback updates.

But diligent effort, among the dilly-dallying I do daily, yielded a magical thingy. This was downloaded, installed and put into effect and everything looks like it is working. 

All the pages with curated content are correctly displayed. Testing, cautious, but thorough, continues, but prima facie, I like how the Indian English love this phrase, it all seems to be working as designed.

The Permanent Solution

Now, the thoughts turned to a more permanent solution.

This entailed the introduction of new technology, a platform that had been tried before, half-heartedly. It looks promising, but it’s early days yet. Learning continues, but you know, learning is a life-long thingy, something you should never, ever, give up on.

It does look like the template for The 7^Th Irregular SloWord BirthMonth Festival 2026 is up and looking like it works!

This here post acts as a publically available testing ground, seeking User Acceptance, you know, the UAT?

(As and aside, I once worked on a very (extremely) large project, one that would have affected the entire country in which I live. Testing for this was so, very, extremely crucial, that we had not just a UAT phase, but a SIT, SAT, BIT, BAT, PIT and UAT. I rather think there was a CAT in there as well. But nary a RAT!!)

Finally

Stay tuned, folks for the first piece in this year’s Festival! It promises to provoke and make you think, and wonder, and cogitate, meditate, contemplate and ponder and wonder….

AND:

Let me know if this new platform works!!! Very important!! Leave a comment!! Your future depends on it!! (It doesn’t, but hey!)