you have dozens of javascript errors being thrown on your site…   likely from whatever is doing this:

<script type=’text/javascript’ src=’http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7/jquery.min.js?ver=4.3.1′></script>

that is loading an ANCIENT version of jquery…  the version that comes with WP is 1.11.3…

that is surely causing you all your errors on the site and preventing things from working…  its a super bad idea for things to load their own versions of jquery or jquery ui instead of using the ones that deliver with WP..

so first step is figure out what is doing that – and fix it…  it might be this fontastic plugin you are running…  but cannot tell for sure…  try disabling it… and see if better…

if not, disable all other wp plugins and see if better…  if not, then try the default wp theme…

Thanks Mr Papa – I will investigate that for sure (Im not a WP coder myself).

However, I have disabled all plugins as I mentioned and the Simplepress problems remained, so thats not the only issue.

Unless as you say it is a problem in the theme rather than the plugins…
I suppose I could change the theme to see if the problems remain. I will try that temporarilly and report back soon.

Hopefully the theme is the culprit.. I know you’ve stated that you keep SP and WP up to date, but don’t forget about keeping plugins up to date and also themes 😉

Let us know how it goes..

All plugins are also up to date .

Okay so I deactivated all plugins and changed the theme to WP2013 for a few minutes.

The problems remained the same as far as I could tell.
At least the worst problems remained – the inability to post and the inability to even view a post because of the permissions message.

Here is the forum homepage with 2013 theme and the access denied message
http://screencast.com/t/ZhAHuasR

and heres a 1min video capture of trying to create a new topic
http://screencast.com/t/u4sapcJnaKnX

So I guess if you are right that its caused by the old js script
then its either cause by corrupted WP files,
or else theres some sort of malware.
Does that sound right ?  Any advice what to do next ?
I am willing to hire a developer but I would like to
a) know what the problem is
and
b) know that we are fixing it permanently and not just patching it till it breaks again in the next update.

Thanks ~ DV

If it wouldn’t cause too much trouble, would you mind disabling all WP plugins and switch to a stock WP theme, then let us know so I could take a look at the page and console?

I will be around all day..

Hi Ike
I am busy for the next couple of hours and then its getting late here in Australia. (+10GMT)

I can handle that the disabling and theme change temporarilly as the site does not get a lot of traffic.
But I would like to co-ordinate it to take as little downtime time as possible.

Could I skype chat you so that we minimize the down time? My skype is oneearthnetwork
(I guess FB chat or any other chat we can easilly connect on would do).
Are you around tomorrow as well?
It could wait till after the weekend if you like … ?  That would suit me better than tonight.

Thanks muchly ~

Unfortunately support over Skype is not something I can do.

Steve (Mr Papa) is in CA so that might work better for you for tomorrow morning as it will be mid – late afternoon there.

You can check this yourself if you can, or you’re feeling adventurous.. If using Firefox as an example, open your page and go to Tools > Web Developer > Browser Console (or Ctrl + Shift + J). Then you’ll be presented with tabs across the top of the console, right click ‘JS’ and make sure only ‘Errors’ is ticked.

If you do this before disabling plugins and theme, you will see a multitude of errors. If you do this after disabling plugins and theme the hope is to see nothing.

I’m thinking that with every WP plugin disabled and stock theme active you shouldn’t be getting any errors which should mean no conflicts causing inactive buttons. If that’s the case the plugins and WP theme should be enabled one by one until the problem comes back. If we can find out what the problem is that way then you can remove it / find an alternative etc..

As to the ‘no access’ message, Steve is right saying the conflicts need to be resolved first but you may also need to reset your permissions and rebuild them. I’m not sure of any other reason why you would be seeing the message you’re seeing but we can look in to that after the conflicts.

Thanks – I will report again when I have done that with Firebug.
Wont be for 12 hours or more I expect.

No problem will be waiting to hear. I did receive your PM but will see how you get on first. This kind of thing (at least the dashboard task) is always better done by yourself rather than us.

Hi again ~

I did as requested and disabled all plugins, reverted to wp2013 theme, and looked at the js errors in the browser console.

I think the errors are the same except for a few at the bottom of widgets not being defined when the plugins are actiuvated.

I have attached here the list of errors with and without the theme and plugins.

Whatever the problem is has therefore survived multiple WP core updates.
Its interesting that the only functionality that seems to be broken is Simplepress.

Hey Dan,

I’m not seeing any of those when I look at your live site. The only ones I see are:

TypeError: a.widget is not a function mouse.min.js:11:161
TypeError: a.ui is undefined resizable.min.js:11:133
TypeError: a.ui is undefined draggable.min.js:11:133
TypeError: a.widget is not a function button.min.js:11:633
TypeError: a.widget is not a function dialog.min.js:11:185
TypeError: a.widget is not a function menu.min.js:11:136
TypeError: a.widget is not a function autocomplete.min.js:11:145
TypeError: a.widget is not a function tooltip.min.js:11:136
TypeError: a.widget is not a function progressbar.min.js:11:123
TypeError: g.widget is not a function sp-plugin-scripts-desktop-header.js:83:1943
TypeError: a.widget is not a function tabs.min.js:11:123
TypeError: jspf(...).tooltip is not a function forum:1229:1

The additional TypeError’s you are seeing are to do with your install of Firefox by the look of it, some of them reference FF directly in the file names, others from searching all relate to the browser itself. Is your copy of FF all up to date? It might be worth deactivating any FF extensions you have running, or try looking at the forum in a different browser – All major browsers have the ‘inspect element’ and ‘browser console’ functionality.

That would be my current suggestion. Disable FF extensions / plugins or use a different browser in it’s default state. Inspect to make sure you’re just getting the errors I’ve posted above. Disable plugins / WP theme and posting should hopefully work OK.

I know it’s long winded but sometimes it’s that kind of process!

Thanks I understand.
Yes sometimes it takes a few steps to get there but we are getting closer,
(and I wouldnt have thought to blame FF).

I’ll be back with the report tomorrow.   🙂

unless you are doing this offline, fundamentally, this must be solved first

running that very old jquery is going to cause problems…  it goes against the standards of wp to load a different version of jquery than that which ships with wp…  no way for wp or other plugins to test with it and know compatibility…

of you can figure out who is loading that, we can help correct it..

is this wp 4.3.1 and sp 5.5.11?

Hi –
Yes this is the latest WP and SP.

I have done the testing as requested again this time using Chromes console.

Okay so you are right that with theme and plugins deactivated there are no js errors showing using Chromes console.
However when I activate only the SP plugin the Access denied error message is still there in the forum.
Also the add topic text field is the same uneditable box. You can see some js errors showing here with SP being the only activated plugin and wp2013 being the theme. This only happens I think after trying to make a new topic.
 http://screencast.com/t/XcvWW5o9w

CHROME ERRORS WITH PLUGINS AND THEME
mouse.min.js?ver=1.11.4:11 Uncaught TypeError: a.widget is not a function
resizable.min.js:11 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property ‘mouse’ of undefined
draggable.min.js:11 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property ‘mouse’ of undefined
button.min.js:11 Uncaught TypeError: a.widget is not a function
dialog.min.js:11 Uncaught TypeError: a.widget is not a function
menu.min.js:11 Uncaught TypeError: a.widget is not a function
autocomplete.min.js:11 Uncaught TypeError: a.widget is not a function
tooltip.min.js:11 Uncaught TypeError: a.widget is not a function
progressbar.min.js:11 Uncaught TypeError: a.widget is not a function
sp-plugin-scripts-desktop-header.js?ver=3:83 Uncaught TypeError: g.widget is not a function
tabs.min.js:11 Uncaught TypeError: a.widget is not a function
(index):1229 Uncaught TypeError: jspf(…).tooltip is not a function
http://widgets.digg.com/buttons.js Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 (Not Found)

WITH CURRENT THEME BUT NO PLUGINS
digitonik.js:109 GET http://widgets.digg.com/buttons.js (anonymous function) @ digitonik.js:109(anonymous function) @ digitonik.js:110

NO ERRORS WITH PLUGINS BUT WP2013 THEME

ACCESS DENIED ERROR LOGGED IN
http://screencast.com/t/ukqjdS8B9JF2

ACCESS DENIED ERROR LOGGED OUT
http://screencast.com/t/T2jvLOoz

Interestingly there were no js error with all the plugins activated but without the theme. All the errors are in the theme!
I would hate to have to change theme and redo the whole look of the site.
Also – this is the same theme I have been using all along and had no problems with SP until a few months back.

All very strange ~
Any suggestions ?