If you have ever edited a spreadsheet then editing your database is similar!

I am afraid to say that the only way we would ever directly edit a users database is after an assurance that a backup has been made and with a signed declaration – preferably on paper – that indemnifies us against any liability should something go wrong. This should also spell out the actions being undertaken.

On a more sensible level perhaps it is worth asking just what it is you are trying to achieve. I can understand, more or less, why you went back to WP 4.6 (although I am doubtful of it being helpful) but I fail to understand why you reverted Simple:Press to 5.7. This is certainly not something we would have suggested or even recommended. Version 5.7.1 was released very quickly simply because we had a small error in special forum ranks that was fixed. It also added two new permissions to control the viewing of images and videos. And that was it. Apart from that it is identical to 5.7. So I really do not see that you have anything to gain by making this more difficult than it already is.

Our recommendation is that you put 5.7.1 back into the plugins folder and leave the database alone.

By the way – which hosting company do you use please? Is it by any chance WP Engine?

I’ve resorted back to WP 4.6.1 and SP 5.7.1. See screenshot for a description of the issue. I don’t know how to be any more clear about this.

Clear about what? You have been abundantly clear and we know exactly what you are saying. There is no shortage of clarity. What you do not seem to understand is that this is NOT a known, general or replicable problem. It is an environmental issue of some kind with your server, your components, maybe the WP theme, maybe another plugin.

I don’t know how to be any more clear about this.

You have also failed to answer questions we have asked and sometimes not provided information or looked at things we have asked you to. How on earth are we supposed to help you?

Deactivate ALL other plugins AND your current WP theme.  Does it fail then? And yes – you  CAN do that. Just take your site off-line for 15 minutes as that is all it takes. Probably less in fact.

I’ve done as much as comfortably possible on my end. I’ve been acting as the communications liaison between you guys and my host, which is Dreamhost btw. It’s been a complete nightmare to say the least.

I’ve deactivated all other plugins and tried another theme and still… the issue persists.

I don’t know what to tell you guys. I’ve had more problems with SP than anything else I’ve ever used. Had I known this was gonna be my experience with your software, I’d have passed on it. I’m already planning to migrate away from SP onto different forum software when my budget will allow it. I’m sick and tired of all of the compatibility issues year in and year out. Something else that bothers me is that I’m nickle and dimed each time I have a single question. I have to fork over a few bucks to solve something trivial (this not being one of those cases). I wish you guys had a free members only forum for members to talk amongst themselves but you don’t even have that.

I don’t possess your level of technological competence and there’s just some stuff I’m unwilling to play with and in all honesty, if SP worked reliably, I wouldn’t have to. I shouldn’t have to.

I don’t know what you guys want me to do. We’ve tried everything and still this issue hasn’t been solved. I’d like to solve this this month so I don’t have to pay another $10 to continue the dialogue next month. It’s exhausting.

So discouraged…

I don’t mean to be pushy but I would like to get this problem fixed this month. Surely, I’m not the only one with similar concerns, feedback, and issues.

Despite my frustrations with SP, I still currently use it and would like it to work as it should. I’m sure you can agree with that.

I’m only assuming I’m not hearing back from you guys because either you don’t know how to fix the problem or you no longer want to help me fix the problem. I’d be highly surprised for obvious reasons if it’s the former and if it’s the later, than I want my $10 back.

Should we just wait and see if the issue resolves after the next WP update?

While I’m still frustrated, I’m still interested in finding a solution.

Of course we want to help. We continue to ask questions because, yes, this is a unique issue to you. No other users are experiencing it. We believe it to be a server configuration issue. Something is clearly hijacking the Ajax response and preventing the update from occurring. 

We cannot fix anything that is notnknownto be broken. We believe the true fix wil be on the server side and not in simple press. 

That said, the problem could still be with simple press but still would come down to a unique issue in your server. if our issue to fix we still need to know what is going south with your configuration. This is highly unlikely but possible. 

With no one else experiencing and is unable to replicate it, there is nothing we can do to fix what is not known to be broken. 

We absolutley want to help you but it has to go two ways. We have gotten limited server log info and nothing from your host. They should be able to easily trace the Ajax request and see where it is hijacked. I have not seen absolute confirmation that it’s not mod_security which a known to cause Ajax issues if it detects a false positive. And can easily be whitelisted. But if not mod_security they should be able to help trace the Ajax hijacking. I know this because many other hosts have helped tracked down other server issues like this. 

We also continue to do testing on our own to replicate it but this far are unable. 

We have to help each other. 

I am also seeing the profile edit null message. Tried disabling all plugins but SimplePress and Jetpack but same issue. I am using PHP7 now for some time not sure if it came after that since I only was notified about it today by a user.

Update have tried the site on 2 different webservers and both has the null update problem.

99% of the time this is down to an AJAX conflict. Can you try the operation with the browser console open at errors and see if anything is reported?

and incidentally, null update would be different than what was originally posted and a different issue…  likely caused by hijacking of the ajax response as @yellow-swordfish said…