first, have you seen this behavior on any other simple press admin pages?  sounds like something is interfering with the javascript doing the save…  would be nice to know if generally the admin pages are working…

when it occurs, any errors in the php error log?  also, what about the log on forum – toolbox – error log?  for the latter, please clear before you try the test so it will be current…

also, when you attempt to save the blog linking admin panel, with the browser console open, any errors shown there?

The other admin pages appear to be working fine. The warning/error does show in the toolbox/error log. Just as I described in a previous post. Same warnings/errors. 

Php error logs? This is beyond me. I do not know what the browser console does or if I even have one. I am in no sense a coder other than VERY old html hahaha!

It is only this specific plugin that is harshing my mellow 😉

did you see the link I gave for browser console?  explains what to do..

good to hear about rest of panels…

every server running php has an error log…  perhaps check with your hosting company if you dont know where its at?

OK I looked at the console thing following the instruction in the link you provided. I did not see any errors.

I did manage to find an error log but it is gibberish to me. I have attached it.

Thanks for the error log. There is one hint in there so can we try one last thing before we ask about coming into your admin to take a look?

Could you ask your host support of they are using ‘mod_security’ on your server and if so, would they be willing to turn it off briefly so that you can run a test? When turned off, clear the browser cache and try the linking admin  panel again.

If it now works, ask your hosting support to whitelist the offending post variables.

If this makes no difference then yes – best we come on in and take a closer look.

[Update] – I would suggest you ask the hosting support to take a look at the php error log when you contact them. Some of the errors in the log may point to a potential file permission error as well. They should be bale to check this.

I’ll check this out and get back to you asap. The help desk at my hosting service is currently only doing emergency support. I can chat with them in the morning.

OK. Spent some time with Tech Support today. They do indeed use the ‘mod_security’. We turned it off and waited to be sure the change had taken place. I attempted several times to update the plugin settings to no avail. Same results.

They did tell me to mention, and I quote: “Also let them know that the server runs a Varnish caching service. if the plugin spawns php sessions, that may be conflicting with the Varnish service”

I would think, though I certainly have little knowledge of such things, that if this were the issue I would be having all kinds of problems with the rest of the system.

So, here we are  

Did you ask them to take a look at the php error log as suggested?

Yes, they said they did not see anything that they thought would be causing this issue. 

Really? Curious answer. I wonder if they knew what they were looking at…

OK – we can take a close look if you like.

Could you please create an account so that we can log in and see the forum behaviour. Please send a PM to both myself (Yellow Swordfish) and Mr Papa.

It helps if you can include links to not just your forum but also to this topic so we can get to it quickly to re-read what has been said. A brief reminder of the problem is also very helpful.

And this would need to be a user account that has SP Admin capability so we can look closely at the linking admin form and its behaviour.

Ah – at last. Sorry – perhaps we should have gone for doing this earlier!

The problem is down to a small change in WordPress itself introduced in 4.8.3 that, I am sorry to say, was a late change and I understand has caused quite a lot of plugins to have a small problem here and there. It is also a problem we have been actively working on these last few days in preparation of releasing an imminent update.

The only problem with the blog linking form is the use of the placeholders in the link text. that is the placeholders surrounded by the % symbol.

If you can use plain text – i.e., ‘Join the forum discussion’ with none of the placeholders then all will work as expected and the admin  form will save. I have just proven this on your site.

Apologies for this issue. As I say, we were somewhat caught unawares if the late change – which is rare – and do have an update in the pipeline which is currently being tested and does – as I have just found out – address this specific issue.

By the way – placeholders are used elsewhere in the forum admin. if you do not change them then they will continue to function but editing or adding one will cause the same problem until the plugin is updated.

No apologies necessary. 🙂 Just glad to know that it will work now. Thank you!

you’re welcome and we will get a proper fix out soon.,