Nobody ever likes it but I have to ask the first, basic question. When something works and then just stops working – when it is using the same code it always has used – then 99.9% of the time it is  because something has changed. This could be a WP theme update, a new WP plugin being added, a plugin being updated…

So that’s the question… What has changed that has broken something?

Sadly, I do not recall anything changing but the WP version update and perhaps a WP plug-in update. The theme is an old theme and has not changed.

As a debug approach, I deactivated each WP plug-in and refreshed the browser, but did not see the recent posts displayed. I added the widget to a blank page and looked at it in the browser, same result, no posts. Next I deleted the Tag… plug-in then reinstalled it using FTP and the backup folder. Is it possible that I have a corrupted plug-in?

~mc

certainly possible, but unlikely…   by Tag plugin I assume you mean Template Tags plugin and not the Tags plugin (just verifying)…

no caching plugins, right?  did you try with a default wp theme?

have you checked forum – toolbox – error log and see if anything in there?  if stuff in there, probably best to clear (button at bottom) and then reload a page you think should have the recent posts and then check the error log again…  also, might be worth checking the server php error log…

do you have link to site so we can check for some obvious issues?

The log has one errors:

March 2, 2018 4:34 am | spaErrError | 16 | database file: line: function: error: Table ‘./jmoir_wordpress_6/wp_sfmembers’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired

SELECT * FROM wp_sfmembers WHERE admin=1

The site is protrak.org.

Slightly different error message but the basics are the same – this thread explains:

https://simple-press.com/support-forum/sp5-general-topics/broken-db-tables-and-plugin-tables-optimization/#p166110

Thanks, the table repair fixed the problem. I really appreciate the speedy responses! ~mike c

glad we could help…