Category Archives: Discourse.net

I’m not finding the upgrade to the new version 3.5 of WordPress to be an easy matter on any of the blogs I run or maintain. This one is no exception. So far, however, the problems here seem mostly relating to comments. Please email me if you have troubles, quoting any error messages.

Note: the error message I’m currently fighting is visible only from the dashboard comments page and reads:

Warning: Missing argument 2 for wpdb::prepare(), called in […]/ wp-content/plugins/akismet/admin.php on line 332 and defined in […]/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 990

If I find a solution I’ll post it here.

Update1: This ticket seems to have something to do with it, but given that in the error message I’m getting I’m being pointed to two files that come with core wordpress (akismet/admin.php and wp-dp.php) and not some outside plugin, I really don’t know what I’m supposed to do about it. Similarly this site is built on child theme over a stock wordpress theme, so I don’t see how this could be a theme issue.

Update2: Here is the line of akismet that is causing the trouble:

$waiting = $wpdb->get_var( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $wpdb->commentmeta WHERE meta_key = 'akismet_error'" ) );

I don’t think I’m going to have the guts to play with this critical anti-spam module on my own.

Update3 (12/12/12): I think if there’s an answer it likely will appear on this support thread.

Update4 (12/13/12): Akismet team says:

This will be fixed in the next release which should be today.

Akismet’s performance is not affected and there are no security issues.

Apologies for not catching this earlier.

A quick trawl at my latest billing statement for hosting services from Amazon Cloudfront (they serve all the graphics for this blog) reveals that I’m sending about 2/3 as many bytes to the EU region as to the North American region. In comparison Japan + Asia Pacific together make up only about 10% the volume of Europe.

That EU traffic cannot all be bots. There must be human readers in that group. If you happen to be one of them, I invite you to tell me a little about yourself, if you are willing. Please feel free to write in languages other than English if that would make you more comfortable. (This standing invitation also applies of course to readers from everywhere else also.)

I was drawn to look at the usage report because the cost of Cloudfront seemed to have increased almost 50% this month — all the way up to 60 cents.

Downballot Recommendations November 2012 and my analysis of the proposed Amendments to the Florida Constitution, plus extra information on why you should vote to retain our excellent State Supreme Court Justices. Or maybe Why I Do Not Have A Treadmill (Sears Can’t Deliver). (This post will stay on the front page until the election.)

So Mitt Romney will be here tomorrow to be interviewed by Univision on Hispanic issues. Talk about good timing! President Barack Obama is due here on Thursday.

Tickets to both events are being limited to students, but I’ve applied for press credentials as a blogger. Hey, it worked last time President Obama came to visit.

So far I’ve heard from the Obama people who said yes in principle but that actual distribution of credentials would happen later. Silence from the Romney people. Which either means they have bigger things to worry about, or maybe I’m not the sort of press they feel any need welcome. (Even though I’m not in the 47%.)

Seems that the first attempt did not go according to plan, so we’re trying again tonight, a bit earlier in the evening (US east coast time).

Things could be weird (or offline) for an hour or two.

Update: Well, that went better!