Warning! Do Not Update Your Tweet Old Posts Plugin Just Yet!

Posted by in Blogging, Internet Marketing, Twitter, Wordpress, Wordpress Plugins | 21 comments

Today while updating one of my blogs I received a notice via the WordPress  Dashboard that it was time to update a plugin.  The notice was for the “Tweet Old Posts” plugin, which made me cringe a bit.  The last time this plugin was triggered for an update, those of us who didn’t check our settings were sending out tweets with just the URL, which made it look as though you were spamming our followers.  Luckily Ileane Smith, of Basic Blog Tips sent me a Tweet about this update error, with a link to her blog that explained what needed to be done to correct it.  Problem solved…

Tweet Old Posts Error

Tweet Old Posts Error

Now forward to today, with me being fully aware that I might have to check the settings again, I began the “Tweet Old Posts” update.  When it was done, I froze with terror; I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  My control panel was gone; all I had now was a white screen with some verbiage about a fatal error.   Not only was the error affecting my control panel, it was also appearing on the homepage and any other link to my website… OMG, I panicked and thought….  My website is gone!  I remembered Anderson Curry’s words, “You know you need to back up your blog girl, because some of the WordPress updates can jack your website up.” Anderson is always full of advice and even though I think I am a know it all (Cause I am) I hadn’t backed up my site so I was pissed and Anderson was right…  I should have backed up my site.

How to fix the “Tweet Old Posts” Fatal Error?  Well….

Fortunately I didn’t let myself get too crazy before I noticed the path that was given in the error.  It was simple, all I had to do was use an FTP program, follow the path and delete the Plugin which is exactly what I did, problem solved right?… except…. I need the plugin…   So, I tried to reinstall the plugin via download because “tweeting old posts” is an important tool for building traffic to my website.  It also serves as reminder to my followers about tips they may have forgotten.  I again got the same error but this time the error was only in control panel and this time the control panel didn’t disappear…. I know… not good… but Hey… My website was still in tact so I am happy about that.

So for those of you who use the “Tweet Old Posts” plugin I suggest you wait a few days before you do the update and let Ajay Matharu, the creator of this wonderful plugin, give us the all clear to ensure this doesn’t happen to you.

Update August 16th:  The power of the Internet and Social Media is a wonderful thing.  If you have already updated your “Tweet Old Posts” plugin and do not have the previous version saved somewhere.  Guorilla Media has found a website that will allow you to download the previous working version of the plugin.  For people like us who just can’t live without this plugin, you can download the previous version of the the “Tweet Old Posts” plugin here.   Thanks so much Guorilla Media to finding this solution. 

Update August 25th:  The “Tweet Old Posts” Plugin has been updated and is now functional.  I updated the plugin just yesterday and and suffered no crashes and it is Tweeting my posts perfectly.

Aries – Graphic Design & Internet Marketing / AriesGDIM
Tami Highbaugh-Abdullah
Creative Marketing Director
317.345.4182
Tami@ariesgdim.com
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© 2011, AriesGDIM / Tami Highbaugh-Abdullah. All rights reserved. Copying and reblogging (reposting) this blog or the use of the blog post images are NOT permitted without direct permission of AriesGDIM..

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  • http://lilaccitymomma.com Hanan – Lilac City Momma

    I JUST updated and got the error message!! Went in through the CPanel and deleted the plug in. Now for the waiting game!!

    • Anonymous

      Hanan if you can use a FTP program you can go into the back end of your website. Look for WPContent/Plugins/TweetOldPosts and remove Tweet Old Posts. Let me know if that works for you.

  • http://www.nakeva.net Nakeva Corothers

    I had that error happen to me after doing plugin updates. I had to completely reinstall WordPress and switch to default them, restore the database and enable plugins one by one. Its a shame when you get those white screen fatal errors and there are no decent KB posts to get you through it. Took me about two days to figure it out. After I restored my site I did the WordPress dashboard export of the blog and I get regular backups from the host and download to my laptop, which also gets backed up in the cloud. The trick will be running a restore to make sure the backup has all the right stuff plus the backup of the database!

    Glad you worked this out for now. Get a backup! ;)

    • Anonymous

      I’m doing it now for all the websites.

  • http://www.guorillamedia.com Guorilla Media

    I get the following error: Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_SL in /home/guorillamedia-com/public_html/wp-content/plugins/tweet-old-post/tweet-old-post.php on line 7. Furthermore Ajay Matharu website is gone??? WTF just happened..

    • Anonymous

      Wow. Maybe it is time we look into another Old Post Tweeter Plugin for WordPress. In the meantime I will see if I can get in touch with him via Twitter to see if he plans to fix the error. For now you should delete the plugin. I didn’t update the plugin on my other 3 blogs so it is still working with no issues but unless you have the old zipped file the new plugin is not going to work.

      • http://www.guorillamedia.com Guorilla Media

        That’s no option this is the best old post promoter.. I found a website where you can down the version before the last one.. here is the solution: http://www.tint-network.co.uk/blog/wordpress/tweet-old-post-plugin-upgrade-causing-problems/

      • http://www.guorillamedia.com Guorilla Media

        That’s no option this is the best old post promoter.. I found a website where you can down the version before the last one.. here is the solution: http://www.tint-network.co.uk/blog/wordpress/tweet-old-post-plugin-upgrade-causing-problems/

        • Anonymous

          Thanks so much Guorilla Media… you are the greatest. I did an update to the blog and mentioned you in it with a link to the site you found. Fortunately I found the pervious version of the plugin saved in my downloads early this morning.

        • Anonymous

          Thanks so much Guorilla Media… you are the greatest. I did an update to the blog and mentioned you in it with a link to the site you found. Fortunately I found the pervious version of the plugin saved in my downloads early this morning.

  • http://www.mingjongtey.com Ming Jong Tey

    Thanks for the post! I might just stay away from this plugin since I am using tweetadder. It is really painful to have just 1 plugin to crash with your site…And I have a plugin to back up my site weekly just in case…

    Cheers,
    Ming

  • Anonymous

    Aw man… :-) Thanks for the advice, I will look into Backup Buddy. I’m going to stick with the old plugin for a minute. I am sure someone will create a better plugin soon.

  • http://technicallyeasy.net Paul Salmon

    I was informed of the issue a few days ago, but I decided to update the Tweet Old Posts plugin. I haven’t experienced any issues, so I’m not sure if the problem has been fixed, or my blog is configured differently. The plugin seems to still be working.

    • Anonymous

      Just checked Ajay’s Twitter stream and he said he did update the bad file and everything is good. I haven’t updated it yet. Thanks so much for giving me an update.

  • http://FundraisingCoach.com marcapitman

    Thanks for this. I’m finding Tweet Old Posts is now just firing blanks. Blog titles but no link. Have you seen this?

    • http://www.ariesgdim.com AriesGDIM / Tami Highbaugh-Abdullah

      When was the last time you updated it. I checked today to make sure it wasn’t messing up and I am good for now. It is really hit or miss with the “Tweet Old Post” plugin. Many bloggers are now just retweeting their own posts due to the issues.

    • Anonymous

      You can find a fix for the issue with the missing titles at this blog http://basicblogtips.com/tweet-old-post-settings.html

      • http://FundraisingCoach.com marcapitman

        Thanks. The title I get. The link isn’t being tweeted.

        • Anonymous

          oh wow. That is terrible. You can contact the Ajay via twitter http://twitter.com/#!/matharuajay and see if you can get him to respond with a fix for your issue. Let me know what you find out. I would love to put your update in the blog for others that might be having the same issue.

  • http://twitter.com/BeautybyLeRenda LeRenda

    Wow! That was a scary experience. I would’ve freaked out to and probably wouldn’t have noticed the FTP. Thank you so much for this warning. :-)

    • Anonymous

      No problem. I have had to learn the hard way to back up my site regularly as well as learn how to search through the files on my site via FTP so I can delete them as needed. BTW… I am still using this plugin and currently it is working really well but in the event I have the problem again I have made sure I won’t lose my site in the process.