Interesting times…
Okay, here’s how I fixed the blog, with a lot of help from my robot friends. Someone I know who manages a lot of web sites says he switched from ChatGPT to Codex and hasn’t written a line of his own code in a year. So I downloaded Codex (it’s a separate program) and asked ChatGPT how to drive it.
It had me zip together the whole blog and feed it to Codex in one big gulp. It absorbed the whole thing and wrote a detailed report and then told me I’d used up my credits FOR THE WHOLE MONTH.
I suppose I should drop back and describe what the problem was. The blog wouldn’t load the latest version of PHP, which is the programming language used by things like WordPress (this is a WordPress blog, if you didn’t know). If I loaded anything newer than 7.4, it returned a terrifying blank white screen. And that was a problem because the latest Akismet (the module that runs our antispam) wouldn’t run on anything but 8+. Hence all the manual approving of posts.
When I built this place nearly twenty years ago, I tinkered with the code a lot. You probably don’t remember, there used to be little sidebar animations and all kinds of weird stuff. I was sure it was some dumbass thing I did that was holding it back.
Fortunately, I had the report and I had plenty of credit with ChatGPT. It showed me how to turn error reporting on, so when it crapped out on me with 8.0 we’d know exactly why. And it wasn’t anything in my code after all – Codex said nothing I did was a problem. It was the plugin that let you edit your own comments. It had some line of code that wasn’t compatible with PHP8.0.
So! While I had the robot’s attention, we tweaked a few things and everything is now running great. The automatic thingummy that audits your blog health is rated Good for the first time in years. I’ve come to the conclusion that plugins are evil – every technical issue I’ve ever had here was due to a badly constructed plugin.
The man who turned me on to Codex? The one who’s a bigger booster of AI than even I am? He told me AI is starting to frighten him.
Posted: June 29th, 2026 under personal.
Comments: 5
Comments
Comment from aelf
Time: June 29, 2026, 8:07 pm
Black-footed ferrets & plague: https://youtu.be/vySjeGnPlMk?si=Y4rE9TqKny0Fcn1H
Comment from QuasiModo
Time: June 29, 2026, 10:03 pm
You are so right about plugins…a colleague did a website for a client and he installed all these crappy security plugins, he’s moved on to other things now…so now I’m managing a site that keeps sending me ‘site lockout notifications’…the site still works and I don’t have to edit it but every time I get one of those, I think of my pain in the butt former colleague.
I prefer Joomla to WordPress for anything more complicated than a blog.
Comment from tomfrompv
Time: June 29, 2026, 11:34 pm
What AI thingie should I use to win the next Dead Pool?
Comment from Uncle AL
Time: June 30, 2026, 1:43 am
I guess I’ll find out whether I get to edit this right after I mash the Submit button. Here goes!
Comment from Uncle AL
Time: June 30, 2026, 1:48 am
Totally unsurprising answer: No. No edit. It’s a plug-in, AL, and we ain’t got none a dat.
A fair trade-off, though. We lose a nicety and stoaty wins stable less aggravating admin duty. No gripes!
I still miss that “Sneak and Ye Shall Find” running weasel page header, though! That was SWEET!
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Beware: more than one link in a comment is apt to earn you a trip to the spam filter, where you will remain -- cold, frightened and alone -- until I remember to clean the trap. But, hey, without Akismet, we'd be up to our asses in...well, ass porn, mostly.<< carry me back to ol' virginny