WordPress is shrinking posts, saving as drafts, then publishing

Resolved

(@archon70)

Hello, I’m hosting a friend’s wordpress site and she’s been having a lot of issues with her blog. I created my own install and here’s what I’m noticing happening:

1) Short posts post fine

2) Long posts (my test was over 2000 words) shrink every time “Publish” is clicked. By shrink I mean words are deleted. If publish is continuously clicked, words are deleted until the word count is about 425. Then it publishes, until that point it stays as a draft. For my test blog site I was using the bog standard install, disabled the two plugins that it came with and using the default theme.

Apache version is 2.2
MySQL version is 5.7
PHP version is 5.6

One thing I noticed in the error log for both my virtual server and hers, I would see the post show up as a long URL with an invalid method in request for a GET:

[Mon Apr 11 18:07:52 2016] [error] [client 192.168.0.107] Invalid method in request g.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+
over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+b
rown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+
dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumpe
d+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick
+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+laz
y+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jum
ped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+qui
ck+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+l
azy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+j
umped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+q
uick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the
+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox
+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The
+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+t
he+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+f
ox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+T
he+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over
+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown
+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.
+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+ov
er+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+bro
wn+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+do
g.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+
over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+b
rown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+
dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumpe
d+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick
+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+laz
y+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jum
ped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+qui
ck+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+l
azy+dog.+The+quick+brown+fox+jumped+over+the+lazy+dog.+%0D%0A%0D%0A%0D%0ATHE
+END%21&wp-
preview=&hidden_post_status=draft&post_status=draft&hidden_post_password=&hi
dden_post_visibility=public&visibility=public&post_password=&mm=04&jj=12&aa=
2016&hh=00&mn=59&ss=37&hidden_mm=04&cur_mm=04&hidden_jj=12&cur_jj=12&hidden_
aa=2016&cur_aa=2016&hidden_hh=00&cur_hh=00&hidden_mn=59&cur_mn=59&original_p
ublish=Publish&publish=Publish&post_format=0&post_category%5B%5D=0&post_cate
gory%5B%5D=1&newcategory=New+Category+Name&newcategory_parent=-1&_ajax_nonce
-add-
category=958f88f87f&tax_input%5Bpost_tag%5D=&newtag%5Bpost_tag%5D=&excerpt=&
trackback_url=&metakeyinput=&metavalue=&_ajax_nonce-add-
meta=062b661b6b&advanced_view=1&post_name=&post_author_override=1GET
/wordpress/wp-admin/post.php?post=16&action=edit&message=4 HTTP/1.1,
referer: http://archon.silvertree.org/wordpress/wp-admin/post.php?
post=16&action=edit

Here’s the virtual host definition:

<VirtualHost 173.11.101.153>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    DocumentRoot "/home/phoenix/public_html"
    ServerName www.druidsfire.com
    ServerAlias druidsfire.silvertree.org
    ServerAlias druidsfire.com
    ErrorLog /var/www/logs/druidsfire/error_log
        LogLevel debug
        UserDir disabled
    CustomLog /var/www/logs/druidsfire/access_log common

<Directory />
        <Limit GET POST OPTIONS PROPFIND>
                Order allow,deny
                Allow from all
        </Limit>
    AllowOverride All
    Options Indexes
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

I would really like to figure out the solution to this problem. I’ve enabled the LimitRequestLine directive and set it to something ridiculously long and that didn’t help so I removed it.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 23 total)

1 2 →

Jamie
(@codente)

10 years, 1 month ago

What is the PHP Post Max Size setting? Does increasing it help any?

Does turning on WP_DEBUG show anything?

Thread Starter archon70
(@archon70)

10 years, 1 month ago

[S: root@arthur: /usr/local/etc] # grep -i “post.*max” php.ini
; http://php.net/post-max-size
post_max_size = 1000M
[S: root@arthur: /usr/local/etc]

I turned on WP_DEBUG and no extra output to apache logs or the browser. Then again, I think I may have error displays suppressed in php.ini, but nothing got logged to php_error_log file.

Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)
(@otto42)

ww.wp.xz.cn Admin

10 years, 1 month ago

That’s very odd. Try using a different browser. Try using your browser in Incognito mode to make sure you have no extensions loaded also.

Thread Starter archon70
(@archon70)

10 years, 1 month ago

Various browsers, same result. Incognito same result. This time it shrunk a 3900 word post to 72, saved it as a draft and didn’t publish it at all.

I queried the database and it’s not saving the complete posts in the database.

So perhaps I need to do some tweaks in my.cnf and/or php.ini. Unfortunately my Google-Fu which is usually strong is failing me on this one.

Thread Starter archon70
(@archon70)

10 years, 1 month ago

So it seems to be anything over 40 words just won’t publish. This is also using wordpress 4.5.

Thread Starter archon70
(@archon70)

10 years, 1 month ago

Now this is popping up again. Ugh.
Method Not Implemented

or+illegal+user+admin+from+14.177.22.145%0D%0AApr+14+03%3A10%3A52+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+14.177.22.145%3A+should+already+have+been+blocked%0D%0AApr+14+03%3A10%3A53+arthur+sshd%5B42350%5D%3A+error%3A+PAM%3A+authentication+error+for+illegal+user+user+from+14.177.22.145%0D%0AApr+14+03%3A10%3A53+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+14.177.22.145%3A+should+already+have+been+blocked%0D%0AApr+14+03%3A10%3A53+arthur+sshd%5B42354%5D%3A+error%3A+PAM%3A+authentication+error+for+illegal+user+admin+from+14.177.22.145%0D%0AApr+14+03%3A10%3A53+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+14.177.22.145%3A+should+already+have+been+blocked%0D%0AApr+14+03%3A10%3A53+arthur+sshd%5B42354%5D%3A+fatal%3A+Read+from+socket+failed%3A+Connection+reset+by+peer+%5Bpreauth%5D%0D%0AApr+14+03%3A10%3A53+arthur+sshd%5B42350%5D%3A+fatal%3A+Read+from+socket+failed%3A+Connection+reset+by+peer+%5Bpreauth%5D%0D%0AApr+14+03%3A10%3A53+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+14.177.22.145%3A+should+already+have+been+blocked%0D%0AApr+14+03%3A10%3A53+arthur+sshd%5B42356%5D%3A+fatal%3A+Read+from+socket+failed%3A+Connection+reset+by+peer+%5Bpreauth%5D%0D%0AApr+14+03%3A14%3A34+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+111.13.70.134%3A+blocking+for+1417+secs+%283+attacks+in+3+secs%2C+after+3+abuses+over+450875+secs%29%0D%0AApr+14+03%3A14%3A36+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+111.13.70.134%3A+should+already+have+been+blocked%0D%0AApr+14+03%3A14%3A49+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+03%3A44%3A54+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A14%3A58+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A17%3A36+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+14.177.22.145%3A+blocking+for+1417+secs+%283+attacks+in+0+secs%2C+after+3+abuses+over+10853+secs%29%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A17%3A37+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+14.177.22.145%3A+should+already+have+been+blocked%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A17%3A37+arthur+sshd%5B45132%5D%3A+error%3A+PAM%3A+authentication+error+for+illegal+user+user+from+14.177.22.145%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A17%3A37+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+14.177.22.145%3A+should+already+have+been+blocked%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A17%3A37+arthur+sshd%5B45136%5D%3A+error%3A+PAM%3A+authentication+error+for+illegal+user+admin+from+14.177.22.145%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A17%3A37+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+14.177.22.145%3A+should+already+have+been+blocked%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A17%3A37+arthur+sshd%5B45134%5D%3A+error%3A+PAM%3A+authentication+error+for+illegal+user+admin+from+14.177.22.145%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A17%3A37+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+14.177.22.145%3A+should+already+have+been+blocked%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A17%3A37+arthur+sshd%5B45138%5D%3A+error%3A+PAM%3A+authentication+error+for+illegal+user+guest+from+14.177.22.145%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A17%3A37+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+14.177.22.145%3A+should+already+have+been+blocked%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A17%3A37+arthur+last+message+repeated+2+times%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A17%3A37+arthur+sshd%5B45138%5D%3A+fatal%3A+Read+from+socket+failed%3A+Connection+reset+by+peer+%5Bpreauth%5D%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A17%3A37+arthur+sshd%5B45134%5D%3A+fatal%3A+Read+from+socket+failed%3A+Connection+reset+by+peer+%5Bpreauth%5D%0D%0AApr+14+04%3A45%3A03+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+05%3A15%3A07+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+05%3A45%3A12+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+06%3A00%3A00+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+Reloading+rotated+file+%2Fvar%2Flog%2Fauth.log.%0D%0AApr+14+06%3A09%3A14+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.78+for+client+a0%3A18%3A28%3A8d%3Af4%3A3b+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+06%3A15%3A16+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+06%3A45%3A21+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+07%3A08%3A14+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+blacklist%3A+added+111.13.70.134%0D%0AApr+14+07%3A08%3A14+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+111.13.70.134%3A+blocking+forever+%283+attacks+in+4+secs%2C+after+4+abuses+over+464895+secs%29%0D%0AApr+14+07%3A08%3A17+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+111.13.70.134%3A+should+already+have+been+blocked%0D%0AApr+14+07%3A15%3A25+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+07%3A45%3A30+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+07%3A47%3A19+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+212.129.55.113%3A+blocking+for+630+secs+%283+attacks+in+234+secs%2C+after+1+abuses+over+234+secs%29%0D%0AApr+14+07%3A50%3A40+arthur+sshd%5B54435%5D%3A+error%3A+PAM%3A+authentication+error+for+illegal+user+admin+from+117.6.84.198%0D%0AApr+14+07%3A50%3A40+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+117.6.84.198%3A+blocking+for+630+secs+%283+attacks+in+3+secs%2C+after+1+abuses+over+3+secs%29%0D%0AApr+14+07%3A50%3A40+arthur+sshd%5B54435%5D%3A+error%3A+Received+disconnect+from+117.6.84.198%3A+3%3A+com.jcraft.jsch.JSchException%3A+Auth+cancel+%5Bpreauth%5D%0D%0AApr+14+07%3A50%3A40+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+117.6.84.198%3A+should+already+have+been+blocked%0D%0AApr+14+08%3A01%3A42+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+61.51.18.101%3A+blocking+for+1417+secs+%283+attacks+in+2+secs%2C+after+3+abuses+over+1059613+secs%29%0D%0AApr+14+08%3A01%3A43+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+61.51.18.101%3A+should+already+have+been+blocked%0D%0AApr+14+08%3A01%3A43+arthur+sshguard%5B786%5D%3A+61.51.18.101%3A+should+already+have+been+blocked%0D%0AApr+14+08%3A15%3A35+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+08%3A45%3A39+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+08%3A45%3A50+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.86+for+client+d0%3A50%3A99%3A5b%3A79%3A19+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+08%3A45%3A50+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.86+for+client+d0%3A50%3A99%3A5b%3A79%3A19+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+08%3A59%3A56+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.86+for+client+d0%3A50%3A99%3A5b%3A79%3A19+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+09%3A15%3A44+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+09%3A29%3A56+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.86+for+client+d0%3A50%3A99%3A5b%3A79%3A19+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+09%3A45%3A48+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+09%3A59%3A56+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.86+for+client+d0%3A50%3A99%3A5b%3A79%3A19+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0AApr+14+10%3A15%3A53+arthur+dhcpd%3A+uid+lease+192.168.0.83+for+client+84%3A78%3Aac%3Aa5%3A6f%3A5e+is+duplicate+on+192.168.0.0%2F24%0D%0A%5Barchon%40arthur%3A+%7E%5D%24&wp-preview=&hidden_post_status=draft&post_status=draft&hidden_post_password=&hidden_post_visibility=public&visibility=public&post_password=&mm=04&jj=14&aa=2016&hh=17&mn=28&ss=35&hidden_mm=04&cur_mm=04&hidden_jj=14&cur_jj=14&hidden_aa=2016&cur_aa=2016&hidden_hh=17&cur_hh=17&hidden_mn=28&cur_mn=28&original_publish=Publish&publish=Publish&post_format=0&post_category%5B%5D=0&newcategory=New+Category+Name&newcategory_parent=-1&_ajax_nonce-add-category=eced667544&tax_input%5Bpost_tag%5D=&newtag%5Bpost_tag%5D=&excerpt=&trackback_url=&metakeyinput=&metavalue=&_ajax_nonce-add-meta=10cbf6575f&advanced_view=1&comment_status=open&ping_status=open&post_name=&post_author_override=1GET to /wordpress/wp-admin/post.php not supported.
Apache/2.2.31 (FreeBSD) PHP/5.6.20 mod_ssl/2.2.31 OpenSSL/1.0.2g DAV/2 Server at archon.silvertree.org Port 80

Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)
(@otto42)

ww.wp.xz.cn Admin

10 years, 1 month ago

Okay, the problem is that what you’re describing doesn’t make any sense. WordPress does not send posts via GET requests, it uses POST requests. So, something weird in your browser or client or setup or somewhere is breaking everything. No way to tell what without knowing more about your setup, because yeah, that’s not normal at all.

Turn off everything even remotely custom to your server and configuration. Plain Apache, plain PHP, plain WordPress. Eliminate all extra factors involved. Then you can sort out what is munging up all your requests.

Because this is NOT a WordPress problem. It will be something else that is breaking the communication between your browser and your server.

Thread Starter archon70
(@archon70)

10 years, 1 month ago

Yeah, I don’t think it’s WordPress as well. I tried disabling all PHP extensions except for mysqli, still didn’t work. I was hoping someone might be able to point out something obvious I was missing about the backend configs.

I’ve been meaning to upgrade to Apache 2.4 anyway, and maybe this will be a good opportunity to start fresh and see what happens.

Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)
(@otto42)

ww.wp.xz.cn Admin

10 years, 1 month ago

Let me know what you find. Never seen anything like this before.

Thread Starter archon70
(@archon70)

10 years, 1 month ago

I will, for sure. I’m doing the upgrade tomorrow.

Thread Starter archon70
(@archon70)

10 years, 1 month ago

Well, I’m no longer getting the invalid method in requests error. But it’s still reducing word count when I publish until it gets below a certain, seemingly arbitrary, word count. I also changed the DB engine from InnoDB to MyISAM with no effect.

So now I want to focus on the php.ini settings.

Rather than paste the whole thing in here, you can see it at http://www.silvertree.org/php.ini.txt

I appreciate the help thus far.

Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)
(@otto42)

ww.wp.xz.cn Admin

10 years, 1 month ago

There’s no PHP.INI setting that’s going to cause that sort of behavior. post_max_size, maybe, but that would prevent anything from appearing, not weird limits on sizes.

Thread Starter archon70
(@archon70)

10 years, 1 month ago

Well, crap. So it shrinks from whatever (thousands) of words to 206 but won’t publish. Shrinking it from 205 to 86 words it publishes. I tried moving the apache virtual host from /home/user/public_html to /var/www/user just in case UserDir in apache was doing something odd. That didn’t fix it.

I could just put this down and walk away from it, but I hate things not working and more importantly I don’t want to leave my friend in a lurch having to pay for a hosting site.

Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)
(@otto42)

ww.wp.xz.cn Admin

10 years, 1 month ago

Do you have mod_security running? Or maybe Suhosin? Anything that might have some kind of odd configuration which is messing with the inputs to the server process, is what I’m thinking.

Thread Starter archon70
(@archon70)

10 years, 1 month ago

No to either of those. Another data point, I tried to upload a small jpeg file, and it failed with “partially uploaded” even though upload file size is 1G, and the footer on the media upload page says max size 1G. So SOMETHING somewhere is limiting, but I sure can’t figure out where.

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WordPress is shrinking posts, saving as drafts, then publishing

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