nsitu

UPDATE:
I’m going to try changing the links in the template to be javascript driven rather than direct. Hopefully the bots will now be less prone to wander. Here’s the change I’m making, more specifically. Instead of this:
<a href="{{url}}">
I’m using this:
<a style="cursor: pointer;" onclick="window.location='{{url}}'; return false;">
I’m going to monitor the results and will post again when I know more.

I decided to compare with another fresh WordPress install. The fresh copy does not have this issue.

I discovered that the media library, when functioning properly, lists a hidden field with each item like this:
<input type="hidden" name="attachments[10][post_parent]" id="attachments[10][post_parent]" value="163">

This field is, for some reason, missing on the broken install.

I also discovered that WordPress renders this hidden field in /wp-admin/includes/media.php, around line 1404:

foreach ( $hidden_fields as $name => $value )
		$item .= "\t<input type='hidden' name='$name' id='$name' value='" . esc_attr( $value ) . "' />\n";

	if ( $post->post_parent < 1 && isset( $_REQUEST['post_id'] ) ) {
		$parent = (int) $_REQUEST['post_id'];
		$parent_name = "attachments[$attachment_id][post_parent]";
		$item .= "\t<input type='hidden' name='$parent_name' id='$parent_name' value='$parent' />\n";
	}

	return $item;

Still not sure where to go with this, though. Thanks for any further ideas.

Upload path is ‘wp-content/uploads’