WordPress Support: How do I get it?

No matter how stable your website is, you’re eventually going to need support.  WordPress is a great product, and there are tons of great themes out there and plug-ins that will work seamlessly with your website, but the fact remains that you won’t always have everything working properly.  Maybe the theme you got cut something out or blended it together with another aspect or maybe a plug-in has completely broken your site.  Whatever the reason, you will need support and there’s a few things you should know before going straight to the ‘contact us’ page on WordPress.

First, ask yourself these questions:

  1. Did I just install a new plug-in/theme?
  2. Did I change something or move something?
  3. Was there a sudden influx of new members or content?
  4. Could my website just be down?

Support is a fantastic tool, especially the support in the WordPress or ScriptTechs Forums, but the fact remains that it’s not always necessary.  Sometimes, you’ll have done something to break your site and other times there may be a hosting issue or something that’s completely out of your control.  Before you go posting and asking for help, just do a quick search on google.  If you can’t find a fix there, search the WordPress or ScriptTechs Forums.  If there’s still no answer, it’s time for you to post.

What should I be saying?

The most important thing to remember is that you need to be respectful and honest.  If you did something and don’t know how to undo it or fix it, tell them.  Nobody’s going to be judging and if you don’t understand the instructions given to you then ask.  Learning how to do this yourself will save you the money of having someone go onto your website and fix it themselves.

In your post, tell people exactly what your issue is.  Screenshots are a big plus if it’s a visual error.  Post your WordPress version, the plug-in/theme’s that may be affecting your site, any error messages that appear, and what you’ve already tried (if anything) to fix it.  Lastly, remember to thank the community!  They’re doing this for free and so try to keep that in mind when you ask for help!

Nobody’s responding!

Give it time.  Again, this is a community forum and so people are not online 24/7.  If you’ve got a particularly difficult issue that nobody can figure out, try and get in contact with the developer of said theme/plug-in.  It might very well be a new and totally obscure error that needs to be patched.

Until then, it’s best to deactivate your the affecting plug-in or theme until the issue is fixed and then try again.