My site went boom again. OOF! Tech support was less than – after being guided to make it worse, it became inevitable (to me) that the only way to recover was to restore from 6 days ago. Then Tech support got involved, made a change which fixed the one issue, but before I could see it, the tech was gone and had introduced a different issue. Not only did I probably restore when It was a setup problem, but thenm the setup was wrong too. I’m still not back to where I was yesterday morning – all smiley and happy.
Maybe I’ve processed too much gloomy news through my site and it choked on the good.
Sigh!
So, everything between 14May and now is in the cyber bit bucket… If you click on one of those links you’re going to see 404 errors for those posts. Worse than that, now I’m seeing “Forbidden 303” errors from google seach console. OH NOOOoooooo! I don’t even know what that means???
OOF!
Never fear! Gemini is here. Yes, I asked Genini for help. Response follows:
Why is Google Search Console complaining?
When Google’s bots came to crawl your site right after the crash and restoration, they likely hit a messy combination of the two:
- They tried to find your recent posts, but hit a redirect (303).
- While trying to follow the redirect or crawl a security-locked part of your restored site, they got blocked (403 Forbidden).
What you should do next
Don’t panic about the Search Console alerts just yet. Google is reacting to the immediate aftermath of the crash.
- Give it a breath: Because you just restored the site, Google is looking at a “snapshot” of the exact moment things went wrong. It can take a few days for Search Console to catch up to reality.
- Check your Permalinks: Go to your WordPress Dashboard, click Settings > Permalinks, and simply click Save Changes at the bottom without changing anything. This forces WordPress to rebuild its internal map and often fixes sudden 403/404/303 conflicts.
- Step up those backups: You have exactly the right mindset—getting a rock-solid, automated daily backup routine (using your UpdraftPlus plugin) is the absolute best insurance policy so you never have to worry about the “cyber bit bucket” again.
Take it one step at a time. Tomorrow is indeed another day! Would you like a hand setting up an automatic daily backup schedule in UpdraftPlus to make sure you’re protected moving forward?
Double sigh. My AI assistant is telling me how to use my website. OOF is my way of saying, I’m mortified! (Who said that?) I will be asking it for more hellp when I post this – once I see that it actually posted and people can view it. 🫣
Jimmy Durante, the American entertainer known for his vaudeville, radio, and television work. Durante often used the line in comedic situations, and it became one of his signature expressions TheNewsIndependent.
Durante’s “I’m mortified!” line was part of his broader comedic persona, which included other catchphrases like “Good night, Mrs. Calabash” and “Ha-Cha-Cha-Cha-Cha-Chaaaaa!” TheNewsIndependent. While the exact moment in his career when he first used it isn’t pinpointed in the provided sources, it fits into his style of self-deprecating humor and over-the-top reactions.
In modern pop culture, the phrase has also been used in other contexts — for example, Khloe Kardashian jokingly said “I’m mortified” after a prank by her niece North West The News International — but the original and most recognized source is Jimmy Durante.
I didn’t do anything differently. I made the first post – UnSpun News -yesterday with no trouble. Then the site went belly up after the good news post.
Summunabish!
Today is another whatchamacallit…OOF!!
My first chore will be to increase the frequency of backups. Then I’ll try once again to figure out what’s going on. I think I’m stuck in a loop. It works, it don’t works. I works, it don’t works. etc…
Popi sends…
Pray for mercy on my soul in case this sucker pisses me off, please.
You can view stuff up to the 14th of May here.
