How not to edit files

Ealrier this morning, I noticed on my main WPMU-driven site that a few more sneaky spam comments were getting in. I set about to edit my simple spam filter in mu-plugins, directly on the server. I quickly added a couple phrases and went on my way.

Fast forward to lunch. My VPS is down. Not just Apache, or MySQL which can be restarted with a simple click, but we couldn’t get in anywhere. Finally, Ron goes in to our main account from our hosts, finds the Stop link, and restarts. The sites are up.

Except my MU site. It’s showing a lovely WSOD.

Even better, the error logs are empty. (Well, not empty exactly, but nothing new or different in the previous half-hour.)

Since it’s a WSOD, we know there’s an error somewhere. So while Ron is on one computer removing everything under mu-plugins, I’m on the other one, refreshing the main page, answering panicked emails, and trying to figure out what to do. All mu-plugins are removed and the site is back up. We add them back in batches.

“Now adding back the s*” says Ron.

I refresh and watch the site go WSOD again.

Oh crap. I then remember exactly what happened. I find the file, actually LOOK at what I put it in and moan out load. Ron looks over my shoulder and grins. He’s a smart man, so he starts backing up too.

“Yeah yeah,” I tell him, “I know…”

So remember kids, the moral of the story here is always check your work. Editing a file on the server? Immediately go to the front of your site and make sure it’s still up. Thirty extra seconds to check can save you an hour of boneheadedness later.