I try to reply, comment, or add topic, it begins to load, page refreshes, but after refresh they don't show up. I don't have any caching plugin installed yet, the site is still fresh
Hi panda,
This is a frustrating issue, but the good news is it's typically caused by a few specific things that are usually straightforward to identify and fix. Since you mention your site is fresh and you don't have caching plugins installed yet, let's work through the most common culprits systematically.
Here's a step-by-step approach to troubleshoot this:
- Check your server-side caching first — Even though you haven't installed a caching plugin, your hosting provider might have server-level caching enabled. Look for LiteSpeed, Varnish, or similar caching mechanisms in your hosting control panel (cPanel, Plesk, etc.). If you find any, temporarily disable them to test.
- Review browser cache and cookies — Clear your browser's cache, cookies, and localStorage for your site. Try accessing the forum in an incognito/private browsing window to rule out client-side caching issues.
- Check your database permissions — Verify that your WordPress database user has proper write permissions. Posts and replies need to be written to the database, so insufficient permissions would cause exactly this symptom (page loads, appears to work, but data doesn't persist).
- Test with default theme and no plugins — Temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme and deactivate all plugins except the forum plugin. This helps isolate whether a plugin conflict is preventing data from being saved properly.
- Review server error logs — Check your hosting provider's error logs (typically in cPanel under "Error Log" or similar). Look for PHP errors or database connection issues that might be occurring silently when you submit replies.
- Verify your forum plugin settings — Make sure the forum plugin's settings are configured correctly, particularly any notification or moderation settings that might be interfering with post display.
I noticed in the related forum content that another user had this exact issue caused by LiteSpeed caching—even though they'd added pages to the exclusion list, it was still interfering. If you find any server-level caching, make sure to exclude your forum pages completely, not just the main forum page.
Can you tell us: Are you seeing any error messages in the browser console (press F12, go to the Console tab) when you try to post? And have you checked your hosting control panel for any caching mechanisms? That information will help narrow down the cause significantly.