Tags Disappeared from My WordPress Blog

I was updating an ecommerce blog when I noticed something bad.

The tags for every post were suddenly missing! Simply disappeared!

I suspected a few possibilities but turned to google for quick help.

Here is what I did to restore the the missing WordPress blog tags.

This is a bunch of chronicled journal. Skip to the end for answers.

1. Reset all plugins and changed another theme. Did t work? Nope.
2. Installed WP-Optimize. Processed to clean up extra data. Nope.
3. Installed WP-DBManager. Repairedwordpress database. Nope.
4. Removed Tag cloud widget from the content side bar. Not related.
5. Removed custom Menu. This is my own wild guess. Still no hope.
6. Installed Remove Tags Taxonomy. Whole admin tag menu hidden.
7. Deleted Remove Tags Taxonomy to bring admin tag menu back.
8. Installed Mass Delete Unused Tags. Deleted all tags in tag menu.
9. Discovered Web Ninja Auto Tagging System > 2 years old. 2010.
10. Deleted Web Ninja Auto Tagging System which is used currently.
11. Installed Strictly Auto Tags. Retagged all posts. Worked! But…
12. Tags like product description and product size created. Not good.
13. Installed Auto Tag. Retagged all posts. All tags disappeared again.
14. Back to Strictly Auto Tag. Tweaked setting. Again same problem.
15. Re-installed Auto Tag. Retagged all posts. Again tags disappeared.
16. Install Tag Generator. Activated it.  It said “Can’t generate tags”.
17. Re-Installed Web Ninja Auto Tagging System. Retagged all posts.
18. All tags disappeared again. Now I suspect the Ninja was a culprit.
19. Used Delete Unused Tags again. Deleted 500 tags in admin menu.
20. Used Strictly Auto Tag again. Re-tagged all posts. No choice but…
21. Deleted “product description” tag in the admin menu. Worked.

In conclusion, the causes of the tag disappearance are as follows…

• Web Ninja Auto Tagging System I relied on, is not working now.
• Very similar is Auto Tag, which is supposed to use a Yahoo API.
• Lesson learnt: Never trust a plugin with no updates for 2 years.
• Strictly Auto Tags is the next best plugin till I find another one.
• I will also be keeping Mass Delete Unused Tags for future use.

Is there any better mass re-tagging WordPress plugin I missed?

Adrian Lee
AdrianVideoImage.com