Plugins That Cause Problems

The following is a list of plugins that are known to cause issues in some configurations:

Cache Plugins and Server Caching

Cache should be used carefully and with the knowledge that it will have to be configured properly, or it can cause major problems. Keep in mind that when cache performs incorrectly, it will cause issues with MemberMouse and potentially other components of your website. This is a result of the nature of caching itself, which takes a snapshot of pages and other resources the first time they're loaded and then, on future requests, pulls them from the cache instead of retrieving them from the server. This works great for static pages and resources, but if a page delivers any dynamic content, you'll end up delivering an incorrect experience to your customers.

If you're going to use a cache plugin make sure you configure it such that:

• MemberMouse core pages are not cached. This includes both client and server side caching
  
• URLs containing wp-content/plugins/membermouse* are not cached
  
• Pages with GET parameters (i.e. x=y at the end of the URL) aren't cached
  
• Minify of CSS and JavaScript, and deferral of JavaScript, are disabled
  
• Pages that use MemberMouse SmartTags™ are not cached. If you're using SmartTags™ in a widget that appears on multiple pages, you'll need to exclude all of these pages from being cached.

For further reading on configuring cache, please read and implement the instructions in this article about Configuring Caching on Your Server.

Here is a partial list of some examples of cache that your site or your host may have. Each requires configuration as explained above:

• W3 Total Cache
  
• WP Super Cache
  
• WP Rocket
  
• NitroPack
  
• AutoOptimize
  
• Varnish (A commonly used server caching used by WP-Engine, Cloudways, and others)
  
• Bytecode cache (Used by Kinsta Hosting) 
  
• SG Optimizer (used with SiteGround hosting) 

Broken Link Plugins

Several plugins are designed to comb through your site and locate broken links, or links that take users to pages that are no longer active. While not only placing a lot of strain on your WordPress database and slows down your site, these plugins can cause your SmartTags™ to not function properly.  You will likely see an error like the one listed below:

<a href="Invalid SmartTag Configuration: The 'type' attribute 'footPassword' is invalid for SmartTag MM_CorePage_Link." class="mm-forgot-password">Forgot Password</a>

If you have this issue on your site, try deactivating:

• Broken Link Checker

We understand that Google suggests checking for broken links on your site. A safer (and less taxing) alternative is a site like brokenlinkcheck.com, which is not a plugin, and will provide the same results.

Security Plugins

Security plugins often include options which will cause malfunctions in other plugins, including MemberMouse. Some options which usually create problems are:

• Disabling PHP execution in the WordPress plugin directory
  
• Login security features, such as Two-Factor Authentication
  
• Anti-spam features that block spam form submissions

Most security plugins contain one or more of these features, so care should be exercised when enabling plugin options. The list below highlights some security plugins that ship with these options enabled by default:

• All In One WP Security and Firewall – This plugin includes security features that break the login process in certain hosting environments when MemberMouse is installed. When the issue manifests, login is impossible, even using the default WordPress login page, and the security plugin must be disabled by renaming the plugin folder in order to regain access to the site.
  
  
• SiteGround Security – The Lock and Protect System Folders feature prevents execution of PHP scripts in the plugin folder. This breaks many important MemberMouse features, including checkout and recurring billing.

Payment Plugins That Load Payment Scripts With Different Versions

If you have a plugin with settings for a payment processor, it potentially may have scripts that conflict with those of MemberMouse's payment scripts library. Due to the many potential versions a plugin can use, a clash can occur if the versions between it and MemberMouse are different. Typically, most plugins use the same version, and in those cases, you will not see an issue, but in rare cases, we have seen this clash.

Examples of this can occur with any plugin that accepts a payment, such as WooCommerce, Gravity Forms, Give, Learndash, etc., but it is not common.

If you have payment problems with MemberMouse, please check your other plugins to see if they have options for payments. If they do and you cannot remove those plugins, please reach out to our support team here for a thorough diagnosis to see what can be done to resolve any issues that may arise from that.