Is It Ok to Delete Old Website Folders on WordPress?
It’s a common scenario. You’re setting up a new WordPress website and you want to add a blog to it. So you click on the +New button and a nice WordPress blog dashboard appears. You start by adding a few blogs and then you realize that there are a ton of other things you could have done, but didn’t have time for. So you delete a few old site folders to make room for the new.
In an ideal world, you would have just renamed the old folders and stuck with it. But in the real world, things aren’t always so neat and tidy. You might have to go through a couple of cycles where you delete one folder and it comes right back. But eventually, you find yourself in a place where your website looks the same as it did the day you started building it. And that’s when you know you’ve reached the perfect state.
WordPress is a powerful tool, and like any other piece of software, it has its quirks. Some people think that it’s perfectly acceptable to delete old blog posts and pages once they’ve been published. But that’s not the case, as you’ll see.
What’s The Big Deal With Deleting Old Blog Posts And Pages?
When you delete a blog post or page on WordPress, it doesn’t go anywhere. Technically, it still exists on the server. But it’s no longer accessible to anyone who wants to read it. That’s the difference.
Think of it this way. Imagine that you’ve posted a blog article that gets a ton of views. At that point, you might consider whether or not to delete it. You could weigh the number of views against the effort you spent creating the content.
It’s also important to note that you can’t delete your own blog posts or pages, even if they’re outdated or no longer relevant. That’s also a permissions issue. But the good news is that WordPress makes it super easy to bring back items you’ve deleted. Simply go to your Dashboard, click on the Site icon and then click on the “Blogs” link. From there, you can select the posts and pages you’d like to restore and press the “Publish” button at the top of the page.
Why Does WordPress Give Me A Forbidden Response When I Try To Delete Old Blog Posts And Pages?
For some reason, when you try to delete a blog post or page on WordPress, it gives you a “Forbidden” response. And it prevents you from doing anything else on the website, including editing posts or pages. That’s not a good sign.
It’s important to note that this isn’t a security risk. The server simply doesn’t want you to erase any data from the blog. And there’s no reason for it. Once you get that permission request, you can move forward with deleting whatever you want.
Is It Ok To Create New Folders For My WordPress Blog?
It’s always a good idea to add more folders to your WordPress blog so that you can better organize your content. But once you’ve created the needed folders, you have to be careful not to fill them with content. That way, you don’t run the risk of having your site locked down by the WordPress administration when you try to publish new content.
If you have a blog that you’ve been using for a while and you’re adding a new section, you might find that you have a lot of content stored in multiple folders. To avoid any issues, create a new folder within your WordPress directory and move all of your previous content into it. Then, when you’re ready to add new material, simply push it to the top level of the directory and your blog will be ready to go live.
As a general rule of thumb, whenever possible, it’s better to simply rename the old folders and go with it. It will only take you a couple of minutes to do so, and you’ll be able to continue enjoying full access to your blog. Plus, it keeps your site free from clutter and keeps your content easy to find.