Really appreciate you dropping a line to let me know. The problem hasn’t re-manifested so I think perhaps the last WordPress update fixed the issue. Will change the permissions though – just in case.

I think you have the wrong impression about your .htaccess file, it can be written to with it’s default permissions, however the file can still be set to read only with the permissions of 0444. Hope that helps in the future!

If you need any help, please feel free to contact me. I’ve been a loyal lurker for quite a while. I’d be happy to repay all the knowledge I’ve sucked up by reading your posts with some assistance wherever I can help. You say you’re not a coder… well, I am. Let me know what I can do. Feel free to contact me via email. Cheers.

Alas in my case it also means I will need to go through my entire set up with a fine tooth comb trying to find what the issue is as I can’t simply go down the write protection route to solve the issue.

I’m not at all technical so I will have to hire someone to go through the whole site. I don’t really mind this *too* much though as we need to hire someone anyhow to help us redevelop the site and smooth out a few lumps and bumps that have come up as the site’s evolved.

The suggested fix? Write protect your .htaccess file, very frustrating LOL

Given my current situation I think it’s perfectly legitimate for me to be uncomfortable the file can’t be protected from overwriting. I’m blinking well stressed out about this mysterious malady that’s plaguing my site every 10 days or so.

The site is not being hacked, I had Clook check into that. They confirmed this was an issue within WordPress.

You’re right plugins don’t just decide to mess things up, but sometimes they just do!

The part where you say “Would I Still Recommend Clook?

Hmmm… I do still really rate their service. ” etcetc did made me think you feel like it’s Clook’s fault while like I will say again this has nothing to do with that. It’s not even the fault of your htaccess file being writable and you feeling uncomftable with it.

I can also almost guerentee that it’s not a plugin that is adding random s’s to your htaccess file. A plugin does not go out and think well let’s today try something new and mess Kristy’s htaccess file up by adding a few ‘s somewhere. Like I said it must be a setting that is causing it which then triggers that plugin or you seriously need to look into the option of being hacked.

If the pair of you can take time to actually read this entire post properly you will see that I’m quite clearly stating that it is a good technology update but for me personally it is causing problems because of this problem I can’t get to the bottom of.

The point of the post is not to blame Clook, the point of the post is to show the frustrating situation I’m in where I know the issue is coming from something in my setup that re-writes the .htaccess file – and I can’t stop that from happening whilst I try to work out what in hells name is doing it.

I’m not at all comfortable with my .htacess file being writable in this way because of how much control it can exert over a site. The nature of WP means things can go wrong with installed plugins after several weeks of smooth running – usually right at the point you choose to go on a well earned vacation and promise your other half faithfully you won’t spend half your time on a laptop.