06/02/2019
So last night this happened!
It has been no secret that we've been assisting clients who's websites had been allowed to decay by their previous "managed" hosting provider, often to the point of being completely unserviceable. Obviously that provider hasn't been happy about losing clients and has been somewhat vocal about it. But last night it became a lot worse when they made obvious implied threats against my family.
I'll not go into the full detail here, there is already a place where I've done that, but suffice to say I haven't "stolen" anything from them, and can categorically prove that.
Somewhat funny is they continue making assertions that I must be stealing things because I'm able to move a site from a WordPress Multisite installation without them knowing. This assertion is funny because it simply demonstrates that absolute lack of knowledge or ability to think laterally.
So to debunk their assertions once and for all, I'll outline here the exact process I use to transfer a site. Keep in mind that these websites are all sites that the clients have paid to have built. They are, therefore, the CLIENTS' sites and are on no fixed term hosting plan. The client is therefore within their rights to move the site wherever they please.
So, how do you move a WordPress site from a Multisite installation to a standalone installation without the current hosting knowing?
Actually, it is pretty easy...
The first requirement is that the client has “admin” level access to their site. So I ask the clients to request that level of access. They are their websites, after all! With admin level access, the rest is trivial:
1. WordPress, the theme, the forms tool (Gravity Forms), the Newsletter system and a number of other features, all have Export options. So the first step is to use the export options on all those tools and save the files they create.
2. Most (well configured) sites use a “child” theme. The child theme contains the customisations for that particular site. Normally, without access to the server, it is challenging to get hold of the child theme. Challenging, but not impossible if you can write a bit of php code. Most WordPress sites have some method of adding code. It is trivial to write a “shortcode” that creates a copy of the child theme and puts a link to the copy on a page on the website. Simply accessing that page creates the copy of the child theme, then once it has been downloaded via the link, a second shortcode added to the page is used to delete the copy. So that is how the content and child theme is obtained. Oh, and child themes are not “intellectual property” because they simply contain code that any developer worth their salt could easily replicate. The parent theme has IP attached to it, but that belongs to the theme developer. And in any case, the client paid for their site to be built. It wasn’t built for free and it isn't being delivered as a service (WaaS), so the site belongs to them, child theme and all.
3. Obtaining the parent theme is trivial – in fact I owned a copy of the parent theme many of these sites use. I built my sister’s website with it long before it was used on those sites. Otherwise it would have just been a case of purchasing a license.
4. In the same way it is trivial to create a copy of the child theme, it is also trivial to create a list of all the plugins used on the site. Another shortcode and the list can be copy / pasted into a file. Obtaining those plugins is then also, you guessed it, trivial! Most are free, some are commercial and of the commercial ones, most are plugins that all developers use, which I do, so I already owned licenses for them.
5. For some of the older sites, rather than obtain a copy of the existing (fairly basic and very OLD) theme, it was simpler and quicker to just build a similar looking theme with a page builder (in this case, Beaver Builder). The rest of the process was the same.
6. From there it is a simple matter of installing a new copy of WordPress on my servers, add the parent and child theme (or my own template built in Beaver Builder), adding the plugins then importing the content. The entire process takes only a few hours.
7. Then, in the case of the sites that use a child theme, there were updates that needed to be applied and various elements fixed.
And that, my friends, is the process in a nutshell. When I get some free time I'll create a video of the process to show just how simple it is.
The final part of the transfer process is delegating the domain and transferring email accounts. There are a couple of solutions for transferring email accounts, the IMAPSize app on Windows or the online IMAPSYNC service. That process just needs the email account details from the client. Delegating the domain is simple once the domain is under the management of the client, again a very simple task.
Just as an aside, I've blanked out the email addresses used to submit the forms - which were different for each form - but evidence would suggest that the three forms were submitted by the same person who actually owns none of those email addresses. But apparently I'm the thief. 🙄
