Spent a full week chasing a weird bug in a simple contact form

I took on a quick site fix for a local bakery, just updating their contact form. Should have been two hours, tops. The form kept sending blank emails, but only when filled out on a phone. I checked the PHP mail function, the HTML, the server logs. Nothing. I rebuilt the form three times from scratch. Turns out, the bakery owner had installed some random 'SEO booster' plugin a year ago that was stripping data from mobile submissions before the form could even process it. Seven days of my life, gone, for a $150 job. How do you even quote for that? What's the weirdest hidden plugin or setting that's ever blown up your timeline?

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the_alex6mo ago

Should've charged a big finder's fee for uncovering that mess.

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fisher.thomas6mo ago

Seriously though, what if they try to sue you for finding it? Like, for causing trouble by exposing it. Wild thought.

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robert_ross956mo ago

Did you ever find out what that SEO plugin was actually supposed to do? @fisher.thomas has a point about hidden messes causing real trouble. That kind of find should come with a bonus.

4