Knowledgebase

Scheduled content did not publish.

WHAT IT MEANS

WordPress cron did not run when the post was due.

THE CAUSE ON OUR SERVERS

HTTP requests to /wp-cron.php are blocked across our fleet, because WordPress triggers cron on every page load and that generates enormous unnecessary load.

Without a real cron job, scheduled posts, automatic updates, backup schedules and plugin tasks all silently stop.

THE FIX

1. Add to wp-config.php, above the stop editing line:

define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true);

2. cPanel > Cron Jobs. Set the interval to every five or fifteen minutes and enter:

/usr/local/bin/php -q /home/USERNAME/public_html/wp-cron.php >/dev/null 2>&1

Replace USERNAME with your cPanel username.

VERIFYING

Schedule a post for a few minutes ahead and confirm it publishes.

WHAT ELSE THIS FIXES

Backup schedules, automatic updates, WooCommerce scheduled actions, email queues, and anything else relying on cron.

If several scheduled things are not working, this is almost always why.