After I asked my question last night about why the reblog button disappeared, I checked the WordPress Forums, and found a thread near the top about it:

https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/reblog-button-has-disappeared-from-blogs/page/2?replies=42#post-3076211

Apparently the disappearing reblog button is a systemwide issue that is affecting most or all WordPress.com blogs.

None of the “happiness engineers” seem to have any information or seem to know much about the problem other than that it exists.    Rather than apologize for the inconvenience (which they should be doing), we are being snarkily accused of “complaining” and treated in a condescending way — the insinuation being that we “don’t know how” to do a manual reblog or use the Press This or Share feature.

I’m pretty sure we all know how to do a manual reblog.   I’ve done it myself, when I want to “reblog” a post that isn’t on WordPress.com.

But the reblog button provides a measure of security.   If someone reblogs your post using the “reblog” button, they cannot edit your content.  All they can do is add a comment of their own if they wish to do so.   Manually reblogging a post means it is possible to edit it.     The reblog button is/was a very convenient and popular feature.

It was also suggested by the happiness engineers to use the “Press This” button or share the post from the Reader, but I dislike both of those methods.

One of the replies in the forum thread explained the difference this way:

Reblog button procedure:
Click the reblog button twice and the story ends here

Press this button procedure:
1) You click the reblog button [I think they meant click “press this” button]
2) You wait for a/the window to appear.
3) You copy some content from the desired article
4) You paste the content from the desired article in the window that just appeared
5) You copy the title of the aforementioned article
6) You paste the title in the title form in the new window
7) You press “publish” TWICE
8) You press the “X” button for the window to disappear

As you can see, “Press This” is a lot more complicated, and the content may not be safe from someone else having the ability to edit it.

Another obvious advantage of the reblog button is it’s so simple to use that people are encouraged to reblog your posts, which helps more people see your blog/increases your hits.   I don’t think people will be doing much reblogging if they have to go through all the complicated steps of the Press This feature or do a manual reblog.   I think most bloggers enjoy the extra visibility that having their posts reblogged gives them, but without the reblog button,  people just won’t bother.

I’m wondering if there’s some kind of coverup going on.   It’s been almost a week now since the reblog button disappeared, which seems way too long for something that simple.  I really hope WordPress isn’t planning to make this a “paid feature” or do away with it altogether as another one of their “improvements” that are anything but.

I hope I’m wrong about this, but after a week, you’d think someone on the WordPress staff would know something more than just telling us to use some other method.