We need to report a pretty significant bug that's been unknown to us until recently, that has apparently been causing significant database bloat on our site for several years. We've done extensive database testing and have pretty solid evidence of the bug.
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We're running the latest versions of all of the plugins we use, including version 7.6.47 wpdiscuz. We are also running the latest versions of WooCommerce with Subscriptions, Memberships, and we actually only use wpDiscuz on a single, normal wordpress page for special Q&A events.
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THE BUG
wpDiscuz is incorrectly writing _wpdiscuz_statistics rows to WooCommerce post types that have absolutely nothing to do with comments. Specifically it is writing to:
These post types are WooCommerce orders, memberships, and subscriptions. wpDiscuz has no business writing statistics to these records.
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WHEN IT HAPPENS
Through database analysis we've confirmed this is NOT triggered by members submitting comments. It is triggered by WooCommerce order completion events. Every time a WooCommerce order is completed — whether a subscription renewal, new membership purchase, or product sale — wpDiscuz writes a _wpdiscuz_statistics row to that order record.
Evidence: The 5 most recent affected orders were all created March 9, 2026 at: - 11:16 AM - 11:51 AM - 13:31 PM - 14:31 PM - 15:26 PM
All are wc-completed status orders. This confirms wpDiscuz is hooking into WooCommerce's order completion event, not the comment submission event.
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HOW LONG THIS HAS BEEN HAPPENING
- Oldest affected record: March 29, 2015 - Most recent affected record: March 9, 2026 (today) - Duration: over 9 years - Growth rate: Approximately 1,000 new illegitimate rows per month - The issue has been consistent and ongoing throughout 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026
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DATABASE IMPACT
- Total database size: 1.34 GB - wp_postmeta table: 543 MB with 3.5 million rows - _wpdiscuz_statistics is the single largest meta_key by row count in our entire wp_postmeta table - At current growth rate this adds approximately 12,000 illegitimate rows per year
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SQL EVIDENCE
Query confirming affected post types: SELECT p.post_type, COUNT(*) as count FROM wp_postmeta pm JOIN wp_posts p ON pm.post_id = p.ID WHERE pm.meta_key = '_wpdiscuz_statistics' GROUP BY p.post_type ORDER BY count DESC;
Query confirming date range: SELECT MAX(p.post_date) as most_recent, MIN(p.post_date) as oldest FROM wp_postmeta pm JOIN wp_posts p ON pm.post_id = p.ID WHERE pm.meta_key = '_wpdiscuz_statistics';
1. Is this known behavior or a confirmed bug? 2. Is there a setting to prevent wpDiscuz from writing statistics to non-comment post types? 3. Is it safe to delete all existing _wpdiscuz_statistics rows attached to shop_order, wc_user_membership, and shop_subscription post types? 4. Will a future update fix this so it stops happening?
Obviously this is causing pretty large and ongoing database bloat and should be fixed as soon as possible. You should not need access to our particular site to investigate, since this should be easily replicated if you're running widiscuz alongside WooCommerce.
Please advise!
This topic was modified 2 hours ago 5 times by WebWolf
