If users see a “Something went wrong” message after submitting a registration form, the issue may be related to caching.
This can happen when a caching plugin, server cache, or CDN serves cached content when the registration request needs to be processed dynamically.
There are several effective workarounds for caching plugins that are present in Registrations for the Events Calendar though some caching configurations will cause an issue.
Common Symptoms
- The registration form appears normally on the event page.
- The user fills out the form and clicks submit.
- The form starts processing, then shows “Something went wrong.”
- No confirmation email is sent.
- No new registration appears in the attendee list.
- The issue may affect some users or roles but not others.
Why This Happens
Registrations for The Events Calendar uses dynamic WordPress requests to process form submissions. These requests need to run fresh each time a visitor submits the form.
Registration Error Reference
The table below outlines common registration outcomes, what users see, and what typically causes each scenario.
| Scenario | What the user sees | Typical cause |
|---|---|---|
| Caching affects logged-in users | “Something went wrong. Please try again.” or broken submit result | Caching rules serving stale responses instead of dynamic processing |
| Registration disabled | Closed message with suggestion to refresh | Registrations are closed at the event or site level |
| User cannot access event | Warning that event is no longer accessible | Permissions, privacy settings, or access restrictions |
| Registration closed during submit | Closed message after submission | Registration closed during submission |
| Event just filled | Event full message and form is removed | Capacity reached during submission |
| Validation errors | Error message with list of fields | Missing or invalid form input |
| Network or server error | “Something went wrong. Please try again.” | Connectivity issues, server errors, or blocked requests |
| Incorrect cached response | Broken or empty result, or unexpected output | Caching applied where dynamic processing is required |
Recommended Fixes
- Disable caching for logged-in users if registration forms are used by logged-in visitors.
- Exclude event pages that contain registration forms from page caching.
- Exclude dynamic WordPress requests such as admin-ajax.php from caching.
- Check whether your host has server-level caching that needs additional exclusions.
- Check whether your CDN has page rules or cache settings that may affect event pages or form submissions.
- Clear all site, server, and CDN caches after making changes.
How to Test
- Clear your site cache, server cache, and CDN cache.
- Open an event page that has a registration form.
- Submit a test registration while logged out.
- Submit a test registration while logged in, if your site allows logged-in registrations.
- Confirm the registration appears in the attendee list.
- Confirm the confirmation email is sent.
What to Tell Support
If you contact support about this issue, please include:
- The caching plugin you are using.
- Whether your host provides server-level caching.
- Whether your site uses a CDN such as Cloudflare.
- Whether the issue affects logged-in users, logged-out users, or both.
- Whether the issue affects only certain user roles.
- Whether registrations work after temporarily disabling caching.
Summary
If users see “Something went wrong” after submitting a registration form, caching is one of the first things to check.
The best fix is to make sure event registration pages and dynamic form submissions are not served cached responses.