i have backed up all the tables from LIVE. in restoring them one-by-one to TEST, i found that the problem must exist in the table:
wp_postmeta
if i restore the TEST wp_postmeta, i cannot recreate the issue. if i restore the LIVE wp_postmeta, i CAN recreate the issue.
i did find (probably due to the ACF_LITE) that many postmeta records exist with meta_id of 0. i tried deleting all of these, but that is not the solution. that just causes data loss.
after restoring my backup, i’m again facing the problem neatly in a corner and completely out of my reach.
what in wp_postmeta could cause this duplication of meta_keys?
