I've concluded that either a bad mod, or a bad mod that didn't install correctly fucked the file permissions ...
... I'm thinking I'll tear the site down, reinstall it with no mods, install the DB, and then upgrade it from there
... it's probably the easiest way to go about this;
... I simply can't take the time to change ALL files/directories permissions one-by-one
I'm merely throwing my thought process(es) out there before I make the executive decision(s) ...
Anyone?