Technical Issues Update – Still Having Problems
It’s been another painful week here at the Winchester Family Business for technical issues. On Tuesday, just a few hours before the episode aired, our hosting provider shut us down. We were down for a few days and after we made some changes and came back up, we were still having plenty of problems. We were chewing up too much CPU on the server, and the culprit ended up being our new commenting system. We made changes, we made tweaks, and no luck, we were still churning too much. So, I had to take our new commenting system offline or risk the site not being up at all.
That’s where we stand. We were supposed to migrate to yet another server tonight, our fourth in a year, but once again there were issues and we couldn’t get adequate support to help us get through the problems. So, we’ve already learned without going live that we’ve made a bad choice in hosting providers. So, now I can add Go Daddy to the list of providers along with Bluehost, A2 Hosting, and Siteground that can’t seem to give us the adequate support and services we need.
Thanks,
Alice
P.S. I’m turning on the old commenting system for this article only, so if you want to share in my frustration or say hello, feel free!
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Alice Jester is the founder, editor-in-chief, head writer, programmer, web designer, site administrator, marketer, and moderator for The Winchester Family Business. She is a 30 year IT applications and database expert with a penchant for creative and freelance writing in her spare (ha!!) time. That’s on top of being a wife, mother of two active kids, and four loving (aka needy) pets.
I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with these headaches! I know how frustrating it is when my own personal technology doesn’t work properly. I can’t imagine the stress and frustration level you’re under with the scope of this site!
I don’t have true first hand knowledge but a company my own boss is looking at is appliedi.net. I spoke with them along with other companies like go daddy to get some specs just last week. Out of all the companies I called, they were the friendliest and even called me back a few days later. Now, that might be just a selling ploy and once they have you the customer service quality drops but it may be worth looking into. They also have a 60 day money back guarantee.
Anyway, I really do appreciate all you do and your continued battle right now trying to make things work! Thank you!!!
I am so sorry this is happening to you. I am sure I speak for many when I say we appreciate everything you are doing. I haven’t got the first idea of how technically difficult this is. All I know is because of all your hard work I get to enjoy the best website for SPN that exits anywhere.
Good luck
alice,
if anyone lives by the Winchester credo of never giving up on something, it’s you here at the wfb. thanks for what your doing for us. good luck. you have our support.
Hi Alice, I am the least technical person on the planet but I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am that you (and your husband) are going through this again. Good luck and I hope you can find a solution while you still have some hair that you haven’t pulled out! Your efforts and hard work are appreciated. 🙂
I have no clue about the technical aspects of running a site; it seems daunting. I’ll be here though, reading articles and waiting with baited breath for the site to be fully functional once more. All your hard work is so incredibly appreciated. Good luck!!
Oh bless. There’s nothing like computer issues to get your heart racing and frustration level into the stratosphere.
My prescription: Cup of tea, long walk outside, enough sleep to not hate life, and realize you have til April 15th to truly solve the problem.
Keep updating via Tweets. We’ll be okay.
Hi Alice:
THANK YOU so much for your persistence; I think you share the Winchester stubbornness gene; it’s only a matter of time before you smite the technical demons. 😉
You’re so right about the comments; I love to read the varying opinions on each episode and plot point, especially when they differ from my own. They always allow me to rewatch in a whole new light.
This site is a real treat for SPN fans and we’re lucky to have you (and your hubby) jumping through hoops for us on a regular basis to keep it running for us. Thank you again, and please know all the hard work you do is very much appreciated.
Alice, thank you for the update. I’m sorry you having so many problems with your servers. Please ignore the email I sent I did not see the update.
Thank you for all your efforts to keep this site going.
You are a Gem! Have you looked at iPage? I have not used it but on my last quest for something better than godaddy, they were the top rated. Still, the effort to upgrade, let alone completely change requires great patience (and coffee, booze, chocolate…whatever your medicine) and we do appreciate it so much. Best of luck!
so sorry Alice that you face these issues regularly- being the only source for my Winchesters this Site is my only connect for SPN. The horror i see every-time the site is down that maybe this time it wont go up again- but Alice you are true Angle- no fallen, no rough no dick angel but an Angel we all love. Keep up the good work and hope the hosting problems just vanish once and for all
To give Alice more time to get a new comments/server service working, how about we move feedback over to Twitter? I have a small discussion started on there for my Threads article. I know Farawayeyes, Nate and Gerry are active on Twitter too. It could be a game in how to express yourself in 140 characters! My ID is LSAngel2. Come on over!
Oh, Alice, I’m so sorry this happened! Just know that you have all our good wishes and supportive thoughts behind you, hopefully propping you up. Thank you for everything you do. We love you and the WFB!
Just dropping in to say HI! and commiserate with you on your tech woes. I missing you guys and your opinions and thooughts and am having “comment withdrawal”.
I’m so sorry you are having this pain keeping your site alive. This is my favourite place to go for my Supernatural fixes. You are a wonderful persistent fan and I am so grateful for you Alice. Hoping you can get a top notch provider and can stop being so frustrated.
For myself, right now I don’t need comments. Just know that I am here each and every day to feed my hunger for the boys and all things related. I stopped reading comments when they were depressing me with all the nasty attacks on Dean, my hero. Don’t know if I’ll go back to comments some day. Time will tell. But I’ll still be here at my favourite place to be.
Thanks Alice for all you do. You do not realize how much we appreciate it and love you.
I just wanted to remind people that while the comments are down you can go over to the CBOX. You can post comments, read our chit chat or if other people are there, you can chat live with other fans. Just click on the CBOX link to the upper left on the home page of the WFB. Or at the beginning of this update by Alice. When there, put in your name, comment and hit go (and refresh very often so the posts will update!!) 🙂
Thank you so much for everything you do for us Alice. Just reading the reviews makes me very happy, so if I can’t comment, that’s ok with me. I was having withdrawal symptoms from not being able to read any reviews of the show! 😮
I just want to add a note of support for you, Alice. I love this site that you’ve created and since I have been stopping by, it is easy to see that you have devoted your time, energy, and passion to making it the very best it can be. I am truly sorry about the frustrations that you have been experiencing with technical issues. Thanks to you and your wonderful hubby for all of the hours you have spent working on problems. I hope that there is going to be a light at the end of the tunnel for you.
I just wanted to add my thanks to you keeping this site going, and for all the very, hard, and difficult work you do in keeping this website up. If I knew of something or someone to help you I would let you know. I know I really appreciate all that you do for us here.
Thanks Alice and the rest of the Jesters for everything you do.
And i can only repeat Leah s reminder. Take the comments to the cbox. The more the marrier and then you can get an instant answer if a few people are in the cbox. But dont forget to hit reset there.
[quote name=”Nightskyforreal”]To give Alice more time to get a new comments/server service working, how about we move feedback over to Twitter? I have a small discussion started on there for my Threads article. I know Farawayeyes, Nate and Gerry are active on Twitter too. It could be a game in how to express yourself in 140 characters! My ID is LSAngel2. Come on over![/quote]
This is a GREAT idea. My Twitter name is @farawayeyes4 and it’s been weird not having review comments to answer. If you want to chat me up there, go right ahead!
Thank you, Alice, for keeping at it. It means a lot to be able to write for the site.
Thanks everyone for your understanding. We’ve been trying to upgrade to a different server for 3 days now. It’s been painful. However, we’ve got to hit pay dirt sometime! Fingers crossed tonight will be the night everything goes back online. Of course I’ve been saying that for 3 days now, but tomorrow is another day, right?