Articles from September 2016

I saw a couple of subscribers try to come in to yesterday’s post, Sticking with self-hosting, but get a 404.  It looks like a result of a change in DNS nameservers.

That basically means I have a domain name and wanted to keep it, but my website itself moved, so I had to change the settings on the domain name.

It takes a bit before the rest of the world catches up, so people who have recently been on my site, still could end up on my old server.  The old “address” for my site was probably still in their computers: Computers hold onto that data for a bit.  It only affected new posts; they could still see everything else, because the old site is still on my old host.

But now it looks like everything is stable.  So here is my post again:

Instead of going to WordPress.com as I previously planned to do, I learned about a much better hosting company.

At least, I found a lot of reviews all around the Web saying Siteground is a much better company.  And the information I found on Siteground’s website–It sure seems much better.  The uptime is better, the pricing is better, they still use the ticket system, they’re responsive, and they actually HELP you with your website.  My previous host would only help with server-side issues, and leave you on your own for the rest.  In fact, Siteground moved my website for me–for FREE.

Because I have my own domain name, no URLs need to be changed.  Now let’s see if things are better over here.  🙂

So far–Just look how fast it loads!  😀

• by Nyssa McCanmore
• Posted on September 6, 2016October 13, 2020

My site was running beautifully–then starting hiccuping AGAIN.  I tried modifications which would work for a day or two, then HICCUP.  So I’d remove them, only to find they still lingered, so I’d have to hunt down and remove the fragments from my files and database.  I have replaced core files and fresh-installed plugins again and again and again.

It took two weeks to discover that my php version wasn’t working properly.  But all I can find about fixing it sounds like technical jargon which I can’t make heads or tails out of.  It’s supposed to be 5.6, but keeps going to 5.2.  Or I change it to 5.4, but all the plugins see it as 5.2, and here come the error messages.  !!!!!!!!!

Visitors get error messages; Google has trouble indexing; I get stripped-HTML pages in the backend, or various error messages or white screens, and, in between, the pages come up.

Meanwhile, my stats are in the frickin’ toilet because people and Google have trouble getting the pages up.  That’s it!  I don’t have time for this!  Last week, I spent days dealing with my dad’s death and the aftermath, and nights trying to figure out why my site kept hiccuping.  This week, I’m spending hours upon hours trying to figure it out, when I have other things that desperately need attention.  I’m keeping up with housework, but that’s about it.  I start working in the morning, look up and see darkness through the window.

It took two weeks to figure out that maybe my hosting provider has to sort this out on their end.  I’d rather open a support ticket and cut and paste all the error messages, but they don’t do that anymore.  (Do this over the phone?  Seriously?)

Sitting in chat–I’d rather just send an e-mail and let them sort it out, not sit in chat with someone who doesn’t know anything.  Last time I did chat, somebody screwed up my directories, and somebody else had to sort it out because I couldn’t get it to work.

But even if I contact them, something else will probably turn up later.  These troubles started three months ago, after three years of mostly easy self-hosting.  And just when I solve one problem, another one crops up.

I’m going to see how my site looks if I go to WordPress.com.  It would mean some sucky sacrifices–no Google Analytics, no javascript (so no redirects or other neat things I could do on Blogger), no Project Wonderful, no blocking, and a terribly basic Statcounter–but it appears far easier than going back to Blogger.

And it looks like I can post links to Lulu for my own books, though I can’t use my site to handle actual selling of them/orders (which I don’t want to do anyway), or affiliate links.

I tried setting up again on Blogger, but there were too many issues with importing and making things look right.  And I can keep the 2016 theme, which I love, so the site would look mostly the same.  I still have time on my host to set up redirects so Google can re-index me, so I don’t lose traffic.

And just think of the $200 bill I won’t be getting in April!  😀

• by Nyssa McCanmore
• Posted on September 2, 2016September 4, 2016