Thursday, January 25, 2007
My blog seems to be fixed!
Have you ever lost your wallet or purse or key ring? You know the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize the magnitude of the loss? That's how I've been feeling for about five days while Blogger has been on the fritz.
It is fixed now, though I don't quite trust it yet. Nevertheless, it feels like a weight has been lifted from my chest. I can breathe again. I look back and go, "Hey only five days?"
The problems began when I switched to The New Blogger interface. It took forever to publish, then it stopped publishing at all. Change a comma, wait an hour, stop the process, republish, etc., what a drag. I was fortunate to have friends in high places -- Blogger's Product Manager is a personal friend -- so when I went to him as a whiney user, I also was able to temper my bitchin with empathy for the recipient. Or so I hope. Anyhow, my friend was both responsive and empathetic back at me, and he worked with the engineers to trace the problem to an interaction between the New Blogger and Earthlink, my Web host.
It was a bit harder to get Earthlink's attention, but again, I was fortunate to know some people involved with Earthlink at high levels of management, and in about 36 hours engineers from Blogger and Earthlink were working on it, and several hours later they found some screwy FTP settings for my domain, fixed them, and I'm back in business!
I'm reminded that The Stupid Network has its down side -- even as value creation moves to the edge, so do problems. When things screw up, the end user must marshall the resources to fix them. That's why I chose Blogger -- because I knew Ev -- and Earthlink -- because I knew several senior folks there. And those personal relationships paid off this week.
Whew. Now let's see if this article publishes . . .
It is fixed now, though I don't quite trust it yet. Nevertheless, it feels like a weight has been lifted from my chest. I can breathe again. I look back and go, "Hey only five days?"
The problems began when I switched to The New Blogger interface. It took forever to publish, then it stopped publishing at all. Change a comma, wait an hour, stop the process, republish, etc., what a drag. I was fortunate to have friends in high places -- Blogger's Product Manager is a personal friend -- so when I went to him as a whiney user, I also was able to temper my bitchin with empathy for the recipient. Or so I hope. Anyhow, my friend was both responsive and empathetic back at me, and he worked with the engineers to trace the problem to an interaction between the New Blogger and Earthlink, my Web host.
It was a bit harder to get Earthlink's attention, but again, I was fortunate to know some people involved with Earthlink at high levels of management, and in about 36 hours engineers from Blogger and Earthlink were working on it, and several hours later they found some screwy FTP settings for my domain, fixed them, and I'm back in business!
I'm reminded that The Stupid Network has its down side -- even as value creation moves to the edge, so do problems. When things screw up, the end user must marshall the resources to fix them. That's why I chose Blogger -- because I knew Ev -- and Earthlink -- because I knew several senior folks there. And those personal relationships paid off this week.
Whew. Now let's see if this article publishes . . .
Technorati Tags: Blogger, blogging, Earthlink
Comments:
Dude, switch to Open Source. This Blogger deal is owned by Google, the number one threat to the Internet Freedom today. WordPress is a much better way to run a blog, and I want nothing but the best in blog postings from your corner of the Internets.
Hi David,
Is it not showing that below the surface of the stupid network, we need some intelligence?
In everyday life you rarely call fireman, but...
Istvan Tetenyi
Is it not showing that below the surface of the stupid network, we need some intelligence?
In everyday life you rarely call fireman, but...
Istvan Tetenyi
# posted by 
: 1/25/2007 10:19 PM
: 1/25/2007 10:19 PM
István, no I do not think "some intelligence" is the best answer. Consider: also this week -- true story -- my digital TV went on the blink, and what's a more "intelligent" centrally controlled network than that owned by the cablecos? Furthermore, rather than marshalling the resources to get my cable fixed, instead "somebody over the age of 18" must be home between 11 and 2 tomorrow to let the cable guy in. (By the way, I am way less upset that the TV doesn't work because I don't write on TV as a means of self expression.)
Amen to Richard Bennett regarding WordPress! My host provider offered it pre-configured for their Linux servers and it installed like a champ. There are plenty of public domain templates to choose from as well as some non-free ones. I've had no substantive complaints about it at all.
I hate to be supporting proprietary networks, but how much of YOUR time and effort were used in fixing your TV compared to your blog?
Similarly I'm willing to bet that the over 18 between the hours of X and X wouldn't have been an issue for you if you knew the founders of comcast and Sony.
Post a Comment
Similarly I'm willing to bet that the over 18 between the hours of X and X wouldn't have been an issue for you if you knew the founders of comcast and Sony.
