Problems With Outages??? READ THIS!!!!

[redsox9]

nobody in this forum can do anything to help you...

I've not sure I get your point here.

I know that people are going to dump on you for this, but most of your points are valid. I'm on box 136 and I've experienced downtime in the past, too. Not 36-plus hours, of course, and I would be super-peeved if I had to deal with that and it was costing me business. I can't say that I feel your pain on this because, for me, my site is more for gits and shiggles and makes me just enough to pay for my expenses to run this. I'm happy to hear that the problem has been resolved (?) so that those who were affected can finally get back to business.

However, this forum is really for users to get in touch with other users to ask about this and that. BlueHost created the forum for that purpose and that purpose only; the moderators are here to make sure that everyone plays nice, not to answer questions about what they cannot control (server issues, etc.).

Personally, I'm surprised that areidmtm isn't swinging from a rope right about now after the recent abuse that he's suffered; I certainly wouldn't want his job right now.

[dvessel]

As long as we don't have access to an offsite status page or something equivalent, this will continue on the next outage. You can talk about how this forum has a certain purpose but don't expect the next wave to follow when there are little alternatives. I'm not defending the whiners mind ya, (and I'm not saying the recent posts were whiners.) but you gotta understand that these things happen and not opening a communication channel for these troubles is just asking for it. Especially when a forum already exists.

[page1ink.]

As long as we don't have access to an offsite status page or something equivalent, this will continue on the next outage. You can talk about how this forum has a certain purpose but don't expect the next wave to follow when there are little alternatives. I'm not defending the whiners mind ya, (and I'm not saying the recent posts were whiners.) but you gotta understand that these things happen and not opening a communication channel for these troubles is just asking for it. Especially when a forum already exists.

That's why I think either plan A or C will be best.

[Mazzic]

Not allow people to post about the problems with the servers makes it appear as if there is something to hide. Problems happen, I think most users understand that. Lest us forget that these are computers and all computers have points of failure. Good communication would go along way with knowing what is going on.

Obviously, any post that is has no value should be deleted/moved.

I thought the information concerning the lack of dedicated IPs was good to know. Also the fact that a new Cisco router was purchased and is supposed to be installed today was important.

Yet we haven't been informed of any information concerning how this implementation of the router will be handled. Normally when swapping out your routers there will be a period of downtime..even if for only a moment. It would be nice to get some word on the game plan.

I have a server at a colo facility. Every time they plan on doing something or even when they don't plan it, I get an email letting me know. Planned Maintence or Emergency Maintence. They give a rough idea of the problem and how long they expect it to be down.

A "blog" page for this type of stuff would be great.

[dvessel]

It's not a new idea. areidmtm mentioned Dreamhost a few times so I'm sure he won't mind me posting their status page.

http://status.dreamhost.com/

It leads to a bottomless pit but at least people are reassured on what's going down. It's basically a log of work being done by techs. Nicely documented with no secrets.

I'm not going to hold my breath for Bluehost to implement anything close but the complaints will happen every time something goes wrong. So, unless Bluehost plans on taking a different approach. I say, get used to it.

[redsox9]

As long as we don't have access to an offsite status page or something equivalent, this will continue on the next outage. You can talk about how this forum has a certain purpose but don't expect the next wave to follow when there are little alternatives.

You are absolutely right - this forum is going to get used for that purpose today, tomorrow, two years from now, etc. It's just that one grows tired of people who have fewer than a half-dozen posts here whose only posts all read the same thing, "my site is down," blah-blah-blah. How do they expect the users of this forum to help in that instance? How do they expect the moderators (who are independent of what goes on at BlueHost) to resolve the issue?

I'm not defending the whiners mind ya, (and I'm not saying the recent posts were whiners.) but you gotta understand that these things happen and not opening a communication channel for these troubles is just asking for it. Especially when a forum already exists.

I agree 100% - with the good goes the bad in this instance. People are going to come here and use this forum as a sounding board (and I might, too, if I had waited 36 hours for my site to come back up and I had lost business because of it) but they can't honestly expect that we're going to resolve the problem.

[YakYakYak]

It's not a new idea. areidmtm mentioned Dreamhost a few times so I'm sure he won't mind me posting their status page.

http://status.dreamhost.com/

It leads to a bottomless pit but at least people are reassured on what's going down. It's basically a log of work being done by techs. Nicely documented with no secrets.

Bottomless pit? as compared to... Looks like timely information to me.

As this and other threads in general relating to outages...
This is a general questions forum, where better to ask is it just me, or is the entire server down, or is the better place to ask in the fantistico forum...
If the moderators where to read the threads before deleting them, they would understand that some of the questions come from far away lands, like thailand, and I'm pretty sure that the Toll Free number does not apply there. I'd be willing to bet the rates are at least a buck a minute, and being on hold for 20 minutes, just to be told to sit tight and wait, the server will be up "soon" is not a response people want to hear after spending $20. So the alternative is to post a question is server X down, and save $20, and get berated for posting a general question in the forum "General Questions"

[areidmtm]

There is also email AND live chat, if you cannot call

[dvessel]

Bottomless pit as in it goes on and on. It's good and bad. Good in a sense that they have no qualms about showing this info.. Bad in a sense that there are a lot of problems. But hey, you get a more realistic picture and hopefully set your expectations appropriately.

[YakYakYak]

There is also email AND live chat, if you cannot call

If live chat is up, and usually responses are much quicker in the forum then email...

I'd still like to know why an outage question does not qualify as a "General Question", aka "General questions that don't fit a specific category."