Category: Administrative Page 1 of 35

This is a thread for comments on how to prepare for bad times. All off-topic comments will be deleted. The thread will be re-upped occasionally so that resources can build over time.

(I’m going to bring this back to the top at least once a month, maybe more, so people can read the old advice and add theirs.)

One of the reasons I hired a developer to fix the site is that, on top of the latency issues, emails were being treated as spam because the server was not set up correctly. (I’ve moved to another server company as a result.) Emails are now going out fine, and not bouncing as spam BUT if you aren’t receiving them you need to check your spam folder, because a lot are still going there. This is especially true if you use GMail. Just mark it as “not spam” one time and that’s all it takes.

If you use a feed-reader, note the feed was changed a while back to no longer go thru a service. It is now: https://www.ianwelsh.net/comments/feed/

The server migration is complete, and DNS propagation is underway. If the posts you see suddenly changed, that’s why.

As I wrote yesterday (in a disappeared post) most comments from yesterday after the snapshot used for the migration are taken are gone as the server was migrated from that snapshot of the site. Any comments from before DNS propagation reaches you are also lost.

It should all be worth it in terms of actually getting to the site, however!

If you’re reading this post, you’re reading the site from the new server and commenting is safe.

Any issues, comment below.

This move plus plus fixing up the site has been pretty expensive and was/will be paid for by donations and subscriptions from the fundraiser. When I’ve written that the site wouldn’t exist without your support, it was (and is) literally true.

One of the things I did with the money from last years fundraising drive is hire a Dev to fix the issues with the site, like it often being down and slow loading, and with the mailing list.

This may mean the site has some down time over the next week. It should be more than worth it to get the site operating reliably.

And my thanks to all donors and subscribers for making it possible to get this fixed. I’m OK at simple website tasks, but 16 years of uptime and a server move have left the site’s back-end in a snarl which needs a professional.

Update: OK, we’re looking at Wednesday next week or so. Going to migrate the server to somewhere more appropriate for my needs. Emails will take longer to fix, so if you’re an email subscriber you will NOT be receiving emails for a couple weeks. My apologies, but it WILL be sorted.

I’ve switched from a service for sending email to doing it myself. If you’re subscribed already, you should still be subscribed, if not there’s a form on the top right of the blog to re-subscribe. I’ve set it for a once a day digest if there’s any new content, that seems like enough since I usually only publish one or maybe two posts a day. Emails will now come from admin-at-ianwelsh-dot-net, and you should probably whitelist that address. If you’re subscribed and don’t get an email for a few days, first check your spam filter, then resubscribe and if that doesn’t work (or it says you’re already subscribed) drop me a note.

There’s an opt-in now for “receiving emails about products and services”, that’s to keep EU regulators happy. You’ll just be getting post emails, though I can’t entirely rule out emails about admin issues related to the newsletter only or some such.

Just a quick word that my friend and ex-boss Sean-Paul Kelley is posting fairly often now. Sean-Paul founded the (now defunct) Agonist blog back in the day, which was very important during the Iraq War. He also gave me my first salaried blogging job as the managing editor of the Agonist. (I received some money for writing at BOPNews, but only some.)

I’m pleased to have him here. Do take the time to read the author byline above posts so you know if it’s him or me. Because almost all writing here has been mine and the blog is titled “Ian Welsh” people often assume all posts are from me. Sean-Paul’s more of an old school blogger than I am. Remember that guest posters are invited in part to give different takes than I would and I don’t pre-approve their posts, unless they’re very infrequent or new.

(Those who remember Mandos will get this. Out of a hundred Mandos posts, I might have agreed with one.) That said, Sean-Paul and I agree about most things.

My keyboard appears to have a short and is spamming keys making typing anything long near impossible. So, probably nothing more till tomorrow when I should have it replaced. Hope all are well and having a less frustrating day than I am.

Feel free to use as an open thread.

The issue turns out to be that I have too much of a back catalogue of articles, plus traffic. The solution, alas, is a better server (the next step up is expensive.) I’ve arranged for it, and the site should be transferred over sometime in the next week. Could be anywhere from tomorrow to next Thursday. In the meantime, load times will continue to be unpredictable and in some cases awful. On occasion the site may be effectively unavailable.

This site is about fifteen years old now. Thanks to everyone who’s stuck with me or found their way here. These problems will be over soon.

(No new posts this week, except the Open Thread and Weekend Wrapup, unless the migration happens sooner than I expect. Next week, fingers crossed, will be normal posting.)