It would be really nice if I could just.........

[Bad Hair Day]

FTP my own website (bad-hair-day.com)

It's been 2 days now, and it's becoming slightly more than 'Mildly frustrating'.

Any chance of correcting this problem within the next couple of days?

Thanks.

BHD

[tbonekkt]

Are you using terra.powweb.com as your hostname? If not, you should be!

[alphadesk]

BHD ... your losing your golden touch. I was anticipating one of your old time patented humorous post.

With the load balancing of the older servers we need to use.

terra.powweb.com ... as host name

or

setup a cname in OPS and you can continue to use your domain name.

Also if you havn't used FTP for 90 days you will need to reset your password.

[Slor]

I just joined up yesterday, and I'm not sure I'm quite caught up on everything that appears to be going on with the load balancing etc (though I've been reading through a number of recent posts)... My ftp server is ftp04 - will I need to set up a cname to send ftp there or will ftp.mydomainname.net ever be a valid name through some natural process at PowWeb?

In a related story, I notice that by default EVERY subdomain will default to my root domain unless I have a subdomain directory structure set up for it to forward to. If I do not want <everything>.mydomain.net to end up at mydomain.net except for the ones I specify, do I simply remove the * entry from the cname table?

Thanks, and prepare for a possible onslaught of questions from one of your latest transfers!

[stevel]

Yes, I suppose that would work. Be aware that the * also makes www.yourdomain.com work.

[Bad Hair Day]

Are you using terra.powweb.com as your hostname? If not, you should be!
Did PowWeb inform me that I should be doing that? If not, they should have!

BHD

[IanS]

Did PowWeb inform me that I should be doing that? If not, they should have!

BHDNot directly - they did via announcements forum. The don't seem to inform customers individually of many changes, relying on the global forum system. I suppose sending out 60,000 e-mails each time a change is needed would end up with them on even more blacklists for spamming than they are because of customers spamming!

[Slor]

Yes, I suppose that would work. Be aware that the * also makes www.yourdomain.com work.

So, I'll need to set up a cname for www. What about ftp? Should I set up a cname to point to ftp04?

Thanks!

[Bad Hair Day]

Not directly - they did via announcements forum. The don't seem to inform customers individually of many changes, relying on the global forum system. I suppose sending out 60,000 e-mails each time a change is needed would end up with them on even more blacklists for spamming than they are because of customers spamming!
I wouldn't expect an e-mail telling me that someone in the office farted, however........

I don't get much time to spend looking in here nowadays, and I would expect that when an operation which directly affects anyone's daily routine of FTPing their site is carried out, then the onus is on the service supplier to notify the end user, and not vice versa, wouldn't you?

Could you imagine a scenario like this?

Customer: Dear Ford Motor Co. - My differential recently fell off my car.

Ford Motor Company: Hell, we recalled your model. Why didn't you visit our website to find out if that was likely to happen?

Customer: I was rather busy arranging my wife's funeral - She was killed in the crash!

:rolleyes:

BHD

[Bad Hair Day]

BHD ... your losing your golden touch. I was anticipating one of your old time patented humorous post.

See above............

:p

Hope you're keeping well.

BHD

[mjp]

I don't get much time to spend looking in here nowadays, and I would expect that when an operation which directly affects anyone's daily routine of FTPing their site is carried out, then the onus is on the service supplier to notify the end user, and not vice versa, wouldn't you?The announcements here are also visible in OPS. Understandably everyone does not visit the forum or OPS every day, so you also have the ability to subscribe to the announcements and/or outages forums and receive a daily email notifying you of any posts.

For everyone who would like an email notice of things like this (or anything else), unfortunately I have to say that it is unlikely we will ever do so. It isn't because we don't love you, it's because;

A) Not every change affects everyone. Any time a mass email is sent out regarding an issue that doesn't affect everyone, many, many people complain and reply with "Stop spamming me!"

B) Even when an issue does affect everyone, any time a mass email is sent out, many, many people complain and reply with "Stop spamming me!"

C) Not everyone has a valid email address in OPS, or do not often check the email addresses listed in OPS, making mass email an unreliable way to contact all clients. And of those we do contact, many will reply with "Stop spamming me!"

It has been suggested that an opt-in mailing list be created to announce system issues and changes, but that would also be of very limited use unless we involuntarily opted everyone in to begin with. In which case we would be back to, "Stop..." - well, you get the idea.

We have sent mass emails on a per-server basis for things like MySQL moves, etc., but even on a per-server basis we run into the same problems (just on a smaller scale).

So what we're left with is the perhaps flawed, but as-good-as-it-can-be system we have in place here. If we could send mass emails without generating fallout and ill-will, we certainly would. It just isn't possible.

We are also working on improving the advance notice on changes whenever possible. It is not our intent to keep anyone in the dark.

[Bad Hair Day]

The announcements here are also visible in OPS. Understandably everyone does not visit the forum or OPS every day, so you also have the ability to subscribe to the announcements and/or outages forums and receive a daily email notifying you of any posts.

So what we're left with is the perhaps flawed, but as-good-as-it-can-be system we have in place here. If we could send mass emails without generating fallout and ill-will, we certainly would. It just isn't possible.

We are also working on improving the advance notice on changes whenever possible. It is not our intent to keep anyone in the dark.
Thanks for taking the time to reply, mjp.

At the end of the day, PowWeb give me great service, and that's why I spend so little time here.

When a glitch happens, I generally find the answer in here within a short time.

Keep up the good work, and thanks again.

BHD

[B&T]

It has been suggested that an opt-in mailing list be created to announce system issues and changes, but that would also be of very limited use unless we involuntarily opted everyone in to begin with. In which case we would be back to, "Stop..." - well, you get the idea.
But you always have to start somewhere. IMHO, an opt-in list is the best plan and I suspect would be the most desired by your customers. So you start using that feature in OPS. But do not put everyone in to start. When new customers sign-up they will be given the choice (I would have the choice default to yes but they can uncheck it). And you post about it in the forum so people can go turn it on. When older customers complain about not being notified you tell them about the new option. Over time, you will get the desired result.

[malott]

I see the point you guys make on this, but it is still bad customer service! Why don't you let us opt into an email group as suggested above by other customers so we can get system announcements! You are an awesome service, this is just the one area in which you offer inferior customer service. You could easily do better! You guys are great for casual and personal sites, but you will never be a professional grade service until you offer better customer service.