Andy,
even a not so meaningful update would be appreciated.... like we are having a network issue or a database issue or its going to be tomorrow or we expect to have something by midnight or 3 am (I'll set my alarm so I can do uploads.)
Might I suggest something more than "back out of read-only" as a status update. Seeing that gave me (and apparently others here) the impression that the problem was fixed. Something as simple as "back out of read-only, still working on the problem" would have avoided the confusion.
Oh, one comment about the blog... I really love that you have it, but because I read it using RSS, it doesn't update if you edit the post, unfortunately....
Just thought I'd suggest that you make a separate post when it's all fixed up again. or even as each update is made... (It clutters up my RSS, but I don't always think to check the blog.)
Thanks for listening - as always.
I was thinking the same thing today... If I leave the post marked as "unread" in Google Reader, I can go back to it and see the latest version, but I'd prefer if I got a new notification every time it was updated.
I know I've seen edited posts generate a new entry in the RSS before, and that would be my preferred solution, but I don't really know how that's done, or if it's possible to control through WordPress.
Amen! I don't use Smugmug for anything mission-critical yet, but I still follow the status blog and when I read "13:02 PDT out of read only", I assumed everything was ok.
I know you guys say you have a lot of heroes over there, working on stuff, so would it be possible to get one single hero, that is responsible for getting updates from engineers on a frequent basis (without intruding on their fixing things), and posting it to the blog ASAP? I'd rather see dgrin left to its own devices and have the blog be updated frequently during a problem.
Please keep in mind, the blog is the best thing you have to keep us informed, and honestly, to keep us out of your hair during a problem. Updates every 30 minutes (or however often is feasible for you and pleasing for us), even if it's to say that the problem is fixed, you're waiting for our testing of a fix, or just a "hi, we're still at it. see you in another 30 minutes!". It sounds pointless, but it keeps those of us who paid for the classy Smugmug support we all know and love, and those who make a living relying on that support, happy (as much as we can be when our favorite site is down), and lets you keep working on the issue.
Please let us know if this is possible, as I'm sure many here would appreciate some sort of improvement over the current way updates are handled.
I was thinking the same thing today... If I leave the post marked as "unread" in Google Reader, I can go back to it and see the latest version, but I'd prefer if I got a new notification every time it was updated.
I know I've seen edited posts generate a new entry in the RSS before, and that would be my preferred solution, but I don't really know how that's done, or if it's possible to control through WordPress.
If I remember correctly, I see the post repeat everytime it's updated. Will have to test that theory. Right now, the smugmug blog post is marked as read and is not visible in my Google Reader app. If it shows up again when they (hopefully) post an update, I'll let you know if it shows up again in Google Reader.
If I remember correctly, I see the post repeat everytime it's updated. Will have to test that theory. Right now, the smugmug blog post is marked as read and is not visible in my Google Reader app. If it shows up again when they (hopefully) post an update, I'll let you know if it shows up again in Google Reader.
I haven't seen it update in Google Reader. I saw it when it was first posted, read it and it hasn't reposted to it with each update... I wish reader saw it when the post itself was updated!
I haven't seen it update in Google Reader. I saw it when it was first posted, read it and it hasn't reposted to it with each update... I wish reader saw it when the post itself was updated!
The interesting thing is if I keep it unread, Reader shows me the updated version when I go back and look at it. It just doesn't push it back into your queue if you have marked it read. :-(
More annoying than the site being effectively down is your "smug" attitude about the downtime. Cute little smilies do not appease what is obviously a major problem. How about some honest answers or predictions about being functional?
I started noticing this happening over a month ago. My galleries started loading slowly. I pinged support and was told that it was probably my connection, even though I was trying from home and work and my work connection is probably faster than Smugmugs...
More annoying than the site being effectively down is your "smug" attitude about the downtime. Cute little smilies do not appease what is obviously a major problem. How about some honest answers or predictions about being functional?
Agree...
situation has barely improved in the past 15 hours. In fact, the problems started on Sunday (for me). A few others were having problems on Sunday, too, and I believe that's when everything started going wrong - though I was (initially) smugly told the problem was on my end, a somewhat typical response, it seems.
The amount of down time on SmugMug is incredible &, as others have noted, unacceptable for any business. I'm not a pro, so my livelihood doesn't depend on SM & I can only sympathize with those of you whose business depends on SM functioning properly. I suppose that if I had lurked longer on DGrin & seen all the older complaints about service issues, I might have gone elsewhere, but all those beautiful reviews pasted on SM's homepage got me. My 1st month with SM was hell trying to set up my site; now into my 2nd month, and I'm wary of sending my link to others due to all the service issues.
Sure, you can create a beautiful site here if you're tech savvy & yes, SM does answer their emails unlike monster corporations; and, sure I like rooting for the "little guy", but finally what counts is whether or not any business, small or large, can deliver the services their clients expect, whether free or paid for.
Unfortunately, I also suspect that this week's "maintenance window" will again be put to use, which means an all day event for those of us in Europe.
Like others have noted, I want to like SM and am still routing for you, but all the problems this month could try the patience of a saint. As a businesswoman I can tell you, "sorry guys" and " we invested a sh***load of money" doesn't cut it - it's the surest way to lose business. I dread the idea of starting over with another company, so I hope SM can resolve their problems (and in a more timely manner).
if there are going to be frequent problems then some SLA's need to be put in place, which mean visable availability (100% functionality) figures for all to see.
Having said that my site is running better, its the start of another working day here in the UK, fingers crossed its not just because most of the US are in bed asleep.
I agree with what has been said before, I'm sure you guys are taking the issue's very seriously but the lack of detail in the blog posts make it seem less obvious.
Saying 'we are sorry for the hassle' doesn't cut it. How about 'sorry for the financial impact this is having on your business'?
PS. Stop with the weekly maintenance window, for us in Europe it is a real pain, else refund us a 1/7th of our subscription cost.
Glad you're doing better PSenior1...
I'm not. At 7AM Moscow time I could almost load my rusu.smugmug.com site - only 1 gallery wouldn't load - much better than the past 4 days. Just got home (1:20PM) & doesn't load AT ALL - just see message 'waiting for ...' Happens when I try to view other sites if it's a nickname.smugmug.com.
Forum's are all loading fine as of this writing. Guess that's an improvement...
It might be my perception on this but, to me, there has been loads of problems lately. Alot more offline or read only time on scheduled times and non-scheduled times, emergency downtime, uplading issue, speed issue, upload log issue, perpetual processing issue.
I know you guys are super transparent as you're investigating and fixing these issues and I know you break your backs fixing them, but I think it's time for more post mortem style reports. What happened, why did it happen and most important, why won't it happen again.
If I put it this way, this is the first time in four years that this service isn't worth the $150...
Yippee!
I'm uploading via StarExplorer - 750 images uploading quickly (: I was also able to replace the photos that I needed for an order.
Thanks! 6am Central Time Sept 9
Please let us know if this is possible, as I'm sure many here would appreciate some sort of improvement over the current way updates are handled.
Thanks for all your hard work!
~Nick
The status blog was a direct request from you guys and we added it. As I posted above, we're trying to standardize on 'all clear' when we're all clear. We'll also try and do better at being more clear with our words.
More annoying than the site being effectively down is your "smug" attitude about the downtime. Cute little smilies do not appease what is obviously a major problem. How about some honest answers or predictions about being functional?
Hi, I'm terribly sorry - we don't intend to be cute or smug about this at all. The : ear (listening smilie) was intended to mean, "I'm asking for input" and "ready to hear it" from folks - certainly not to minimize this situation, or make light of it, or to insult you in any way. I'm very, very sorry.
We've been at this (all of us, from The CEO & Chief Geek to the noobiest Hero on the team) at this and won't stop till you guys are happy again.
I'm sorry my communication didn't resonate well with you, there was no offense intended, I promise.
MUCH better this morning! Thank goodness. I appreciate all the work that must go into keeping smugmug "up and running", but sometimes problems like these get frustrating. Especially when I have 30+ emails asking me why my site doesn't work I say we hold off on other "cool stuff" (like coupons, etc) and concentrate on bringing the site back to a consistent status.
Uploading isn't my problem
I still can't access rusu.smugmug.com at all! In fact, the drin support & photo forums load, but consistently have "2 items or 1 item remaining - downloading picture".
Haven't tried uploading anything as nothing special to upload at the moment. I will say that my rusuphotography.com page seems to load faster, though it was never really out of commission.
It seems I can load anyone's pages that have custom URLs - anything that goes by a nickname with SM either doesn't load at all or keeps hanging. It's makin' me crazy!
I'm uploading 461 photos at the moment - got up to 93 out of 461 and got the time out error again
ETA is some 7.5-8hours on a 1Mbit VDSL line in Switzerland
But looks like somehow the problem is not totally solved yet - definitely a VAST improvement but still getting the odd timeout error.
If I can help in anyway or if you want to monitor my upload over next 7 hours just let me know.
I'm uploading 461 photos at the moment - got up to 93 out of 461 and got the time out error again
ETA is some 7.5-8hours on a 1Mbit VDSL line in Switzerland
But looks like somehow the problem is not totally solved yet - definitely a VAST improvement but still getting the odd timeout error.
If I can help in anyway or if you want to monitor my upload over next 7 hours just let me know.
LR2 -> Smugmug plugin from Jeffrey Friedl - lastest version of Leopard (not Snow Leopard), latest s/w updates on the macbook, latest plugin version, etc.
oh and so far it's only happened once... since the upgrades overnight
LR2 -> Smugmug plugin from Jeffrey Friedl - lastest version of Leopard (not Snow Leopard), latest s/w updates on the macbook, latest plugin version, etc.
oh and so far it's only happened once... since the upgrades overnight
Cheers, Jase
Yeah so that could be unrelated. We're looking at that separately.
Try our Simple Uploader and you should get error-free uploading (I hope). It's a far-faster uploader, and is much more robust.
Yeah so that could be unrelated. We're looking at that separately.
Try our Simple Uploader and you should get error-free uploading (I hope)
Not to be pig headed but the LR2 uploader is part of my workflow and has generally worked fine and i want to stick with it - anything else is gonna be a pain.... and i think it's a good test so i'm going to keep the upload going - i'll let you know if i have any more timeouts and if so how many.
Not to be pig headed but the LR2 uploader is part of my workflow and has generally worked fine and i want to stick with it - anything else is gonna be a pain.... and i think it's a good test so i'm going to keep the upload going - i'll let you know if i have any more timeouts and if so how many.
341 photos and 6hours to go
Cheers, Jase
OK. Devbobo on our team is working both internally and with Jeffrey Freidl to see if there are ways to improve the plugin performance.
Comments
I've uploaded a little over a 1000 photos today. It's been sporadic with a number of errors.
No errors in the last hour and about 400 photos went in and are visible.
even a not so meaningful update would be appreciated.... like we are having a network issue or a database issue or its going to be tomorrow or we expect to have something by midnight or 3 am (I'll set my alarm so I can do uploads.)
thanks
Chris
Website
Sports Sample Photos
Sportsshooter.com/ctproctor
Four Seam Images
http://smugmug.wordpress.com
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Might I suggest something more than "back out of read-only" as a status update. Seeing that gave me (and apparently others here) the impression that the problem was fixed. Something as simple as "back out of read-only, still working on the problem" would have avoided the confusion.
I was thinking the same thing today... If I leave the post marked as "unread" in Google Reader, I can go back to it and see the latest version, but I'd prefer if I got a new notification every time it was updated.
I know I've seen edited posts generate a new entry in the RSS before, and that would be my preferred solution, but I don't really know how that's done, or if it's possible to control through WordPress.
I know you guys say you have a lot of heroes over there, working on stuff, so would it be possible to get one single hero, that is responsible for getting updates from engineers on a frequent basis (without intruding on their fixing things), and posting it to the blog ASAP? I'd rather see dgrin left to its own devices and have the blog be updated frequently during a problem.
Please keep in mind, the blog is the best thing you have to keep us informed, and honestly, to keep us out of your hair during a problem. Updates every 30 minutes (or however often is feasible for you and pleasing for us), even if it's to say that the problem is fixed, you're waiting for our testing of a fix, or just a "hi, we're still at it. see you in another 30 minutes!". It sounds pointless, but it keeps those of us who paid for the classy Smugmug support we all know and love, and those who make a living relying on that support, happy (as much as we can be when our favorite site is down), and lets you keep working on the issue.
Please let us know if this is possible, as I'm sure many here would appreciate some sort of improvement over the current way updates are handled.
Thanks for all your hard work!
~Nick
Sigma 18-50 f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8
Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 50mm f/1.8
If I remember correctly, I see the post repeat everytime it's updated. Will have to test that theory. Right now, the smugmug blog post is marked as read and is not visible in my Google Reader app. If it shows up again when they (hopefully) post an update, I'll let you know if it shows up again in Google Reader.
Sigma 18-50 f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8
Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 50mm f/1.8
I haven't seen it update in Google Reader. I saw it when it was first posted, read it and it hasn't reposted to it with each update... I wish reader saw it when the post itself was updated!
www.tippiepics.com
The interesting thing is if I keep it unread, Reader shows me the updated version when I go back and look at it. It just doesn't push it back into your queue if you have marked it read. :-(
More annoying than the site being effectively down is your "smug" attitude about the downtime. Cute little smilies do not appease what is obviously a major problem. How about some honest answers or predictions about being functional?
Bob
situation has barely improved in the past 15 hours. In fact, the problems started on Sunday (for me). A few others were having problems on Sunday, too, and I believe that's when everything started going wrong - though I was (initially) smugly told the problem was on my end, a somewhat typical response, it seems.
The amount of down time on SmugMug is incredible &, as others have noted, unacceptable for any business. I'm not a pro, so my livelihood doesn't depend on SM & I can only sympathize with those of you whose business depends on SM functioning properly. I suppose that if I had lurked longer on DGrin & seen all the older complaints about service issues, I might have gone elsewhere, but all those beautiful reviews pasted on SM's homepage got me. My 1st month with SM was hell trying to set up my site; now into my 2nd month, and I'm wary of sending my link to others due to all the service issues.
Sure, you can create a beautiful site here if you're tech savvy & yes, SM does answer their emails unlike monster corporations; and, sure I like rooting for the "little guy", but finally what counts is whether or not any business, small or large, can deliver the services their clients expect, whether free or paid for.
Unfortunately, I also suspect that this week's "maintenance window" will again be put to use, which means an all day event for those of us in Europe.
Like others have noted, I want to like SM and am still routing for you, but all the problems this month could try the patience of a saint. As a businesswoman I can tell you, "sorry guys" and " we invested a sh***load of money" doesn't cut it - it's the surest way to lose business. I dread the idea of starting over with another company, so I hope SM can resolve their problems (and in a more timely manner).
Seven weeks in SM and not a happy camper.
Having said that my site is running better, its the start of another working day here in the UK, fingers crossed its not just because most of the US are in bed asleep.
I agree with what has been said before, I'm sure you guys are taking the issue's very seriously but the lack of detail in the blog posts make it seem less obvious.
Saying 'we are sorry for the hassle' doesn't cut it. How about 'sorry for the financial impact this is having on your business'?
PS. Stop with the weekly maintenance window, for us in Europe it is a real pain, else refund us a 1/7th of our subscription cost.
facebook - my facebook page please LIKE me!
I'm not. At 7AM Moscow time I could almost load my rusu.smugmug.com site - only 1 gallery wouldn't load - much better than the past 4 days. Just got home (1:20PM) & doesn't load AT ALL - just see message 'waiting for ...' Happens when I try to view other sites if it's a nickname.smugmug.com.
Forum's are all loading fine as of this writing. Guess that's an improvement...
I'm uploading via StarExplorer - 750 images uploading quickly (: I was also able to replace the photos that I needed for an order.
Thanks! 6am Central Time Sept 9
E
My site | Non-MHD Landscapes |Google+ | Twitter | Facebook | Smugmug photos
Thanks.
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
We've been at this (all of us, from The CEO & Chief Geek to the noobiest Hero on the team) at this and won't stop till you guys are happy again.
I'm sorry my communication didn't resonate well with you, there was no offense intended, I promise.
http://smugmug.wordpress.com for updates thank you.
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
www.richknechtphotography.com
I still can't access rusu.smugmug.com at all! In fact, the drin support & photo forums load, but consistently have "2 items or 1 item remaining - downloading picture".
Haven't tried uploading anything as nothing special to upload at the moment. I will say that my rusuphotography.com page seems to load faster, though it was never really out of commission.
It seems I can load anyone's pages that have custom URLs - anything that goes by a nickname with SM either doesn't load at all or keeps hanging. It's makin' me crazy!
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
ETA is some 7.5-8hours on a 1Mbit VDSL line in Switzerland
But looks like somehow the problem is not totally solved yet - definitely a VAST improvement but still getting the odd timeout error.
If I can help in anyway or if you want to monitor my upload over next 7 hours just let me know.
Cheers, Jase
Jase // www.stonesque.com
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
LR2 -> Smugmug plugin from Jeffrey Friedl - lastest version of Leopard (not Snow Leopard), latest s/w updates on the macbook, latest plugin version, etc.
oh and so far it's only happened once... since the upgrades overnight
Cheers, Jase
Jase // www.stonesque.com
Try our Simple Uploader and you should get error-free uploading (I hope). It's a far-faster uploader, and is much more robust.
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Not to be pig headed but the LR2 uploader is part of my workflow and has generally worked fine and i want to stick with it - anything else is gonna be a pain.... and i think it's a good test so i'm going to keep the upload going - i'll let you know if i have any more timeouts and if so how many.
341 photos and 6hours to go
Cheers, Jase
Jase // www.stonesque.com
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
that is great news
Jase // www.stonesque.com