Suggestions for next time?

elyobelyob

I know it took far longer than expected. I know it's 32 million pictures.

However,

...

1/ your midnight hours were my starting hours.
2/ I don't mind updates to your front end, but is it not possible to still link to the pictures from outside?
3/ Can there be a forewarning of a huge change like this?
4/ Will this ever happen again? Will it happen again without warning?
5/ I was out x hours (was it 12?), I think that I will have to reconsider my decision to use SM. Sorry, but I cannot have 1 day off. It's too costly at the moment for me. I think I may have lost $1000.
6/ Okay, I'm kidding. I just wish it was $1000. I'm glad it wasn't.

Nick

Andy

elyobelyob wrote:

I know it took far longer than expected. I know it's 32 million pictures.

However,

...

1/ your midnight hours were my starting hours.
2/ I don't mind updates to your front end, but is it not possible to still link to the pictures from outside?
3/ Can there be a forewarning of a huge change like this?
4/ Will this ever happen again? Will it happen again without warning?
5/ I was out x hours (was it 12?), I think that I will have to reconsider my decision to use SM. Sorry, but I cannot have 1 day off. It's too costly at the moment for me. I think I may have lost $1000.
6/ Okay, I'm kidding. I just wish it was $1000. I'm glad it wasn't.

Nick

hiya nick, nice to see you again. yeah, it sure took longer than anyone thought - and believe me, the whole crew - everyone - was busting butts to get this thing done. it was a major major upgrade and well, it just took longer than expected. the smug crew will be meeting to discuss this upgrade, and trust me - every single post, input, email, thread etc has been read and logged - and everyone's input, gripes, comments, praise and complaints are being taken very seriously - because smugmug is 1000% customer-centric! thanks for taking the time to let us know how you feel about this upgrade and i do hope you'll stick with smugmug.

i can promise you that the crew has learned a ton from this experience, and we customers, too (i'm a pro account user myself)...

thanks again

elyobelyob

Can I put forward one "major" suggestion for the next build (except for allow me to access my current pics (e.g. keep a read only server)) ...

it's this .. under <<photo tools>> "Rotate photos". Can I just rotate the current one rather than be headed to a page that sends me to all photos. I just want to rotate the current one 90 degrees left or right. I really don't want to use up bandwidth and time waiting on 1000's photo's loading just to turn one.

On your "admission". Heart felt, I feel sorry for you guys. You work so hard on making the service great. It's not very nice to moan ... I guess you included a complete re-index of your database, and this sounds like your down.

If so, next time (forgive me if I'm repeating myself), set as a read only after letting everyone know, and still let everyone look at their existing pics. It was the 12 hours of no photos that was worse for me. I can live without smugmug's front end for a short while, but my photos are my business.

Actually .. sorry to continue .. can I possibly put up my own "error" message? I'd prefer to have a "this is Nick telling about an error" rather than an advertisment for smugmug. Especially when you are down at the same time!

Thanks. Sorry again to moan.