We didn't do this for a very good reason: Less than 1% of our customers check stats *ever*, let alone on a regular basis. (Yes, we have stats on our stats
We're not going to send out an email to our customers, who paid us to NOT spam them, when there's a great way to get the info in the hands of those few who care about stats: A nice big message on the top of each stats page.
So that's what we did.
Don
One percent? You might want to check to see that your stats page stats are actually ON as well, haha! Looking forward to the return of stats.
How about a bug in our core database software that causes performance to DECREASE as the number of CPUs in the system INCREASE?
And a bug that hasn't been fixed for months, despite lots of customers having said problem?
Yeah, that'll do it.
Needless to say, since it was a bug which hadn't been discovered yet when we designed our database infrastructure, we couldn't anticipate or plan for it. So we're adapting as rapidly as we can.
Don
Yep, that will cause problems . I have dealt with a simliar problem with load sharing software we used. In our case the vendor didn't admit to knowing of the problem until we "found" it.
Glad to know the problem has been identified! Now to get that vendor to fix the problem.....
Umm, doesn't this mean this entire discussion is now finished? It does according to Godwin's Law.
Don
Never heard of that til now, but I basically had the same thought when I came across those posts referencing Hitler...yikes. Good to know there's a law about that one.
On a happier (although totally irrelevant) note, I thought I'd share a photo that I took this morning. Can't recall ever being happier w/ an image of mine.
We didn't do this for a very good reason: Less than 1% of our customers check stats *ever*, let alone on a regular basis. (Yes, we have stats on our stats
We're not going to send out an email to our customers, who paid us to NOT spam them, when there's a great way to get the info in the hands of those few who care about stats: A nice big message on the top of each stats page.
So that's what we did.
Don
Ok. I understand your logic on this one. (disagree but understand...)
However, I will make a small comment on your use of the term spam. Spam is by definition unwanted. Typically it is not from a company you are engaged in business with. I would not consider an email as I described spam (perhaps some would).
I get email from many systems I use when certain aspects will be unavailable for whatever reason.
For example I have had my bill pay service email something like:
"On Saturday (dates) we are converting the database (or some such event). To minimize your inconvenience, the conversion is planned to occur at 3am Eastern time. We expect the conversion to require only 30 minutes but you may be unable to access your bills until after 5am. We apologize for any trouble this may cause you as we work to ensure the best possible service for you."
I have had other services email me similar things. Once (before the phishing got out of control) my credit card company emailed me to let me know that the funds available were not being calculated correctly on the web site but that the 800 number funds available information was correct.
You know that only 1% of the users use stats, then you know which 1% use stats, right? Could you just email those users?
Nevertheless, I applaud your overall handling of the situation and wish you the best of luck in finding a rapid solution to the problems .
I appreciate the updates, but...
I appreciate all the hard work everybody at SM is doing to correct this problem. I check the stats every day, mainly just to see which images are the most popular.
I am a pro user and can check to see which images have been sold in the control panel. I don't sell a lot, but do appreciate this feature along with all the others.
Early this month, I did send out an email asking if there was a problem. There was a notification that one or more of my features was disabled. I started trying to figure this out without much luck. Finally, I figured out that it was the stats.
At that time, I did send an email asking if there was a problem with my site. I didn't know anybody else was having a problem at that time. I didn't hear back, but within a couple of days, I saw the notice that the stats were disabled.
I wish that the email had been returned explaining the situation, that is my only complaint, but I also realize that SM was probably flooded at that time.
So I'm not going to bad mouth anybody or threaten to change to a different host. Overall, I am extremely pleased with smugmug and in the year and a half that I have been with SM, have always recommended the site when I see somebody ask about the best photo hosting site.
It will take a lot more than this to get me to change.
I wish that the email had been returned explaining the situation,
Hi Craig
I reviewed our correspondence with you. Please check your email systems again, we emailed you on 6/2/2006, very shortly after you emailed us. If you'd like a resend of this message, please let me know. We take our help desk emails very seriously and we answer each and every one.
no problem
Andy, don't worry about it. I know you have better things to do than worry about a message. I know what is going on and don't need you wasting time to send me a message when I already know the answer.
Google analytics with standard account possible?
The question is in the title I guess. From the looks of it seems that only power and pro guys can use third party effectively.
Standard users dont have many options.
Hi everyone, I know we've posted a few times and answered plenty of emails about this, but here's a single spot to find the answer:
- Yes, statistics are currently shut off. One of our customers, Rafael Nadal, is currently winning matches left and right at the French Open. Every time he does, he gets a crippling amount of traffic to his photos and it was causing our statistics stuff to cause outages for other customers.
- Yes, we know you like your statistics. We do too, and we're working hard to try to bring them back.
- The honest answer is we weren't prepared to have a worldwide celebrity hitting our system quite so hard, and we thought it was more important that your photos be available without statistics than not available with them.
- We're also working on a way to serve photos from more than one geographic location, so that those on the East Coast and Europe don't have to get photos from the West Coast each time. These issues are related because they make statistics tracking much more difficult.
- As a result, there's a high likelihood of statistics being a less up-to-the-second than they used to be. It's likely that they'll be delayed a few days at any given time as we import logging data from other locations, rather than log the traffic in realtime as we've been doing.
- The silver lining in this cloud is that while statistics are off, every SmugMug customer has unlimited bandwidth. Enjoy.
We don't have an ETA on a fix just yet, but I wanted everyone to know that we are working hard on the problem and know that it's a big priority. Our #1 priority, though, is to keep your photos online and viewable so your friends, family, and customers can get access to them.
Andy, don't worry about it. I know you have better things to do than worry about a message. I know what is going on and don't need you wasting time to send me a message when I already know the answer.
Thanks for the response and your help.
No problem. I did notice that you sent it from an address that's not the one on your SmugMug account, so perhaps it got caught in a work spam filter or something. Happens frequently, spam really sucks, doesn't it?
- Yes, we know you like your statistics. We do too, and we're working hard to try to bring them back.
Does "bringing them back" mean that the stats are still being kept and that, when the reporting is back up, the hits that occurred while it was down will still be in the tallies?
Does "bringing them back" mean that the stats are still being kept and that, when the reporting is back up, the hits that occurred while it was down will still be in the tallies?
- Ron
Ron, I was told that they are not currently able to track them while it's down. It's a big bummer, I know, but definitely check out statcounter.... It's worth it! (And saved me when I put my first wedding online!)
We're not going to send out an email to our customers, who paid us to NOT spam them, when there's a great way to get the info in the hands of those few who care about stats: A nice big message on the top of each stats page.
I disagree that a message describing an outage is "spam". To me, and I
would imagine many others, spam is something you never asked for offering
something you don't want or need. In the case of a service outage, it's
important information and customers pay for this service.
If you have an objection to e-mail, make it an opt in feature or drop a
message into the "message center" but please don't just ignore customer
requests for notification.
Thanks,
Ian
Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
compensation
will there be compensation (on the back end) for our inconvenience ??? maybe in the form of a "free month/months" added on to our contracts.
Thanks for the update AND for all the hard work!
Don,
Just wanted to say thanks for the updates. I for one appreciate all the hard work you're putting into getting this resolved, and am grateful that my site is still up and running, even if it's without the stats.
Hi everyone, I know we've posted a few times and answered plenty of emails about this, but here's a single spot to find the answer:
- Yes, statistics are currently shut off. One of our customers, Rafael Nadal, is currently winning matches left and right at the French Open. Every time he does, he gets a crippling amount of traffic to his photos and it was causing our statistics stuff to cause outages for other customers.
- Yes, we know you like your statistics. We do too, and we're working hard to try to bring them back.
- The honest answer is we weren't prepared to have a worldwide celebrity hitting our system quite so hard, and we thought it was more important that your photos be available without statistics than not available with them.
- We're also working on a way to serve photos from more than one geographic location, so that those on the East Coast and Europe don't have to get photos from the West Coast each time. These issues are related because they make statistics tracking much more difficult.
- As a result, there's a high likelihood of statistics being a less up-to-the-second than they used to be. It's likely that they'll be delayed a few days at any given time as we import logging data from other locations, rather than log the traffic in realtime as we've been doing.
- The silver lining in this cloud is that while statistics are off, every SmugMug customer has unlimited bandwidth. Enjoy.
We don't have an ETA on a fix just yet, but I wanted everyone to know that we are working hard on the problem and know that it's a big priority. Our #1 priority, though, is to keep your photos online and viewable so your friends, family, and customers can get access to them.
Don,
Just wanted to say thanks for the updates. I for one appreciate all the hard work you're putting into getting this resolved, and am grateful that my site is still up and running, even if it's without the stats.
I hear that it's getting fixed... but not when it's getting fixed. Is there any ETA? Other than.. in a few months?
Sorry, but gotta add my 2cents worth...
Ok, I didn't realise this discussion had been going on and have just been wondering where the heck my stats are...
The importance of stats:
As a pro user, I consider stats to be vital to my business for tracking customer activity, and customer interest. Being in Europe, I do NOT use SM for order fulfilment, but it tells me what material is generating interest, and more importantly, which old galleries to leave up as they are still getting hits.
I do check my stats on EVERY visit.
I have often wished that the SM stats could be more detailed like other webstats.
The service that is Smugmug:
I have been using smugmug for a few years now, initial as a keen hobbyist, the last couple of years as a pro user.
I have not always been happy with everything. Things do go wrong from time to time, including, recently the "moving galleries order" bug, which causes me great grief on and off and drives me crazy. Those who have come across me from time to time will know that I'm quick to be very clear when I am unhappy about something.
Having said all that: WHENEVER I have had cause to complain, I have ALWAYS, WITHOUT FAIL, had an almost immediate response (mainly from Andy) giving me, if not the solution, at least SOME information as to what's been done to solve the problem. That is a GREAT DEAL MORE than I can say for any of my webhosts, one of whom even tried to convince me once that the webstats I had been looking at the week before and were now missing had never existed!
Whilst I fully appreciate that we pay for this service and can therefore expect it to be working and get fixed quickly if failing, the fact is that there are very few businesses that will give you the level of direct communication with company staff that SM does. I think those of you who are talking about leaving might be very surpised at the level of customer service you'll encounter when you move on and AFTER you've signed up.
The kind of comments like the earlier ones from Acerbia or whatever her name was are just ignorant and uncalled for, IMHO.
Of course, if we're unhappy, we can leave. And anyone who feels that strongly SHOULD do. But I would also suggest that SM is the single most COST EFFECTIVE hosting and backup solution that I have yet managed to find. I think I'm getting close to 40gb in storage and that is likely to double over the next few months. For $100 a year??? Give me a break.
But I do want to comment on Mcleod's post below. I agree that this is a wakeup call to those who have no contingencies in place, but...
But you wouldn't lose any sleep over it because you have all the original photos backed up in multiple secure locations, right....? You have all your site customizations (CSS and JavaScript) backed up on your local computer, right...?
In the time it takes to upload the photos to SM (won't go there right now) your site could be functional again. If you needed to use another service, again no problem, in a few hours you could be up and fully functional again.
.
yes, everything is backed up. Yes, everything could be re-instated elsewhere. But with 18,000 images online and counting, it would take a darn site more than a few hours!!!
So it's not quite that simple to just pack up and move.
Me, I'll stick it out, as having my images actually visible is far more important than the stats... and whilst stats are important, I think a total server outage, and this has happened on my "proper" business website, is one heck of a lot worse. In fact, galleries jumping around in the order is, in my business, much worse. So if no stats means photos stay up, I'll live with it.
Just hurry up and fix it! Please.
But people, I think you need to compare this service to what else is out there and realise that we've got it darned good here.
If the rest of my life -"implements": cell phones, cameras, phones, computers, modems, homepages -- and the companies that make and service them -- worked as well and were as friendly as Smugmug is (even when it's having an off-day), I would kiss the earth.
Thanks for update
Thanks for the update. Having spent 20 years in corporate IT working operations and databases I understand what you're going through.
Personal situation for me: I've got to be able to account number of hits on specific photos in a gallery starting Sunday night (June 18). I'm hoping stats will be turned on then. If not I'm not sure how I'll be tracking popularity of the items in the gallery for the contest.
Going to the individual photo level is a boon that I find through Smugmug and have several strategies for marketing and promotion related to it. I can work with StatCounter at the site level but lower... I have to work with Smugmug.
Without the stats functioning it is still a great photo sharing service. I just have a tough time showing that to potential customers -- mine and yours.
Hi everyone, I know we've posted a few times and answered plenty of emails about this, but here's a single spot to find the answer:
- Yes, statistics are currently shut off. One of our customers, Rafael Nadal, is currently winning matches left and right at the French Open. Every time he does, he gets a crippling amount of traffic to his photos and it was causing our statistics stuff to cause outages for other customers.
- Yes, we know you like your statistics. We do too, and we're working hard to try to bring them back.
- The honest answer is we weren't prepared to have a worldwide celebrity hitting our system quite so hard, and we thought it was more important that your photos be available without statistics than not available with them.
- We're also working on a way to serve photos from more than one geographic location, so that those on the East Coast and Europe don't have to get photos from the West Coast each time. These issues are related because they make statistics tracking much more difficult.
- As a result, there's a high likelihood of statistics being a less up-to-the-second than they used to be. It's likely that they'll be delayed a few days at any given time as we import logging data from other locations, rather than log the traffic in realtime as we've been doing.
- The silver lining in this cloud is that while statistics are off, every SmugMug customer has unlimited bandwidth. Enjoy.
We don't have an ETA on a fix just yet, but I wanted everyone to know that we are working hard on the problem and know that it's a big priority. Our #1 priority, though, is to keep your photos online and viewable so your friends, family, and customers can get access to them.
We're not going to send out an email to our customers, who paid us to NOT spam them, when there's a great way to get the info in the hands of those few who care about stats: A nice big message on the top of each stats page.
Yes. PLEASE do not send me email every time something goes wrong with your website. If I really want to know, I'll ask. If you do decide to have problem-notification emails, make it opt-in. Thanks.
Comments
One percent? You might want to check to see that your stats page stats are actually ON as well, haha! Looking forward to the return of stats.
Yep, that will cause problems
Glad to know the problem has been identified! Now to get that vendor to fix the problem.....
smugmug nickname: mpmcleod
http://www.michaelmcleod.com/
Never heard of that til now, but I basically had the same thought when I came across those posts referencing Hitler...yikes. Good to know there's a law about that one.
On a happier (although totally irrelevant) note, I thought I'd share a photo that I took this morning. Can't recall ever being happier w/ an image of mine.
http://www.robkeaton.com
However, I will make a small comment on your use of the term spam. Spam is by definition unwanted. Typically it is not from a company you are engaged in business with. I would not consider an email as I described spam (perhaps some would).
I get email from many systems I use when certain aspects will be unavailable for whatever reason.
For example I have had my bill pay service email something like:
"On Saturday (dates) we are converting the database (or some such event). To minimize your inconvenience, the conversion is planned to occur at 3am Eastern time. We expect the conversion to require only 30 minutes but you may be unable to access your bills until after 5am. We apologize for any trouble this may cause you as we work to ensure the best possible service for you."
I have had other services email me similar things. Once (before the phishing got out of control) my credit card company emailed me to let me know that the funds available were not being calculated correctly on the web site but that the 800 number funds available information was correct.
You know that only 1% of the users use stats, then you know which 1% use stats, right? Could you just email those users?
Nevertheless, I applaud your overall handling of the situation and wish you the best of luck in finding a rapid solution to the problems
smugmug nickname: mpmcleod
http://www.michaelmcleod.com/
As I was typing my original post, I meant to include this, but forgot by the time I hit send.
No, we have just general stats on total # of users using some given features, but not any specific details. Until now, we haven't needed any.
(For the curious, the fastest uptake on a feature to date was the 'Google Map on your homepage' feature a few weeks ago).
Don
I appreciate all the hard work everybody at SM is doing to correct this problem. I check the stats every day, mainly just to see which images are the most popular.
I am a pro user and can check to see which images have been sold in the control panel. I don't sell a lot, but do appreciate this feature along with all the others.
Early this month, I did send out an email asking if there was a problem. There was a notification that one or more of my features was disabled. I started trying to figure this out without much luck. Finally, I figured out that it was the stats.
At that time, I did send an email asking if there was a problem with my site. I didn't know anybody else was having a problem at that time. I didn't hear back, but within a couple of days, I saw the notice that the stats were disabled.
I wish that the email had been returned explaining the situation, that is my only complaint, but I also realize that SM was probably flooded at that time.
So I'm not going to bad mouth anybody or threaten to change to a different host. Overall, I am extremely pleased with smugmug and in the year and a half that I have been with SM, have always recommended the site when I see somebody ask about the best photo hosting site.
It will take a lot more than this to get me to change.
I reviewed our correspondence with you. Please check your email systems again, we emailed you on 6/2/2006, very shortly after you emailed us. If you'd like a resend of this message, please let me know. We take our help desk emails very seriously and we answer each and every one.
I hope this helps!
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Andy, don't worry about it. I know you have better things to do than worry about a message. I know what is going on and don't need you wasting time to send me a message when I already know the answer.
Thanks for the response and your help.
The question is in the title I guess. From the looks of it seems that only power and pro guys can use third party effectively.
Standard users dont have many options.
FB:https://www.facebook.com/TanveersPhotography
Site :http://www.tanveer.in
Blog :http://tsk1979.livejournal.com
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Does "bringing them back" mean that the stats are still being kept and that, when the reporting is back up, the hits that occurred while it was down will still be in the tallies?
- Ron
Soo sad.
Ron, I was told that they are not currently able to track them while it's down. It's a big bummer, I know, but definitely check out statcounter.... It's worth it! (And saved me when I put my first wedding online!)
www.tippiepics.com
http://photos.mikelanestudios.com/
http://photos.mikelanestudios.com/
I disagree that a message describing an outage is "spam". To me, and I
would imagine many others, spam is something you never asked for offering
something you don't want or need. In the case of a service outage, it's
important information and customers pay for this service.
If you have an objection to e-mail, make it an opt in feature or drop a
message into the "message center" but please don't just ignore customer
requests for notification.
Thanks,
Ian
will there be compensation (on the back end) for our inconvenience ??? maybe in the form of a "free month/months" added on to our contracts.
Don,
Just wanted to say thanks for the updates. I for one appreciate all the hard work you're putting into getting this resolved, and am grateful that my site is still up and running, even if it's without the stats.
I'll settle for a t-shirt
I am new here and since the French open is over whats up with the stats not being returned? Is there a ballpark date out there?
Thanks
Ok, I didn't realise this discussion had been going on and have just been wondering where the heck my stats are...
The importance of stats:
As a pro user, I consider stats to be vital to my business for tracking customer activity, and customer interest. Being in Europe, I do NOT use SM for order fulfilment, but it tells me what material is generating interest, and more importantly, which old galleries to leave up as they are still getting hits.
I do check my stats on EVERY visit.
I have often wished that the SM stats could be more detailed like other webstats.
The service that is Smugmug:
I have been using smugmug for a few years now, initial as a keen hobbyist, the last couple of years as a pro user.
I have not always been happy with everything. Things do go wrong from time to time, including, recently the "moving galleries order" bug, which causes me great grief on and off and drives me crazy. Those who have come across me from time to time will know that I'm quick to be very clear when I am unhappy about something.
Having said all that: WHENEVER I have had cause to complain, I have ALWAYS, WITHOUT FAIL, had an almost immediate response (mainly from Andy) giving me, if not the solution, at least SOME information as to what's been done to solve the problem. That is a GREAT DEAL MORE than I can say for any of my webhosts, one of whom even tried to convince me once that the webstats I had been looking at the week before and were now missing had never existed!
Whilst I fully appreciate that we pay for this service and can therefore expect it to be working and get fixed quickly if failing, the fact is that there are very few businesses that will give you the level of direct communication with company staff that SM does. I think those of you who are talking about leaving might be very surpised at the level of customer service you'll encounter when you move on and AFTER you've signed up.
The kind of comments like the earlier ones from Acerbia or whatever her name was are just ignorant and uncalled for, IMHO.
Of course, if we're unhappy, we can leave. And anyone who feels that strongly SHOULD do. But I would also suggest that SM is the single most COST EFFECTIVE hosting and backup solution that I have yet managed to find. I think I'm getting close to 40gb in storage and that is likely to double over the next few months. For $100 a year??? Give me a break.
But I do want to comment on Mcleod's post below. I agree that this is a wakeup call to those who have no contingencies in place, but...
yes, everything is backed up. Yes, everything could be re-instated elsewhere. But with 18,000 images online and counting, it would take a darn site more than a few hours!!!
So it's not quite that simple to just pack up and move.
Me, I'll stick it out, as having my images actually visible is far more important than the stats... and whilst stats are important, I think a total server outage, and this has happened on my "proper" business website, is one heck of a lot worse. In fact, galleries jumping around in the order is, in my business, much worse. So if no stats means photos stay up, I'll live with it.
Just hurry up and fix it! Please.
But people, I think you need to compare this service to what else is out there and realise that we've got it darned good here.
Yvonne
Thanks for the update. Having spent 20 years in corporate IT working operations and databases I understand what you're going through.
Personal situation for me: I've got to be able to account number of hits on specific photos in a gallery starting Sunday night (June 18). I'm hoping stats will be turned on then. If not I'm not sure how I'll be tracking popularity of the items in the gallery for the contest.
Going to the individual photo level is a boon that I find through Smugmug and have several strategies for marketing and promotion related to it. I can work with StatCounter at the site level but lower... I have to work with Smugmug.
Without the stats functioning it is still a great photo sharing service. I just have a tough time showing that to potential customers -- mine and yours.
Capturing and creating fashion, film, festivals around Detroit
Wordpress-ed Fuzzytek
As promised, they're back.
Sorry for the trouble and thanks for your patience!
Don
We love you guys
Yes. PLEASE do not send me email every time something goes wrong with your website. If I really want to know, I'll ask. If you do decide to have problem-notification emails, make it opt-in. Thanks.