I don;t know you and you don't know me so let's start off on the right foot. When and where was i condescending to you? or anyone for that matter?
It looks like you read way too deep into my post for no reason other than to be condescending to me about whatever you are an expert at as you claim. No need for you to come telling me anything in your tone when I never directed anything at you personally. I will take the high road then and tell you this... good luck with your business and your business model. You obviously misinterpreted my posts. You didn;t have the decency to even ask me what I meant... you just went ahead and assumed whatever you wanted to state whatever you wanted.
The piece about the routing and switching and redundancy was directed at Don and no one else... why would it bother you?
Let me clarify once more. My statements were suggestions of OPTIONS in case you need to get something to a customer to see. Whatever that is. If you read that as having two completely functional and distinct sites with order fullfillment etc. that is what you understood, but it is up to you f you want to do that or not. SOme here may be happy with simply an option to say, hey, mr. customer, my site is down and I know you need to see pics. You are not in the same town so go to this link and look at them. It could be "yousendit.com" or Flickr or whatever... there is no need to interpret it as: Mr . customer, let me give you away the food from my baby's mouth" You entirely misunderstood and misinterpreted my post(s) for your benefit it seems.
Finally, my apologies for getting you upset... I never meant to harm anyone. I actually meant good by my post, not bad... I feel badly that it has somehow gone wrong with some folks...
Perhaps you should constrain your condescending remarks for those subjects within your area of expertise, such as redundant network switching in very, very, very, very large hospitals.
I understood your post and appreciate your tips. I can't imagine handing off my CF cards or even wirelessly transmitting to a laptop while someone else handles the images-- but I know that's the way it works for many pro shooters (NFL games, NBA games, etc).
And you're right-- as a photographer, I sometimes get hired to shoot for a flat rate. The client expects to see the photos the next day and a DVD is definitely a smart idea-- especially hand delivered-- if that's what it takes. If you can't deliver your services on-time (even if your website is down), you're not likely to get more work from that client.
I have one client who needs catalog style shots of her boutique clothing for her website. We agree on a price, I shoot it, she gets all the files. I'd be an idiot to nickle and dime her by selling individual prints or files-- that's not what she needs or wants.
But obviously, this might not be a good idea for an event shooter. Though to be honest, a lot of successful wedding photographers now charge a flat rate and give all the files to their clients-- the clients then handle the printing themselves.
My point is the same as yours-- every situation is different-- but in the end, making sure the client has access to the images-- no matter what-- is really, really, really important. As we all know, servers do go down, harddrives fail, etc, etc. A backup plan is mandatory.
more validation
Posting is not my passion, but I want people who have not been here long to know just what good hands they're in. The timing of this outage was bad for me, I had just released event images to very interested parties. But my experience with SmugMug puts it into perspective.
Everything breaks. We already know this, it's why we carry our own backup equipment.
Figuring out and replacing failed network equipment without losing data is gonna take time. I've been with SmugMug long enough that when things break I am my most happy with my decision to stay here- even when I have the best reason to doubt SmugMug, they come thru.
I tumbled to this place thru google. Naturally I started at the least expensive account type and was perfectly happy with the default options as I shared photos with family.
Soon, customizing my little spot of the web appealed to me. SmugMug again was the best option I could find and the upgrade was painless.
I've encountered few problems, but whether it was my error or not, somebody at SmugMug helped like they really cared. When people started asking me to shoot for them, I upgraded to pro without bothering to look very hard at other services because I had learned that I could trust SmugMug to be there for me. My customers are thrilled with the service they get from SmugMug.
On top of the great service, SmugMug never delivers an Edsel, it's always a Cadillac. New technology can be wonderful, but it often comes with a period of instability as bugs get worked out. SmugMug works the bugs out and I hardly experience a ripple except that I keep getting new features and options. It's interesting too, to note that the feature upgrades most often delivered are those that have been requested by SmugMug users.
I could go on, ad nauseum, but I'll finish with this. Do youself a favor and find out for yourself. I predict you'll end up spending more time taking pictures than managing your SmugMug account. Isn't that the point?
Aha! I think we know who caused our outage - it was greenpea's sister-in-law!
Seriously, sorry about the timing.
We're back up (again) for the time being. I'm watching it closely, we made some changes, and I'm hoping we're stable again. But if I were a betting man, I'd doubt it.
More as I get it...
Don
Thanks Don. I appreciate you taking the the time to respond.
I noticed that I've already received my $10 kickback from my convincing my sister-in-law to sign up, so now I don't care.
Seriously though, thanks for getting things back on line quickly!
Papa, here are all the Smuggers, and the Dgrin names, too In this very thread you'll have seen official comments from Onethumb and Wireless (those closest to the issue).
Onethumb = CEO and Chief Geek
Baldy = President and Cofounder
Toni = Countess of Cash
Me = GM, House Pro
Wireless = Director of Operations
Primetime = Operations
{JT} = Web Superhero, SmugSorcerer
Bigwebguy = SmugSorcerer
Ben = Product Manager
Sheaf = Stats Geek
Markham = Director of Business Development
John Young = Captain of The Support Heroes
Steve Cavigliano, Barb Gates, Ivar, Anne, Thando, Seth, GrannyRobin = Support Heroes
Papa, here are all the Smuggers, and the Dgrin names, too In this very thread you'll have seen official comments from Onethumb and Wireless (those closest to the issue).
Onethumb = CEO and Chief Geek
Baldy = President and Cofounder
Toni = Countess of Cash
Me = GM, House Pro
Wireless = Director of Operations
Primetime = Operations
{JT} = Web Superhero, SmugSorcerer
Bigwebguy = SmugSorcerer
Ben = Product Manager
Sheaf = Stats Geek
Markham = Director of Business Development
John Young = Captain of The Support Heroes
Steve Cavigliano, Barb Gates, Ivar, Anne, Thando, Seth, GrannyRobin = Support Heroes
Thank you for the list, Andy.
I'm sure (at least hoping, anyway) that I'm not the only thick-headed numbskull that wasn't entirely certain that "Wireless - Director of Operations", for example, is in fact Smugmug's DOO (instead of DOO for some other company who just liked the title...No offense intended, Wireless.)....my point is, it didn't say "Smugmug". And didn't I see a recent post that Mike Lane is on the team?
Perhaps just a "Members of the Smugmug Team" link doubling as one of the Dgrin main pages (next to the Contact Us link, for example) would be a help to those of us who may take a little more hand-holding than others.
Thank you for the list, Andy.
I'm sure (at least hoping, anyway) that I'm not the only thick-headed numbskull that wasn't entirely certain that "Wireless - Director of Operations", for example, is in fact Smugmug's DOO (instead of DOO for some other company who just liked the title...No offense intended, Wireless.)....my point is, it didn't say "Smugmug". Same for Don. And didn't I see a recent post that Mike Lane is on the team?
Perhaps just a "Members of the Smugmug Team" link doubling as one of the Dgrin main pages (next to the Contact Us link, for example) would be a help to those of us who may take a little more hand-holding than others.
Mike Lane is a good friend of SmugMug and Theme Creator extraordinaire, and all-round good guy and helper
Andy...good info, of course...but if I read the fine print, the second was originally posted in April of 2006. I doubt if I would have found it without you leading me directly to it. It just seems to me the information should be in a prominant place, rather than tucked away. There are so many threads and forums on Dgrin, it's difficult, at times, to know where to start a search, so some of us find it easier to start a new thread than to spend ooodles of time looking for one we are not even sure exists. So the new location under the general announcements and support is a BIG step in the right direction, I think. Thanks for posting it there.
I can't recall the last time, if ever seeing the site down. I've been a member for 2 years. I know I've gotten messages informing me re: adhoc maintenance and I appreciated the communication. Tonight doesn't bother me one bit - we have serious parties openly communicating about the outage, keeping us informed every step of the way. I especially liked the link to this thread via the main "Temporary Service Interruption" page.I thought that was an excellent touch.
Thanks guys. Best of luck troubleshooting. Thanks for the simple and straightforward information - good God is that refreshing.
Andy
Edit: Furthmore - I've been considering the upgrade to power-user a lot lately, I've been kinda upset I didn't go for it before the price increase, but after seeing how this outage has been handled. . . I have to support the way the entire staff has been handling this situation by upgrading my service. Thanks guys!
Comments
I don;t know you and you don't know me so let's start off on the right foot. When and where was i condescending to you? or anyone for that matter?
It looks like you read way too deep into my post for no reason other than to be condescending to me about whatever you are an expert at as you claim. No need for you to come telling me anything in your tone when I never directed anything at you personally. I will take the high road then and tell you this... good luck with your business and your business model. You obviously misinterpreted my posts. You didn;t have the decency to even ask me what I meant... you just went ahead and assumed whatever you wanted to state whatever you wanted.
The piece about the routing and switching and redundancy was directed at Don and no one else... why would it bother you?
Let me clarify once more. My statements were suggestions of OPTIONS in case you need to get something to a customer to see. Whatever that is. If you read that as having two completely functional and distinct sites with order fullfillment etc. that is what you understood, but it is up to you f you want to do that or not. SOme here may be happy with simply an option to say, hey, mr. customer, my site is down and I know you need to see pics. You are not in the same town so go to this link and look at them. It could be "yousendit.com" or Flickr or whatever... there is no need to interpret it as: Mr . customer, let me give you away the food from my baby's mouth" You entirely misunderstood and misinterpreted my post(s) for your benefit it seems.
Finally, my apologies for getting you upset... I never meant to harm anyone. I actually meant good by my post, not bad... I feel badly that it has somehow gone wrong with some folks...
MG :cry
http://manny.smugmug.com/
Manny:
I understood your post and appreciate your tips. I can't imagine handing off my CF cards or even wirelessly transmitting to a laptop while someone else handles the images-- but I know that's the way it works for many pro shooters (NFL games, NBA games, etc).
And you're right-- as a photographer, I sometimes get hired to shoot for a flat rate. The client expects to see the photos the next day and a DVD is definitely a smart idea-- especially hand delivered-- if that's what it takes. If you can't deliver your services on-time (even if your website is down), you're not likely to get more work from that client.
I have one client who needs catalog style shots of her boutique clothing for her website. We agree on a price, I shoot it, she gets all the files. I'd be an idiot to nickle and dime her by selling individual prints or files-- that's not what she needs or wants.
But obviously, this might not be a good idea for an event shooter. Though to be honest, a lot of successful wedding photographers now charge a flat rate and give all the files to their clients-- the clients then handle the printing themselves.
My point is the same as yours-- every situation is different-- but in the end, making sure the client has access to the images-- no matter what-- is really, really, really important. As we all know, servers do go down, harddrives fail, etc, etc. A backup plan is mandatory.
Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
website blog instagram facebook g+
Posting is not my passion, but I want people who have not been here long to know just what good hands they're in. The timing of this outage was bad for me, I had just released event images to very interested parties. But my experience with SmugMug puts it into perspective.
Everything breaks. We already know this, it's why we carry our own backup equipment.
Figuring out and replacing failed network equipment without losing data is gonna take time. I've been with SmugMug long enough that when things break I am my most happy with my decision to stay here- even when I have the best reason to doubt SmugMug, they come thru.
I tumbled to this place thru google. Naturally I started at the least expensive account type and was perfectly happy with the default options as I shared photos with family.
Soon, customizing my little spot of the web appealed to me. SmugMug again was the best option I could find and the upgrade was painless.
I've encountered few problems, but whether it was my error or not, somebody at SmugMug helped like they really cared. When people started asking me to shoot for them, I upgraded to pro without bothering to look very hard at other services because I had learned that I could trust SmugMug to be there for me. My customers are thrilled with the service they get from SmugMug.
On top of the great service, SmugMug never delivers an Edsel, it's always a Cadillac. New technology can be wonderful, but it often comes with a period of instability as bugs get worked out. SmugMug works the bugs out and I hardly experience a ripple except that I keep getting new features and options. It's interesting too, to note that the feature upgrades most often delivered are those that have been requested by SmugMug users.
I could go on, ad nauseum, but I'll finish with this. Do youself a favor and find out for yourself. I predict you'll end up spending more time taking pictures than managing your SmugMug account. Isn't that the point?
Thanks Don. I appreciate you taking the the time to respond.
I noticed that I've already received my $10 kickback from my convincing my sister-in-law to sign up, so now I don't care.
Seriously though, thanks for getting things back on line quickly!
initialphotography.smugmug.com
"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera" - Dorothea Lange
Onethumb = CEO and Chief Geek
Baldy = President and Cofounder
Toni = Countess of Cash
Me = GM, House Pro
Wireless = Director of Operations
Primetime = Operations
{JT} = Web Superhero, SmugSorcerer
Bigwebguy = SmugSorcerer
Ben = Product Manager
Sheaf = Stats Geek
Markham = Director of Business Development
John Young = Captain of The Support Heroes
Steve Cavigliano, Barb Gates, Ivar, Anne, Thando, Seth, GrannyRobin = Support Heroes
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Thank you for the list, Andy.
I'm sure (at least hoping, anyway) that I'm not the only thick-headed numbskull that wasn't entirely certain that "Wireless - Director of Operations", for example, is in fact Smugmug's DOO (instead of DOO for some other company who just liked the title...No offense intended, Wireless.)....my point is, it didn't say "Smugmug". And didn't I see a recent post that Mike Lane is on the team?
Perhaps just a "Members of the Smugmug Team" link doubling as one of the Dgrin main pages (next to the Contact Us link, for example) would be a help to those of us who may take a little more hand-holding than others.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
How's this?
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=463290#post463290
It's linked here in this sticky:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=31981
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=463337
Andy...good info, of course...but if I read the fine print, the second was originally posted in April of 2006. I doubt if I would have found it without you leading me directly to it. It just seems to me the information should be in a prominant place, rather than tucked away. There are so many threads and forums on Dgrin, it's difficult, at times, to know where to start a search, so some of us find it easier to start a new thread than to spend ooodles of time looking for one we are not even sure exists. So the new location under the general announcements and support is a BIG step in the right direction, I think. Thanks for posting it there.
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
My mistake...the April 2006 date apparently is the date the general announcement sticky was launched, not the thread in question.
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Thanks guys. Best of luck troubleshooting. Thanks for the simple and straightforward information - good God is that refreshing.
Andy
Edit: Furthmore - I've been considering the upgrade to power-user a lot lately, I've been kinda upset I didn't go for it before the price increase, but after seeing how this outage has been handled. . . I have to support the way the entire staff has been handling this situation by upgrading my service. Thanks guys!