I was asked to repost this message about Bludomain so people knew what was happening. I hope not too many people were affected.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Opensourcep...n-disaster.html

Did they really have no back-up plan? Is this a joke? It's not April 1 yet!

hahahah - oh I am sorry - but that is quite funny.

I know, not tactful Brent, but that last paragraph is priceless!!




I'm sorry that it happened to them of course, but as Jason said - backup anyone? I hope someone can help them out!

BD = Disaster

IMHO

maybe they are actually jusy too busy , and decided this was a good wAy to buy some time
I know I've been waiting for them to fix something in my sie for a month

As one who's been through 1) a full system crash and then 1) an email crash a few months later, I know this horribly sucks. It's a major disaster.

Not having a backup is a bigger problem. Entourage is the mac version of Outlook. They both store ALL the data in one big huge file, and it is notoriously volitile (figured out this was a well-known problem AFTER crash #2 above -- GR!).

Asking for eveyone to post on all of their forums is tricky, because they show everyone that they don't do regular backups, and they open themselves up as an easy target. I know that they had pretty much no other choice, though, so, as my pal Everett McGill would say...


"Damn! We're in a tight spot!"



BACK UP YOUR DATA! As digital photographers especially (Shut up, Jose!), our data is our inventory, our income, our livelihood. BACK IT UP! All of it! NOW!

Wow, I was just about to buy a template from them. I need one badly but that is scary. They are supposed to be experts aren't they are they? Let me see we carry extra cameras to weddings so we will have a backup in case the main camera goes bad and this is always made sense to me. Well I guess anything can happen and I shouldn't be so critical. I will probably get a blue site after all and I just hope they fix that kind of thinking. I guess it could be looked at as kinda funny in a sad sort of way. I am not sure I would think it was if it was my e-mail's that were lost and I was trying to depend on them for my business.

This would be a good time to mention BigFolio. WWW.bigfolio.com. I'm a huge BF fan. Thier customer service is the best in the industry, and they take minutes not days or weeks to solve problems. The websites there are very easy to set up and get going. BF rocks!

I still cannot believe these Blu people didn't have back-ups. Not even a .mac account. That's crazy!

I really hate that it happened to them or anyone for that matter. However, no backup? That's not good.

Sorry to hear it's happened to them as well. They seem like really great, nice people. But, seriously, no backup?

I really like a couple of their templates but would opt to host my own stuff because they seem to have had continual issues. I realize that even if I were to supply my own hosting server, their database still has to reside on their servers. I don't think my site would go down if the database went....I just would not be able to make updates until corrected. This latest issue really has me reeling. Sorry BD but this may have sealed the deal for me. No backup? Really?

Creative Motion Design is cool but the templates just don't rock me. Big Folio seems to have great customer service from what I keep hearing but I think they are in control of absolutely everything (hosting? email?) which I'm not completely sold on...but that's just my personal idiosyncrasy that I may have to just get over.

Hmmm... makes me wonder... about this and this which they do not even know is fixed - I have not heard from them since Saturday early afternoon.

Hey Greg, I think you will really like having a blu site. Yeah - it sucks about their email problems, but I have really enjoyed having my site with them. Not to mention - they are so much fun. They have problems from time to time but I really respect that they admit it, apologize, and work to correct the problem. I know I sound like a big dork sticking up for them but I am crazy loyal to nice people/companies. (I guess it's the Leo in me! ha)

That's the ONLY reason I didn't go with BF, I think a lot of people feel that way. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT ERIK!!!

what she said!

I love hosting with you because I know that I have every reason to email you anytime and ask for help and that you should be able to help me (and you always do!). If my template's with you and I'm hosting with you - you should have all the solutions. I think because we all own our own businesses, maybe the "do-it-yourself-and-save-a-few-pennies" mentality gets the better of us. I'd prefer the service over saving $200 a year in hosting costs.

EVERYONE PLEASE REMAIN CALM. THIS IS A HIJACK. KEEP QUIET AND NO ONE WILL BE HURT

My main reasons would be:
-I have so many things going on w/my current domain already... a bunch of POP email address, for example, that would all have to change over or re-establish on a new server. Not impossible and not even hard, but still annoying to have to deal with.
-I'd want wide open FTP access to my webs space, and I don't think you give that. I'd want FTP access to the root level so I can create folders, upload whatever I want, make directories of slideshows, run a calendar program (like my CALENDAR program, for example, which I love), all of that kind of stuff that needs to be uploaded to the server via FTP, sometimes to the root level.
I guess those are the 2 main ones I can think of right now...
they may be suckee excuses w/easy answers, but that's that.

~C

If this company is in such a fix that it needs to "ask" a question like that...and you are a customer...run.

As a former software developer, if a company does not have a "plan" in place for the most remote disaster, then this is nonsense.

No Raid server??? no dual server setup if no raid? No backup everynight??? Oh my! Sounds like this is being run out of a spare bedroom.

If none of these are the case, then just asking such a question as "...does anyone..." is enough to question their viability. A real and serious internet service company has at least a plan, but by all means should have a dual server setup (or geeeezummm pete...a backup) in the event of one going down.

They are taking the server to the MAC store??? You are kidding right? The IT guy is on vacation??? This is a joke...has to be. Maybe a pre-April fools joke, right?. No responsible company would be so vulnerable.

"Run...Forest...Run!"

NOT!!!!!!!!!! TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!! In my opinion, I've never ever ever ever ever ever have been treated so rudely in my life.

I'm now with Creative Motion Design and it was the BEST decision for me EVER.

I've have filed a complaint with the BBB.org for blu. Your welcome to see the case file #. They of course ignored it and didn't respond to the complaint at all.

Everyone makes mistakes, even professionals. Come on guys, haven't you screwed up before? I know at the studio I used to work at, less experienced members of staff accidentally deleted a couple of clients' sessions and typically the backup we would normally have was nowhere to be found so we had to apologize and bring them in for a re-shoot. Sh*t happens, right? I'm sure Blu will have learnt from this "mishap" and hopefully make amends.
(Sorry, this is the Libra in me trying to keep the peace - not that we're arguing or anything!!)


As for Big Folio, yes you have to host with them if you're using a template (ok, so they're slightly more expensive but you don't receive impersonal, generic emails to your queries and these guys have a background in photography and therefore understand their clients better. Plus, you have to host with someone, right?!), Yes, you may need to ask them to set up certain things for you but when you do I've found that they are incredibly prompt in doing so (even when I've told them there's no rush!).

Just one recent example, I posted a query on here literally two days ago which was reiterated by another OSPer too. The next morning, without even having contacted Big Folio, I had a reply via email from Jeff at BF as did the other OSPer. Despite having told Jeff I wasn't in any kind of rush for my setup, this morning I had another email telling me my FTP is all set up and ready to go. Now it's up to me to figure it out and if I'm seriously having a dense day there's always Jeff's "let me know if you have questions" to fall back on which I know will get replied to pretty much immediately.

I guess each company has its strong points & it's weak ones. It's up to you to weigh them all up and see which works better in your case.

That is a scary post on the BD blog. It reeks of desperation.

I currently work in IT and I can echo those remarks. RAIDs, SANs, and offsite tape backups are all necessary evils for anyone serving data.

Entourage for enterprise email?



We all make mistakes for sure, but in the game of data storage you need to be able to restore to at least Today - 1 day. Web hosting companies have no excuse at all because one of the most important parts of their business is the hosting part. Opportunities to learn from mistakes shouldn't be at the expense of paying clients...

I apologize for piling on, but this thread gave me chills. I think I'm going to order two more 500GB hard drives right now!

--

I think now is a good time to plug a thread about digital file storage techniques.

Good luck to all involved -- especially to BD and its clients!

I own a computer store, and I do quite a lot of client network support... this post from Blu has to be a joke. I mean it has to be.

No one runs a hosting/design firm like that. It's mind blowing to think that someone would. It's got to be an early April Fool's joke guys...

Doesn't it?

I certainly hope so.

If it isn't I'll post this here because my corporate web filter won't let me add a comment to their blog:

If you still have your Entourage file this may help.

http://www.entourage.mvps.org/database/corrupt.html

+1

They are great! Every e-mail I've ever sent has been responded to within 48 hours...most of the time within 5 hours!!!

And like Erik said...all you have to do is ask. They are willing to work with you on pretty much everything!

+100
have never had any problems...and they are all so sweet!!!!!! Love ya Jeff, Mike and Erik

EXCELLENT! you rock!

normal FTP, not SFTP, right?

+1

I love my CMD site...I just bought another one for my wedding business and paid for 5 hours of custom work...I can't to finish it up

You would think, right? <-Mostly dormant now, but I was a Feature Price client, easily the worst hosting company in the history of the internet. All this made me get my own managed server for which I've been eternally grateful even though it's been more expensive.



Marc

Doesn't anybody here READ???

They aren't having server problems, their OFFICE computer that they use for answering email died. That Mac had a hard drive crash. It has nothing to do with the servers. NOTHING.

Now the office Mac should've been backed up or at least they should be using IMAP4 so all the email stays on the server and gets backed up and can be accessed from any computer, but that is another story...

I can read, you know. I'm not illegitimate.

Bad joke. Sorry.

I really did mean a RAID or daily snapshot for the local computer.

I am still in shock though regarding their use of Entourage for email. Mail.app or Thunderbird are really much better programs. If they were using Mail.app then Backup 3 could have saved them (if it actually worked)!

And you're right about IMAP too, though IMAP doesn't seem to like volume very much.

--
And this thread really prompted me to buy another terabyte of hard drives. Two Hitachi 500GBers from NewEgg will be at my doorstep in two days...

I actually quite like Entourage. I would like Mail.app if it handled attachments correctly, which unfortunately make it so that I can't use it at all. Other than that, I love it. Never seriously tried Thunderbird.

My concerns, in addition to what Carey listed...

1) What happens if you go out of business?
2) You can tell me how reliable your servers are all day long but I've yet to hear *anyone* say "Well, our hosting sucks...." even if it does. I'm not saying you're being untruthful but I like to stick with what I *know* works.
3) If you decide to quadruple the hosting fees there's nothing I can do about it.

I have a boatload of files, backups, slideshows, shopping cart software, etc... on my FTP. I also design albums for other photographers - each of which has thier own ftp account on there so they can upload images & download completed albums. I don't want to have to redo all of that, take the chance of exceeding some bandwidth limit, etc... I also host two other domains there and don't see the point in trippling my current hosting bill.

I initially chose BD because I fell in love with one of thier templates. When I was looking at BF sites my plan was to keep my BD site as my wedding site and add a BF site for the portrait side. Then I discovered that I had no choice but to host through you guys and couldn't see BD moving my template to a BF host for me (hah) so I felt forced to go with another one of their templates even though I reallllly didn't want to (for reasons I won't go in to here).

Maybe I'm just a control freak but I won't get a template where I'm forced to host with that company. I wouldn't have gotten the BD site if I'd had to host with them.

In 15 months of being hosted by BigFolio my website has only been down once to my knowledge, and that was for like 5 mins. I can attest to the uptime. I have root access FTP. Makes it real easy for me to upload my showit slideshows and such.

I do totally understand some of the lack of control. But they will take care of anything you ask. I know most of us are control freaks and small business owners and we want control over everything. I understand that. BF rocks! I'm not a paid endorser I promise, but I really believe in this company.




Oh, and about the hosting fees. They lowered them this year. They wouldn't go up in price on us big time because you would cancel your site and they would get trashed by bad WOM.

+1000

If you're in desparate need of a flash template website...check out http://www.photobiz.com. Really comparable and very affordable. I bought a template from them to help out in the meantime while I work on my own webdesign. The people are very friendly and helpfull too. They are also adding a whole bunch of new features this April 30th...so check it out.

Never dealt with Blu but our booth is right next to Big Folios at the tradeshow right now and those guys have all been pretty cool. So thats about all ive got to say about that

I have a Mac and use Entourage but I use a service called www.4smartphone.net that gives me a real Exchange server so that my data is all backed up with them and accessible via 1) my Mac, 2) online via webmail (Outlook Web Access) and 3) my T-Mobile MDA phone. I feel a lot better about this level of backup for my e-mail.

I have a site from BluDomain but chose to host it on my own server, so far so good.

For those of you thinking of buying templates from Bludomain, go ahead. There's no problem about that. I love their templates. My only advice is DO NOT use bludomain for hosting. They SUCK, BIG TIME!!! It's way too expensive and they are NOT VERY helpful at all. They don't have back up plans, they are not very helpful, you can ONLY reach them certain days and time, I only been using them for 3 months and I already have LOTS of problems, they DO NOT respond to your e-mails right away, they are not open on weekends AND if you try to call their suckport line they DO NOT usually answer their phones. I think the only time they picked up the phone right away was when I was buying their template.
When I was using GoDaddy.com, they were always there to help me, they are open 24/7 and wayyyyy cheaper.
Okay, Im done.

How do I transfer my website from bludomain to another host? I want to do this asap. It really makes me angry to read all this because I have been having the same problems and they tried telling me that it was my computer, my connection, I need the latest version of flash, I must be doing something wrong! And now to find out that they have been getting the same calls and emails from other people with the same problems!
Please someone help me!

thank you!

This is what I'm planning to do to my bludomain.
I will call GoDaddy.com tomorrow and ask them for help.
When I was using GoDaddy, they were VERY helpful to me. They actually told me before I left them that they can handle bludomain's templates. They said its very easy. But since I wanted to try bludomain hosting so bad, I still left GoDaddy.com. Stupid of me.

Just FYI, I don't work for GoDaddy. I'm just sharing my experienced.

Hey I just called GoDaddy.com - was told that it wouldn't work because GoDaddy doesn't offer the opportunity to log in remotely to the database, which BluDomain requires if you want to use another host. Just an FYI! If anyone knows of any other good Hosts, let me know!
Sam

I am hosting my blu site on Bluehost.com. You just call blu and tell them to move and then they charge you $60 to do it...other than that, realitively painless. And they actually did it within about two days of me asking, so that was good.

I can't speak for the transfer process because I started on my own server (Westhost.com) but I did find that I had to look up a lot of technical information about the server and work with support to make some changes in order to get hosting done on my own server. I suppose it's due to the complexity of the flash site. In any case, it didn't seem like something for the faint of heart or someone without a helpful support desk. Now my template is hosted on my own site and my hosting company is responsible for up time. I can continue to modify and change the site to my liking.

I'm super pumped about my site and I'm really happy for what Blu did for me so I'm reluctant to bag on them. Suffice to say that others' accounts here about making contact with them and getting things done is similar to my own experience. That said, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another template from them.

Seriously guys dont ignore the previous reccomendations on this thread to try CMD..

www.creativemotiondesign.com

Good people. Ask for Anna...tell her Gino referred u to them...they will take good care of u.

I just switched to host gator for my hosting. I did some research and they have a good reputation. They also have phone techs that are fairly on the ball.

As for Blu all I can say is that any company who is in the data field, and does not have backup, and backups, and backups!!! does not deserve to be in business. We all make mistakes, but anyone in the field of web serving knows that it's not "IF" a machine will crash, it's "When" I would not buy a service where I did not have control of the hosting.

If this is true I feel bad for them, but Blu does not have that great of a reputation as it is, and they just killed whatever was left.

Sorry. What I posted wasn't really relevant. Anna flaked out on me a couple of times, but everything else has been great. I'm itching to buy another site from them (Creative Motion Design) so I have one for seniors and one for weddings. I just can't decide which one! I have complete FTP access, they do the hosting (although you can have your site hosted somewhere else if you'd like), I can change just about everything whenever I feel like it, and they are really willing to work with people on anything. I'm not sure how you could go wrong with them.

Our site template is from CMD and we host it with Go Daddy with no issues.

www.johnnystaffordphotography.com

My experience also. Once you have an issue with them, they very immaturely get defensive (and then offensive!) and take on an "above reproach" attitude. It is never them! Total bullshit!

And it is so very sad, becuase their templates really are awesome. They have some very talented Flash designers. Their attitudes are pathetic, unless you have no problems, or they want to kiss your ass to make themselves look good. Thye know how to suck up to the right people. This, to me, equates to a total lack of integrity. And it angers me that so many photographers play that game with them.

My opinion.

I just purchsed another site for my wedding work and I am excited about it....

Well, that depends. It's not always better on your own hosting. As I understand - it depends on what template you have with them. Some of the newer ones they will transfer over just fine - as I guess the older ones had to still reside on their site. Like mine, the mysql database had to reside on their server. I have my own hosing with gator host, which I'm very happy with. My server holds a few admin files from them and the files to pull up the mysql database from their site.

So whenever their hosting went down, had a glitch, or some other random unknown computer thing happened - my site would not load. The flash pre-loader would just spin, and nothing else happened. My site honestly didn't load about 20% of the time. Honeslty, it was hard to pin point. It would do it for 2 hours at a time and then suddenly work. It would do it on multipule computers so I know it wasn't my flash problem on my computer. I even had people around the country test it and sometimes it loaded sometimes it did not. I had e-mailed inquiring about this about 7 times in the past year. Always to hear that there was nothing wrong with it and that the site never went down. It was working for them. Well it wasn't down - it just didn't load.

On Thanksgiving it wasn't loading again at all. We e-mailed and they said it was working and my assistant asked for it to be moved fully to our server. They did respond and did agree to move it to my server. They said, they preferred to have the database on our hosting and just fixed something in the older template mysql database where it could not be stolen or copied by others and could now move them. Great. Sounded good. We were thrilled. About 6 weeks went by with no one answering e-mails. Then the same old tired excuse of "Oh your not getting our e-mails", "Oh your spam filters are blocking our e-mails". It was blamed on our spam filters, our e-mails - and that was not the problem. We do not run spam filters and have an e-mail solution so every e-mail is always duplicated to a 2nd backup source. It was nothing that was accidentally missed by us. We checked with the server company to make sure they were not blocking them in sometype of blacklist. We have never had that many e-mails from one source not get to us or vice versa. This went on for a month well into Christmas. We finally got one e-mail saying what needed to be changed on our server for it to work. It was in technical babble. We were told to send it to our server company. We did. The server company needed some clarification. We asked for it and the e-mails were never responded to by bludomain at all.

At this point we gave up tring to get it moved over.

One night about a month ago it was happening again. This time for a long stretch of over 12 hours. I found myslef video taping my site just so I could get someone to listen to me. At that point I thought THIS IS INSANE - I CAN NOT DEAL WITH THIS ANY LONGER so I immediately switched to Creative Motion Design. At this point Harald responded to my complaint. I will say Harald was nice and willing to help, but after a year of struggling. I couldn't deal and told him I was going to switch companies. He said he has wished he knew about his earlier. This was the first time I had ever heard from him. I'm thinking for the year I was requesting help, nothing apparently was ever forwarded to him. We does miff me because we had even sent in the error logs from our server to them in hopes that it would be corrected.





My opinion is exaclty the same! I had an immediate phone call within 10 minutes when I decided to purchase a template.

Anyway, this issue is spelled out in my Better Business Bureau complaint. I know it doesn't do much at all, but I honestly encourage anyone else having major problems that are not being addressed to consider doing the same.