problems, frustrations, overwhelming mess
Dec 13th 2009 10:13:32 pm
So… I think my blog is finally back up thanks to Travis and his tireless work trying to get everything fixed after our blog “emergency.” Travis is amazing and he will probably need to correct me on some of the details, but basically Media Temple – the supposedly big time, awesome hosting company where we store all of our blogs – was hacked. Some jerk stole some of their passwords and started overwriting important files. It affected all of the “Lamble Family” blogs (including this one, obviously), Roundrock Journal, and the Swap-bot blog. Ugh. The Swap-bot blog is the worst because now our users think that the actual site was compromised – which it was NOT. The actual Swap-bot.com site is hosted at a completely different company which has nothing to do with the current blog mess, but it is hard to convince people of that when they see “hacksor” on our official blog page. Anyway, we are slowly getting back to normal, but this situation was a huge setback, both personally and for Swap-bot. I already feel like I can barely keep my head above water and unexpected problems like this really cause me to feel completely overwhelmed.
It also didn’t help that last week, right after our big Swap-bot press in the NY Daily News, one of our ad networks (which we use to publish ads on Swap-bot) started serving up a horrible, bogus ad that made it appear that the viewer had contracted a computer virus. The ad didn’t actually spread a virus (it just sold anti-virus software), but it really frightened our users. We shut it down quickly and are no long using that ad network, but it is just another thing that is out of our control and yet causes huge problems. It also hurts to shut down an ad network because it means we could potentially be shutting off an opportunity to increase our extremely miniscule profits. Swap-bot has gotten to be so much work that it is very difficult to justify continuing to do it basically for free. We have to figure out a way to make it support at least one full time person (me) or we are going to have to let it go. Sad. Pay accounts and more direct advertising sales are both options, but both require a lot of work and it is hard for me to stay on top of things as it is. Basically, I am feeling overwhelmed and need to re-evaluate how I am spending my time…
This weekend was packed with holiday shopping and computer work. Next week, it is work, work, work (with a bit of holiday partying in the mix) – I have a tremendous amount to accomplish before Christmas!
11 Comments » Categories: Feeling Sad, Swap-bot, Travis, Website
Amy on 14 Dec 2009 at 4:19 am #
Hang in there, Rachel. Everything will work out one way or another.
P1 on 14 Dec 2009 at 7:22 am #
Great! Now Aaron can get back to his frequent postings.
Aaron on 14 Dec 2009 at 7:58 am #
Once you tell me what my password is Dad I will get right on it…
Sorry that happened, sometimes I wish we could punch through our computer screens and hit someone on the other side.
Seth on 14 Dec 2009 at 11:17 am #
And more importantly Crusher gets to meet Flike.
michelle on 14 Dec 2009 at 12:15 pm #
So sorry to hear the bad news. I just hate hackers. They just have too much time on their hands. A special place in Hell is reserved for them, me thinks.
This too, shall pass. Hang in there!
Yuli on 14 Dec 2009 at 5:46 pm #
OMG, it’s terrible! Internet is a dangerous place indeed!
G2 on 15 Dec 2009 at 10:57 am #
It’s hard to figure out what the hacker accomplishes, other than upsetting a lot of people. I guess i should start using more passwords.
Shane on 15 Dec 2009 at 12:26 pm #
I would think that your user base is passionate enough that they might actually support for-pay bot accounts. But I may be wrong.
rachel on 15 Dec 2009 at 1:11 pm #
Thanks for all of the support, everyone! I am trying not to feel too negative about the situation, but it hurts to work so hard on something and then have it be semi-destroyed by some random stranger… oh well, we will keep on keeping on.
Libby on 16 Dec 2009 at 11:52 am #
It is really crazy. This has been the best month for you and one of the worst. I guess that is always the way it goes. Maybe it is that ying yang thing going on. I love you and can’t wait to see your always happy face.
Libby on 16 Dec 2009 at 11:53 am #
I think that is what is so great about this country. We don’t let anything drag us down. We just keep on keeping on. I think that is going to be my New Year resolution.