Good grief! What an ordeal. For the better part of today, my site was replaced by some dumb URL-hijacking-pseudo search engine, because my domain name expired and I never received any notice of it. It's good to be back. Between this and the trackback spam issue, and having had to delete my whole blacklist only to discover that the guy who hosts the master blacklist has thrown in the towel, I've been in Internets Hell.
The first thing I really need to do is get MT 3.2 to get a better hold on my spam issues. And I need someone to install it for me, because Six Apart now charges $100 for it (I paid $25 two years ago!), and you have to have a paid account with them anyway, which costs another like $70!
Also, I'm starting to consider getting a new host. My current host has been okay and the price is reasonable, but I find their management tools and support system not at all user friendly. Also the same thing with my domain name happened last year. If you've got any super recommendations, please share.
UPDATE: Okay, folks, I think all systems are go again around here. I took Grumperina's advice (and that of several others) and switched to LivingDot for hosting, one of Moveable Type's Hosting Partners, who graciously and expeditiously installed the new version of MT for me, transferred all my stuff over, and even re-installed some of my old, beloved plugins. Thanks, everybody... now I can stop being saucer-eyed and glued to my laptop, and start living again!
Posted by jess at November 21, 2005 2:55 PMooh, glad you're back.
MT installation - ack! Do you have a Perl-knowledgable friend who can do the installation for you, or can you take it on yourself? SixApart provides a free version of MT 3.2, but there's no support for it.
Posted by: eunny at November 21, 2005 3:05 PMDuh. Clearly I have serious reading comprehension issues today...
Posted by: eunny at November 21, 2005 3:07 PMMy site is hosted by LivingDot. They install, maintain, upgrade, and troubleshoot all Movable Type business if asked (Hi, can you upgrade me to 3.2? Okay! Hi, I think I'm missing some divs somewhere, my website is looking wonky - can you fix it? Okay!) They have an MT license, so you don't have to pay separately for it... and all the spam-blocking stuffs :).
Posted by: grumperina at November 21, 2005 4:47 PMWe've still got a free version of Movable Type, and I agree with grumperina... any one of our hosting partners can preinstall MT for you on an account, for as little as six bucks a month. It's a great deal, especially if you're not satisfied with your current web host. You can find links to all this stuff on the MT site at http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ -- hope that helps!
Posted by: Anil at November 21, 2005 5:03 PMI too have Living Dot and have been happy with the service.
Posted by: Stephanie at November 21, 2005 6:52 PMtest
Posted by: jess at November 21, 2005 11:25 PMOkay, I'm impressed. Anil Dash, the Brad Pitt of all things blog-o-rific, just gave you free advice on your blog.
Posted by: joyolivia at November 22, 2005 7:00 AMWhew! Glad to see you go everything back on track, hooray!! :D
And welcome to the Living Dot family. I too host my blog over there and am quite pleased with their service. And movable type 3.2 is the shizzo. I have gotten ZERO spam comments since I switched over.
Posted by: Sandra at November 22, 2005 10:54 AMI would have given you the same advice had I seen your post earlier - Living Dot rocks :-)
Posted by: Diana at November 22, 2005 12:07 PMhello! I've been thinking about getting my own domain name and branching out from these not so great free accounts. How easy is moveable type to use? Is there any coding involved? I really appreciate any advise you can give me. Thanks!
Posted by: stefanie at November 22, 2005 3:07 PMStefanie, if you're interested in getting started without any installation or setup, you can just signup for the TypePad service for as little as $5. It's built on the same engine as Movable Type, we offer the same great support, and we even have some knitting-specific templates for your site design. Let me know if you're interested, I should be able to scrounge up a discount code for you to try it.
Posted by: Anil at November 22, 2005 6:32 PMAnil reads knitting blogs?! Who knew!
I'm glad you got it all sorted. I've installed MT twice over the years, and it was nerve-wracking each time (mostly because of my hosts having zero documentation on MySQL, etc.) But once it's installed, upgrades are a piece of cake. I love MT.
Posted by: Manda at November 23, 2005 10:27 AMHey there!
Thanks for welcoming me to the NYC Knitters Webring. I post a lot of events that are happening in The Apple.
The Sale at Smiley's starts on November 28, and lasts for one week. You can check my post "Spotlight on Smiley's Yarns pt 1. in October's archives.
If you go, get ready for: NO CREDIT CARDS (to slow down the real addicts), and a 1-1/2 hour wait on line (you can knit and make friends)!
Posted by: Sahara at November 23, 2005 11:45 AMI agree with joyolivia. I had to read it twice to make sure I saw the right name!
Posted by: chica at November 27, 2005 5:21 PM