This is the Big One, Elizabeth!
Joelle said around dinner time on June 7, 2007
Well, that was fun — if you like feeling like you’ve just wasted all your off time for the last three weeks and revisiting your lunch.
Around 6:00pm PST, I was tinkering with my CSS to make one tiny area a bit cleaner. Somehow, faster than Paris Hilton gets out of jail, my thumb accidentally brushed the touchpad on my laptop and I wiped out my CSS entirely.
Yes. Yes, I did.
I never use my touchpad and I guess when I did a system restoration a couple months ago, I never went back to deactivate it, so without even thinking I hit “save” and sayonara, CSS! And guess who didn’t back up her stylesheet. Aw, go on! (This is the part where my lunch comes in, followed by a few thousand expletives that rhyme with “duck”, “truck” and “other shucker”.)
I am totally retentive about backing up my client’s templates and stylesheets — like a freak about it. I have no idea why I didn’t back up my own. After a few minutes of inconsolable ranting and raving, Kathy (oh-so-patiently) suggested I contact our illustrious host, Hosting Matters.
If ever I wanted to shout from the rooftops my praise for our host, it’s now. Mitchell of Hosting Matters, today you are my own personal hero! He restored my site and managed to keep everything, save one or two minor CSS edits. Hosting Matters tuned crisis into calm in just under 60 minutes. How’s that for service? Thank you, thank you!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go turn on everything that backs up anything in the history of ever.
Moxie Design Studios™
from West Palm Beach, FL • Cocktail: Champagne Bellini
I actually heard the swearing over here on the east coast. It sounded something like “DUCK DUCK DUCK OH MY GAHD DUCK DUCK SON OF A MUTTER EFFING DOOR ... DUCK ME! DUCK MEEEEE! OH DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK”.
from Florida
Standing Ovation for Hosting Matters!
Bra-vo!
from Anchorage, AK
OMG I felt that. *felt* After hearing this story, I’m seriously considering using/recommending hosting matters. It seems like you find a good host and then they’ve got your business, money’s rolling in, they get lazy and service plummets. I’ve switched many times, not because of price but service. For stuff LIKE THIS. Once I had a host whose server melted and they had no offsite backup. They lost my site and said tough—*rhymes with pit*
Man, so good to have somebody your team. *feels that, deeply*
I like who I’m using now (besides EH), but they’re not anywhere CLOSE to responsive like that. That’s huge. Glad it worked out!!
from Anchorage, AK
^ omg. I meant that EH (as in EngineHosting) is great, as in *obviously* whoops! lol
At least you’re not with DreamHost and the myriad security problems they have. Hosting Matters sounds like they really came through!
from Mouseville™ • Cocktail: Amaretto Sour
Been with HM since 2001 and no plans to leave...ever. Hooray for the home team!
from Northern NY • Cocktail: Harvey Wallbanger
Oh man… would that ever suck! I am the same way about backing up stuff that I do for other people but I haven’t backed up my own shit in a while… um… maybe I should do that right now, while I’m thinking of it!
from San Diego, CA • Cocktail: slightly dirty Grey Goose martini
@chepooka: yes, I know you feel my complete horror on that one. HOR-ROR. And mostly, I was just mad at myself for being so utterly careless.
@joz: I am not a DreamHost fan. Never have been. I know people who go on and on about how great they are, but frankly, I’ve built many a site on their servers and find them to be slow and finicky.
@DJ: Back up! Back up! Go go!
@Peggy & Robyn: All Hail Hosting Matters!
from New Yawk • Cocktail: Jack & Coke
you can hit me for saying this, but..."save template revisions” is your friend. LIKE SO MUCH!
from San Diego, CA • Cocktail: slightly dirty Grey Goose martini
@mel: oh, I won’t hit you for saying that.
The sad thing? It’s the first thing I set when doing a client’s job (which I’m sure it’s yours as well — I would die if I had to eat those hours). I just had my head up my ass.
I immediately put in a feature request for default template revisions ON and was backed up by a bunch of people, so hopefully we’ll see that in the next release. I can understand wanting to streamline, but what’s the harm in having like, 5 revisions by default, you know? It makes much more sense to turn them off rather than on out-of-the-box if that is your preference.
from New Yawk • Cocktail: Jack & Coke
oh totally. And when you said you “backup your client sites” I wasn’t sure if you meant via template revisions or the good old fashion backup way...so I had to comment anyway
from San Diego, CA • Cocktail: slightly dirty Grey Goose martini
@mel: I love that teethy guy. lol.
from New Yawk • Cocktail: Jack & Coke
he’s my fav.or.ite.
Oh, I HATE that! Usually instead of the touchpad getting me, I’ll overwrite another file by accident, and then do the movie slo-mo “noooooooooooo!”
And that sinking feeling that comes over you when you’ve *just* realized what happened? That chill that rushes down your spine as your eyes go wide in disbelief, just before you can even speak?
Yeah, that feeling and I are old friends.
Now excuse me. I gotta back up my site.
BTW, love the Sanford @ Son reference.
Dude. I’ve been (happily) with HM for about five years, and I had *no idea* they could do that! Go HM!
p.s. I was with Dreamhost before HM, and quit them because their downtime was getting nuts. They continued to try and bill me for my various domains—which I had long since transferred—for almost two years.