Aw C'mon PBase

timnosenzo wrote in post #8707781
Not true. While SmugMug may have the occasional hiccup, their support is top notch, and they're very engaged with their customers. Once upon a time, I was a PBase user, and it was the same way then as it is now. Moving to SmugMug was a huge step up.

Yes, but you're still at the mercy of some small startup company that may forget to pay their electric bill or decide that they can't afford a new server right now, so they'll just make do with the ones they have until next quarter, etc..

Your success is dependent on someone else's.

Interestingly, PBase pictures that I've posted here prior to yesterday have shown up since the crash. I wonder if there is a server still running in the background there, or does POTN cache images that are linked from other hosts?

Todd Lambert wrote in post #8707997
Yes, but you're still at the mercy of some small startup company that may forget to pay their electric bill or decide that they can't afford a new server right now, so they'll just make do with the ones they have until next quarter, etc..

Your success is dependent on someone else's.

But that would be the case anywhere. Even if you hosted a server out of your own house, you're still relying on your electric company to supply power, or the cable company to provide the Internet, etc.

Put your own server in a co-lo data center, and you're relying on them for those services...

FWIW, I think SmugMug surpassed the "small start-up company" status a while ago. It's not like they work out of a garage or something.

Todd Lambert wrote in post #8707997
Yes, but you're still at the mercy of some small startup company that may forget to pay their electric bill or decide that they can't afford a new server right now, so they'll just make do with the ones they have until next quarter, etc..

Your success is dependent on someone else's.

Smugmug hardly falls in the "small start-up company" class. They are an established brand with a proven track record.

tonylong wrote in post #8708105
Interestingly, PBase pictures that I've posted here prior to yesterday have shown up since the crash. I wonder if there is a server still running in the background there, or does POTN cache images that are linked from other hosts?

I have stuff on other sites that is also showing. It appears that the crash didn't disturb the images, just the indexing server.

Yeah, well I think you're getting offended by the startup moniker... they are a startup. So is MediaTemple, so is del.icio.us, etc... nothing wrong with that.

However Tim, there is a major difference: With all of your stuff based on your own domain name... you can easily move your website, somewhere else in a matter of hours (enough time for the DNS changes to propagate). Boom, in a few hours, your business is up and running again. You have the control.

That's a big difference.

This will sound like a practice what you preach comment but for the companies that pay me to build/maintain their websites I keep full up to date backups on hand at all times. If their ISP goes down I can have them up on a temporary server withing minutes of being notified. Worse case, I will temporarily host their sites on my own servers here at home or one of my offices. My house has it's own power source so I can operate without utility service. A hard line failure would be the only reason I can't keep a site up and running. But in that case I use a office server.

Having said that, I keep all my sites hosted with other ISP's. Right now I've been using Comcast for a bunch of personal stuff with great success. But that could chance at any minute. So being able to make a quick switch is critical to me. I can't do that with blogged or canned sites. Making DNS changes happens so fast these days it's only a matter of how fast you can get online to make the changes.

The down side to all this is, my own sites are the ones that get the least attention. My photography site has had a "Under Construction" page online for well over a year now!

Jon.

Todd Lambert wrote in post #8707512
Just trading one for the other - tit for tat.

Leave my, um, "tats" out of this!

We use pbase. We like it. It serves our needs. What more can we expect from a web site?

As for the current problem, feces occurs, and always at the least convenient time. This, too, shall pass.

So much for being back up by 1930Z...

Unlike Jay, pbase seems to have trouble flying.

I guess it done blow-ed up real good...

I'm sure the owner and the techs are less than thrilled at this point in time.

Been there. Done that. Working around the clock living on stale coffee is no fun.

Investing in a few UPS would probably lessen the need for stale coffee...

Eneloops are the answer!

timnosenzo wrote in post #8707781
Not true. While SmugMug may have the occasional hiccup, their support is top notch, and they're very engaged with their customers. Once upon a time, I was a PBase user, and it was the same way then as it is now. Moving to SmugMug was a huge step up.

I loved PBase. Note the past tense. I still support the place for older images, but have moved my primary site to SmugMug too.

You have that right! I haven't had a power related crash since I got mine & that's been 5 years.