MEC servers are behind in time! (2 weeks)

Please do not email the WMs because there is nothing that can be done right now until John gets everything fixed!

Thanks!

Posted by John at MEC Forums:

GO TO BED JOHN. Lol.

Some of us have emailed John over the last couple of days and have NOT gotten any more of a response since he emailed saying he made a mistake.....

WE ALL make mistakes, some are more costly then others BUT....You need to communicate with the people that PAY YOU.

I know for a FACT that he has been helping out another webmaster just yesterday who's site wasn't effected by the error and yet I can't even get into my Admin area and have asked why a few times and gotten no response.

As much as I hated to do it, I am moving my PTR to aother server.
20 years I have been going into companies and teaching their employees how to be effective customer service personel and as I have taught them, All you need to do is let your Customer know that you are aware of the problem and are doing your best to resolve the issue in a timely manner....to just let them know they are Important to you.

That is not a lot to ask!

I am VERY Disgusted with this whole thing!

Colleen,
I must say i'm very surprised that you fault John for his mistake.

First of all, as webmasters, it's our responsibility to make daily backups of our data.

John has been overworked due to the recent hackings and has had very little sleep trying to keep everyone up and running, only to find all his work restoring data base's get wiped out as soon as he got them back up.

His service is great. I do agree, there have been many times that he didn't alert us say when he moved data to another server, so until the data caught up with files we had 0 members, but i learned to recognize that when it was happening and why.

Sure if he alerted the webmaster, we could send an e-mail to our members and warn them not to get upset, or flip their lids or e-mail us etc.

That is the only fault i can find with John, but i do understand that he is busy and works his butt off.

Sure it's unfortunate that John accidentally wiped the data, especially with the timing, right after he secured the server and scripts from the hacker, he himself wipes it out again.

Don't you think he himself kicked himself in the butt, because now he has to restore data again when the webmasters give them their current backups.

If a webmaster doesn't have a current backup, is that John's fault?
I don't think so.
With all the hacking that went on, each and every webmaster should have been backing up regularly more than usual just as a precaution.

John made a mistake, and a costly one for him as there are many webmasters that will use this as the "LAST STRAW" after being so frustrated over the hackings.

What they fail to realize is John is only human, he's not a robot, and because of the hackings, he's had very little sleep.

He made a mistake, but i don't see what harm it caused as long as the webmaster had a current backup.

If the webmaster didn't have a current backup, then the data is lost forever, but who's fault is that? Certainly not John's.

After being overworked, his mistake, only made him more work.
All we webmasters needed to do is upload the current backup and he'd restore it.

After all John's done for us, with the recent hackings etc, to repay him by slamming his customer service, i think is very inconsiderate.

Changing hosts for whatever reason is up to the individual webmaster, but to slam a former host that we know has bent over backwards, lost sleep just to find the problems and loopholes so our sites can be secure, i find appauling.

There are quite a few hosts that got hit the same way, some weren't as overworked only because John did most of the work correcting the problems.
It's his scripts, so he did the fixes etc.

I know i get accused of defending John a lot, but he's as honest as they come, and he is human, and made a human error.

The way i see it, he caused some frustration, but at least he admits it was his fault.

By Gosh, he could just have easily said a hacker did it, and gotten away with that because of all the recent hacks.

He's as honest as they come, and a hard worker. To punish someone when they admit they made an Honest mistake, shows a lack of tolerance.

I understand the frustration, we all felt it.
John worked his butt off fixing the holes. Unlike some other person who sold scripts knowing they had holes all over the place.

This could happen to anyone, I know i can depend on John to give me the service i need and will stick with him.

Yesterday, all his sites on shared servers were up and running. Mec-co-op-paidmail.com was down over 3 hours on a dedicated server.

Why, who knows, the server shut itself off.
John was sleeping and slept late.
Do i yell and scream? nope.....I knew he was either sleeping or out for the day, and he'd bring it back up as soon as he was available to do so.

Sure things like that happen, but they could happen to anyone, or any host.

Good Luck with the new host. I'm sticking with John.

The way I read Colleen's message it's just a complaint that he's not responding to emails nor did he tell the webmasters what had happened. Luckily I wasn't one of them, but it's my understanding from a few that it happened to that they found out on their own (what a shock) instead of an "oops" email from him and now he's not responding to them.

Carole,

I was sounding off because I had emailed several times with no response...and that's it.

John is a wonderful man and when not under pressure...he is a Fun guy to talk to...he has helped me out tremendously and I am VERY GRATEFUL for all he does.

I was Angry because for 3 days I could not enter my site to do anything, my members were clueless on what was going on and YES that ###### me off just like it would have anyone else in my position.

I also explained to him my frustration when we finally spoke.

I even think I said "I love you LOL" when he helped me get back into my site lastnight LOL

Colleen,
I know, i too have gotten ticked off, when he moves data without telling me, then i have to deal with all the "i can't get into my accounts" or "you bi**, you deleted me" e-mails...etc etc...

The simpler solution would be for John to e-mail the webmaster telling them in advance that he plans to move data and that for a period of 30 min or so, people won't be able to access their accounts etc...

I guess while John's a great guy, and he bends over backwards, he's not a professional business person or something.
I make allowances.

The difference is, when i get ticked at him, because i've e-mailed him 3 or 4 times without reply, i stay calm, figuring, and knowing that he usually responds very promptly, that he's most likely not available (he is entitled to some time off) or he's just plain busy.

The difference is i keep it to myself, or i tell him in another e-mail that i'm a bit perturbed etc....i keep it between me and John...

All i was trying to say here, is that with all the recent hacks, he's overworked, and made a very stupid blunder, which he was obviously working on rectifying.

There's no reason to come to a public forum to vent your anger.

My mother told me a long time ago, when i was little and i believe its' still very good advice...."sleep on it" if you still feel angry, then vent at the person you are angry with.

By coming to a public forum, people not knowing or fully understanding what happend, enterpret it as John's a terrible host...so if they were at all considering running a site, or looking for a host, he looses.

I feel the same way when i see posts in this or any other forum about me...

for instance:

1. SHe changes her TOS, any time she feels like it...

hey change is progress...... I make changes as they are needed.
Most of the changes i make benefit the members and hurt me..
For instance, lowering payouts from $50 to $10
Converting points to cash!!!! etc etc. etc..
Sharing 70% of my revenue for point mails with members instead of pocketing it all as profit!!!!


2. She deleted my account because i was inactive.....had my vacation set for 8 months from now, but she deleted me cause she wants my 50cents...

That's all i was trying to say.

People need to think before they say anything publically that can hurt someone...

What gets me, is i see some complaints from members that have stuck with the program from day one.
My feelings are that if they still don't understand what i do and why, (i do explain my changes via e-mail to the members) and they are that unhappy, they should unsubscribe, they don't because they know i will pay, but they have a compulsion to go on a smear campaign anyway.

Things like that get me, they don't realize, they hurt themselves and other members much more than they could ever hurt me.

Why?
Members are happy and promoting heavily, spending their hard earned money , either out of pocket or by redemptions.

Now a prospective recruit reads the negativity, and gets scared off and cancels their accounts they just signed up for...etc...etc..

Newbees come to various forums simply for information.
If they see tons of negativity, they will avoid the program.
They don't understand who's being negative or why..

So your post might have scared away 5 or 6 clients from hosting with John because of his one stupid mistake etc...etc..

That's all i was trying to say....
I do understand your frustration...believe me, i've been there, done that, many many times.........

[B]OK I guess I'll just sit back here and watch the rest of the forum member sound off about things that make them angry or happy ( Since this is the place that they can come to do such).

This is REDICULOUS......All I did was sound off a little bit and now it seems.....

Oh Well OBVIOUSLY I made a mistake and the matter can just NOT BE DROPPED....

Oh Forget it, Why bother trying to EXPLAIN it AGAIN! I was probably better off before I came here anyway.

I will just sit back and watch from now on......GOD i wish I could really say what I am thinking!

So now the END result is I am REALLY ###### off and I am also TIRED from trying to recover my losses (members,money and data) and very close to forgetting I am a NICE person........

Nice to have talked to some of you on here....and GOOD LUCK!

[quote=taxlady2,Jan 20 2003, 12:40 AM][/QUOTE]
........................

First of all, as webmasters, it's our responsibility to make daily backups of our data.
....................

If a webmaster doesn't have a current backup, is that John's fault?
I don't think so.
With all the hacking that went on, each and every webmaster should have been backing up regularly more than usual just as a precaution.
[/quote]
Carole,

Thank you for stating the obvious. I had queried that very point in a separate thread somewhere in here.

However, since I originally posted, I've had a brief correspondence with another WM who has suggested that during this period, the back-up facility was "not available" because it was being worked on !!

Whether that is in fact the case I obviously have no way of knowing, but if true, then perhaps it was totally out of their hands at the time.