If you tried to log onto Dear Wendy any time between the hours of about 1 pm and 4 pm (EST), you likely got an error message and may have wondered what was wrong. Unfortunately, this is something that has been happening more and more lately (I believe five times in the last month!). Trust me, I’ve been doing everything I can to make it NOT happen because I cannot tell you what a hassle and a headache for me is is when the site goes down (I’ve probably lost close to 20 hours of my life in the last month — a month when I’m parenting a newborn, remember — dealing with the people at Hostgator, getting so many mixed answers, I don’t know what end is up anymore). Basically, the short version of the story is the site has been getting more traffic that my current package can handle, so I’m upgrading to a bigger and better package — hmm, that sounds vaguely dirty, doesn’t it?
Hopefully — fingers crossed hard — this will be the end of site crashes. Please accept my apologies for the annoyance. And — shameless plug here — feel free to make a donation towards that bigger/better package that will undoubtedly help solve all our problems. Oh, and while I’m making shameless plugs, please take note of that little Amazon search button to the right. Since I’m an Amazon affiliate, I make a small commission on any purchases you make on Amazon after clicking through from Dear Wendy. It costs nothing to you and puts a little change in my pocket which helps keep this site going. Thank you!!
![\"\"](\"https://d5nxst8fruw4z.cloudfront.net/atrk.gif?account=r/y/j1a0Sn00OI\")
Foreveryoung November 21, 2011, 5:29 pm
No worries, we’re loyal! And congrats on the extra traffic.
Firegirl32 November 21, 2011, 5:50 pm
I will so do my Amazon shopping by clicking through here! …I may or may not shop through Amazon way too often… Yay! I can help!
Jess of CityGirlsWorld.com November 21, 2011, 5:54 pm
I shop a LOT at Amazon so this is good to know. Except I don’t see the button. Am I going nuts?
Wendy November 22, 2011, 8:03 am
Jess, it’s just above the recent comments.
Jess of CityGirlsWorld.com November 22, 2011, 9:41 am
Thanks Wendy. I see where you mean now although it doesn’t seem to be hyper-linked so I don’t see what I would click on. Seriously, I am usually not this clueless. Sorry! But I DO want to figure it out.
Can anyone steer me to what is probably very obvious?
Wendy November 22, 2011, 12:35 pm
just click the ad/button. it takes you to amazon and my affiliate code is programmed in.
lets_be_honest November 22, 2011, 12:38 pm
What a good idea! You can buy so much on Amazon, pretty much all your Christmas shopping. Seeing as we are traveling this Christmas, I have to order everything online and ship it to where we’ll be, so this was a perfect way for me to contribute to DW.
Jess of CityGirlsWorld.com November 22, 2011, 12:53 pm
I hope its just me but I don’t see any ad or button. Maybe its my browser (or me!).
Above recent comments, I see only text that is not hyperlinked. It reads, “This site is an Amazon affiliate. Help support Dear Wendy by making purchases through Amazon links on this site.” But there is nothing to click.
Above that is the text that IS hyperlinked which reads “blog advertising is good for you” and leads me to blogads. Above that are the icons for Email, Twitter, etc.
I’ve also tried the Donate and Tip Jar buttons which lead me to PayPal.
I cannot seem to find any button, link, or icon at all for Amazon. I even googled Dear Wendy and Amazon in hopes of finding it. But nothing. Is everyone else finding it?
I loathe being a pest so if its just me, don’t worry about it. I’d just hate for you to lose potential revenue if its a site-wide issue. I do almost all my shopping on Amazon and would be more than happy to give you the benefit.
Hope I’m not coming across as a nag or a dolt!
Matcha November 22, 2011, 12:59 pm
Just click on the amazon box; it opens up a new tab and you can see it’s tagged DW
http://www.amazon.com/?&tag=dearwecom-20&linkCode=wsw&
lets_be_honest November 22, 2011, 1:04 pm
Its showing up on mine as a search button. I clicked the link and will provide it below. I’m just not sure that will be enough though. Maybe Wendy knows?
http://www.amazon.com/ref=nb_sb_noss_null
Jess of CityGirlsWorld.com November 22, 2011, 1:14 pm
Thanks LBH. That’s a start and at least I know I am not crazy. I definitely do not have a search window on my screen. I’ll take a peek at my home computer later on to see.
Wendy November 22, 2011, 4:03 pm
I wonder if you have adblockers on your computer maybe?
Jess of CityGirlsWorld.com November 22, 2011, 4:01 pm
Update. I tried on Internet Explorer and it shows up just fine. But as an FYI, it does not show up at all on Firefox, at least this version of it —Firefox 6.0.2
scattol November 21, 2011, 5:58 pm
Actually I thought that the new googleads were doing well. That google certainly knows how to send interesting ads
scattol November 21, 2011, 6:59 pm
Oh, that new package isn’t big enough! I think you need an even bigger package.
spot November 21, 2011, 7:09 pm
I shop a lot on Amazon and will def do it through your site! Just finished college and will try to make a donation when start making more than $300 a week! #blametheeconomynotme!
fast eddie November 21, 2011, 8:19 pm
I used to be a network administrator and can totally relate to technical difficulties. When the error came I figured as much. Your loyal readers wont write you off and I’ll darn sure use the Amazon link. Thanks for the pics of Jackson on fb, cutest baby ever.
Beckaleigh November 22, 2011, 5:37 am
A little off topic and maybe a little late (I haven’t been on in a few days) but I LOVE the new pic at top of the page, Wendy! You look gorgeous!
Wendy November 22, 2011, 5:51 am
Thanks! I thought it was time for a new one.
cdubs November 22, 2011, 7:43 pm
I THOUGHT it was different. But I wasn’t sure. It’s like when you see something every day, and it changes, and you notice it now because it’s different, but you’re not sure why your’e noticing it now.
rainbow November 22, 2011, 8:19 am
I’m a web developer and the project that I’m working on currently has it’s dev server on HG. I’ve never ever gotten a straight answer from them. Also when I complain a lot and my issues are sent to a higher level of CS the people there don’t seem to understand them. I’ve been filling tech support requests for years now and have been on the other end of the operation, I know i’m good at explaining my issues. The data is there if you care to look for it. But they somehow always “misunderstand” our problem to be one we don’t have, so they can check for it and write back with “Oh, it’s fixed now”. Also they LIE. A LOT.
Sorry, rant here, just wanted to say I understand your pain =P
Wendy November 22, 2011, 8:29 am
Yes!!! It’s like you’ve been living my experience with them for the last five weeks. I cannot even begin to articulate my frustration. I’ve never experienced such horrible customer service in my life. It’s been a nightmare, and the timing of all this couldn’t be worse. When I do have a spare hour here or there, between changing diapers, bathing the baby, feeding him, etc., etc., I want to SLEEP, not sit on the phone with some moron who can’t give me a straight answer on why my site’s been down for three hours (for the fourth time in as many weeks) and what we can do to get it back up. UGH.
scattol November 22, 2011, 12:30 pm
Maybe it’s time to change hosting service. See this page has many Google ads from competing service provider 🙂
Yammy November 22, 2011, 3:25 pm
My brother hosts. You should check his site out. Perhaps he could give you a better deal and better service. His site is deepimpactservers.com
rainbow November 22, 2011, 8:20 am
*its