We’re Working On It!
Hey guys, I just wanted to apologize for the slowdown and system errors the past week or so. I'm on WordPress.com constantly and the problems have been incredibly annoying.
We've been quiet for a few weeks because all development effort has been heads down on preparing for this new transition, think of it like WordPress.com 1.1.
We're creating a perfect mirror of our entire infrastructure in a new datacenter in Dallas to replicate what we currently have going in San Diego. Basically what we're going for is redundancy at a very high level. The problem is no matter how much money you spend on hardware, switches, and all the hundreds of other things that keep everything running you can really only be certain of one thing — that it'll fail at some point, most likely when you least expect it.
We had originally planned for this new hardware to come online more than a month ago, which would have prevented the errors we've all been experiencing, but it has taken longer than expected. This is my fault and I'm sorry for not getting things moving sooner.
By creating this first mirror in Dallas, we're trying to eliminate as many things that could fail as possible, so in theory if California fell into the ocean we could still keep the site running without any problems and slowdowns. (Besides the fact that Barry, Ryan, Toni, and I are in California! But even we're geographically distributed — Andy, Podz, and Donncha would be okay.)
We're in the very final stages of bringing the new systems online, just waiting the last few bits of configuration to come online. As we're more than doubling the servers we're using, it should address all performance issues and help us prevent any for a long time to come. This means we can get back to doing things we love, like adding cool new features and themes for you. Thanks for your patience, we'll have things back to normal as soon as possible.
May 2nd at 7:28 am
Matt,
Thats excellent.
Keep up the good work
cheers to all at wordpress.com
http://www.irin.co.uk
May 2nd at 7:44 am
No worries!
U’re doing a great job.
Looking forward for all these new features to come soon then
May 2nd at 8:32 am
We support you guys! Thank you for being so caring.
May 2nd at 8:38 am
Keep up the good work, Guys.
May 2nd at 9:00 am
no problem guys! You guys are doing a great job! Keep it up!
May 2nd at 9:22 am
good work and good luck!!!! I love wordpress!!!! (kiss kiss hug hug)
May 2nd at 9:57 am
You guys are doing a great job.
x3 wordpress.
May 2nd at 10:08 am
Thanks for the update (and the honesty). I hope California doesn’t fall into the ocean. I have a lot of friends there.
May 2nd at 10:16 am
Thanks, and I appreciate the hard work!
May 2nd at 10:23 am
All good. Thanks for the post.
May 2nd at 10:41 am
Wow, that’s a lot of sweat for a free service. You guys are awesome.
May 2nd at 10:46 am
You guys’re doing great.
May 2nd at 11:19 am
That’s great. Keep it going and we are looking forward for some great features to be added
May 2nd at 11:20 am
A million thanks…. WP rocks!
May 2nd at 11:21 am
Everyone really appreciates it – and don’t forget to take some time out for a muffin, we wouldn’t want you burning out before middle age!
May 2nd at 11:29 am
No problem at all. Thanks for this post.
May 2nd at 12:09 pm
Thanx for clearing it up.
May 2nd at 12:13 pm
you guys are doing great. even if it does go down once in a while, i dont mind. gotta overlook a few quirks when its such a great service.
May 2nd at 12:36 pm
I am extremely happy here at WordPress. I love the forums, and I have always had answers to my questions that have helped me and my blogging experience. Thanks for all your hard work people.
V
May 2nd at 12:53 pm
No worries!
Looking forward for all the new features to come!
May 2nd at 12:58 pm
I appreciate your timely responses and hard work…problems are inevitable.
/erik
http://www.IrishCalvinist.com
May 2nd at 1:29 pm
Your efforts for continuous improvement and evolution of WordPress.com is what makes it the best. Kudos to you guys!
May 2nd at 2:06 pm
Thanks Guys – really appreciate all your hard work – especially over the Easter weekend when everyone else was eating chocolate.
May 2nd at 2:29 pm
Add oil, add oil! (a.k.a. keep up the good work)
May 2nd at 3:12 pm
You guys are providing a great service for everybody. Thx for the update.
May 2nd at 3:14 pm
Hi Matt, I just want to let you know that I appreciate your updates. It’s rare when a tech company will explain a problem let alone admit to having one.
May 2nd at 3:38 pm
I am also surprised by the openess (hum… the word exists in english?) of the wordpress staff. It´s a very rare position in the it world and I am very well impress by it. I´ve moved from a movable type provider, and after to blogpot and I am now at wordpress and even after that “weekend” crash I´m very impressed by the quality of the platform and by your attitude.
Thanks!
May 2nd at 3:40 pm
keep up the good work.Hope to get new wordpress soon.Anyways, i will be offline coz exams have arrive again will come in JUNE. Till then happy blogging to all wordpress bloggers.
http://pranjal.wordpress.com
May 2nd at 4:33 pm
Thanks for the info Matt – and good luck for all your future plans. You guys are doin a GREAT job out there, keep on!!!
May 2nd at 5:29 pm
Yeah, the slowdowns and stuff are being a real pain in the ass, lately. I was beggining to be afraid, because no one talked about it, but now that I heard from you, I’m all happy again. Keep up the good work!
Not just “good”, but awesome!
May 2nd at 5:53 pm
Yo agradezco a ustedes sus esfuerzos por brindarnos a nosotros este excelente trabajo llamado wordpress.com
Los enaltece como personas el hecho de esforzarse en ello y preocuparse por darnos explicaciones por los inconvenientes encontrados al ofrecer un producto de excelencia e innegable primer nivel.
Gracias, muy sinceras gracias, a usted Matt y todo el equipo de wordpress.com
Un cordial saludo y reconocimiento a su labor.
May 2nd at 6:24 pm
Thanks for letting us know what`s going on.
I really appreciate your work! WordPress is great,
Good luck!
A totally happy customer
May 2nd at 6:27 pm
No problem at all. Good luck & Good job!
http://www.technologymadness.com
May 2nd at 6:58 pm
Thabks for the update and all the great work you’re doing behind the scenes! Keep it up!
May 2nd at 8:02 pm
I appreciate all of the hard work. Kudos to the entire team for such a wonderful service. (Note to self: layoff the feedback stuff til the new servers are online
)
May 2nd at 8:39 pm
awesome, wordpress still rocks
May 2nd at 9:35 pm
All those problems must be a bigger pain for you guys than us, so thank you! I appreciate your efforts. Keep up the great job.
May 2nd at 10:05 pm
Your work is soooo greatly apprieciated. The WP team is wonderful! Thank you!
May 2nd at 10:16 pm
Great news! I can’t wait to see more themes and plugins.
May 2nd at 10:20 pm
I have to agree, I was getting worried as well. But keeping us informed is what helps and you do that great as well (next to all the other things we mere mortals do not know of or understand).
Eagerly awaiting the new service and in the meantime, keep a cool head and don’t let yourselves be bullied by the nags.
May 2nd at 10:50 pm
No worries
May 2nd at 11:02 pm
Can I just say:
Explaining the problem AND taking responsibility? Kudos to you! All too rare in this world. I think this means we can trust you.
May 2nd at 11:15 pm
it’s clear we all appreciate what the wordpress team is doing from the amount of comments here and even those who don’t. =)
May 2nd at 11:28 pm
kudos!!
May 3rd at 1:47 am
Thanks for caring about reliability. This was the reason I left Blogsome to come here. I definitely appreciate your efforts!
May 3rd at 1:54 am
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, GUYS!
May 3rd at 2:34 am
To complete the half century of regards and thank you notes, Keep up the good work guys! Yes, it does get annoying at times, but when it’s back to normal, you just forget the whole problem
!
Btw, being curious, for a free service, you guys are investing a lotta money, time and effort! What are you guys getting outta it? Yes, FAME for sure! WordPress.com is _the_ best blog host now. Much better than ANY one of the plethora out there!
I hope ya guys continue with this adfree, crap free hosting service. Danke! Zanke ze! Thanks a ton
!
May 3rd at 3:42 am
I appreciate all the effort that goes into offering us this free service. This is not to mention the stress and frustration you go through in your pursuit of excellence. Thumbs up for you Matt, Barry, Ryan, Toni, Podz and Donncha
– you rock!
May 3rd at 4:01 am
Thank you for caring; keep up the work!
May 3rd at 5:15 am
Go wordpress go
May 3rd at 5:50 am
Everything is well appreciated. Great work, guys!
May 3rd at 6:35 am
great, that way we’re sure to have a back up ^^
May 3rd at 7:32 am
That is good to hear – I was wondering whether it was my Mac or my connection which was going haywire ….
At any rate, thanks for a really good service!
Cheers, Kasper
May 3rd at 8:09 am
We know you guys are working on it and we are perfectly sure you will give us good stuff like themes soon as this gets over
May 3rd at 8:13 am
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, GUYS!
May 3rd at 9:44 am
Good effort guys! Really looking forward to better service!
BTW, is there any way non-techies like me could support you in any way?
May 3rd at 9:48 am
No problem. I didn’t feel a thing. Keep up the excellent job.
May 3rd at 10:53 am
Thanks for all the effort. I am in the process of moving servers and it’s a complete f***around so I understand…
If you’re thinking of new ways to improve wordpress.com, i’d say one of the most sought after options would be to be able to edit your template or customise the look & feel even more. For a designer like myself, it can sometimes be embarrasing handing out a URL for a blog I didn’t design.
I was thinking about it some more and maybe for blogs that are established enough, have good content and provide a good reason could have the ability to edit their templates. — I’m really not sure how you want to do it but I’m just throwing some ideas out there.
Also… the ability to include AdSense or some kind of ads of some kind would be fantastic and all that would require is a widget. I would understand if you couldn’t go ahead with something like that due to many reasons but the option would be nice. In saying that you’d have to watch the splogs and make sure they didnt proliferate.
Anyway just thought I’d throw that out there and thanks for all the good work and don’t stress too much!
Cheers
May 3rd at 1:03 pm
I’m not saying anything new here, but for what it’s worth, you folks are doing a great job (new themes, new widgets, multiple accounts). Thanks for this post too. Nice to know what’s happening.
May 3rd at 3:05 pm
You guys are wonderful. Thanks for all the hard work, the unlimited patience, the fast answers, the cool features, and for keeping us informed.
WordPress rocks!
May 3rd at 3:08 pm
on that day i had just convinced my poet friend to open his first blog in wordpress. everything went well, put a couple of poems and informed friends and all. boom the whole thing is down.
but its okay, i’ve fought with him, asking him not to change the service. not just me, there are many more loyal users out there.
keep up the good job. cant thank you guys enough…
- siddharth
May 3rd at 3:09 pm
Ha; I thought it was my connection as well!
Keep it up.
May 3rd at 3:13 pm
You guys are wonderful. Thanks for all the hard work, the patience, the fast answers, the cool features, and for keeping us informed.
WordPress rocks!
May 3rd at 4:18 pm
Thank you for the explanation, and for your tremendous attitude. I’m fairly new to blogging, this is the only place I’ve been, and I love it. I don’t understand, though, how it is free. How do you make money?
Blessings to all of you.
Shirley
May 3rd at 6:41 pm
Ah, the “Arizona Bay Contingency Plan”. Good work, grand pressers of words.
May 3rd at 7:05 pm
so nice to hear from you guys again. i actually thought you left us already
May 3rd at 7:47 pm
No problem, and thanks for creating a terrific way to blog!
Aneil
http://www.totaltrust.wordpress.com
May 3rd at 10:58 pm
Good luck updating the servers. WP.com is a great service and I’m looking forward to the new features.
May 4th at 3:52 am
Podz has always been great in handling my stupid computer illiterate questions.You guys are much more user friendly than blogger so you all do what you need to do.
May 4th at 7:07 am
cool!
thanks for the hard work guys.
=D
May 4th at 7:08 am
You guys are pretty straight shooters in your operation and the honesty and integrity when problems arise is so pleasing to behold! It makes a very pleasant change from the norm! Keep it going in this way please!
Good luck with the new equipment/setup…
May 4th at 8:59 am
A post I was working on just went POOF. Nothing appeared to be wrong with it, but it just went into the ether instead of being posted. Any word on what could have caused that?
May 4th at 9:56 am
hey matt and the team,
before saying anything yet, as usual, you guys rawk, no doubt in maintaining wordpress and the forums, but hey, there’s always ups and downs in everything we do, especially when we want to make it big, there’ll be hiccup every here and there. I guess that comes with the price to pay for fame
v^_^v greetings and all the best for you guys. Rock on!
Salutes,
ManMeng
May 4th at 10:00 am
Hey Matt and the rest, no worries, rock’on kay (the previous post i left here went wrong and gone)
There’s up and downs, but that’s the ‘boss stage’ you go like in RPG games. One you’re over that, you’re the winner on bonus stage.
Salutes,
ManMeng
May 4th at 12:18 pm
your efforts are highly appreciated, thank you!!!
May 4th at 1:38 pm
I’m new here. From the sound of the posts listed I think I will love wordpress. You must be doing a lot of things right. Keep it up.
Arthur
May 4th at 2:39 pm
i’m relieved to know the problem wasn’t my fault. i really appreciate your candor and straightforwardness. If only our current administration occupying the white house would be so honest and accountable, we would live in a better world. kudos!
May 4th at 3:22 pm
Hello all!
You all have a great service here and as a new person on WordPress I want to say thank you!
Not that I am rushing it at all because you know you can not rush greatness… Is there any time frame on when the errors will be fixed?
Thanks
Gemini
May 4th at 4:43 pm
Sigh, my blog has been down for many hours today. Frustrating. Sorry, I’m just venting. I do appreciate that I can come here and get honest updates, though. I’m getting a 408 Request Timeout.
May 4th at 7:21 pm
Thanks for the posting – keep up the superb wordpress workz!
May 4th at 10:11 pm
You’ve been doing great and yet you feel terribly sorry for a temporal failure? It means that you really care. And we cannot love you more for that.
May 4th at 11:15 pm
We Love you!
Kudos to the service and great application.
Keep it up WordPress.
May 5th at 2:03 pm
No Problem – wordpress.com is my way of life. Keep up the good work and thanks for keeping us informed!
May 5th at 6:49 pm
Thank You!
May 6th at 1:19 am
Just want to say you guys are awesome. I made the switch from another site to wordpress and I am hooked. It’s simple and easy to use for an IT-idiot like me and aesthetically pleasing enough for the bimbo in me. So who cares about a few minor glitches.
Keep up the great work. =)
May 6th at 5:44 am
Great customer service. What more can I ask for?
Oh wait I know. Paid upgrades like more space, photo control. When that happens count me in.
Thanks bunches
May 6th at 7:06 pm
Nice going.
My regular blog is on a wordpress platform this is my first blog thru wordpress I like it.
If we could at least edit pictures into out templates and change colors that would be awesome too.
May 6th at 7:09 pm
No worries as long as you are keeping us updated!
I am new to wordpress and I am enjoying it so far despite the problems. One thing though, will colour texts while putting up a post be included in the changes?
Keep up the good work!
May 7th at 12:42 am
The best blogservice!
Thanks a lot!
May 7th at 12:56 pm
You folks rock. And I mean, rock. Thank you all.
May 7th at 2:20 pm
Excelent work, yes we have some problems but is free and is nice, and you have a excelente team
May 8th at 3:31 am
You guys are doing great! The small outages and stuff are fine … blogger has more of a problem thats why they never say “99% uptime” beacuse the way there system works is blogger.com will always be up even if the blogs arent …. which is why all my friends… famliy and co-workers have closed up there blogger blogs and came to wordpress.com and so far we’re all happy (Espically me!
Keep up the great work!
-Mark