OK, so, it’s been one of those days. The site went a bit wobbly this morning, then crashed like a smart into a brick wall. Only many, many times. The bad news: we’re still not 100 percent on the technical side. The New Content Notification System—which spits out 11k “heads-up” emails when we have a new editorial or review—has been decommissioned until further notice. (I suggest RSS as a stop gap, and I’ll make sure I Twit regularly until normal service is restored.) And yes, there may be more service interruptions in the days ahead. I appreciate your patience and understanding during this time. The good news . . .
We’ve beefed-up our servers, adding one to the cluster. We’re getting ready for Chrysler’s C11 and the traffic spike which may follow. (GM CEO Rick Wagoner’s resignation created a 25 percent surge.) Even better, we have a whole new team tweaking TTAC for the future. Say hello to Ben, who will be tackling all our technical needs from now on.
[FYI: Ben drives a Volvo XC90 like the one above, only probably not quite so red and a 2009 model. Ben tells me he used to buy GM products because he wanted to support North American car makers. But, like hundreds of thousands of others, our new champion grew tired of getting the shaft from a manufacturer who created a substandard product and then refused to make him whole. Should we tell him his Volvo is a Ford?]
The reason for the kerfuffle: TTAC’s been sold to a new owner. I can’t tell you more than that just now, but here’s the bottom line: our new owners have promised that they will not interfere with TTAC’s editorial content.
Of course, if they did, I’d walk. So as long as you see my byline, you’ll know we are fully committed to honoring our promise to tell the truth about cars. No holds barred. All links fully functional. Moving towards a more robust, elegant and user-friendly website.
Again, thanks.
New owner…sort of like Obama owns GM?!
I did not know Abramowitsch was looking for some other playstuff other than football clubs ;-)
Congrats on the sale and I hope this means good things to come!
Can I suggest that you turn on WHOIS privacy for the domain if you don’t want the B&B to know who the new owner is just yet? Otherwise I’m sure somebody will do some sleuthing :-)
So, are there plans for a discussion forum for TTAC in the near future?
You know I got actual work done this afternoon. It was beautiful, yet horrific; like some kind of disaster or explosion.
Anyways it’s good that it’s back.
I’m glad you’re back up. As someone who works in this aspect of IT, you’ve my neverending patience and sympathy in pulling off this kind of stuff, especially in the middle of the day.
Good fortune to you!
As a computer guy, I am of course pleased that computers break. If they were reliable, I would have no work.
As a reader here, I am shocked, shocked I tell you. Dasterdly technology!.
Hope it all works out. I really like this site.
The new server needs to be a 100% “fully armed and operational battlestation” /Grandmofftarkin/ before GM declares Ch11. You’ll see the lights on the display panels that week, I am sure.
That’s my ride! Well, almost. Mine is Electric Silver and has no roof racks.
As for the outages, it happens! Always at the worst possible time, unfortunately.
Friendly reminder: don’t forget to open the comments for new posts.
ajla
Yes, sorry about that. The default setting allowed comments and pings. Now I have to tick the boxes manually. Ben’s Boyz are on it.
Holy Crap
You were bought by GM
All I see is taxpayer aided GM ads.
Good Job!!
Thanks for the clue Brian E : :)
Good job on finding a new corporate home Robert!
@Brian E: heh, looks like I’m already a member of a couple of other forums under the new corporate umbrella ;)
Is the time stamp on the messages still supposed to be EST/EDT?
@arapaima :
April 16th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
You know I got actual work done this afternoon. It was beautiful, yet horrific; like some kind of disaster or explosion.
LOL; no TTAC distraction yesterday; managed to get some actual work done.
Sadly, no picture accompaniment today; difficult to comment on some of the stories! I know this will be repaired shortly, so I will get on with my life for the rrest of the day.
Sadly, no picture accompaniment today
Huh? Pictures are appearing just fine.
Hello to Ben. And his “Boyz”. And no worries about the downage, (sh)it happens. Glad to have TTAC back, though.
RF: “TTAC’s been sold to a new owner. I can’t tell you more than that just now, but here’s the bottom line: our new owners have promised that they will not interfere with TTAC’s editorial content.”
The switch to a new server was rather sudden, so I had wondered about this possibility.
Congrats. I hope this works out well.