Yearly Archives: 2008

Hostgator Web Hosting Services

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Hosting Problems

Our faithful readers may have noticed a dearth of posts in the past two weeks.  This was because of hosting problems with our previous hosting service, which shall be nameless.  Although this is a fairly standard WordPress blog, when it inexplicably went off-line, they could not correct the situation and indeed blamed the blog.  Since another WordPress blog on a separate domain hosted with them ran into problems at exactly the same time, this seemed somewhat unbelievable.  However they were unable to correct either situation so we looked for other hosting solutions.

Hosting solutions

One of the advantages of getting involved in online communities is that friends are always close at hand.  Donna D. Fontenot, a fellow moderator at Cre8Asite Forums, recommended checking out Hostgator among others, which I did.  I found their hosting plans attractive and their KnowledgeBase and supporting information most complete.  If you are looking for a hosting solution I would recommend them without reservation.  To do so, follow this link to Hostgator.   (Full disclosure – this is an affiliate link but this in no way influences my unreserved recommendation.)

Hostgator Tickets

The online interactive site and the Hostgator Cpanel are excellent and for most applications it is unlikely that you will need to contact Hostgator.  I had some minor complications and I found the support via the e-mail ticket system surprisingly fast (usually within an hour or two).

Hostgator Live Chat

While setting up a series of domains on my Hostgator Business Account I had a small number of points where I needed additional clarification.  I used the Hostgator Live Chat facility and was delighted by the speed and excellence of the service.  Sometimes there was an immediate response: on the busiest occasion, I was third in line with 19 chat operators who were dealing with 25 chats but a response came in minutes.  It is a most impressive service.

Hostgator Hosting Recommendation

I am a really satisfied customer and, given that customer service is often less than satisfactory, I believe Hostgator is worth writing about.  If you are looking for a hosting solution, I hope you will try them out.

To provide the most useful source of information here, please add your comments, either positive or negative.  So often people only record their criticisms but rarely comment on their satisfaction.  If you have suggestions on how the service might be improved, then why not add those too.

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BWelford’s Top Picks To November 30, 2008

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This is the online version of the SMM Newsletter.  It is a selection of the most popular posts written during the past two weeks. We hope you will find this round-up instructive and in some cases amusing. You can receive an e-mail version of this if you prefer.  In that case, please subscribe at the top of the right sidebar.

The blogs in which the posts appeared are indicated by the following abbreviations after the date:  BPW = BPWrap; TOBB = The Other Bloke’s Blog;  SGL = StayGoLinks; SS = SEO-Scoop, a Search Engine People blog

The Internet is Twitter - 11/29/2008   BPW 
Social media such as Twitter typify the massive communication potential of the Internet. Although it is chaotic, perhaps surveys can provide order.
Reputation Management and Social Media - 11/29/2008 SGL 
Reputation management was possible although sometimes unethical before social media. Now companies must be an active part of the dialogue.
Traditional British Pubs Face Death - 11/28/2008   TOBB 
British Pubs are closing as visitors no longer wish to pay the increasing taxes on beer. The new generation may wish to spend more time online.
Standing Out In Social Media – Miss Manners or Mis-Behavior - 11/25/2008 SS 
Following the rules of netiquette may mean you are invisible in social media. Surprise marketing may be more ‘in your face’.
Benefit of Clouds in Africa - 11/23/2008  BPW 
Cloud computing accessed via cell phones or iphones brings powerful computing to many hands and can open up the way crises are reported.
Tom Clancys Endwar Voice Commands - 11/23/2008 SGL
Tom Clancy’s Endwar from Ubisoft uses voice technology. It works reasonably well in handling problem accents but limits functionality.
Abu Dhabi Brand Faith News Flash - 11/19/2008 SGL
News flashes should not be on Flash websites since they lose Google visibility. The website needs a RSS news feed for best effectiveness.
Happy 150th Birthday, British Columbia - 11/19/2008   TOBB 
British Columbia is 150 years old on November 19, 2008 and some fine companies have grown and prospered. The 2010 Olympics offers a bright future.
Voices mumble, fingers fumble - 11/19/2008 SGL 
As cell phones get smaller, speech technology will be capable of given very user-friendly ways of using them, particularly for seniors.
Five Seconds In The Blink Of An Eye - 11/18/2008  TOBB 
Malcolm Gladwell suggested a viewer makes up his mind about a web page in the blink of an eye. The five seconds test checks out web pages.

Footnote:
BWelford’s 6 Top Picks From The 2008 Business Best Sellers

Cascadia: The Elusive Utopia

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Anyone reading the Vancouver Sun this morning who is a Cascadian will certainly relate to the article on The Elusive Utopia.  That includes Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Cascadia: The Elusive Utopia is the title of a new book by Douglas Todd.  He asserts that Cascadians, more than most, find meaning in nature and in yearning for a fresh future. Having lived here for just over a year, I can attest to that.

Cascadia is remarkable for its mountains, evergreens, eagles, beaches and livable cities. It is named after the region’s cascading waterfalls and is also home to the least institutionally religious people on the continent. Nevertheless Cascadia: The Elusive Utopia argues that most of the 14 million residents of this rugged land are eclectically, informally, often deeply “spiritual.” They gain their sense of the sacred through the land, which in Cascadia, unlike in most parts of North America, is untamed and spectacular.

This is perhaps typified by the large photograph in the article of Eckhart Tolle, the Vancouver spiritual teacher much praised by Oprah Winfrey and author of the books, The Power of Now and A New Earth.  He is shown sitting on a large tree stump with the striking panorama of Vancouver behind him.

Knute Berger has raised the question whether the Cascadian nature worship has a neurological basis.

The basic idea is that nature, unlike a city, is filled with inherently interesting stimuli (like a sunset, or an unusual bird) that trigger our involuntary attention, but in a modest fashion. 
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A walk in the woods is like a vacation for the prefrontal cortex.

I am sure that many fellow Cascadians will relate to that.

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Traditional British Pubs Face Death

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.. and as Adam Edwards suggests in the Telegraph that implies the death of the UK.

The talk in my Cotswold local the other night was, as it is most nights now, about an uncertain future. We were conversing in our overcoats because the pub cannot afford to turn on the central heating during quiet weekdays – its future is the least certain of all.

By closing time yesterday, half-a-dozen local boozers somewhere in Britain – where doubtless parallel conversations to mine had taken place – had closed permanently. Thirty-six pubs are closing every week. More than half the villages of England are now “dry” for the first time since the Norman Conquest and sales of beer in the pubs that are surviving are at the lowest level since the Great Depression.

This week’s announcement in the pre-Budget report that the tax on beer will be increased above inflation next year and for the next three years is the latest kick in the head for a glorious British institution considerably older and rather more respected than the House of Commons.

That is not to say that there is not support in the highest places for the hub of the community.

Six years ago Prince Charles launched the �Pub is the Hub� campaign. It is meant to help what are seen as essential amenities in rural areas. Despite his best efforts many traditional community hubs have called last orders. As they close, the villages and towns lose part of their life and attraction. The rural pub is more than just a business, it is at the heart of many rural communities.

However as the Times has noted the middle classes and the middle-aged have abandoned pubs in droves. As Richard Morrison wrote:

Of all the perverse phenomena in this strange old country of ours, the death of the pub is one of the oddest. Here we are, drinking ourselves to mass liver failure, alcohol sales soaring, city centres heaving each Friday and Saturday with kids retching out their eight pints of lager, and the A&Es full of people who did stupid things while drunk, or who had stupid things done to them. It’s a pathological boozing culture that might have shocked Hogarth. So you would have thought that the pubs would be counting their profits by the billion.

In addition to the increasing taxes on beer, perhaps the Internet is changing how societies function.  Traditional media such as newspapers are having a hard time and that may be what is affecting the traditional British pub.  As Mitch Joel has remarked, the next generation spends a lot of time in the digital world.  As they game with their friends in cyberspace around the world, that does not leave much time to pop into the local pub.

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Fort Langley November 19, 1858

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Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Birth of British Columbia.  On that date, the inauguration of the Crown Colony of British Columbia took place.  The event took place in the Big House at Fort Langley on November 19, 1858, when Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie, the newly appointed Chief Justice, swore in James Douglas as the first Governor of the Crown Colony of British Columbia.

With a little time in the afternoon, Viv and I decided we should pop over to Fort Langley to see what was still going on.  Fort Langley is a charming village that is well worth a visit. In some ways it is reminiscent of the village of Hudson to the west of Montreal, although on a somewhat larger scale.  There is also a National Historic Site where you can see a restored version of the fort and settlement set up by the fur trade organization called the Hudson’s Bay Company to trade with the First Nations of the West Coast.  Although most of the festivities took place over the previous weekend, there were still cameras and lights very evident to record this momentous day.

Given the British feeling engendered by such a visit, a cuppa tea seemed called for.  As we wandered towards the quieter southern end of the main street (Glover Road), we were delighted and very surprised to spot the Yorkshire Tea Shoppe a little set back to the east of the street. It has only been open a short while but it will certainly do well.  The lady proprietor, Claire, hails from Hull in England and does indeed provide an authentic taste of Britain.  You can even get hot scones, Devon cream and jam!  It’s a place to be highly recommended and we’ll certainly be back.

Some Relevant Books

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