Moving Stamp Smarter Website

<vent> I have had enough of the service that has been hosting Stamp Smarter. (Used them for 7-8 years but they got sold about 2 years ago.) Their server performance went into the dumpster about 3 weeks ago and they have been pushing back on me since then. I even went to the trouble of establishing a new dedicated Windows Server machine to prove to them that the issue was not the code but rather their crappy server. No luck, their support people follow their flow charts where the first 4 steps are 'it is the customer's fault' and 'sell the customer some support time even if it is our fault'. Grrrr. </vent>

So what this means is that I am moving Stamp Smarter to a new hosting service. It is a huge and complex site, well over 80GB in size and plenty of technical dependencies like from SQL, PHP, and ASP. Scope of work for me is about 40-50 hours.

I have turned off the ability to enter new data in any of the community projects. Freezing these databases allows me to move them without trying to keep things in sync in real-time. But while project members cannot enter new data, everyone else will continue to access the databases.

The rest of site will also remain up while I make this move behind the scenes. Once I have the new site established and fully functional, I'll cut over the domain name. This means other than not being able to entering new data the move should be transparent to everyone.
Don

Thank you for your intense dedication to philately. StampSmarter is a great resource.

Thanks for the note, even though most of us will not see anything different. It is still good customer service. Good luck on all of the work. I hope it goes well.

Good idea and thanks for your wonderful efforts in keeping this hobby interesting and informative.

Don,

Great news. I hope it goes smoothly for you and the headaches are small.

Don,

I assume you've already identified a new host, but it not, let me know. I've been very happy with mine.

Good luck with your move!

Best of luck Don and thanks for your endless contributions to our hobby.

I guess I just want to say what everyone is saying: Thank you, Don, for your dedication to this hobby that we all enjoy so much! Good luck with the move. I hope it is as easy as you hope it will be.

I will also echo the sentiments expressed. I never realized just how in-depth your site was until you posted the index a few weeks back. It's a literally digital library and most threads on this site looking for info end up with a link to your site somewhere in the post. Amazing work. Truly.

You are a good man Don. Many thanks for all of the love you show your fellow philatelists (and others).

Don - Thank you for the "heads-up" on your process to move your fantastic site. Amazing dedication and work, and superb "customer service", which, unfortunately, is rare.

Don's post made me stop and think how important and useful his site is to me as a collector and to philately in general.
I tend to think of websites as natural resources; that they will be here forever. I forget that it not only takes hard work and dedication but also money to maintain them.
I just donated to the Stampsmarter website to show my appreciation.
Thanks, Don, for all your work!
Dan

Don - Thanks a lot for all of your efforts with stampsmarter and this site. You are very much appreciated.

Good luck.

I am sorry they are putting you thru this hassle.