FINALLY… WE ARE BACK!!!
| by Rob Jackson on October 13th, 2009 |
|
What an insane and agonizing few days its been. Phandroid and AndroidForums have both been down or painfully slow for several days and gosh golly YOU WANT ANSWERS! So allow me to explain…
It was only 2 months ago that we gave away $100 to celebrate Phandroid generating 1 million pageviews in a month. The day before MOTODEV started that number had lept to about 2 million for Phandroid and ANOTHER 2 million for AndroidForums. Traffic doubled! On top of that, all the buzz from MOTODEV and CTIA caused a ridiculous amount of traffic that not even TWO dedicated servers could handle.
Overloaded servers… that’s just the tip of the iceberg. My last couple days in San Diego I got pretty sick and couldn’t do much of anything – so with the servers getting pounded and fresh off attending MOTODEV/CTIA, you all were left hanging. Traffic spike, sick, sick and traveling… and now I’m back (still sick), the traffic hasn’t ceased but thankfully we’ve diagnosed the problem and have not only addressed it in the short-term, but have a long-term solution in the works. I can only explain the past several days as a total shit storm, I apologize for the downtime/slowtime but trust me, I wasn’t exactly eating cookies and reciting nursery rhymes.
I want to sincerely thank everyone who contacted me, asking what was wrong and offering their assistance. It was a bittersweet feeling to know that so many people rely on Phandroid/AF for their Android fix… with the bitter part being the sites were down. Furthermore, it was great to see community members come together trying to address the problem. Unfortunately this was an issue that fell squarely on my shoulders and the timing couldn’t have been worse.
I want to especially thank those of you who – despite having your patience tested and suffering through several days of agony – saw the bigger picture and really hung in there and expressed your loyalty to the community we’ve built. What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. We’ve been bringing you Android goodness for 2+ years… we’re back and bigger/badder/stronger/better than ever before! The sites are now powered by THREE dedicated servers and over the next few days we’ll be replacing one of those servers with a super server that will ensure future traffic increases/spikes won’t bring our beloved Android network to its knees.
Apologies to everyone and thank you to everyone for your continued support. We got the sickies out of the way and we’re going to have the best holiday season on the face of the earth. Or as our community manager (Phases) summed up the entire thing in four words: “Our bad” and “Let’s roll”!!!
1. Don wrote on October 13, 2009
Glad you are back and feeling better. :-)
2. justjimjpc wrote on October 13, 2009
Amen to Our Bad!! and let’s Roll !!
3. BackInAction wrote on October 13, 2009
I had assumed the site was slow from the recent blast of android news. Good to see its up and working now. Get well soon.
4. Steve-O wrote on October 13, 2009
Thanks for letting us know what’s up. Working in development/IS I know all too well about overloaded servers. Thanks for all you do.
5. twrock wrote on October 13, 2009
I happy the site’s back up. I’ve been slowly developing an addiction to this site, so I was jonesing pretty bad there for a while. :)
Keep it coming! I need my fix.
6. shivers316 wrote on October 13, 2009
Meh…I hardly even noticed. ;)
7. OutstandingO wrote on October 13, 2009
Good to see you guys back up and running. Don’t let it happen again.
Now lets keep it moving baby.
8. Jon wrote on October 13, 2009
yeah, this is definitely my fav android site. i was missing it big time. i do however get all my info from a slew of sources. other good sites are:
androidcentral.com
androidandme.com
droiddog.com
BUT REMEMBER!!!!PHANDROID MAKES THE WORLD GO ‘ROUND!!!!!!!
9. JL wrote on October 13, 2009
I think those are the two phrases used to describe the Iraq war (perhaps not in that order). Yowza.
10. Integgroll wrote on October 13, 2009
Hey thanks for the information. As you can probably tell, most people who hit these sort of sites multiple times per day, like myself, like to know what is going on. Now if only we could get the people over at Verizon to release some what the hell is going on about the Sholess/Tao/Droid.
11. Cybersedan wrote on October 13, 2009
Welcome back, it was a rough few days without my Android news… feel better :-).
12. Chris C. wrote on October 13, 2009
I never pressed “F5″ so many times in my life before :[ yesterday was horrible… LOL I’m glad you guys are back though!
13. Tim C. wrote on October 13, 2009
Figured as much. Welcome back. A great site, keep up the good work!
14. Lowendall wrote on October 13, 2009
Welcome back Rob!
15. jconner wrote on October 13, 2009
darn I had to go to androidguys instead for two days was weird ;) :)
16. qlimax wrote on October 13, 2009
:D big up :D
17. Sam Norwood wrote on October 13, 2009
Awesome news that the interest in Android is increasing exponentially! Right on!
18. Zim wrote on October 13, 2009
Out of interest why not put phandroid in the clouds then if you are slash dotted its no big deal? 1 server becomes hundreds. Anyway sure you have your reasons good to see you back.
that my 5c
19. Carl C wrote on October 13, 2009
wooo hooo! :D
20. mustumasti wrote on October 13, 2009
Gr8 News…. Phandroid Rocks! Get the News rolling… dying for baked news.
21. Brian wrote on October 13, 2009
Total Shit Storm FTW
22. Marco F wrote on October 13, 2009
giddy up!
23. sammysunset wrote on October 13, 2009
Welcome back! You were sorely missed.
I would highly recommend getting some redundant servers out of state, or even off shore. Servers in Texas tend to be the safest in the states, since they are mostly free of natural disaster.
*tosses a couple of pennies*
24. colin wrote on October 13, 2009
Oh it feels so good to be back, I was starting to get withdrawls. I went to a different Android blog last night, and it just felt dirty… glad I am back home where I belong!
25. DonnyIrish wrote on October 13, 2009
No reason to apologize, just glad to see the site back up! I was thinking it was a caching issue or just massive amounts of traffic, the latter being obvious when it comes to running a great site! Get better Rob!
26. vincent wrote on October 13, 2009
welcome back, i missed you.
.
i hope everything will be great for you and your website !
27. Maj wrote on October 13, 2009
welcome back Rob
28. donna wrote on October 13, 2009
Missed ya…glad ur back..luv the articles. Keep them coming
29. John wrote on October 13, 2009
I for one am glad your are back… i missed Phandroid.
30. Mark wrote on October 13, 2009
Please send us some latest news …..
31. PeterGDakin wrote on October 13, 2009
Missed you Rob……glad to see you are back on your feet.
32. MrMattux wrote on October 13, 2009
Haha. I’m glad to see Phandroid and AF back and ready to go.
33. G wrote on October 13, 2009
lol and I thought it was a hacker attack or something :)
34. 'Droid newby wrote on October 13, 2009
:D Whew!! Got scared for a sec there!
35. jeremy wrote on October 13, 2009
Wow!!!!!!! I am on my g1 with edge network….. the site is loading 5 times faster now. Can’t wait for the superserver!
36. Devyn Glowen wrote on October 13, 2009
Great to see u back man I was feeling lonely with no phandroid updates I hope u feel better soon man bein sick sucks balls
37. dannydarko wrote on October 13, 2009
i am very pleased to see ya’ll up and running you guys are my ########111111111 android info goto site great to see ya!!!!!!!!!!
38. Esquire0399 wrote on October 13, 2009
No need for apologies. You do way too much for us already. I’m just glad you’re back! :)
39. dave wrote on October 14, 2009
dude I thought we were all going to die!
Phew… I FUCKING LOVE THIS SITE AND CANNOT LIVE WITH OUT IT
<3!
40. Mordi wrote on October 14, 2009
Thank you so much for explaining, you dont need to apologise. We will stick with you thick and thin and the ones who have stayed are your real supporters :)
41. Ryan wrote on October 14, 2009
Right on!