It was a technical problem based on a centuries old issue — what happens when you don’t pay your bills. Marketmanila is hosted by Dreamhost, and they automatically charge my credit card once a year for the hosting fees. Since I last paid the bill in April 2013, my contact email address of 14 years was finally changed (gave up my ATT address) and I forgot to let Dreamhost know. Worse, my credit card had expired as well and been replaced with a new card and new number, so the automatic charge couldn’t go through. So Dreamhost was sending my billing notices to a non-existent address, and the credit card charge was rejected. And as luck would have it, I was on the beach in Bohol watching folks harvest “sand worms” (more on that in the next post) when Dreamhost decided to shut down my account. I had no access to my emergency codes and passwords which were left on my desk at home, for use in situations like this. By the time I got home last night, the dire warning that all of my files could have been erased if I didn’t pay ASAP meant a couple of hours of holding my breath until the site was back up. All is well. Everything is restored. But I am not that dopey, believe or not, as I am now considered quite old fashioned, I actually have a hard copy of all the posts (3,700+ of them). Now I just have to figure out how to electronically back up the contents of the site so I don’t get a mini-heart attack the next time this happens. Or maybe, just maybe, I will take this as a sign to finally sit down and write a book so it sits on the shelf rather than on the web. Thanks for all the messages and texts from friends who were concerned the blog had been under nuclear attack of some sort by this or that nefarious source. I just forgot to pay my bill. :)
42 Responses
I suspected it was a domain related issue as your email address was bouncing emails as well. Glad it got sorted out.
So glad to see your site is back. Back up your files and posts in the “cloud”.
Ay salamat :) balik na uli ang ligaya.
Glad you are still at it MM.
I have had occasions like this when because of too many things going on in my life, a credit card was suspended or a bill or two on auto pay was rejected and good grief! more than a dozen business checks were not deposited in time because they got buried in my table for a year! and I never recouped a substantial loss!:(
But this is not to give you ideas on quitting this blog:)
glad its back mm
you’re back!!
it’s my morning ritual, with brown coffee + pandesal, browsing your website for any/some thing new, new information, new recipe/s.
may be it would be interesting too, to read MM in hard copy.
:-)
Ahhh still wishing you would collate all your blogs into a book…but glad you’re back!!!
yey, back to regular programming! waiting for a kinilaw na sand worm post.
Glad you are back. I have been checking for the last 3 days and thinking if I missed any announcements re: site change or url change. I am not very techie but this is what I do with my files. Instead of hard copy, I print it into a pdf file using a pdf converter. It is a free download. I use CutePDF. http://www.cutepdf.com. There are a lot of free converter sites on the web. I save the files to a folder. Then I do a backup using an external drive. Hope this helps.
eyyy! yun pala eh… thought it was my pc and internet connection… glad to see the posts back :)
I panicked!! My daily MarketManila fix early in the morning and before bedtime was gone!! Thank goodness you’re back!!
Archivists and historians will kill me for saying this but sometimes detachment and starting totally fresh is …well….refreshing. So if you lost all of the past posts, leave them where they belong – the past. Forget the baggage, bring out a clean slate and start doing your thing all over again and who knows, maybe done even better.
While a book by MM is something that I support, there’s one aspect of the website that the book will never have and that is the gem that is the comments section. I learn a lot also from the community we have in the comments section.
Khew, that’s what I do with all my old emails, which gets me into a bind when you need passwords described within… :) Re-do any serious fraction of the 3,800 posts in the archives, I don’t think I would be up to that. But I know what you mean about letting go… :)
Your archives are like treasures that cannot be replaced..they are my go to place to for almost everything…glad you are back and thank you Zubuchon FB,,i breathe a sight of relief that everything will be alright.Take care MM,you a very thoughtful man,no need to apologize,it is your domain..I sure do appreciate that YOU ARE BACK :)
The 3800 posting will break my heart if they cannot be access..Thank you for backing them up..you can publish those,make a book ,I will be in line buying.
MM, how about publishing all your posts including all the comments! Am sure, it’ll be a best seller!
Just glad you’re back. I need my daily MM Fix!
Welcome back…..your blog is a treasure. I would love to see these in a book.
Glad you’re back! I thought I was blocked when I couldn’t access your site lol Good to hear everything is restored. Backup and backup the backup is the name of the game of today’s content driven lifestyle. I would be catatonic if I am in your shoes and I lose the thousands of posts you’ve accumulated. The time and energy you’ve spent on them is priceless. So maybe it’s about time to think about printing that book? :-) I would definitely buy a copy.
There are network backups, offsite backups and cloud backups. I’m sure your technical team can suggest the best option. Our home backup for photos is insane. We constantly worry about hardware failure so we have multiple backups.
Now, back to my browsing your entries lol
Ay salamat :) balik na uli ang ligaya.
thanks God the site is back on track, ^_^! no need to apologize MM.
Salamat at online ka na ulit. Dapat siguro ay ibackup mo lahat ng content ng iyong blog para kung sakaling tuluyang magkaroon ng aberya ay pwede mo maibalik lahat.
https://www.advancedwebranking.com/blog/back-up-blog/
It was hard for a few days. It was like going through a withdrawal… arghh… now it feels like I can breathe again… ha ha ha…
MM is back! I thought some sicko might have hacked into your site again. Am happy everything is normal again. a big sigh of relief!
Good to see you back.
First thing I did after being back was to check out (in?) and got no replies. I thought the worst, uh oh the trolls and mylai dimaculangans of the great wide web finally won?
Intense relief.
Welcome back po MM! Glad your back on-line :-)
Glad the site is up again!
Please write that book / cookbook soonest!
Thank goodness – all is well!!! (panic – thanks to Lee’s assurances – calm down!!)
DO NOT let go…
I’m also very happy that your the MM site is up and running again! Thank you so much for all the food posts, rants, comment replies and all the good things that come of your blog. You’re Marketman, the awesomest man of all! :=)
glad you’re back MM :)
What a relief! So glad you’re back online.
like others, i panicked. Tried to access from different computers. Glad you are back!! Whew!
how about trying the ancient tradition of bookbinding for your files, MM? That “look” will be great for your book! :) .. and I am so happy to be reading your posts again! Yehey!
MarketMan’s on the Net, all is right with the world ;) But I would definitely fall in line at that book launch. :D
I’m glad your site’s back online MM.
*major sigh of relief*
thoughts of a virus, a hacker or MM leaving blogging without a goodbye…also maybe an April Fools’ joke..ran thru my head…
glad it’s back up :) now back to torturing myself with photos of good food :D
good news!
Ideally, one should backup their digital files on an external drive (in case the internal drive on your computer conks out) and another copy of that backup that is located offsite (in case something happens to your place — like it burns down or something :)). I’d suggest availing of online storage like dropbox, google drive or onedrive (microsoft). Your files are uploaded in these cloud storage automatically once you set it up.
This is great! I had a mini heart attack when I couldn’t visit the site days ago.
Glad you’re back….