Note: This is a re-post, I had to restore the database because phpMyAdmin had dropped some keys, indexes, and auto_increment values when I moved everything back over. More coming in a future post.
Alright, I’ve got the Babble moved back to its home box… Looks like it’s still not working 100% (archives don’t want to work). Hopefully sometime tomorrow I’ll have a chance to dig into the code for this theme and see what the hell’s going on (there has to be something weird about the way they’re including files).
In any case, welcome back!
After all the PHP5 upgrade crap I posted about last week, I decided to move my blog off my primary server until I can get everything back under control over there.
So until you hear otherwise, this blog is now hosted with Dreamhost. If it disappears, it’s likely because of them (and not me, for a change)…
I’ll be sure to post when I move everything back over to my box again.
In case you noticed that Incoherent Babble dropped off the net for several hours today, it was due to an upgrade to PHP5 gone bad.
All it takes is one yum upgrade command to send your entire day into a downward spiral…
The fix? Go figure. I forced an “update” back to PHP 4.3 (from the cached RPMs found in /var/cache/yum, since the repo I use dumped them when they pushed PHP5 to stable). Everything totally broke then. No MySQL in PHP, nothing… Another quick yum upgrade, and everything is back up and running as if nothing ever happened. One or two corrections to the php.ini file (max memory size for a script, primarily), and it looks like we’re back in business.
Sometimes I just hate computers, I really and truly do…
I need a name consultation from anyone who happens to see this post in the near future…
You’re dumping a bunch of random stuff somewhere. Is it a bin or a bucket?
One Stats Plugin to Rule them All!
I’m testing a new plugin for Wordpress that keeps track of visitors to your website.
Firestats is still in beta, but it’s looking incredibly attractive already. One simple plugin activation in your WP admin panel, and you’ll start getting in a flood of information about who (and what) is visiting your website.
Unlike most other stats packages available, where Firestats really shines is in its ability to drill down to the information you actually want to see. Its big feature as of the 0.9.x beta release is the ability to filter your stats, eliminating bots that are constantly crawling your website. By eliminating all that extra crap data, you can actually (and easily) see the user data you really care about.
Thus far, I’ve been particularly impressed. Omry, the developer of Firestats, hangs out in the Wordpress IRC channel, and is very responsive to suggestions and bug reports. With his excellent start on this plugin, I’ve been able to easily realize just how few real viewers I have, and just how many bots are out and about crawling around the web on a daily basis.
It’s not the most feature-packed plugin available (yet), but it’s off to a good start. If you’re looking for a new stats plugin, or just want to see what kind of development progress is made, I highly recommend that you check out Firestats and see for yourself just how much of your blog’s traffic isn’t real traffic.