Last August I began having issues with my website provider Bluehost, when they “upgraded” my service by taking away my ability to open a process manager, and also made it impossible for me to run a murmur server due to their ridiculously low file descriptor count. In the old days I could just submit a support ticket to get a config changed, or open certain server ports for example. Now you have to either sit down and chat with them on the phone, or have an online chat with them. I’ve complained to them numerous times about my issues with no success, in fact at one point they made it even worse for me by changing my PHP version from 7.2 to 5.0, which is the equivalent of ordering a cheeseburger at a restaurant and instead having a toaster served to you on a platter with maple syrup and a hobo’s flaming scarf. What part of “Follow this wiki link and increase my file descriptors” even remotely translates into “Downgrade my PHP version plz”? PHP and Murmur don’t even have anything to do with each other!
They also managed to lock me out of FTP. Two tech support sessions and about a month later I eventually get my FTP access back… However I’m still at square one. I’ve been telling them from the beginning that I needed my file descriptors increased in order to run murmur, and I even linked instructions to them on a wiki page! After about another month I got word back basically stating what I already knew; My old server they migrated me from had a larger file descriptor count, and since I’m on shared hosting I would most likely have to pay for a dedicated server to do what I basically did before… They were going to look into things further, and said they would get back in contact with me sometime after thanksgiving… I still haven’t heard from them, at this point I decided take a friend’s advice and just go to Digital Ocean.
Now that the holidays are over and I’ve had a chance to breathe I’m proceeding with my server migration plan. I’m copying my files off of bluehost and getting ready to copy website databases, email addresses and the whole shebang to prepare for the move. I have until July to get things switched over, so while I’m not in too big of a hurry I do want to use the time to be through. It will give me plenty of time to test things properly before pulling the plug on bluehost.
It’s a shame that I have to do this after almost a decade :zorak: , but the service I got was anything but impressive. One thing I’m noticing across businesses is the lack of quality in staffing, or rather just lack of staffing in general. I wouldn’t be surprised if bluehost got rid of a bunch of their staff and only hired and trained people just enough to work with WordPress installs. As a result my questions about my Murmur server alluded them… I’ve seen a lot of companies try to take Wal-Mart’s leading business examples beyond the retail front, and it looks like Bluehost Wal-Marted their quality.