Photo Editing Problems

*Update: This Should be Fixed Now*

Some folks are reporting errors when they try and change their profile photo. We're aware of the issue and are working on it.

Thanks to HKK and aWiseguy for bringing this to my attention.

Do you like the new formatting tools?

Now that we've had a few days to mess around with the new review formatting tools (links, bold, italics, etc.), I'd like to get some feedback.

You can let me know how you feel here.

Email Alerts Fixed

I'd say that the installation of the new quad core server went incredibly smoothly. There was limited downtime, and as of yet, no serious bugs that arose.

The only moderately impactful glitch that I'm aware of was the inability of the new Web server to talk to the email server. This meant that stuff like email alerts when someone sent you a message wasn't working.

I'm happy to say that we've resolved this, and that all email alerts should be working again.

HTML Editor

So, we're trying to add an html editor to the item pages that would let folks easily add links to their reviews, or use bold and italics.

We're running into two problems:

1) The editor loads very slowly in IE
2) The editor doesn't allow folks using Firefox to leave new reviews from an item page (though they can edit existing reviews)

Unfortunately, if we can't get these two bugs sorted out soon, I'm may have to table this feature for now.

Fast Enough For You?

The new server is up, and the site is screamingly fast for me right now. Holy smokes - what a difference.

There's an issue with profile pages that we're working on. Hopefully we'll have this fixed shortly.

Update

So we're not flipping the switch on the new server today. It's taken longer than expected to get the new server configured, so it looks like it's going to be tomorrow.

We've also finished development on some very cool publishing features. I think you'll find that these new features will allow for better self expression, as well place RateItAll posts more directly in the conversation that takes place in the blogosphere.

More on this to follow, and we expect to turn these new features on tomorrow as well.

Cutting Over to the New Server Soon

We may have up to 30 minutes of downtime starting very soon.

Scheduled Downtime - New Server Going In

Guys, it looks like there's going to be some scheduled downtime today when we put the new quad core online. I'll let you know when I have a definitive time.

Big Day Tomorrow

Two big things happening tomorrow:

- We're putting the new quad core web server online
- We're turning on some cool new publishing features (I think you'll like them)

Most Helpful Reviewers

For the first time in a long time, things are getting awfully tight at the top of the most helpful reviewers list.

Is it time to introduce a "#1 Reviewer Tag?"

Besides IG and the jedi in training that is Numbah, who else has a shot for the top spot? It seems that GTH has plenty left in the tank (though currently he is putting in some serious work on the RateItAll Wikipedia entry), and CanadaSucks has been slowly and steadily rising, despite, I presume, not much support from RateItAll's Canadian reviewers. IJR seems hampered by a late night schedule, but still is in striking distance, despite (or perhaps because of?) the fact that he now only refers to himself in the third person. Castlebee has slowed down a bit, but she's certainly not to be counted out.

Sadly, despite visiting RateItAll just about every day for seven years, Magellan would appear dead in the water.

Server Update

That new, rocket-fast, quad core web server will be arriving this afternoon. We should be able to have it up and running by tomorrow or Wednesday. I can't wait.

Pets Mashup - Take 2

So here's another version of that Yahoo Pipes / RIA Pets mash up:




And here's the Pet List itself:

Yahoo! Pipes

Check this out - I made this widget by merging an RSS feed of the RIA Pets list and a Flickr feed of photos tagged with the types of pet. These sorts of mergers can be done, even by non-technical people, on Yahoo! Pipes.

Wikipedia Entry for RateItAll

Guys, GenghisTheHun is starting an entry for RateItAll in Wikipedia. Anybody who wants to contribute can do so here.

I'm going to stay out of it, as I am so clearly biased, but anybody needing historical or factual data can feel free to ask me.

Please be aware of Wikipedia's guidelines, and be respectful of the site's volunteers.

Widget Style

I really like the way these rating list widgets come out with MuseStorm. I'm going to see if there's some easy way to make this tool available for everyone so anybody can export any list in cool formats. To build your own, just click on the "Add To Your Web Site" link at the bottom.

Super Bowl Ads

Guys, I got the first 30 or so 2007 Super Bowl Ads embedded. I would have gotten them up sooner, but I was sitting at a neighborhood bar called Elixir, and people started giving me a hard time for pulling out the laptop.

Server Update

Well, I bit the bullet and put in an order for about the most powerful Web server on the planet. It's only been on the market for a few months, and is supposed to be rocket fast. I asked my web host about what kind of upgrade I can expect over what we have in place on the Web server now. Here's his response:

The difference is insane, think VW Bug to Ferrari. The AMD 2400MP was good when it was new, but it's nothing compared to this setup. The QuadCore can process 32 times the information per cycle, with 8 more cycles per given period, not to
mention it has over double the cache per processor.

So we should be talking significant, visible improvement. The pages should be snapping fast once we get this new box in there.

The parts should arrive on Friday, and we should have the new box in early next week. I'm pretty excited.

In the mean time, Google has kindly slowed the rate that their crawler is hitting RIA pages. This has given us a reprieve, and there shouldn't be any significant problems until we can get the new box in.

942K Visits in January

Five months of solid growth in a row. Let's go for six.

Visits:

January - 942K
December - 851K
November - 802K
October - 794K
September - 699K

The Ultimate Collection of Hot Sauces

Kamylienne is now covering 800 different kinds of hot sauces on her best hot sauce list. That's EIGHT HUNDRED. Is there a more complete collection on the web - or in the world, for that matter? Shouldn't she win an award of some kind? At a minimum, somebody should be supplying her with a lifetime supply of the hot sauce of her choice.