Tried to create it online on my own. It basically got into a never-ending loop. Called them up. Got their new Philippines Call Center. They were good. Admitted that it was best IF THEY set it up, rather than I trying to do it myself. They went ahead and set up a site for me. Took about 30 minutes. I was OK with that.
I had forgotten how much work it is to get a WP site up and running. But, I have been using WP, DAILY, for 20 years! So, I got a basic site up. Got the NameServers updated at GoDaddy. So, to be fair, I had it up and running …
THEN the troubles started. Biggest issue was that new updates to the site were NOT getting propagated. I would make changes to the home page and PUBLISH it. I would be able to see the CHANGES on my Chrome browser BECAUSE I am always logged onto WordPress. But, the changes would NOT show on other systems!
Had to call HostGator. That was a hassle. They fixed it initially and said it was a CACHING issue — and that I should just clear the CACHE. I had been told this, on this site, a few months ago. I was OK. They AGAIN showed me how to clear the cache via SETTINGS. I was cool.
Problem happened again a few hours later. Clearing the cache didn’t fix it.
I WAS DONE.
I did some research and decided to TRY ‘Google Sites‘. I did NOT need a Blog. So, that was not a factor.
I changed the GoDaddy nameservers back to ‘PARK’ & this morning started on ‘Google Sites’. I am delighted.
NO MORE WordPress with HostGator.
I hope I can keep this site running OK. Fingers crossed.
This is on Microsoft’s ‘System Defender’ Page. Don’t try to do this on your own!
I have my own domain for e-mails. Have had it for over 25-years. These days my e-mail, from that Domain, is hosted at ‘GoDaddy‘ — & they use Microsoft e-mail servers.
Today, I found that my e-mails to SOME GMAIL accounts were NOT going through. Lucky that I happened to ask the recipients. I didn’t get any bounce backs or anything like that. Showed that they were sent.
On a HUNCH I called up GoDaddy support. A whole new experience. Didn’t have to wait on hold for 90-minutes. Had a human responding in about 5! Wow.
And she was AMAZING. Outstanding. Understood the problem. Knew how to fix it. This ‘DKIM‘ thing. I had no idea. It was quite involved. I had to go to Windows Defender and get a key. I had to send it to her vai e-mail. She had to type it in. But, it worked.
So, a HEADS UP. If you get e-mail issues get someone to check DKIM.
I had to do a double-take when I got this e-mail from ‘GoDaddy’.
GoDaddy, who a few years ago was taking AWAY ‘sign-up’ features they had given you (e.g., one-year free Web hosting with domain registration), is NOW doing a FREE UPGRADE! Wow. Major change of heart & attitude for GoDaddy — BUT, I am impressed & somewhat grateful. I no longer need domain privacy with the domains I have registered. {SMILE}. For example with this domain, i.e., guruge.com, my surname it has to be fairly obvious as to who might have registered it. So, I have NOT bothered with domain privacy in over a decade! Yes, a longtime ago, I did use to pay for it for certain domains. But, that was a different era, a different part of my life.
I am GLAD GoDaddy has done this.
Appears it is no longer such a BIG deal in that it, i.e., buying privacy protection, has come down in price. And GoDaddy, these days, has a LOT of competition when it comes to domain registering. So, it wants to be competitive. Good on ya, GoDaddy.
It reminds me of GoDaddy in the late 1990s when they came to be. I signed up with them soon after they were a going concern. I have been with them since at least 1998. Those were the glory days under the founder ‘Bob Parsons‘. A very different company, of course, in those early days. THEY HAD KILLER SUPPORT! Wow. They were good. Well, the company exploded. Then came the disastrous ‘Blake Irving‘. He ruined the company. Well, with this move, at least, they appear to be making a start of clawing back the considerable goodwill they lost under bumbling Blake Irving.
Thank YOU, GoDaddy. It isn’t much, but I appreciate the gesture.
‘GoDaddy’ & I, as I talked about in this September 2021 post, go back 22-years.
I was a huge fan & promoter of GoDaddy. At one stage, c. 2010, I probably had 35 ‘products’ — viz., registered domain names, hosted sites & e-mail accounts — at GoDaddy. I had ALL of my ‘Web’ stuff with them (without exception) & tried to get most of my clients to move their stuff over to them too. I swore by GoDaddy — but the swearing had to do with how great they were. My yearly invoices from GoDaddy, as I would be reminded each year as I filed my taxes, ran into the thousands.
GoDaddy, under the legendary founder ‘Bob Parsons’ was good to I & I was grateful. It was not always smooth sailing, but boy, ‘oh, boy!’, did they try. Their support used to be so responsive. They had a highly technical group called the ‘Tiger Team‘. If you were a ‘preferential customer‘, either because you had highly technical needs or you bought a lot of products, your technical issues would be escalated to the ‘Tiger Team’. They were good. They would get on the phone with you.
Well, this is BUT nostalgia.
GoDaddy is a shadow of what it used to be in its heyday. ‘Blake Irving‘, who became their CEO, in 2013, in my opinion, changed the company forever — &, alas, not for the better. I was never a fan of his. I guess this 2017 post was not that subtle as to how I felt. SMILE.
Click image to access my 2017 post at my old blog.
Well, alas, this is not the first unfortunate data breach that GoDaddy has endured. They had another one just 2-years ago! Yes, just two years ago — October 19, 2019.
I started this, my latest (& hopefully ‘greatest’) website/blog in June of this year. I spent weeks looking for the right hosting company for I — & I had decided I was going to use WordPress. I had had 20 (or more) managed WordPress sites at GoDaddy. But, this time around I barely spent 5 minutes thinking about them as an option. I went, in the end, with ‘HostGator‘. So far, they have been immaculate.
I am, of course, delighted that I am NOT a GoDaddy WordPress customer. This data breach will be such a pain for MILLIONS as they scramble trying to change passwords etc. This was NOT acceptable on the part of GoDaddy.
Kicking out that radical website was a brilliant, decisive, resounding & moral act. Bravo, GoDaddy. As a customer of over 22-years I am very proud of you. GoDaddy did the right thing.
GoDaddy & I go back to at least 1999, if not earlier. Those were the heady days of when GoDaddy was still making baby steps. I switched over from ‘Network Solutions‘ & for 15-years (or more) I could NOT have been happier. GoDaddy was good to I. Those were the days when (saintly) ‘Bob Parsons‘ ran the shop, with his finger always on the pulse. On paper Bob no longer has any executive clout over GoDaddy. But, this move against Texas is very much what I expect from that great man. I am sure he made a few phone calls.
GoDaddy, under Bob, was quite the magical company. I kid you NOT when I say that c. 1999 GoDaddy & I mastered Microsoft ‘FrontPage’ hosting together. Yes, there were technical issues — but, in those days, under Bob, SUPPORT was the #1 priority & they had the so called ‘Tiger Team’. That Tiger Team & I were closely, so many times, thrashing out FrontPage hosting issues. I never dealt personally with Bob, but I had access to one of his direct assistants. He would always step in & make sure I was treated well. In 2013, when Benedict XVI resigned, my (then) ‘Next Pope‘ website, hosted with GoDaddy, EXPLODED. We were getting something like 4,000 hits per second. My hosting plan never envisaged that level of traffic. GoDaddy, even before I called them, stepped in! They had seen the ‘issue’. I was later told that Bob himself was monitoring the traffic to my site. They, i.e., GoDaddy, even without asking (or charging) me kept on increasing the hosting capacity assigned to my website. GoDaddy rocked.
I am GLAD to see that they are back to being the EXCELLENT company they once were.
If you go to my ‘old blog‘ & do a search (on the built-in search bar) for ‘GoDaddy‘ you will find tons of posts — some praising them, some lambasting them.
I am still a GoDaddy customer. Most of the domains I own (& I still own a few) & my e-mail is still with them. They no longer host any sites for I. But, that is OK. I still think of myself as a GoDaddy ‘booster’. This decision, by GoDaddy, to take a stand against the INSANE Texas abortion ban made me proud of GoDaddy. The spirit of Bob Parson prevails.
