Subscribe2 GoDaddy – it was working & now it's NOT AGAIN

@amygutman,

To date the only fix I’ve been made aware of that works every time is migrating away from GoDaddy and finding a more open, transparent and reliable hosting provider.

Thanks for responding. <Sigh> Is there a host that you’d particularly recommend? I’ve heard Blue Host mentioned a lot. . . .

I just realized I am also not getting the usual email notifcations when someone comments on a post. This has never been a problem before. Any idea if this is a hosting issue or something else? I checked Discussion settings and it’s still check marked for me to be emailed notifications when anyone posts a comment.

@amygutman,

BlueHost seem to get a consistently good report, they’re not perfect but then who is. THey certainly appear to be better than GoDaddy who now seem to be blocking all emails!

Effing unbelievable. Clearly the time has come to change hosts. Is this a big deal? Also, do you have any intelligence on Dreamhost? That’s another one I seem to recall having heard recommended?

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to respond.

@amygutman,

Dreamhost were one of the earliest companies to impose limitations that affected the way Subscribe2 worked, the limitation of the number of recipients per email derives from a Dreamhost restriction but all other hosting providers have not followed suit.

They are certainly better than GoDaddy at the moment and have been much more consistent and open about their limitations for several years now.

So based on this, would you say Bluehost is preferable? Or is there some other way around the email restrictions? How do people on Dreamhost manage handle their email alerts? Would I be better off with something other than Subscribe2?

@amygutman,

If you are running a fairly some blog with reasonable numbers of subscribers and you are not relying on the emails and site for your food I’d go with Bluehost. If on the other hand this is your business then I’d be looking for a paid commercial solution so you have funded support.

Hmmm. I’m sort of between the two, I think–I only have about 100 subscribers now but am hoping to build quickly once I get this issue resolved. I’m not making money off the site per se, but it is the source of much of my business (I’m a writer.)

What are some paid commercial solutions worth exploring? Curious what they offer as well as the entry cost. Thanks again!

@amygutman,

MailChimp gets talked about quite a lot and has a WordPress plugin, there’s also the Amazon SES which could be configured to work with Subscribe2 I think, provided your host allowed external SMTP connections (i.e. Not GoDaddy)

If I used MailChimp instead of Subscribe2 would I elude whatever limits GoDaddy is using that are interfering with Subscribe2? And might this be an easier shot-term fix than changing hosts? Or should I just bit the bullet. I am leaning towards Bluehost–looked into Dreamhost, but someone pointed out that they don’t provide free phone support, which was a dealbreaker for me.

Also, the fact that I’m not getting email comment alerts when a reader posts a new comment makes me think that something bigger than Subscribe2 is going on.

Yesterday, I finally talked to GoDaddy. They (not surprisingly) say they see no problems on their end. They suggest uninstalling then reinstalling the plug-in. When I pointed out that the problem appears to extend beyond that–to email comment alerts as well–the tech guy vaguely said that it appeared that both problems stemmed from the same source. I am skeptical . . .

@amygutman,

I don’t use MailChimp myself, I use Subscribe2 since I write it!

GoDaddy seem to have problems with emails across the board, not just Subscribe2. They are perhaps trying to get users to pay for and use their system and if that is the case I think they should at least admit it!

I have no idea if MailChimp will fix your issue on GoDaddy or if it will even work.

Based on my experience of users on GoDaddy for the last 4-5 months I’d recommend you leave first, move to BlueHost and then see if anything else needs fixing before changing your current set up.

Thank you so much! And thank you for Subscribe2, which worked great before these issues came up. I will do as you suggest–will let you know what happens. One last question–is changing hosts likely to be a big deal? In particular, is it risky in any way that I should be aware of? (I am a Tech Bimbo, as you’ve likely figured out by now . . .)

@amygutman,

Migrating hosts will probably result in a period when your site is not available but this should not be for any longer than 24 hours.

Your database name and password details for WordPress may change and that would need amending in the wp-config.php file.

Other than that I’d say that in my experience, migrating hosts is easier than you might at first think. I’ve done it a few time and the last time (about 3 years ago now) was about as easy as installing WordPress.

Amy,

I’m sorry to learn that you’ve had this trouble. Whatever you choose to do with your account, I wish you luck in finding success.

I’m posting here to clarify Go Daddy’s position on mail handling. There is no general rule that prevents sending mail from WordPress or any other hosting application. However, we do have systems in place to limit spam on our servers. If you’ve found a sudden problem with all mail handling, it’s possible that recipients of your messages have flagged them as spam which can result in filtration.

To investigate whether or not this is the case, you can submit a support ticket to have your information reviewed. Explain what’s happening and ask to find out if your domain has been flagged, and if it has, how you should proceed to prevent the issue from recurring.

Alon
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