The move broke stuff. First the whole site, then just the comments.
The new server has, I now learn, PHP compiled separately from Apache. Time to change the .htaccess file.
Plus, I'm now on Apache2, I learn. That has more .htaccess implications involving security settings I think I won't brag about. But I had forgotten why I did them that way, and I had to change them in a hurry.
Please let me know if anything seems more broken than usual.
For the past few days the blog has suffered from unusual slowness — yes, even more than usual — caused by heavy load on the server. The nice people at Dreamhost are moving me to what they say is a snazzy new server where the blog will zip along at a fabulous less sluggish pace.
Meanwhile, there may be brief weirdness. Please let me know if anything odder than usual persists.
I wonder sometimes if I should spring for faster service. But that would be expensive. And I like not taking ads. (This blog is privately hosted. My employer neither pays for it nor is in any way responsible for it.)
For reasons unknown, iraqbodycount.org has started serving a popup instead of its civilian casualty count, so I've disabled that part of the sidebar at least temporarily.
In general there's a fair amount of cruft in the sidebars — should I go on a sidebar diet to speed load time and looks?
UPDATE (8/1): Looks fixed?
According to TaxProf Blog: Law Prof Blog Rankings, this blog remains #15 on the popularity list for visitors.
Page views have slipped to 17th, perhaps because I've been taking it very easy on posting while on vacation; indeed the ten days starting Monday should also be slim as I'll be abroad and then recovering from jet lag.
I expect things may pick up once classes start in mid-August, and I go back to the academic year's daily rhythm — there seem to be more interstitial moments in those days. Or more meetings. Or something.
Over in the right margin I ask readers to tell me a little bit about who they are. I really enjoy reading the replies.
But unfortunately, in recent days someone has been abusing this for commercial purposes. I think it's being done by hand, the IP numbers vary, and the messages did give me pause as they all seemed plausible.
But enough already.
Today I deleted comments bearing the following monikers and timestamps:
acai diet 2009-07-05 17:13:42
Bangkok hotels Thailand 2009-07-05 17:08:22
Beta alanine 2009-07-05 17:04:46
Paypal Vcc 2009-07-01 18:19:37
Option trading 2009-07-01 18:16:58
Gold Chain 2009-07-01 18:15:03
loans consolidate 2009-06-26 17:41:22
small businesses 2009-06-26 12:22:53
Natural Stone 2009-06-12 02:24:12
If one of those was you, and you're a real person, please feel encouraged to resubmit it without a product name attached. Thank you.
I'm out today.
via SFDB Ecard Of The Day by South Florida Daily Blog
Politically correct update: It's been suggested to me that the message of the card above is the pernicious “wouldn't it be a shame if women didn't strip down to bathing suits on a winter holiday” rather than what I innocently took it to be, which was, “isn't it nice to be able to go to the beach.” I'm guess I'm just naive.
Jotwell Blenderlaw