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Page 13

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Fig. 1. Credit: tomotechi.com
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Fig. 2. Credit: mypcback-up.net
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Fig. 3. Credit: mypcback-up.net

Catharsis & Closure
An Open Letter to Ipage and Weebly.com
and the Web Hosts
who license their program

    April 13, 2014
   
    To whom it may concern,

    As I conclude the issues of website transfer and Weebly website backups, and bring this discussion to a close once and for all, I wish it known for the record that among all the related topics that were questioned over the last few weeks (check the large number of support tickets with my name) two troubling and problematic aspects remain unresolved. These two factors have come to light as a result of nearly half a hundred separate emails exchanged among six different hosts, not including the Weebly company itself. While Weebly is its own host, the company licenses its site-building program to many third party hosts.

    In no specific order, these hosts were: a) Bluehost; b) Justhost; c) Dotster; d) Hostgator; e) Weebly.com; and f) Ipage.com.

    The two issues in question remain:

    1) The conflicting definitions and applications of the words and terms, "back-up", "restore", "archive", "site-content", "editor-content", "third-party" and several others too numerous to mention.

    The problem:

    Using "back-up" as only one example, the term is used differently among hosts and their customers who are building websites. This is especially true as concerns the Weebly drag-and-drop builder which may in fact, be the sole company for whom the problem exists. Typically, the word back-up means, to a customer, the ability to instantly restore (replace) something that is either missing or has been damaged beyond reasonable repair. A collection of slideshow pictures that were accidentally deleted, for example. And where the customer did not keep a personal backup of the irreplaceable photos that were part of the slideshow. In this situation, a backup would (in theory) mean that the customer could either request that the page containing the slide show be replaced by an earlier backed-up version of the page, or if need be, the site in its entirety could be replaced with an earlier, archived version of the site as a whole. This action might also, in theory, be accomplished at the click of a button, as in "redo" or "undo".

    It is my educated guess that this is how 99% of all Weebly customers -- whether third-party users or actual Weebly.com customers -- "assume" they can fix a mistake, either small or disastrous, if and when it happens to them. Unfortunately nothing could be farther from the truth. In actuality, hosts have a completely different view and definition of what back-up means, including all the rest of the terms and words that are thrown about as if everybody is on the same page when, in reality, they aren't even using the same book.

    Believe it or not, various web hosts and even Weebly itself, define backups as nothing more than "reference guides" for rebuilding pages and entire sites from scratch. Yes, that's right. These reference guides act as "copies" of a website's content, from which a customer can:

    a) Rebuild their site by either copying pictures and text from the "old" version of their site, and pasting them into the new and appropriate elements of their new blank pages. Or:

    b) Use the old version of their "saved" website as purely a reference guide for rebuilding their page or site from scratch. In this scenario, copy and paste techniques are not necessary or utilized for whatever reason. In some cases, a customer may have used certain combinations of features and elements whose exact sequence of construction has been forgotten. In such a situation, no amount of previous "pictures" of their website are of any use. Additionally, the customer may have lost the ability to repeat the multi-step process that produced a desired effect. A lengthy period of trial and error may be required in order to duplicate the end result and in some instances, the same exact result may never be replicated.

     This is exactly why we must have real backups. Among a hundred other reasons.

    In terms of the big picture, most customers are not aware of these discrepancies and shortcomings and do not find out about them until it is too late. The reason so few complaints are lodged is because most Weebly customers create simple websites that are easily fixed in the event of a problem. Few if any, ever find themselves in need of a complete site restoration. But if and when they do, the simple truth is that they are simply out-of-luck, and must rebuild everything by using one of the methods described.

    The critical truth is, of course, that all such customers are ticking bombs, so to speak. They are all accidents just waiting to happen. And it only has to happen to you once, for it to become suddenly very real. This then, is only the first big hassle that exists between hosts and customers. The following second and third items are related and go together, so I'll combine them into the two examples below:

    2) Working without a usable, editable, automatically restorable backup and:

    3) The inability to transfer my site to another host -- in the same, exact condition in which it existed while my site was hosted elsewhere.

    We've all heard horror stories among our friends as to the pain and suffering that result from not keeping a current backup of their computer work. We are told over and over and over again, "...always make sure you back up your work." This admonition has seemingly fallen on deaf ears when it comes to certain hosts and most, if not all, Weebly users. So unbelievable is this fact, that I have emails from support agents who were as shocked as I was, to learn that "editable" backups are not available for Weebly Drag-and-Drop users.

    An "editable" backup is a file in the form of a single page or the website as a whole, that can be reinserted back into the Weebly builder. And the customer may then resume work as if nothing ever happened. No such animal exists. If Weebly does possess such an ability or offers editable backups, they do a good job of keeping them a secret. After literally dozens of emails back and forth between Weebly.com and me, and dozens more between my own host and me, and dozens more between other hosts and me, I have yet to receive a definitive answer about this very issue. Most of the so-called answers I received were either inaccurate or entirely and completely wrong. But again, the errors involved were largely a matter of differing definitions of identical words and terms. Words have meanings and in the case of technical issues, these meanings must be precise and be the same for all who use them.

    To make things even more complicated, Weebly.com uses what it calls a .zip archive feature. The company thinks this is a very valuable asset for transferring your site to another host. In reality, this so-called feature is nothing more than a way to keep a photo-record of your site and use the pretty pictures as a guide for rebuilding your site -- from scratch. In other words, it's absolutely no different from any other means you might use to make a copy of your site, because it's totally useless except as reference for what you had on your pages and where you had them. You might as well just use your camera and take pictures of the monitor screen. I recommend not using the flash.

    In this same context, a major conflict exists between what is called the "published" version of a website and the "unpublished version of that same site. Although it's the identical website, the published and unpublished versions of it are two, completely different animals. A huge problem stems from the fact that neither is compatible with either. What this means is that if something goes wrong with the unpublished version (the one under construction inside the Weebly program) such as the accidental deletion of a page, for example, the missing page cannot be retrieved from the published version, copied, and then pasted into the unpublished version. Thus the published edition is little more than a reference guide for rebuilding everything from scratch.

    This situation is made even more problematic in the sense that a customer is discouraged from experimenting with their site construction. There have been numerous occasions where I wanted to see how something might look if I changed this or that, but was afraid -- if not figuratively scared to death -- to do anything for fear that there was quite literally no going back. No immediate undo if I didn't like the change. Screw up and you're screwed -- literally. I hate this aspect of the Weebly program. Hesitating to try something out or do something new -- and be punished for experimenting -- is absolutely unconscionable.

    These are the same geniuses who thought of everything when it comes to building your site. Well, almost; they forgot to put wheels on the car they built.

    So what's the big deal? For me, it's as if the presumption is made that Weebly users will be so dumb that they won't know how to create a really complicated site, and thus never need a "traditional" backup as it's commonly defined. It's obviously presumed that any minor, incidental error or accident can always be fixed with a bit of extra repair work. No big deal. In my particular case, the minor error meant three days of painstaking work in order to rebuild the missing page.

    Although my sarcasm is well placed, it is also a "crying shame" as they used to say. The Weebly program is otherwise a site-to-behold, pun intended. It literally is the greatest thing since sliced bread, as they also used to say; the builder does in fact, work extremely well. Indeed, the program is a joy to use. The beauty of my website here, often takes the breath away from many of those who view it. And marvel at it. The Weebly company deserves much of the credit for how professional and "expensive" the site appears. Credit must always be given where credit is due. And in this case, a huge amount of praise and recognition is most certainly due.

    Likewise, so should blame and ridicule be attributed to oversights which can only be explained with words like "incompetent" and "unconscionable". I've never had a single problem with Weebly until this backup fiasco cropped up. And it's been personally devastating to me. I appear, however, to be among the very few this has happened to. If not the only one to bitch about it. When I Googled the Ipage site, to see if an army of people were out there who dislike the company, very few could be found. Except for this awful backup and site-transfer situation, I could still be counted as a loyal fan and customer.

    Lastly is the ridiculously inept, site-transfer protocol, which is virtually useless because there isn't any protocol at all. That's much too fancy a word for the simpletons who configured the process by which Weebly users can transfer from one host to another. Namely, that there is no process or method involved whatsoever.

    So you want to move to another website? Fine. Just quit Ipage, sign up with another host, and you guessed it...start building your site from scratch again. Wow! Such sophisticated technology; it boggles the imagination.

    Moving is made especially easy, of course, because you have those nice pictures of your website to work from. I recommend the copy-and-paste method; it works pretty good. It will take you forever and is almost impossible to do, but it works pretty good. Or you can type all those pages all over again. Which is exactly what you'll have to do if you originally typed them using "title" text instead of "body" text. Oh, you didn't know that, did you? Yup. There's all kinds of cool little surprises just waiting to be discovered when you try rebuilding your site using copy and paste.

    It's pretty much a toss-up as to which method is the most archaic and inane: either copy and paste, or just doing everything from scratch. The Chinese are about to put men on the moon, but you're sitting there typing your thousand-word compositions all over again. I use a graphics program from 1995 which has almost unlimited "undo" features available at the click of a button. Weebly, in 2014, has for all intents and purposes -- none, zero, zilch, nada. Make the slightest mistake and you're out of luck; start over.

    In summation:

    All sarcasm aside, I'm rebuilding the content missing from my Weebly editor. Very soon I'll be back in business adding new content to my website. I'm also going to stay with Ipage as my host. One, because I have no real choice, but two, because they've been very good to me. Their phone support is second to none. Had it not been for this terrible, horrible glitch, I'd be among the first to recommend Ipage to all my friends. I would have even used the Weebly program to build sites for my friends who aren't all that tech savvy. Now I will do neither. In fact, I will do just the opposite.

    I will warn all my friends. I will warn strangers to beware. The whole point of posting this open letter is to broadcast the idea that while Ipage is a great company, with fair prices and excellent support, there is a vital, missing ingredient to the package that most reasonable people would find laughable, if not utterly ludicrous. Let alone precarious. Namely the idea of working without a backup of any kind whatsoever. A backup, that is, as most rational people define it.

    If somebody is brave (or foolish) enough to work without a backup, then a third-party Weebly builder is a wonder to behold. Just don't make a big mistake. It is very easy to delete whole pages by accident. Trust me, I know. It should also be noted that Ipage isn't unique in terms of failing to provide backups for Weebly. Other hosts, if not most other hosts, if not all other third party hosts, are just as deficient regarding backups as is Ipage.

    By the way, Weebly blames Ipage for not offering backups, and Ipage claims the fault lies entirely with Weebly. Given the lack of any real definitions, it's hard to know if people are even speaking the same language. Given that Weebly.com itself offers no editable backups for their own customers, other than the copy and paste "reference guides" as mentioned earlier, then it is highly probable that Ipage can't offer something that doesn't exist.

    Provided that I don't make another blunder, or some unforeseen incident doesn't crash this, or corrupt that, I look forward to many more years of Ipage as my host of choice. But I'll do so with a chip on my shoulder, as they used to say. I'll hold a grudge that will probably never go away. How can it? Every day I work on my site could be my last. Every time I click on a button or "publish" my site, or my finger slips on a key of the keyboard, could be the end to my glorious presence on the internet. That's an exaggeration, but not by much. When you don't have any backups (in the real sense of the term) you really don't know what else is hanging by some fragile, ready-to-break thread.

    Somebody should welcome me back, but they won't. My site still makes Ipage and Weebly.com look amazingly professional and at the top of their game. Somebody should congratulate me for doing such a terrific job with their program, but they won't. And haven't. And never will. And when it comes time to pay my Ipage renewal fees, I'll pay them. But not without a lot of griping along the way. I'll want to know if I'm paying for real backups that I'm not getting. I'll want to know if my shopping cart crashes, if I'll have to rebuild the whole thing all over again. I'm going to take a wild guess and bet that I'll have to redo the cart from scratch.

    Despite all of this,  and in the midst of everything, you know what's really comforting? Why I am able to sleep at night? Because I'll have that picture of the site I took with my camera. You know, the one I got off my monitor. I hope I remembered not to use the flash. Then I can clip that photo to the side of my keyboard and see where every one of those ten-thousand different screws and nuts belong. I pretty much know where the nuts are. The screws might take a while.

    Thanks for listening. Time to go back to work.
  
    Best regards,
    Bob Anton
    Surprise, AZ  

                                                                                       Important Update:
    It should be noted that Ipage and Weebly now offer a fee-based back-up system that may or may not resolve the problems outlined on this page, and as described in my posted letter. One day I will need to do some research and investigate whether or not whole pages or solitary items can be restored "on the fly", and in an expeditious manner -- as advertised. In my case, I accidentally deleted an entire page, for which no editable backup replacement was available, that would have restored the page to its former condition. It remains to be seen whether the so-called new Backup and Restore program being offered, can replace and repair accidental deletions or other losses regardless of size and content. And whether such replacements are editable versions whose content can be manipulated in the exact same manner as before.
Even more important final update:
     Per the information in the paragraph above, about an advertised backup and restore option offered by my web host, it turns out that nothing has changed since my original incident from 2014. And as described in the body of this commentary as a whole. It strikes me as odd, even peculiar (were I feeling charitable with my words) that Ipage advertises its new backup and restore option with no mention whatsoever, that Weebly users are unable to avail themselves of the features offered by their fee-based Backup and Restore system. When queried about this situation, Ipage support techs first answered, yes, I could use the backup and restore function. Then in the very next sentence, said, no, the Ipage Backup and Restore utility does not work with Weebly builders, which use a template based program.

     Well, had I not questioned support prior to purchasing a one-year contract to start, I would have had no way of knowing that my money was not only wasted on a useless product, but in the event of a problem where I would have needed to restore a lost or damaged section of my site, I would have been unprepared for an extremely nasty surprise. One would think that this oversight was absurdly easy to fix via a few simple disclaimers and advisements that those who use Weebly cannot (and should not) use the backup as advertised. And you would be wrong. Apparently Ipage can't be bothered with such a trivial matter and instead believes in the motto: Buyer beware.

     That might well be a wise thing for any new customer to consider before signing up with Ipage. Buyer beware.


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Fig. 4. Credit: blog.intronis.com
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