So, here's the thing. WIX are bloody useless and have proven to be as money-grabbing, customer-ignoring and technically inept as all the other major players in the IT world.
Now just think about that statement. I was the BIGGEST WIX fan on the planet. The Forum, which we worked closely on with the original Forum development team, was the best platform on the web, and the perfect antidote to the constant Faceache breakages we were experiencing on a daily basis.
So, how did WIX not only manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, but also manage to turn one of their staunchest supporters into a raving hater of everything they are doing?
That will be the subject of several comments on this POST, so keep coming back for constant updates that will cover the damage done to the Forum and our use of WIX going forward, as well as the issues caused by other tech giants on our plans for the server platforms, DeePlay, the shop and more.
It's gonna be bloody.
THE FORUM IS THE THING
So there we were, still reeling from all the shennanighans from the utility and internet companies, and from MIXXX on their disastrous update, when we started to have significant problems with our flagship engagement tool. After months of issues with Facebook reliability and rule changes about what could and couldn't be posted (Led Zep's Houses of the Holy album cover for example), we decided to move into a new applet on the Wix site we had built, the Forum.
Gradually, over several years, we then built our Forum up into a fabulous community, with facilities and features that had been developed with our direct involvement with the Wix Forum development team.
The Forum was never…
WE (DON'T) GOT THE POWER!
So there we were, after yet another server migration, we consoled ourselves with the hope that a weekly disconnect would be okay to manage. We sighed with relief when we realised that Microsoft had cut back on the amount of W10 updates and hoped that maybe we could have more stability than before.
But we hadn't counted on the issues with another provider. Once a week, late in the night, the grid were doing their own version of load-balancing, switching power from one sector to another (for what reason we don't know) and therefore the server and the router were going off. So we were still going off at least once a week!
To say…
BAD THINGS COME IN MORE THAN THREES!
(or; THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY?)
So, whilst we were recovering from the licensing and Ubuntu/Mixxx updates debacle, we were then hit by a third wave of issues.
First, even after moving back to Windows, we seemed to be having daily dropped connections from the main server. Now, luckily, we had in place the back up server run by our radio host. It could only have about 3 days worth of songs on it, but it was programmed to kick in as soon as our server stopped sending packs to their server. But that wasn't the point. It meant that someone had to still sort out the main server, reset everything and start…
The Perfect Storm Began With A... Squawl.
Have you ever gone out to the local shop, and it looked a bit cloudy but it felt warm and the sun had only just been bright in the sky, so you decided to walk? Then as you come out of the shop the heavens opened and by the time you go home you looked and felt like a drowned rat?
That was what happened to us.
It started with a "Consultation" from licensing bods PPL. Calling it a consultation was an insult. If it had been a council consultation it would have been "What colours would you like the fencing we are forcing you all to have on this estate? Red, Green…
Where we were... was a happy place...
So, before I begin to give the tech, licensing and utility firms a bloody nose, let's remind everyone of where we were two years ago... ironically, during the lockdown where everything station-tech wise came together. Optimism was high and we all figured that running a station on a budget of a packet of crisps and a luncheon voucher, was indeed possible!
First, we had moved the server to Ubuntu V18 and Mixx for U18 was remarkably stable. Instead of losing connection via Windows updates every few days, we could go weeks and weeks without a drop. The server had a new home as well, Studio B, which had a very stable Plusnet connection…