terribly unimpressed..

so i make my move to dreamhost from startlogic (worst customer support EVER)..

i am pretty self sufficient... once i get the layout, i dont require much attention (unless the host breaks something)

so i get to dreamhost, and in reading the wiki, they express that i can request that "mod_gzip" be disabled. for those of you that dont know, it will prevent PHP scripts from being "flushed" (that is, prevent output from being sent to the user before the script finishes)

i request this, and get a response 2 days later saying that its taken care of.. i check immediatly, find that it isnt producing the expected results, and immediatly respond back saying "uh, WRONG-O"

so, the enxt day the same guy tells me that "the problem was that you were on an Apache2 webservice,
which might not work properly with that PHP command. I've just moved you
to an Apache1 service"

i think to myself, this doesnt sound likely... the answer sounds like im being placated... but ive never worked with an actual apache webserver (the server itself), so i figure they know what they are doing...

time passes, and i check again. STILL NOTHING! all this "it's fixed" and still NO RESULTS!

would you call this incompetence, or would you say they are trying to placate me? i hate when a ticket gets closed and the problem persists. it REALLY pisses me off that i gave them referencing URLs, and they chose to respond back without checking to see if the desired outcome was actually acheived.

it REALLY pisses me off that the mentatlity is "a problem is fixed when so-and-so says it is.."

NO, a PROBLEM isnt FIXED until its FIXED (yea, im pissed, but im also still in the money back time period)

f****cking incompetence!!

Sorry to hear you're starting off with a bad experience.

I'm not making excuses for them, but I encourage you to have some more persistence and give them a chance to get it together for you. I understand how it's frustrating to say the least.

Michael (co-Honcho/Founder) recently reported 3 more new Support staff starting this week.

Maybe if you file a "complaint" or if Michael notices here, then you can get satisfactory response.



What I Like About

"...have some more persistence..."

at this very moment, ive been terribly patient. my site is not generating any revenue, so i really am being very patient.

however, there is a limit to my patience. once i feel that someone is trying to pull the wool over my eyes, thats when i get impatient, and thats when i get upset.

and when you SAY my problem is fixed, and it isn't (twice), that really, really, gets my goat!

In reply to:

---

it isnt producing the expected results.....time passes, and i check again. STILL NOTHING! all this "it's fixed" and still NO RESULTS!

---

Irrespective of "expected results", have you confirmed whether or not your instance of Apache is or is not now running with mod_gzip?

(the output of phpinfo() will tell you).

--rlparker

I said "persistent" not "patient." Keep on them until they really fix it. Sometimes they don't quite understand the problem description (which might not be their fault); sometimes they hit the "fixit" button, but it doesn't really work, and they don't realize it. Sometimes you don't get the same Support person and they may not be aware of what already was done. Sometimes they make mistakes, or eegadds, don't know what they're doing for the problem.

I know the slow turnaround is frustrating, but that's what they advertise (more or less) for the price. My experience is they usually get things right within a couple days or less, but not always.

Hopefully it is "only" lack of knowledge or skill, not malice or deception, you're running into.



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Take a deep breath. I checked and gzip was turned off for your domain just as you asked, check out the difference:

http://web-sniffer.net/?url=http://toocrooked.com/flush.phps&submit=Submit&http=1.1&gzip=yes&type=GET&ua=

http://web-sniffer.net/?url=http://bootcamp.toocrooked.com/&submit=Submit&http=1.1&gzip=yes&type=GET&ua=

Is there something specific you are trying to accomplish? Support did do what you asked, I am sorry that it did not have the desierd effect. Something to note is that your domain is running as php-cgi, is the other domain you linked via support running under mod_php?

In reply to:

---

I checked and gzip was turned off for your domain just as you asked...Support did do what you asked, I am sorry that it did not have the desired effect

---

I'm glad you posted that, Michael. I suspected as much when the original poster didn't respond to my last post

--rlparker

hello friends

on or about Nov 12th, 2006 - 18:36:54, i received my desired effect.

i must chastise those in this thread who apparently could not grasp that my problem was much (much) less about the time it was taking to solve my problem, but rather the fact that i had twice been told that this was fixed, and the reality was just the opposite.

also, i had been told that it would be disabled for my entire domain, but in the end, it only works on my domain "bootcamp.toocrooked.com" (which is good enough, but a departure from what i was told once again)

for instance: http://toocrooked.com/flush.php doesnt work.

but again, i am happy with what i have now, but even in a state of "fix-ed-ness", i was still told one thing and given another

(:

Subdomains are treated as separate domains, i.e. subdomain.domain.com is considered an entirely different thing than domain.com. If you want the change made for domain.com and all its subdomains, you'll probably need to give support a specific list of which domains/subdomains you need changed.

~Daisy

I'm glad to hear you are making progress on the issue, and that you are finally getting it sorted!

--rlparker

In reply to:

---

chastise those in this thread who apparently could not grasp that my problem was much (much) less about the time it was taking to solve my problem, but rather the fact that i had twice been told that this was fixed, and the reality was just the opposite.

---

Ouch! :-)

It's grasped, but I still say the aggravating factor is the time. If the turnaround cycle from Support was only 2 minutes or so, then it would be a bother that they took a couple iterations to REALLY do what you asked, but only a relatively minor bother:

TC: Please fix this for me. Support: Done. TC: Uh, no it's not; please try again. Support: Done. TC: Uh, No, still really not; PLEASE try harder. Support: Done, my bad, sorry. TC: OK, finally! (maybe 6-10 minutes elapsed)

Instead, since it ends up taking a couple days or more to wait for that, one gets annoyed, and starts to wonder whether it's incompetence or worse.

Anyway, glad to hear it's better finally.


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Hey relax a little. I know your not making revenue but dream host is the best host ive dealt with. If you cant resolve it via email request a "call back" i dunno if thats included with your server but the monster server (shared server) has this.

GL, dont give up you just got shitty surport guy.

yea Dreamhost is very good with trying to help you. Just keep trying and you will get answer.

sometime you just get a bad Support!

"Hey relax a little."

this is what im talking about. this needs to stop. anyone on this tangent is half-reading posts. point in case, my problem was effectively resolved by the time this was said, and therefore any logical person can see that this was an unecessary statement.

people need to take the entire thread into consideration and stop reading what they want to see. responses like this indicate an inability to totally comprehend the matter at hand.

"It's grasped, but I still say the aggravating factor is the time"

...despite the fact that i clearly illustrated that i had nothing but time, and constantly referenced the fact that i was mad at the INCOMPENTENCE that was being shown..

your opinion is noted, but it is nothing more than what it is: an opinion. it in no way reflects my previously stated, clearly expressed sentiments, nor does it reflect my true feelings about this situation which my previously stated, clearly expressed sentiments very succinctly indicate.
Edited by TooCrooked on 11/24/06 07:07 AM (server time).

> this needs to stop. anyone on this tangent is half-reading posts.

Not to be too offensive, and with all due respect, but somebody who skips using CapiTaliZaTioN is only half-writing posts. As they said on TV just yesterday, that pushes more effort onto the reader. For completeness, you also SHOUTED a lot. Glass Houses; Sinless Stone-throwers...

> your opinion is noted, but it is nothing more than what it is: an opinion. it in no way reflects my previously stated, clearly expressed

Right. Except the fact is, ever since I watched Heroes, I can read the minds of the authors who post here. ;-)

Reading your original, detailed post, I saw several statements of how long things took. Factoring in my own experiences, you got my opinion.

Thanks for sharing.

Recap: Time was not all that important. DreamHost Support is incompetent. we should READ and WRITE the way you do. some of us are too handicapped, however.

may be a good time to re-read the bofh stories. ;->




What I Like About

of course! if i dont use proper capitalization, words become indistinguishable and utterly unreadable! (:

translation: im saying people need to stay on the subject, instead of finding piss-poor reasons to direct insults at the topic starter. if the lack of capitals equates to ones inability to read a clearly worded post, then i assure you, your problem is MUCH greater than anything dealing with my piddly post.

"I can read the minds of the authors who post here"

unecessary, but obviously attempted (and miserably failed, no less). i never alluded to the idea that people need to adopt my concept of "thread-writing". i merely said that they should stay on track, and stop trying to over-analyze the situation. if everyone had taken the post at face value, we wouldnt be here. instead, there are those who prefer to (incorrectly) psychoanalyze the situation and embark on fruitless tangents. lets say, for instance, the lack of apostophes in a post?

i certainly made it a point that i was becoming impatient, but only an idiot would not concede that this was a very minor point in the grand scheme of the thread. others however...

If staying "on subject" is important to you, I'll respond to what I *think* you claim your main complaint was: You were "terribly unimpressed" that Dreamhost support people told you something was done that was not, in fact, done (removing gzip from your apache configuration).

The rest of it falls into category of "rant", and was duly noted; you were/are unhappy and you wanted to vent.

You claimed, "i am pretty self sufficient... once i get the layout, i dont require much attention (unless the host breaks something)". It's pretty obvious from this thread, as already pointed out by Dreamhost Honcho Michael, and clarified by daisygirl (in the event you still "didn't get it") that domains and sub-domain run independently of one another here on Dreamhost (they each run their own instance of Apache), unlike some other hosts where sub-domains run from subdirectories of domains.

Michael says he checked the support record, and that your request to disable gzip was done "as you requested". You said it was not done, he said he checked the record and it was done. I don't disbelieve either of you; I suspect there was confusion as to what you *wanted* done versus what you requested, I do *not* believe that Michael "lied" in his post (which you did not respond to).

You didn't experience the "expected results", and assumed they had not done what they told you they had done. It's pretty clear to me that the problem was either with your request (as you had not yet "got" the "layout" and expected *both* the domain and the sub-domain would be impacted by your request, or your "expectations".

You didn't respond to my request to check *each* instance (the sub-domain and the domain) for the presence of gzip in your environment, which would have helped determine what, if anything, was actually done.

That's all simple enough. You might consider that many of your problems will be much more easily addressed, and more accurately handled, if you spent a little more time on learning the layout and a llttle less energy in "rant" mode. Of course, that's just my opinion, and YMMV.

--rlparker