ChitownLiving | Chicago Real Estate + Life

My blog was hosted by a very large hosting company, I’ll refer to them as BigHost! from now on.  A bad decision on my part, as they are not WordPress (the software behind this blog) friendly, but I didn’t know any better when I got into the blogosphere. My bad for not doing my due diligence.  Lesson learned.

I finally was forced to change to a new WordPress compatible host.  The change came after a series of conversations with BigHost!.  They went something like this…

Me:  Hi there, I publish a WordPress blog (audible gasp from the service rep).  I’m on version 2.0 (BigHost! still installs this version) which is way out of date and has published security holes.  In fact, I think my blog has been hacked.  When my blog is viewed, virus detection software is alerted.  I have also had code inserted on several pages of my blog on a repeated basis.  I would like to upgrade but understand the upgrade is not supported.

BigHost!:  Yes sir, well, we don’t support that.  We just turn the software on and off.  The version of the software you have works best with our servers.

Me:  Huh?  I’m telling you my blog, supported on your servers, is being hacked.  Can I upgrade to the latest version of the software?

BigHost!:  Sir, we simply turn the software on an off.

My first thought was that I urgently need to upgrade WordPress.  After reading the horror stories on the WordPress support forums, I knew doing so on BigHost! was a nightmare and not always successful but I attempted the upgrade anyway.  Followed all the instructions to the letter but had no success.  In fact I could not get the site running again.  My next move was to take my content and move to a new WordPress friendly host.  All the new host needed was a plaintext export of the blog content.  To my horror, the mySQL export functionality was either disabled or not working properly.  Calling BigHost! support back, conversations went something like this…

Me:  Hi there, I publish a WordPress blog (audible gasp from the service rep).  I’m on version 2.0 which is way out of date and has published security holes.  I need to upgrade to the newest version of the software and understand BigHost! does not support this.  My new host needs a plaintext export of the database but for some reason I am not able to do this.  Whenever I (or my new host) attempts this in the site mySQL database it simple errors out.

BigHost!:  Sir, we simply turn the software on an off.

The actual conversations were of course a lot more involved and volitile than this, but in the end, I had no choice but to switch hosts.  The big issue for me was that BigHost! would not let me leave and take my content.  To move hosts, I had to export the content into Excel and recreate the site from scratch, post by post.  A painful process resulting in link breakages, improperly formatted posts, and lost content such as comments.

Despite the issues, the site is better than ever.  Page loads are faster and functionality is improved.  If thinking of starting a weblog, choose your host carefully and make sure they will not block the door if you want to leave.  Sorry for any inconvenience if you hit a broken link.

Enjoy the new site!