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When a Blog Loses Data

Posted Thursday, August 7, 2008 by momscashblog | 14 Comments so far

I think I should explain some of the problems being solve on this blog…. like what happened with my RSS feed (see Questions About RSS). I know there are a lot of new bloggers and bloggers-to-be visiting MomsCashBlog and I don’t want other bloggers to think that they will have the same problems I have had. Where I’ve mentioned some difficulties with a “transfer”, I think I should explain my situation. I’ve gotten some feedback with people asking if I mean transferring a blog to another server. The answer is NO… My transfer was not having my blog moved from one server to another.. it was a “data transfer” and there is a big difference. The circumstances are rare, I would think, but it could happen so I will explain the situation of my transfer since some of this info could help someone in the future.

I bought MomsCashBlog in early May and in mid June I found out there was another server involved… which meant my blog had to be separated from the other server to be on it’s own. My host said we had to make a transfer in order to set things right. Krysti, the previous owner, and I made a conference call with the host and thought all was settled. Then about a half hour later, 2 months of post disappeared from the blog!! (we were not told that would happen!!) Krysti notified me and said to call the host and that the posts might be missing because of the transaction we had just made, so I called and they said “yes.. the data is being transferred”.

What they did was remove the chunk of data (my May-June posts from when I bought the blog until the transfer) and sent it to Krysti in a zipfile…. she had to receive it, and then send it back to me and I had to send it back to the host company for them to insert it back into my blog. Essentially, they had to remove whatever I had done since buying the blog… send it around for a few hours…. and then re-insert it back into the blog and let it propagate! (It doesn’t make much sense, but now they say that is the “protocol” to solve the situation of “clear ownership”.)

Here’s what happened because of the transfer:

1. settings changed back to before I bought the blog… all of my usernames and passwords changed, and I kept finding little things that changed

2. a chunk of data (May-June posts) was removed by the host, then re-inserted hours later

3. I made 2-3 posts during the propagation period to explain the situation (and now I’ve learned I shouldn’t have posted during propagation) and they are gone

Little by little things started to break down, all of the problems were not really noticeable right away and didn’t mean much on their own. The only clear signs of problems were that my settings turned back to what they were in early May when I bought the blog. The first week I had some complaints about my RSS sending all of the missing posts to subscribers in one e-mail but that corrected itself. I started to notice the RSS subscriber feed was coming with no date. I did not connect the thought that my RSS had anything to do with my search problems until the RSS subscriber feed delivered slower and slower and it began arriving 12 hours after making a post. (I knew that meant it was crawling very slowly on the spiders.. which means you have problems.)

Also, strange things were happening with my incoming links and most recently I stopped receiving links altogether (but knew others were linking to me). I assumed it was all because of the missing posts and the transfer, but didn’t know what to do about it. My stats showed that people were coming from different places to read my posts… but they were not searching my recent posts to get here. I did some Google searches and noticed none of my posts from May onward were on the list… It seemed that I was not getting my new stuff into the search engines. Things were slowly going backwards. Finally, I realized this may have to do with my RSS so I went into Incoming Links on my dashboard and found the Error message and that’s when I did my last post with the Question About RSS Feed and Lloyd Lopez gave me the answer I needed! He knew what my problem was and I got immediate results from his answer in the comment! I have noticed that some of my posts are now making their way back into the searches and I’m getting incoming links. He’s now agreed to give me some tech help so we can get this completely taken care of. Thank you Lloyd!! (Big Kiss on Cheek! lol)

I think because of the lost posts during the transfer, and possibly because of the data being removed and reinserted, the search engines kicked me out… so to speak. My site was becoming “unsearchable” and my sitemap with Google was disconnected… (or my sitemap was disconnected so I became unsearchable. Not sure which happened first!) Losing posts and having data removed is not good when it comes to Google and the search engines, as you can imagine! When the search engines search for a post and cannot find it, your site loses credibility with them. This may have bumped out my feed or the feed might have been bumped out because of the transfer. Whichever way it happened, having an RSS or Atom feed is very important to a site because that is how a “sitemap” is created. (See Google Webmaster Guide: How Do I Create a Sitemap) Without a sitemap, you cannot be searched properly, and I noticed that none of my posts were in any of the searches when I looked up MomsCashBlog. Before when I would post, my latest entries were at the top in a search, then after the transfer they started losing ground… but since putting the RSS/Atom feed back into my incoming links field as Lloyd Lopez told me to do, my latest one is in the search so hopefully they are coming back slowly and things will be back to working properly.

Most bloggers won’t have to worry about their RSS or Atom feed as I think it’s automatic with WordPress and some other blogging software, but be aware of how important RSS/Atom is for your sitemap and make sure you do have it… and if you ever have problems check to see if it is disconnected. Also, I want to make sure everyone knows what can happen when posts go missing. You can be dropped from the search engines… (or crawl very slowly) so don’t ever delete a post after you have pinged it! And if you ever have to transfer “data” from one server to another, know there could be ramifications. This does not mean moving a blog from one server to another… that is safe and is done every day. This was transferring a “chunk of data”. There is a big difference. You should be fine with transferring a blog, but transferring data can cause some problems. The circumstances are rare, but just keep it in mind if this ever happens to you, make sure you check your RSS or Atom feed to see if it is working.

I hope this clears up some questions you may be having concerning what I mean by my “transfer”. It was unusual circumstances where “data” or posts were transferred from one server to another. It means the data will be removed from your blog for hours and then placed back into it. Do not post in the middle of the process, or you will lose those posts and can have trouble with search engines.


Comments
Robert Cyr August 8th, 2008 (12:31 am)
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The best way to learn is through experience…JJ you are doing a great job! I think I would have had an ulcer going through what you have experienced…..Lets hope all settles down now LOL

JJ -- MomsCashBlog August 8th, 2008 (1:57 am)
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Hey Robert.. If experience is the best teacher I should be an expert in something very soon. lol Thanks for being here when I need moral support. (Just hollar if you ever need any and I’ll do what I can! lol)

Andreas from Xavier Media August 8th, 2008 (4:27 am)
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This is why I always download all the data and install it on my own server every time I buy a web site. You should never trust your hosting company. They understand the technical things (i.e. how to provide servers), but not the other like domain transfers, new owners etc.

/Andreas

Pat August 8th, 2008 (1:50 pm)
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I hope this guy can help you get things going again but if Google is searching for missing data.. it is not good. Just having that block removed for an hour could cause problems. Doesn’t matter if they reinserted it, once it is out.. it is out of search.

Taylor Blue August 8th, 2008 (3:41 pm)
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I know when you get hacked and lose everything it’s a pain too! Believe me..I know all about that! (You are doing a great job JJ!!)

Lloyd Lopez August 8th, 2008 (4:40 pm)
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Hi Jenny,

I think I have an idea what happened but I just need to clarify something.

I already replied to your email. Hope to hear from you soon.

JJ August 8th, 2008 (5:16 pm)
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Lloyd… Great! I just wrote back to ya. (My mail is slow possibly because it is “momscashblog”??? and things are crawling slowly??) :)

Hey Taylor Blue… That is horrible what happened to you! I want to do a post about it. (and I thought I had problems! LOL) Don’t give up.. you were doing great and you were an inspiration to me from the first day I got here. You’ve always been so kind and I loved your blog. :)

Pat… I am worried about that. Let’s hope that’s not true. I know with Lloyd Lopez’s help I will be back on track. :)

Andreas.. I love my host company, they are great, but you are right, they just do what they have to do without thinking of the results to a blog. :)

Meme August 9th, 2008 (1:09 pm)
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Hi J.J.,
My husband and I, both are computer illiterate, are interested in starting a Blog. Where do we start?? Thanks for any help you can give. Meme

JJ August 9th, 2008 (5:46 pm)
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Hi Meme, good to see you again. You can start by clicking on the Free Blog Tutorial right at the top of this site! It will give you step by step instructions taking you thru the process all in one place: buying your domain name… your server (the place that will host your website on the internet)… and helps you install WordPress. You don’t have to do it all at once.. for instance, you can start with your domain name and then come back to do the next step when you are ready. Later, when you’re done, you can put ads on your blog and try to make some money. Shoot me an e-mail if you need any help. :)

JJ August 9th, 2008 (10:36 pm)
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Meme… I should tell you that the “tutorial” is free but you do have to pay for hosting and your domain name if you want your blog to advertise and make money with it.

If you just want a blog without advertising you can go to WordPress.com and that is completely free, but you can’t advertise some things on your blog, and the url (blog name) has “wordpress” in it. Again, you can e-mail me if you want and I will explain it. :)

Scot August 10th, 2008 (9:20 pm)
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That sounds like a headache! Why does everything have to be so difficult? haha. Luckily I don’t have to worry about transferring anything to a new host but I do keep comprehensive backups of all of my content in case the worst happens (learned my lesson long ago!)

goofblogger make money online August 12th, 2008 (6:02 pm)
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Wow. That is one wicked story. Glad to read that you were able to get it sorted out.

events and conference requirements December 22nd, 2012 (11:31 am)
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In fact when someone doesn’t understand then its up to other viewers that they will help, so here it occurs.

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Howdy! This post couldn’t be written much better! Looking at this post reminds me of my previous roommate! He constantly kept preaching about this. I am going to forward this post to him. Fairly certain he’ll have a very good read.
Many thanks for sharing!

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