This is a compilation of updates from Porphy (owner operator of Alien Visions) so you don't have to weed through all our chit chat.
As of 6/10/2013 there has been no further word from Porphy since 6/5/2013. Hopefully all is well with Ben and team.
06-04-2013, 08:42 AM
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06-03-2013, 06:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Bigfoot1974
I think we all killed the website today
I'm not sure who killed the website today but I can firmly say it wasn't the customers. I'm not going to say more as I'm ...... enough as it is. However, 100% not the customers fault.
06-03-2013, 06:02 PM
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06-03-2013, 09:03 AM
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06-03-2013, 08:42 AM
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06-02-2013, 02:40 PM
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06-02-2013, 02:40 PM
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06-01-2013, 04:58 AM
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05-31-2013, 08:10 AM
05-19-2013, 07:42 AM
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05-17-2013, 10:20 AM
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05-13-2013, 10:09 AM
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05-13-2013, 09:46 AM
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Website Redesign Update[/h]
04-18-2013, 06:47 AM
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Refunds and Closing (temp)[/h]
As of 6/10/2013 there has been no further word from Porphy since 6/5/2013. Hopefully all is well with Ben and team.
06-04-2013, 08:42 AM
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I'll have an update later today but let me give you some idea of what is going on.
The website was tested yesterday and the coding... did well. The server wasn't so lucky. The server was well below the threshold for what I specifically asked for. Main point, it was supposed to be a dedicated server, unlimited (or 20TB+) bandwidth, with the ability to handle our customer load. This issue was "taken care of" so far into the beginning of this build process I failed to revisit it and give it the attention it deserved.
Now, the website is very much offline as GoDaddy switches us from an Economy shared server plan with 100 connections to the dedicated server we wanted at the start. The most aggravating part being that it may take days to get the website back up.
All of our information is still on the website, invoices and charged orders. Every charged order,even if you received an error message, will be processed. I only need to see what order numbers were paid for and I can adjust their status to "processing" if they aren't already. Mostly, I just want access to the invoices so that I can get my new wookies working on orders today.
For now there is no timeline on when the store will be open. Rest assured, when it does become available soon, we will be processing and shipping orders.
The website was tested yesterday and the coding... did well. The server wasn't so lucky. The server was well below the threshold for what I specifically asked for. Main point, it was supposed to be a dedicated server, unlimited (or 20TB+) bandwidth, with the ability to handle our customer load. This issue was "taken care of" so far into the beginning of this build process I failed to revisit it and give it the attention it deserved.
Now, the website is very much offline as GoDaddy switches us from an Economy shared server plan with 100 connections to the dedicated server we wanted at the start. The most aggravating part being that it may take days to get the website back up.
All of our information is still on the website, invoices and charged orders. Every charged order,even if you received an error message, will be processed. I only need to see what order numbers were paid for and I can adjust their status to "processing" if they aren't already. Mostly, I just want access to the invoices so that I can get my new wookies working on orders today.
For now there is no timeline on when the store will be open. Rest assured, when it does become available soon, we will be processing and shipping orders.
06-03-2013, 06:04 PM
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I think we all killed the website today
I'm not sure who killed the website today but I can firmly say it wasn't the customers. I'm not going to say more as I'm ...... enough as it is. However, 100% not the customers fault.
06-03-2013, 06:02 PM
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The website will be offline as we switch to a dedicated server. The down time is still unknown. I will update our new timeline here once I have more information.
06-03-2013, 09:03 AM
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We brought the website back up with an additional 500 connections. We are getting near the order cap though.. yes, even with this all going on people are able to place orders. We were down for 20 minutes as we solved a traffic flow issue. Let's keep this in perspective.
06-03-2013, 08:42 AM
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We've closed the site down and 13 orders were placed with 115 non-finished attempts and 300 users attempting orders. This was all over the course of 10 minutes (two 5 minute blocks separately). Once the site reached some point of "overload level" traffic (I don't know yet what that number is) it began to have trouble juggling and handling IP addresses and whatever else is associated with customer order flow. (Edit: took a phone call here)
Further researching shows that our data center set us up for the wrong plan allowing only a 100 or so connections. We're getting it bumped to 600 for now with our planned dedicated server to come later. I don't know how many connections a full server will give us but I'm hoping even the 600 connection temp fix will be adequate.
I'm hoping to have the website back up and running in an hour. This will at least allow us to get to our order capacity and piss people off for a totally different reason (<--- the last part of that should be taken jokingly)
Further researching shows that our data center set us up for the wrong plan allowing only a 100 or so connections. We're getting it bumped to 600 for now with our planned dedicated server to come later. I don't know how many connections a full server will give us but I'm hoping even the 600 connection temp fix will be adequate.
I'm hoping to have the website back up and running in an hour. This will at least allow us to get to our order capacity and piss people off for a totally different reason (<--- the last part of that should be taken jokingly)
06-02-2013, 02:40 PM
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The splash page with the errant "closed" message was my fault. I told my developer to make one and he did... I didn't tell him NOT to put it up... that's where the issue lay.
It'll go away once we open on Monday and should only be displayed after when we hit our order capacity and close. Right now though it is misleading and I apologize for that.
It'll go away once we open on Monday and should only be displayed after when we hit our order capacity and close. Right now though it is misleading and I apologize for that.
06-02-2013, 02:40 PM
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The splash page with the errant "closed" message was my fault. I told my developer to make one and he did... I didn't tell him NOT to put it up... that's where the issue lay.
It'll go away once we open on Monday and should only be displayed after when we hit our order capacity and close. Right now though it is misleading and I apologize for that.
It'll go away once we open on Monday and should only be displayed after when we hit our order capacity and close. Right now though it is misleading and I apologize for that.
06-01-2013, 04:58 AM
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After reading the rest of the recent posts, I will add: I'll see about the discount extension. The idea was to keep it up as long as necessary, however, that time frame gives no definite end-point and is open to personal interpretation. So I announced "a week" with the understanding I have the ability to keep it going until we have met demand and return to a normal flow of orders.
Here is the bleak truth. I'm told it's crappy I close early, when I do. I'm told it's crappy when I accept back orders. Any thing I do that does not mirror 24/7 operations with next day expedited shipping is considered an affront to someone's sensibilities.
I just want to sling juice. I'm a semi-intelligent monkey and can devise the best methods to make this happen. However, my geniality is wearing thin as I continually defend my business practices.
I understand we are closed and how this effect YOU the customer. I was a customer prior to being an juice-slinger and can empathize with many of the common issues. With that in mind, we've had our life and livelihood shut down due to an intrusive act. We've spent thousands of dollars and many hours correcting the issue. We've moved our offices to larger facilities during this time and have continued to order stock regardless of downtime to fill the new space. I only ask for a reciprocal amount of empathy. I have "chiefs" telling me how things should be run and no real clue of our day-to-day obstacles.
I have a deep affinity for my customers, fervent almost, but in this... please stop stirring my kool-aid, this isn't Jonestown.
Here is the bleak truth. I'm told it's crappy I close early, when I do. I'm told it's crappy when I accept back orders. Any thing I do that does not mirror 24/7 operations with next day expedited shipping is considered an affront to someone's sensibilities.
I just want to sling juice. I'm a semi-intelligent monkey and can devise the best methods to make this happen. However, my geniality is wearing thin as I continually defend my business practices.
I understand we are closed and how this effect YOU the customer. I was a customer prior to being an juice-slinger and can empathize with many of the common issues. With that in mind, we've had our life and livelihood shut down due to an intrusive act. We've spent thousands of dollars and many hours correcting the issue. We've moved our offices to larger facilities during this time and have continued to order stock regardless of downtime to fill the new space. I only ask for a reciprocal amount of empathy. I have "chiefs" telling me how things should be run and no real clue of our day-to-day obstacles.
I have a deep affinity for my customers, fervent almost, but in this... please stop stirring my kool-aid, this isn't Jonestown.
05-31-2013, 08:10 AM
Here is our official update as of 5/31:
We would like to thank everyone for waiting patiently while our store redesign is being finished, your wait is almost over! We will be tentatively reopening on June 3rd with the understanding that we will be encountering and fixing a few bugs as we finish our first day after using the new website.
AVEjuice.com will maintain an order capacity limit to ensure we do not take more orders than we can process in a given day. This will mean that while we will open around 8am PST our operating times will likely be brief as we collect orders and meet demand. We've more than doubled our stock and nearly doubled our work team while we've been offline, so this adjustment period should be short.
The website is running but our redesign is only at a half-way point, you can expect to encounter new content and general bug fixes to roll out in the days following our opening. Some of the current bug and glitches we are aware of and working on, e.g. no sign-in link on home page, generic graphic on invoices, some browser version display issues (with older browsers). If you encounter ANY bug or glitch feel free to let us know via our "Contact us" link in our Help section.
What else is there to cover?
Oh sales! Yes, we will be opening up with a 25% discount on all items for the first week we are active. You can call it whatever type of discount you'd like but it is really a bonus for those customers who have been supportive and patient during our down-time. I had no good estimate on how long we would be down and now that we are towards the end I'm glad that I didn't. We've gone well over any time limit I would have set myself, but the flipside to that is that we've been able to concentrate specifically on the website and how it flows and functions. The result is a nice website with easy ordering and product selection.
There is more news coming this weekend before we open so stay tuned!
This information will be posted across those social forums we use: Twitter, FaceBook, Electronic Cigarette Forum, etc. We ask that any specific questions on individual issues be sent to us via our "Contact Us" form on our websites front page. We encourage comments here but please know that they may not be responded to if we cannot get to them in a timely fashion.
P.S. - I know this is a bit general and generic but it is also our default response across all of the social sites. I'll be stopping in throughout the weekend to *hopefully* answer your questions.
We would like to thank everyone for waiting patiently while our store redesign is being finished, your wait is almost over! We will be tentatively reopening on June 3rd with the understanding that we will be encountering and fixing a few bugs as we finish our first day after using the new website.
AVEjuice.com will maintain an order capacity limit to ensure we do not take more orders than we can process in a given day. This will mean that while we will open around 8am PST our operating times will likely be brief as we collect orders and meet demand. We've more than doubled our stock and nearly doubled our work team while we've been offline, so this adjustment period should be short.
The website is running but our redesign is only at a half-way point, you can expect to encounter new content and general bug fixes to roll out in the days following our opening. Some of the current bug and glitches we are aware of and working on, e.g. no sign-in link on home page, generic graphic on invoices, some browser version display issues (with older browsers). If you encounter ANY bug or glitch feel free to let us know via our "Contact us" link in our Help section.
What else is there to cover?
Oh sales! Yes, we will be opening up with a 25% discount on all items for the first week we are active. You can call it whatever type of discount you'd like but it is really a bonus for those customers who have been supportive and patient during our down-time. I had no good estimate on how long we would be down and now that we are towards the end I'm glad that I didn't. We've gone well over any time limit I would have set myself, but the flipside to that is that we've been able to concentrate specifically on the website and how it flows and functions. The result is a nice website with easy ordering and product selection.
There is more news coming this weekend before we open so stay tuned!
This information will be posted across those social forums we use: Twitter, FaceBook, Electronic Cigarette Forum, etc. We ask that any specific questions on individual issues be sent to us via our "Contact Us" form on our websites front page. We encourage comments here but please know that they may not be responded to if we cannot get to them in a timely fashion.
P.S. - I know this is a bit general and generic but it is also our default response across all of the social sites. I'll be stopping in throughout the weekend to *hopefully* answer your questions.
05-19-2013, 07:42 AM
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Quick Update: Over this weekend we will be adding products and all of the data entry, this may bleed into Monday's work. Mid-week is dedicated to adding the data and polishing looks. End of week should be finalizing functions and *fingers crossed* opening.
There's quite a lot more going on to make all of those general things occur but these are the big items in the way of opening.
There's quite a lot more going on to make all of those general things occur but these are the big items in the way of opening.
05-17-2013, 10:20 AM
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Thanks Jethead, you summed up the delay in updates fairly well. You are spot on at least with my hesitation to set specific dates. I learned early that as soon as you set a date, something happens to extend that timeline.
We still get some hardware from overseas, but I try to stay local where I can. I like putting money back into the local area. As I explained to someone awhile ago; my lifestyle is good and my wife and I are accustomed to living a lifestyle of two bachelor college students. Anything beyond that (and some savings) I put back into the community via jobs and networking(non-internet related social networking... old-timey stuff). Right now, with the expansion and redesign we are going to be adding a few more jobs! Woohoo!
That is what gets me excited! Jobby jobs! I'm not against automation at all either, that IS coming. However, I think I hold a differing view than most larger corps in this regard. I don't want automation to take away payrolls...just jobs. I'd rather pay a human to do nothing but watch a robot work, rather than to have them needlessly engaged in a task that for all intents and purposes is taken care of.
I say "let robots take our jobs, just leave the pay!"
We excel at the creative anyway. Why pay someone to do a repetitive task when I can else-wise engage their minds to help us grow, handle customers concerns, or create new avenues of wealth? ... but I'm off on a tangent and getting into sensitive waters anyway.. I redirect back to the topic:
Our closing and slow updates ARE frustrating. I'm annoyed similarly but perhaps from a different perspective, however, I'm not so far removed from the days when I was on the other end of the order form. I can and do empathize, hell it's the fire that moves me to get my jobs done each day.
I think that over the next few days you'll get better updates from me (as I get better updates from 3 contractors) and you'll be able to see progress at the website URL. Right now (and hopefully not jinxing myself), we are moving along well, faster actually than anticipated. The limiting factors for now are the website redesign, getting familiar with the new software, and fixing the issues that WILL crop up from the previous two former points. At the same time we are trying to hire on 2 or three new folks within a few weeks, we have moved our offices already and are in the process of finalizing the finishing touches on the new property.
TL;DR: Jethead was correct, robots are awesome, and YOU ROCK!
We still get some hardware from overseas, but I try to stay local where I can. I like putting money back into the local area. As I explained to someone awhile ago; my lifestyle is good and my wife and I are accustomed to living a lifestyle of two bachelor college students. Anything beyond that (and some savings) I put back into the community via jobs and networking(non-internet related social networking... old-timey stuff). Right now, with the expansion and redesign we are going to be adding a few more jobs! Woohoo!
That is what gets me excited! Jobby jobs! I'm not against automation at all either, that IS coming. However, I think I hold a differing view than most larger corps in this regard. I don't want automation to take away payrolls...just jobs. I'd rather pay a human to do nothing but watch a robot work, rather than to have them needlessly engaged in a task that for all intents and purposes is taken care of.
I say "let robots take our jobs, just leave the pay!"
We excel at the creative anyway. Why pay someone to do a repetitive task when I can else-wise engage their minds to help us grow, handle customers concerns, or create new avenues of wealth? ... but I'm off on a tangent and getting into sensitive waters anyway.. I redirect back to the topic:
Our closing and slow updates ARE frustrating. I'm annoyed similarly but perhaps from a different perspective, however, I'm not so far removed from the days when I was on the other end of the order form. I can and do empathize, hell it's the fire that moves me to get my jobs done each day.
I think that over the next few days you'll get better updates from me (as I get better updates from 3 contractors) and you'll be able to see progress at the website URL. Right now (and hopefully not jinxing myself), we are moving along well, faster actually than anticipated. The limiting factors for now are the website redesign, getting familiar with the new software, and fixing the issues that WILL crop up from the previous two former points. At the same time we are trying to hire on 2 or three new folks within a few weeks, we have moved our offices already and are in the process of finalizing the finishing touches on the new property.
TL;DR: Jethead was correct, robots are awesome, and YOU ROCK!
05-13-2013, 10:09 AM
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As for ordering. Our only framework for processing orders is via the internet. This happens to be the exact thing we are redesigning right now. For now making an order isn't a possibility, once the website is back online it will be. I've added another thread to the front page addressing the changes we are making.
05-13-2013, 09:46 AM
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Update:
We are still offline for the time being but there are changes arriving that everyone should be reminded of. We are rebuilding/recreating our website, so many of you will encounter an error when you land on the homepage. The error is part of the process and will be fixed when the new website comes online.
While this is occurring we are also expanding our offices and restocking to ever-higher levels.
Getting back online and returning to normal operations is our high priority and has been since we went offline. Sometimes life makes a hard decision easy, in this case that was taking down the website (it made the best sense at the time, and it still makes sense.) The website is an integral part of the whole system, so when it comes time to make a decision to leave it operating or to take it offline for this long, the decision has to be so plain that it is obvious. In this instance it was.
We've had quite a lot going on since then so the updates haven't been as frequent as I'd like, I'll make sure to keep smaller and quicker updates posted on our progress. For now you'll notice some error pages when you visit the website and soon you will see an non-operational framework. As we work on the final touches to the new website we also have to address the big projects this revamp will cover. Many aspects are still to be added and we need to ensure it is all working as intended before we put it through the paces of an opening. We can be assured that reopening WILL be the best performance test our websites can go through. (Aside from opening with a sale)
For now, just to update everyone. We are not taking any sales and aren't making exceptions (too slippery a slope for my ethics). Once we reopen it will be my mission to make everyone forget this outage and I'll do my best via sales and events to make it worth everyone's while.
I'm very excited about many of the changes and new additions to our business environment and the new website. I wish I could relate how many small but significant changes have been made and how much more enabled the new website and business offices will be.
Please note: our side of the website looks a lot like the front-page for now. We will recover and handle any help desk tickets that were in the system once it's back online.
We are still offline for the time being but there are changes arriving that everyone should be reminded of. We are rebuilding/recreating our website, so many of you will encounter an error when you land on the homepage. The error is part of the process and will be fixed when the new website comes online.
While this is occurring we are also expanding our offices and restocking to ever-higher levels.
Getting back online and returning to normal operations is our high priority and has been since we went offline. Sometimes life makes a hard decision easy, in this case that was taking down the website (it made the best sense at the time, and it still makes sense.) The website is an integral part of the whole system, so when it comes time to make a decision to leave it operating or to take it offline for this long, the decision has to be so plain that it is obvious. In this instance it was.
We've had quite a lot going on since then so the updates haven't been as frequent as I'd like, I'll make sure to keep smaller and quicker updates posted on our progress. For now you'll notice some error pages when you visit the website and soon you will see an non-operational framework. As we work on the final touches to the new website we also have to address the big projects this revamp will cover. Many aspects are still to be added and we need to ensure it is all working as intended before we put it through the paces of an opening. We can be assured that reopening WILL be the best performance test our websites can go through. (Aside from opening with a sale)
For now, just to update everyone. We are not taking any sales and aren't making exceptions (too slippery a slope for my ethics). Once we reopen it will be my mission to make everyone forget this outage and I'll do my best via sales and events to make it worth everyone's while.
I'm very excited about many of the changes and new additions to our business environment and the new website. I wish I could relate how many small but significant changes have been made and how much more enabled the new website and business offices will be.
Please note: our side of the website looks a lot like the front-page for now. We will recover and handle any help desk tickets that were in the system once it's back online.
04-18-2013, 06:47 AM
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Due to a communication error between our payment processor and our website many customers who paid for purchases on the 16th and 17th did not generate an invoice on our site (after payment). We have the invoice numbers of those effected but no actual invoice stored in the database. Because of this error quite a few customers from the 16th and 17th will be issued refunds over the next day.
We will compile and list all of the invoice numbers effected and post them on our front page later today. Many refunds have already been issued and the remainder will be automatic. We have no order information (address, items, etc.) so we cannot fulfill these payments. Any customers who processed multiple transactions (clicked through multiple times) will be refunded for each transaction. Any orders not listed should process normally.
The error is a result of heavy traffic and a resulting communication error. Until we can correct this issue and ensure payments will process smoothly under heavy traffic we will be keeping Alien Visions E-Juice offline. We will update the front page with more information on the length of closure after we assess the difficulty of the issue.
We will compile and list all of the invoice numbers effected and post them on our front page later today. Many refunds have already been issued and the remainder will be automatic. We have no order information (address, items, etc.) so we cannot fulfill these payments. Any customers who processed multiple transactions (clicked through multiple times) will be refunded for each transaction. Any orders not listed should process normally.
The error is a result of heavy traffic and a resulting communication error. Until we can correct this issue and ensure payments will process smoothly under heavy traffic we will be keeping Alien Visions E-Juice offline. We will update the front page with more information on the length of closure after we assess the difficulty of the issue.
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