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We’re Back – What Happened?

hosting for a wordpress blog - via @chgdiapers

As you may know, my site was down from just after midnight Sunday, through this morning. I’ve been pleased with Register.com for the most part – I have purchased nearly a dozen domains from them, host my email through them, and have been hosting my website there for several years. In fact, after the most recent down time last month, I renewed my hosting through 2018. Alas, I shouldn’t have.

WordPress is a fabulous blogging platform, but there are holes that some hackers try to exploit. Keep your passwords secure, don’t use the admin login name, keep WordPress updated, don’t allow users to register & upload files etc etc. Lots of things you can do. Unfortunately, what happened to me (I think – since Register.com is essentially incommunicado and can’t tell me much) is a huge burst in traffic from people trying to exploit my site. Register.com has my site on the same server as other sites (though my husband pointed out that they should have been on separate virtual machines, but that’s neither here nor there) therefore they automatically disabled/suspended my website. One would think that such an automated process would have some sort of output to explain what triggered the process, but apparently they do not.

I called, and after holding & being transferred, received an extremely condescending woman who kept stressing the “free” part of open source WordPress, that it *will* be hacked and this *will* happen again – she also over and over again made comments about WordPress being so easy “a 12 year old could do it” but that hacking WordPress was also “so easy a 12 old could do it” and to “Google it.” I was so stressed and frustrated that I nearly snapped her head off. Side note, as sexist as it sounds, my husband’s friend said if you get a woman on tech support, just hang up. So far, I have found this to be true. It’s not that they don’t know what they’re talking about, they can just be incredibly rude. I suspect it may be a defense mechanism since women in tech jobs are often assumed to know nothing (been there, done that myself.) Again, not being sexist, just a generalization made by someone with lots of experience, that proved true for me!

I explained that yes, I knew WP could be exploited but that I always “dotted my is and crossed my ts” to make sure I was as secure as possible. She told me that no, that wasn’t true because I was running PHP version 4. She then went into a whole rambling that I didn’t understand (being married to a security engineer I am used to saying “I have no idea what you’re talking about.) I’m not stupid, I have taken MCSA, NET+ and A+ training and have done perfectly fine with basic edits & coding – but I have to know what you’re talking about and where to find the file. She again tells me it’s so easy a 12 year old could do it and to Google it. Well I spent more than an hour Googling it a million ways, searching through every folder in my cPanel, and never found the php.ini file she said I should have. Finally, I found a drop down menu with options “4, 5 or system default.” I changed it from system default to 5.

All was fine and dandy for maybe an hour, then my site was suspended again, and yet again, I couldn’t even get into my cPanel (and of course, no word from Register.com letting me know.) The female rep made a big point of telling me that per the service agreement, if this happened a third time, they would delete my site. Essentially as though it was something I had done wrong, but she couldn’t tell me what it was or how to fix it. (I explained that I would gladly fix or change whatever needed to be done, if they could tell me what it was, and that I would be happy to pay them to fix it instead.) Another phone call & a 20 minute wait (even though their system said an estimated wait time of 1 minute) and still no answers. This time my husband talked to the rep (a man this time) and he said they still had no idea why it happened since it was an automated process and that it could be 48 hours before they could even tell us why.

All yesterday I checked to see if I could get into my cPanel and finally last night I got in, so I could start downloading my database etc. Note that throughout this process, not once did they call or email me to let me know what was going on at all.

Anyhoo, what’s going on right now is buh-bye register.com. I will lose the money I just paid for 5 years of hosting, but it is worth it. I have no idea why they make it a point of advertising WordPress installs when clearly they have no idea how to handle WordPress, and from the female rep’s attitude, if you run WordPress, they don’t want you as a customer – maybe if you have a developer at your beck & call, but the beauty of WordPress is that anyone can do it.

So what am I doing? Moving to WP Engine (that’s an affiliate link but I haven’t been compensated for this post in any way – I am paying for my service.) Why WP Engine? Because they know WordPress! They have the security features and expertise that other hosts simply do not; they do automatic daily backups, one-click restore points, automatic caching, malware scanning (if your site gets hacked, they’ll fix it – free…really) and much more. No, it’s not cheap. However, it’s worth it. WP Engine is considered “managed hosting;” you don’t have to worry about waiting to update your WordPress install for fear of something breaking. No worries about what plugins will & won’t work, they do it all.

Now I can spend my time on my content, not fretting over my hosting and dealing with days of down time.

WP Engine offers month-to-month plans, with free months if you pay in advance, and you can try it risk-free for 60 days. Love WP Engine? Become a WP Engine affiliate!


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Maria
Maria is an aspiring "fit mom" of 3 children, writing about cloth diapers, going green, and her life as a single mom. Maria works with many companies within the cloth diaper industry and beyond, providing social media management, product development, and other services.
11 Comments
  • Candice B.
    December 23, 2014 at 10:21 am
    Reply

    What a hassle! So sorry you had to go through that. I hope WP Engine turns out to be great for you. 🙂 I really like following you and would be disappointed if these problems were to continue. Good luck!

    • December 23, 2014 at 10:59 am
      Reply

      It’s been almost 16 months now and I’m still in love with WP Engine! They aren’t cheap but they are worth it.

  • September 8, 2013 at 2:23 am
    Reply

    It’s true that some hosts aren’t familiar with WordPress, but there are thousands of scripts you could use, and you shouldn’t expect your host to understand the intricacies of all of them. With that said, register.com sounds terrible. I rarely communicate with my host because I’ve had a lot of experience with WordPress; however, their silence and bewilderment is ridiculous. I’d never even heard of a host that allowed you to choose your PHP version. It’s really their fault for allowing that.

    • September 8, 2013 at 8:33 am
      Reply

      Right, which is why I switched. Either I’d have to pay someone to manage all the intricacies (which I’m essentially doing with managed hosting) or spend half my life becoming a WordPress script expert. I think she was wrong on the PHP because their system default is 5 and it was set to “system default.”

    • September 8, 2013 at 8:45 am
      Reply

      Also, if the post sounds angry, I was at the time! It’s unfortunate that I thought/felt that I was doing everything right with WordPress, security measures and appropriate plugins and it was a big shocker when they suspended me and left me high and dry. I’m not sure the average person realizes that this could happen to them too unless they have hired someone to help them.

      • September 9, 2013 at 12:41 am
        Reply

        No, I totally get being angry. It sounds like you wound up with someone who had little more than a script (as in reading from) to work with, and that didn’t help you at all.

        • September 9, 2013 at 9:55 am
          Reply

          Glad it’s over now! PHEW!

  • Trisha W.
    September 4, 2013 at 12:00 pm
    Reply

    I hope this change brings a reduction in stress.

  • Greg
    September 3, 2013 at 6:39 pm
    Reply

    Test Comment

  • Danielle B.
    September 3, 2013 at 11:53 am
    Reply

    Glad you’re back! I would pursue getting at least a partial refund from the other host site since they didn’t live up to your expectations and were less than helpful.

  • Jen B
    September 3, 2013 at 11:30 am
    Reply

    So glad you’re back! I kept trying to pull up your site all day yesterday!

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