Blog downtime
So as many of you had probably noticed, this blog was down for a day or two. I was hoping to get it online as quick as I could, but life got busy and unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to fix the blog until now.
This blog has been hacked into three times since I started it in September, and each time, I’ve learnt something. The first time, I learnt that I should back-up. I didn’t actually begin to back-up. I just learnt that I should. After the second time, I actually started to make back-ups.
Now after this third time, I’ve learnt to back things up in a better format than a massive SQL command. I spent ages trying to get all of my data back using the SQL command and eventually, I had to install Wordpress with the default tables. Once installed I ran the SQL query and got all data back, I then exported it as a Wordpress export file. Then, I had to uninstall and reinstall Wordpress and use the Wordpress export file to import the data in again.
The SQL command would’ve been fine if I had kept Wordpress’s default table prefixes, but I wanted to harden my install, as I did the last time, so the SQL command just didn’t work out.
Another thing I’ve also learnt is not to update to the latest version of Wordpress as soon as it comes out. There have been rumours of SQL injection vulnerabilities in Wordpress 2.5, and that’s how I think my blog was hacked into. It’s better to let a new release mature for a while, before updating.
The downtime has given me some time to think about this blog. Before the downtime, I was starting to get obsessed with visitor numbers and rankings. Now however, they don’t mean as much to me. I’m more interested in creating good content and information, rather than having an incredibly popular blog. Blogging’s not all about visitor numbers and revenue.
The first time my blog was hacked into, I gave up. However this time, I’m going to continue. I’ve really grown to like blogging and this blog’s like my baby. So I’m not going to stop posting anytime soon. 
Sorry about the downtime everybody!
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3 Responses to “Blog downtime”
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Matt Keegan
April 17th, 2008
[...] and sadly there’s been no growth in traffic. However, I’ve got an excuse. The 2 days of downtime have obviously had a negative effect on this blog’s success, but I’m not going to [...]
April blog review | aaronfalloon.com
May 2nd, 2008
That stinks that you’ve been hacked. I have been finding your blog a lot lately thanks to Entrecard and did notice that is was down for a few days. Hopefully, three is a charm and that you won’t be hacked a fourth time!