Updated on Apr. 3, 2008, at 10:16 AM (UTC-5 America/New York):
We'll be releasing all the work we've been doing by Saturday, April 5, 2008. Thanks for everyone's patience with our efforts. The release should fix the "login problem" for everyone.
Updated on Mar. 5, 2008, at 4:26 AM:
Another step forward: I have started to create new editions of the support pages that (a) provide sign up instructions for new users and (b) help current users to manage their BlogPatrol accounts.
Updated on Feb. 28, 2008, at 6:44 PM:
The work continues with progress being made each day. A few bugs remain, and we'll continue with our development and testing until they are all removed.
Updated on Feb. 21, 2008, at 11:42 AM:
Our web development consultants have done great work to resolve the problems with the password reset function and user login process on our development and test servers.
Now that testing is starting to wind down for this major release, we are turning our attention to re-doing all the support pages on our blog so that the screen shots will reflect the improvements in the BlogPatrol web pages. The work is tedious and the progress is slower than I would like, but it's important to do this work correctly. I've decided not to give any more predictions on when the work will be done (because my schedule predictions are almost always wrong), but I will continue to post regular updates.
Come to think of it, I also need to put a list together for you to see all the improvements and bug fixes that we have made... well over 50 of them in all!
Updated on Feb. 13, 2008, at 12:01 AM:
Just wanted to let everyone know that we have moved ahead with asking our web development company to do a complete anlaysis of the problems that a lot of people are having with the password reset function and user login process. The idea is to identify and deliver a solution to this issue once and for all as part of the release of our service enhancements.
Updated on Feb. 11, 2008, at 1:01 AM:
Well, still testing here. Sometimes it just takes longer than you think it will to get things right. I apologize for the delay in what (eventually) will be the release of exciting improvements to the service.
Updated on Feb. 4, 2008, at 5:07 PM:
Our test results so far have shown that we still need to work through several more rounds of testing, so the release of our improvements will be pushed back probably to the end of this week (Saturday, February 9).
Posted on Feb. 1, 2008, at 9:04 PM:
Just wanted to post a quick update to let everyone know that we are completing the final stages of testing to provide you with improvements to make it easier for you to update your account info and to use your BlogPatrol reports stats.
Hopefully, if all continues to go well with the testing, we can release the improvements by Monday, February 4.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
News on Upcoming Release of BlogPatrol
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Improvements Coming Soon
It's not only a new year, but a new day, coming soon, for BlogPatrol. I've been quiet on the blog lately, but actually very busy finding a new web development company to deliver improvements to our services. I'm pleased to say that Ive found a great company with whom I've been working since early December 2007.
By the end of January, we will soon release improvements to:
- New User Signup form
- Account Settings page
- Stats Reports format
We will then confront and hopefully overcome the long-time problems with:
- Users not being able to login (or stay logged in) using Internet Explorer
Once the system is bug-fixed and improved for greater user-friendliness, I'll commission work for enhancing/adding more reports and new features:
- Adding the "hit count" to the existing Weekly, Daily and Hourly reports
- Banning (ignoring) multiple IP addresses (for example, many of us have at least two computers: one at work and one at home)
- Naming IP addresses that belong to the people you know so that your reports are more meaningful to you
- Adding some mapping reports to graphically show the locations of visitor's IP addresses
I'm also reviewing your comments on this blog to find other requests that we can take on that are within our resources at this time.
It's an exciting time, as BlogPatrol works toward improving our services!
Friday, November 9, 2007
BlogPatrol adds more capacity on Nov. 8
After just completing an upgrade on October 19, we added even more capacity on November 8, 2007, to keep up with the steady growth of BlogPatrol users in recent months.
Thanks everyone for choosing BlogPatrol as your web stats provider.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Oct. 19 - Scheduled Maintenance
On Friday, October 19, 2007, BlogPatrol.com will be down for about 30 minutes sometime during 5:00 PM to 7 PM (UTC -4 America/New York) for a hardware upgrade.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Improving Performance Levels: Server Upgrades
Migration in-process as of Thursday, August 30, 2007
Updated on August 30, 2007, 8:35 AM...
- We have added our website DNS entries into the new server and are waiting for the changes to propagate.
- We will cutover to the new servers once we are sure the propagation is complete.
Migration scheduled for Thursday, August 30, 2007
Updated on August 27, 2007, 9:00 PM...
- We will be cutting over to the new servers on or before the afternoon of Thursday, August 30, 2007.
- I apologize that the system has been slow and inaccessible lately, but the upgrade will include a number of technical enhancements to bring performance levels back up.
- Thanks for your patience!
Improving Performance Levels: Server Upgrades
Originally Posted on August 20, 2007, 6:19 PM...
It's been a busy couple of weeks for BlogPatrol. Last week, we made some major usability enhancements to the signup process to make it easier for new users to signup and install BlogPatrol onto their blogs.
BlogPatrol continues to grow steadily in the new configuration that we launched on May 19. We've reached a point, however, where our current servers are no longer giving the desired levels of service to our users:
- the web server is becoming unreliable and slow with processing http requests
- it is taking too long for the database to generate your stats reports
- Old: 2.0 GHz Dual Processor Dual Core Xeon 5130 (Woodcrest) with four cores per machine
- New: 1.86GHz Dual Processor Quad Core Xeon 5320 (Clovertown) for eight cores per machine for faster overall performance
- Old: 4 gigabytes of RAM per machine
- New: 6 gigabytes of RAM per machine
- Old: 32-bit CentOS operating system
- New: 64-bit CentOS operating system for faster overall performance
- Old: 10K rpm SAS hard disks
- New: 15k rpm SCSI hard disks for faster database reads/writes
Monday, July 23, 2007
Install Instructions simplified for Blogger blogs
We have simplified the detailed instructions for installing BlogPatrol for Blogger blogs.
Previously, the instructions were divided into a whopping 24 steps (about 19 steps too many). Now, the instructions consist of 5 steps with screenshots to support each step:
Monday, July 2, 2007
New on the (Stats) Menu
"I'll have an order of two Visitor Activity Reports and Details of my Last 25 Visitors to go!"
I'm pleased to announce the release of a new format for our stats reports. We've organized the reports into a Stats Dashboard with categories that are more intuitive to understand and easier to use:
- View All Statistics
- Stats Totals
- Weekly, Daily & Hourly reports
- Visitor Activity reports
- Referrers reports
- Search Engine Data reports
- Visitor Technologies reports
- Details of Last 25 Visitors report
Check out what's new on the (Stats) Menu at our demo stats account or by viewing the stats for your BlogPatrol account.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
A Little Focus Goes a Long Way
Long-time BlogPatrol users have seen great changes with our website and service since the beginning of 2007. Despite the big improvements that have happened already, and the new features soon to arrive, it's the little improvements that can make a big difference.
In web development, one use of the term "focus" is to define it as a website automatically placing the user's cursor into the first data field of a web form. The benefits to a web visitor of having the cursor focus in the right place include:
- saving an extra click-and-point motion to get the cursor into the desired data field of the web form
- allowing returning visitors to begin using the web form as soon as the web page finishes loading because the visitors know the cursor will be focused exactly where they want it
I'm happy to say that all four forms now provide focus to the user so they can begin using the forms right away. With improvements big and small, a little focus goes a long way.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
System Upgrade: Enhanced charts and New site design
June 17, 2007, 9:25 AM Eastern (UTC-4 New York): We are currently migrating the system to provide enhanced stats charting and an updated site design for BlogPatrol.com. The migration may result in system downtime during the morning of Sunday, June 17.
We will post an update when the migration is complete.
10:18 AM: We have completed our system upgrade. The upgrades provide:
- a more user friendly web site for easier navigation of our services and content
- enhanced stats charts and graphs that give you a better view of who's reading your blog
- Problem: Your browser is likely referring to elements of the old web site along with the format of the new website. Specifically, your browser has the old javascript menu in its cache.
- Solution: Whether you're using Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers, simply hold down the "Shift" key and click on the "Refresh" or "Reload" button on your browser.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
New BlogPatrol Features and Enhancements
For your convenience, here are summary lists of new features and enhancements!
New Features - Recently Released
- July 23, 2007: Install Instructions simplified for Blogger blogs
- June 17, 2007: Major system upgrade including...
- Updated overall site design including menus and colors
- Added interactive, 3-D graphs for stats reports
- May 19, 2007: Launched BlogPatrol version 1.5
- June 1, 2007: Launched BlogPatrol's Net Tools
- June 14, 2007: Added focus for data fields on BlogPatrol web forms
- Stats Maps (Summer 2007)
- MySpace-compatible (i.e., non-JavaScript) counter (Summer 2007)
Last updated: Friday, July 23, 2007, 4:05 AM Eastern (UTC-4 America/New York)
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Time Zone Feature Added to BlogPatrol
6:28 PM Eastern, June 2 - We are adding the long awaited, much requested time zone feature to the live BlogPatrol site. The system will be down for at least a few minutes while we upload the new functions to the live site. Please standby for updates.
7:06 PM Eastern, June 2 - The upgrade activities are now complete. We invite everyone to log into their account(s) and select the timezone that they desire for their stats reporting!
How do I customize the time zone for my BlogPatrol account?
1. Login to your BlogPatrol account.
2. Find the data field labeled Timezone (located between the Ban IP and Counter Style data fields).
3. Click on the drop-down menu to select the timezone you desire.
4. Once you have selected your timezone, scroll down your browser to the Modify button.
5. Click on the Modify button to save your changes.
Please let us know how the customized timezone feature works for you!
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Welcome to BlogPatrol 1.5!
We've completed the migration of BlogPatrol from version 1.0 to 1.5. All services are now available at http://www.blogpatrol.com/, including these features:
- New user sign up
- User log in
- Stats reports
- Change password
- Retrieve countercode
- Lost password reset (automated)
- Contact form (automated)
- Top Blogs
When you view your stats reports, the site should load all of your info within seconds. For a quick glance at the improved capabilities, visit our demo stats report.
If you have any questions, please see the frequently asked questions & answers provided below, or feel free to post a comment if the FAQ does not answer your questions.
...Thanks for all your patience, and let us know how BlogPatrol 1.5 performs for you!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
RAM Installation Complete
I'm very pleased to update that the RAM installation concluded successfully without incident. BlogPatrol's test and live sites are now operating with 12 GB RAM (6 on each machine) instead of the previous 8 GB RAM (4 on each machine).
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Testing the new database... Read on, if you'd like to help!
Many of you have offered to participate in creating a better BlogPatrol. Here's the next opportunity to help.
Create a Test Account
Sign up for a test account at http://beta.blogpatrol.com/signup.php to help us test a number of improvements that we've developed.
Managing Your Test Account
Check out the controls of your test account to see if the system FAILS to perform any of the following features related to managing your account:
1. Requires that you create a unique username (For example, if you already have a BlogPatrol username, you should NOT be able to create a test account with the same username that you have for your "real" account.)
2. You receive an email confirmation with your new username, user ID, and randomly generated password.
3. You are able to install the BlogPatrol counter code on your blog.
4. Once the code is installed, a BlogPatrol counter icon appears on your blog.
5. The counter icon that appears on your blog is the same style that you selected for your test account.
6. When you click on your counter icon, you are taken to http://beta.blogpatrol.com/.
7. You are able to logout and log back into your account.
8. You are able to change your password to one of your preference.
9. You are able to login with that new password.
10. You are able to change your account settings, such as the style of your counter icon, password-protecting your stats reports, banning your IP address, and including your account in the Top Blogs rankings.
11. When you use the “Lost Pass” function at http://beta.blogpatrol.com/lostpass.php, You receive a brand new, randomly generated password .
12. The new password is valid and allows you to login to your test account.
13. The "Contact Us" function at http://beta.blogpatrol.com/contactform.php allows you to send an email to us by typing in your name, email address, subject, message and then clicking the "send" button.
Your Test Stats Reports
Finally, check out your test stats reports to see if the system FAILS to provide any of the following features related to recording your stats and displaying your stats reports:
14. You are able to access all of your stats reports after you login to your test account.
15. The stats reports provide you with data indicating that the system is accurately recording your unique visitors and total hits.
16. For example, see the last report on the menu, the one called “Detailed Analysis Of The Last 25 Visitors”. This report should provide you with lots of details on who is visiting your site, including which pages people are visiting.
Remember to use the "BETA" site
The test website is located at http://beta.blogpatrol.com (not at the regular URL of http : // www . blogpatrol . com)! This is important because access to the regular BlogPatrol system is still limited to account login only, the same that it has been for the last few months. Once testing is completed, we will be taking all the improvements tested at beta . blogpatrol . com and moving them to www . blogpatrol . com!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs) ABOUT THIS TESTING
Why does the beta site look exactly the same as the live site?
We have not made any changes to the website, but we have made significant changes to the database engine that will provide us with a stable system that performs as we expect it will.
How much time do you have to complete your testing?
Please complete your testing between now and May 16, 2007, 11:59 PM Eastern (New York) time.
How do you notify BlogPatrol of your test results/comments?
Please post a comment here when you find any errors or problems with the system. Send your emails no later than May 16. It will be a good idea to read others' comments before posting your own, in order to avoid any redundancies in reporting errors.
WARNING: Your test account will be deleted when testing is completed!
When we cut over to the live site on or before May 19, we will be deleting any test accounts that you create.
Let the testing (and fun) begin. Thanks in advance for any time and attention you can share with us!
Friday, March 2, 2007
New Web Hosting Provider: SingleHop.com
We have selected a new web hosting company, SingleHop.com, Inc., who will be providing us not only the server boxes and operating system we want but also the type of support that we're looking for in a provider.
We're working directly with Drew Hurlburt, the Vice President of Sales for SingleHop. I'm confident that Drew and his team are able to give us what we're looking for: a web hosting provider who works with us as a business partner and who will respond quickly to help us add more capacity (RAM and server boxes) so that our systems stay well ahead of BlogPatrol's membership needs. Keeping our system's capacities ahead of BlogPatrol's growth will be a huge part of achieving the bottom line for BlogPatrol 2.0: reliability, accuracy, and speed of service for all of our users.
Our soon-to-be ex-provider, EV1Servers.net, was purchased last year by ThePlanet.com. They're pretty good, and seem even better with the new leadership, resources, and offerings resulting from the merger. Even as EV1Servers though, they just seemed too big for a company like BlogPatrol that is looking for more direct attention and dedicated service. Also, we are looking for a flavor of operating system, Debian 3.1 (Sarge), that The Planet does not readily support, but which SingleHop does.
SingleHop is in its own process of renovations to add ample space for its own fantastic growth rate. We believe they are worth the wait of few weeks, so we'll let you know when the servers are available to us. Here's an article about SingleHop's innovative concept of customizing "the level of [managed] support [services] to their [customers'] needs and expertise, rather than working with fixed-fee trouble tickets or vague tiers of support service."
I'm glad to report though that we've selected our new partner to help us insure the future success of BlogPatrol.
