I just switched host for this website and thought I would say a few words about it.
This website was first hosted on Blogger which was an early blog site. It was perfect for what I did initially.
A SMALL ORANGE – DECLINING QUALITY
Fifteen+ years ago, I switched to WordPress to have more control and options for look and functionality. (I wrote a simple script to transfer the Blogger posts to WP.)
Until yesterday, I used A Small Orange (ASO) as a host and I was very happy with them for the first several years. They were responsive, helpful, and professional.
Some years ago, I started noticing that their service seemed to get progressively worse.
The most crucial problem is that they didn’t update PHP and this creates a lot of problems for a WordPress site. PHP is what WordPress runs on, and an outdated version of PHP is both a security risk and creates problems for how the website functions. For instance, I have had increasingly more problems with plugins that are unable to run on the old version of PHP offered by ASO.
They were running PHP 5.6.40 for my WordPress site, and the current version is 8.1.13. (5.6.40 was released in 2014!)
Why wouldn’t they update PHP? After all, it’s free software and I imagine it only takes a push of a button from their side to update it. I am not sure what the answer is.
But I am certain what my answer is, and that is to switch to another host that runs the current version of PHP.
In addition to the PHP problems, I also noticed a decline in their customer service. They used to respond immediately and were skilled and helpful. These days, it can take days to get a response, and it’s often not very satisfactory.
SITEGROUND – INFINITELY BETTER
I switched to SiteGround and am very happy with their service so far. They respond within minutes and they seem professional, skilled, and helpful.
And they are, as any responsible host, running the current version of PHP.
20-YEAR ANNIVERSARY!
I have been going through a few things on this website as part of the switch, and noticed that the first entry was on December 27, 2002. That means that this blog has been going for almost twenty years!
In the backend, I see that there are about 13,482 articles listed, although only 9007 have been made public. I don’t really know how many unique visitors have been here but a rough calculation tells me that the website has been visited somewhere between 1/2 and one million times. Since a lot of what I write about is quite niche, the content is not for everyone. But I hope at least some have benefited from something here.