RealityEquation

∗ On Google and HostingRails

This website is now being hosted on a new, shiny HostingRails‘ shared hosting plan. Which means I’ve learned my lesson the hard way: don’t rely on free hosts. Here’s the story.

I’d previously hosted Reality Equation of Infinite Variables on a shared hosting account generously provided to me for free by a host called WebSoln. I’m not linking to their homepage not because I don’t think they deserve more traffic, but because they simply don’t exist anymore. Their servers went down one day and, after weeks of waiting, never came back.

Although I had a backup of the WordPress database (with all the posts, comments, configurations), it was an older one without the last few posts I’d made. WebSoln had not gone down alone, it had taken my posts with it. And there was nothing I could do.

Or so I thought. In that moment of great despair, against all odds, came an unlikely savior. I had apparently, at some point in the past, added the site’s RSS feeds to my iGoogle interface and Google, with its mindboggling computing power and storage, had apparently cached those posts - complete with links and images! Lost posts they were no more, and I was able to restore them to this website. (A quick Google Blog Search gave me the post date).

So Reality Equation is now back up and this time, on a very reliable host. But there’s more to it.

Before moving to HostingRails, I signed up to HostNine’s basic plan, which, with the 50% off discount coupon, is excellent. Their support too, is top-notch, with a live chat service available at any time. But then something happened that radically changed the scene - I got into Ruby and Ruby on Rails, both of which HostNine doesn’t support yet.

After watching the screencasts on the Rails website, especially the one in which Rails-creator David Heinemeier Hansson creates a blog in 15 minutes (mov), and following parts of (Why’s) Poignant Guide to Ruby (with, according to its author, “an exorbitant amount of cartoon foxes”), I was certain that I’d use Rails for my next (well, first) web application.

So HostingRails, with its focus on Rails and extensive tutorials and support (they reply to emails almost immediately), was an obvious choice. And I love how they’re absolutely crazy about Rails; that sort of passion counts.

So, Reality Equation is back (although, as you’ll notice, I still haven’t gotten around to creating a nice interface for the Music section and some bugs remain). Still, though, it’s good to be back (up).