DIGG Cripples Futurelooks

Well, this sucks. Today, Futurelooks got a DIGG on the Digital SLR Gift Guide. However, because of the backend’s weaksauce ability to handle it, the site folded under the pressure. It definitely isn’t the server itself. We have plenty of firepower there.

After talking to our server admin, it looks like the site’s backend has been spewing out garbage errors that have overloaded our server. We’ve always had problems with this software handling heavy loads. What is ironic is that my little blog here can handle a DIGG no problem, while my largest site cannot. I’m going to have to get the developer to look at this and fix it fast. Or else, I’ll have to DIGG my BLOG instead.

Although DIGG would normally be a blessing, because the site is not able to handle all the people wanting to see the article, people are just leaving. This is also affecting the people who want to view the article, get to the second page, then can’t move on. I will make no extra money from this DIGG today. This has also affected people who would normally visit my site because of the other content or searches. Now they can’t connect either.

Let this be a lesson to you all: Weaksauce backends are bad for business. They are a liability, not an asset, and price has no bearing on that. I wish I had known that it wasn’t that great to begin with. I actually paid for this backend, yet WordPress is free. Go figure.