Go Daddy

Sorry it took me so long to jump in here 🙂 Long weekend and all…

Judging by the website which appears to be working properly, my guess is that you did whatever it took to get this resolved. I wanted to reply anyway in case you see something like this again, or if anyone else comes across this thread.

You mentioned that you found a table showing “in use” and that you got a message stating that the wp_posts table had crashed. There’s a very simple way to fix this if you’re already in phpMyAdmin:

If you’re not already on the page where you see the tables listed, here’s a reminder of how to get there. From the phpMyAdmin homepage, click on your database name on the left (there’s probably two listed, “information_schema” and your database… don’t mess with the information_schema on). It should display a list of all the WordPress tables, including the the one that shows as “in use”. Once you’re on that page, all you have to do is check the box next to the line for the table that is listed as “in use”, and select the “Repair table” option from the drop-down window at the bottom of that page. phpMyAdmin will immediately perform that operation, and presuming there’s no other failure, the page will refresh and the table will be in a normal status again.

Hope that helps!

Alon

Eric,

I would try a couple things to troubleshoot. First, try pulling the export from the current site again, just in case there was a problem getting it the first time. You might also try exporting it in parts – export just posts without comments or other data, and see if that imports properly. Try each part individually because it’s possible that some bit of a data in one particular area is causing the problem (like bad code/characters in a spam comment).

If that doesn’t work, are you able to get a full SQL backup of the current database? If you could, you should be able to import that to your new account. Here’s some info for importing/restoring databases: http://x.co/kE5F – just remember that restoring a database also means losing everything that’s currently in the database. Also, note that you need to place the .sql file in the /_db_backups/ folder in order for it to be restorable through the Go Daddy backup/restore interface.

As a side note, I just visited the site (appears that it’s not hosted from your new account yet), and it looks like you have no pagination for your posts – many, many, many posts show up on the home page. This is generally a bad idea and can cause major performance issues (as it did for me when I visited). I recommend implementing pagination for better performance.

Alon
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Are you using a control panel like Plesk or cPanel? Outside of a third-party software solution like that, I’m not familiar with any reference to WordPress that we have with our dedicated servers. Regardless, if you’ve got things setup and working, I agree that it’s not something to worry about.

Alon
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Amy,

I’m sorry to learn that you’ve had this trouble. Whatever you choose to do with your account, I wish you luck in finding success.

I’m posting here to clarify Go Daddy’s position on mail handling. There is no general rule that prevents sending mail from WordPress or any other hosting application. However, we do have systems in place to limit spam on our servers. If you’ve found a sudden problem with all mail handling, it’s possible that recipients of your messages have flagged them as spam which can result in filtration.

To investigate whether or not this is the case, you can submit a support ticket to have your information reviewed. Explain what’s happening and ask to find out if your domain has been flagged, and if it has, how you should proceed to prevent the issue from recurring.

Alon
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There are a number of ways this could be done, but the most comprehensive solution is to simply remove the old content completely and migrate both the hosted files and database from the new site to the old server. There’s one important question, though – do you want to keep any of the content from the old blog, like the posts, comments, images, etc. If you do, you’ll obviously need to back all of that up first. Of course, you should back it all up before deletion as a standard precaution anyway 🙂 While we’re talking about best practices, you should also update the WordPress installation that you plan to use to the current version as well. Hopefully you aren’t using any plugins or a theme that isn’t compatible.

If you do need some data from the old WordPress site, you can probably get away with getting what you need by using WordPress’ standard Export function which is available in the admin panel. Then, after you’ve brought over the new site, you can import that data. Images aren’t included, so those would have to be manually backed up and uploaded to the appropriate area in the /wp-content folder after the new site is in place.

I’m assuming you know how to access, copy, and move files on both the old and new servers, and that you know how to import a database. However, you may not know how to create and access a database from a shared hosting account at Go Daddy. Databases on Go Daddy’s shared hosting don’t reside on the hosting server. To get a backup of the database, you have to access the Hosting Control Panel and perform a specific backup operation. After you do, a backup is placed in your hosting account so you grab it and use it with your new host. Performing the backup is really simple – here’s a quick walkthrough: http://x.co/jhz5

Alon
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aaronapter,

I think there’s a lot of confusion about the connection between WordPress.com, WordPress.org, domain mapping, hosting, etc. I’ll try to clear it up. Some of this you probably already know, but it’ll be good to spell it all out in one place.

WordPress.COM is a service that will host, for free, your blog at ***.wordpress.com. If you purchase a domain from another provider (you said yours is registered at Go Daddy), WordPress.com offers a paid add-on called “domain mapping” to let you map that domain to your free blog. This serves only to give you access to your free blog through your own domain instead of the ***.wordpress.com address. It is not a domain registration service.

WordPress.COM also allows you to register a domain directly through them. This is not what you did, but note that it’s an option. This is important because people sometimes get their domain through WordPress.COM in order to use it with their blog also hosted at WordPress.COM then later choose to use a different hosting provider. WordPress.COM allows you to manage the domain through its interface just like Go Daddy does. If they didn’t, you wouldn’t be able to get a domain through them and host it elsewhere.

WordPress.ORG is simply a distribution point for the WordPress application and a forum where you can get support for self-hosting the app. You can use the software from WordPress.ORG without ever signing up with WordPress.COM or paying for add-on services from them. It seems like this is what you did, except that you paid for the mapping service through WordPress.COM unnecessarily.

So, what should you do next? Well, to link your domain at Go Daddy to a hosting account with another provider, there are just two steps. First, make sure the hosting is setup with the hosting provider (this doesn’t involve WordPress.COM at all). Second, set the nameservers at Go Daddy. These are instructions for setting nameservers: http://x.co/jT6f
If you don’t know what nameservers to us, ask your hosting provider. They should provide at least two of them, and they’d look something like this: NS1.NAMESERVER.COM

Hope this helps. If you still need help with the domain, Go Daddy’s support team is available by phone 24/7. Contact info at http://x.co/jT7H

Alon
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I’m apologize, but no, I won’t be able to make a purchase for you based on our communication in this forum. You’ll need to speak with a Support representative (either by phone or email) in order to complete a purchase.

By the way, there may be a different option for you. *If* you already have a hosting account with us, you wouldn’t need to add a new one. Our Deluxe and Ultimate hosting plans can host more than one site. If you have an Economy plan, it could be upgraded to Deluxe, which would be cheaper than getting a whole new plan. If that situation fits for you, take a look at this help article: http://x.co/jEuA – you would add your new domain as a secondary domain, then use the instructions I provided previously in order to install the WordPress app. During the install, the new domain should come up an option for where you want to install it – just remember to remove the “wordpress” folder name during the install since (I think) you want to install it in the root of the new domain’s hosting folder.

Alon
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Bob,

I also see the delay is happening while trying to get data from userapi.com, though I don’t know why it’s pulling data from that site. The site did successfully load for me eventually, and there is reference to a userapi.com script in the source code, but I don’t know if it’s legitimate or not.

If you believe the site has been hacked, there are a few steps you should take. First, reset your passwords. Second, restore your files from a backup that existed before evidence of the hack appeared. Third, update all your plugins and consider removing some of them if they aren’t giving you any value, haven’t been updated in a long time, or you have other reason to believe they may be vulnerable to attack.

If you don’t know how to recover your files, take a look at this article: http://x.co/jBdY – you can recover files from daily snapshots up to 30 days old. Note, however, that it’s possible the malicious activity occurred a long time ago, prior to your knowledge of it. For that reason, you need to take extra measures to ensure your files are truly clean (see the advice in the previous response from esmi), not just that the site works after restoring the files.

If you need extra assistance through this process, our Support staff may be able to assist, and you can contact them by phone or email 24 hours a day. Contact info: http://x.co/jBhc

Alon
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