The Squidoo StatusBlog

Friday the 13th came early!

2006-10-05T11:24:00.000-04:00

We're really sorry, guys.

Gil and Corey and our server hosts etc are working around the clock to exorcize a few recent demons from the Squidserver.

(We'd give the servers a good old hit with a wrench, only they're in Texas...and we're not...)

Anyway.

Just wanted to say we know it's frustrating, we know it's no fun, and we're on it.

Thanks for hanging in there.

Gremlins are gone

2006-10-04T17:02:00.000-04:00

We had some trouble with our servers these past few days, believed to be caused by a nasty group of gremlins. Luckily, we think we just squashed the last of them, and all systems should be back to normal now.

Update: They're not all gone yet! You may occasionally experience a brief inability to reach the site as we work to get this fixed.

What happened to my traffic?

2006-09-05T13:21:00.000-04:00

If you noticed a recent, sharp drop in traffic to your lenses, it's not as bad as it sounds. A few days ago, a small programming glitch put a monkey wrench in our traffic stats retrieval tool, which resulted in accurate reporting.

The good news is, we've got the problem fixed, and traffic stats/LensRank should be back to normal by Wednesday morning.

Sorry for the scare!

Amazon Alert

2006-08-21T15:28:00.000-04:00

We seem to be having some trouble connecting to the Amazon API today. We are attempting to contact them for further details.

Until we get this resolved, expect intermittent results from the Amazon module. If you've selected specific Amazon products to be listed on your lens, please refrain from updating the modules until further notice.

Update: There was a temporary glitch in Amazon's system that caused this problem. It was corrected soon afterward.

In the beginning, there was Lens Creation...

2006-08-05T16:03:00.000-04:00

(And last night, there wasn't!)

Yes, yesterday was a buggy day.

For a few hours last night and early this morning, our "Create A Lens" page had a hitch in it.

That's fixed now, and you should be able to make lenses like crazy.

If you're getting stuck anywhere, please let us know here.

Thanks!

Yikes!

2006-08-04T22:39:00.000-04:00

Squidoo has a revenue sharing model. We call it a co-op. People talk about what matters to them, recommend great content, and maybe earn some royalties along the way.

Some lensmasters are earning upwards of $50 a month, straight into their pockets. Others are donating their royalties to charity.

We're very proud of both sets of people, and are working to optimize earnings for everyone, the entrepreneurs and the fundraisers alike. At the same time, we're delighted to see how well the traffic model and content-focus is working. Because our lensmasters are making outstanding lenses.

BUT...But today we screwed up.

Today we processed our monthly payment, and as a result of a recent push of new features, something in our payment reporting broke.

Some of our lensmasters who set their royalties to cash, saw their royalties sent to charity instead.

Yikes.

We're really sorry. We've got a tiny team, but I can promise you we're all home on a Friday night working to fix this.

So, now what? For those of you that this happened to, please rest assured that early next week we'll be paying you your cash in full. It's yours, and you'll get it.

Also, we'll be spending quite a bit of time, before the next payment period, to purge our system of any remaining bugs and to make sure that your payment settings are indeed sticking.

In the meantime, I invite you to send a note to me directly if you're having trouble or have any concerns about our payment system. Megan [at] squidoo.com.

Thanks for hanging in.

Megan
Editor in Chief
Squidoo.com

Trouble with CafePress module

2006-08-04T11:14:00.000-04:00

We're currently experiencing some trouble with the CafePress module. We're working with their team to help get this resolved as soon as possible. Things should be up and running again by 3pm EST.

Finessing Flickr

2006-08-02T13:21:00.000-04:00

Our friends at Flickr recently expressed concern about the automated "Let Flickr Pick" option we offer in our Flickr module. In the spirit of curation, recommendation, and crediting photographers, we're changing our Flickr module to only display handpicked photos, or favorite photosets, instead of just pulling in random photos by tag.

What does this mean for you? If your lens currently shows photo thumbnails via "Let Flickr Pick" they will remain on your lens. But we won't be loading any new ones automatically via that tool. And, if you edit your Flickr module (recommended) you'll now be required to point to photos using the other 2 options instead: "Let Me Pick" and "Pick By Photoset."

We're sorry in advance for any hassle this may cause you guys, and we hope the other 2 photo-selection options will provide more than enough Flickry goodness for your lenses.

P.S. Some tips to help you Flickrize your lenses to their fullest potential:

1) Give credit where credit is due, of course. If you feature someone's Flickr pictures, thank him or her on your lens.

2) Pick by Photoset: Try picking your OWN photosets. Upload your pics to Flickr and create a "Squidoo" set, let's say. That way you can easily add your own pictures to your lens.

In Search of...

2006-07-27T12:23:00.000-04:00

We're currently working on some improvements for Squidoo's search engine. Search results might not be overly consistent while we're doing this work, particularly in terms of tag-based searches. (Search is still tapping other content and sections within lenses, however.) We hope to finish these improvements in the next few weeks.

When photo uploads go wrong

2006-07-20T16:56:00.000-04:00

It's come to our attention that a number of lensmasters are having trouble uploading photos. We're looking into it now and should have a fix in place by Friday evening.

Monday July 17: Server Upgrades

2006-07-17T15:34:00.000-04:00

Squidoo will be performing server upgrades this afternoon, Monday, July 17, between 4pm and 6pm Eastern time. Although we'll do our best to ensure 100% uptime, you may experience difficulty reaching our servers for approximately 1-2 minutes.

Lazy Link Lists

2006-04-12T16:02:00.000-04:00

[4/12/06 Update: The link list module should now be working OK.]

We're experiencing some difficulties with the link list module that's resulting in data and module loss. Please hold off on tinkering with your link list modules for the time being. We aim to nail this down ASAP and will let you know when things are "safe" again.

Ebay Leaves

2006-03-31T22:04:00.000-05:00

[4/7/2006 Update: The Ebay module should now work much more smoothly. We're no longer limited to the extent that we were.]

The Squidoo team is experiencing some challenges with the newly introduced Ebay module. Like the Technorati module before it, the module has already become so popular that we've exceeded the number of times we can ping the service in a given day.

Lensmasters using the module -- especially later in the day -- may get API errors indicating such. We're currently working with Ebay to ensure that we're all able to use the Ebay module as often as we'd like to. We appreciate your understanding and patience as we resolve this issue.

Bio Duos

2006-03-28T17:00:00.000-05:00

[3/31/06 Update: This is no longer the case. And there's no need to edit or republish! If you were experiencing this, you should see that your bio is now is as it should be.]

Several lensmasters have reported that the text of their bios is somehow duplicating in the About the Lensmaster section of their lenses. We hope to repair that unnecessary doubling up soon.

Text Module Mayhem

2006-03-16T14:20:00.000-05:00

[4/12/06 Update: This module should once again support basic HTML. You might need to resave or republish.]

Because of a problem with the editor we'd selected, the text module no longer supports any HTML. Any HTML -- including links -- lensmasters included in text modules will no longer display correctly. We hope to reintroduce basic HTML support in the near future.

Lesser Text Lists

2006-03-11T13:19:00.000-05:00

[4/12/06 Update: This should be working better now.]

Right now, the text list module isn't working very well. If you make a list, save it, edit it -- or basically do anything with it -- the content of the list will be lost. We're working on that and hope to make it more stable soon!

Technorati Take Down

2006-03-10T10:27:00.000-05:00

[3/17/06 Update: We recently rentroduced the Technorati module.]

Not only is the Technorati module not working, we've decided to remove it from the mix and reintroduce it at a later date. So if you can't find it in the Module Picker, worry not: It shall return.

Improving Images

2006-03-10T10:24:00.000-05:00

Several lensmasters have reported difficulty uploading photos to the text module. While an image might not upload on the first attempt, a second attempt usually works. We'll address this inconsistency soon.

Stray Favorites

2006-03-06T12:13:00.000-05:00

[4/12/06 Update: This has been repaired for awhile. Apologies for the delayed update!]

Over the weekend, we received several alerts from lensmasters that their favorites -- lenses added to their My Squidoo page -- had disappeared. We're currently looking into why that might have happened and hope to return such lenses to favorite status soon.

New Feature Alert

2006-02-15T17:02:00.000-05:00

We recently added a bunch of new features, including the money-making SuperStore module and a Lens of the Day blog and newsletter. Check it out!

Out o' Bios

2006-02-07T08:51:00.000-05:00

[3/10/06 Update: This should no longer be the case.]

Several lensmasters have reported being unable to edit their bio in the Lensmaster Profile (under My Account). We're taking a look at what might be happening.

In Search of...

2006-01-12T15:08:00.000-05:00

[2/2/2006 Update: Sorry for the delayed news, but search has been working better for some time.]

Because of some back-end work we've been doing, Squidoo's search database has gotten corrupted. Some searches might come back with zero results. We're rebuilding the search database now.

Limited Link Lists

2006-01-11T18:04:00.000-05:00

[2/2/2006 Update: This should no longer be the case.]

Some lensmasters have alerted us that when creating new Link List Modules, they're able to add just one link.

That Blasted Bookmarklet

2006-01-11T18:02:00.000-05:00

[2/2/2006 Update: The Bookmarklet should work much better now.]

The Bookmarklet tool -- with which lensmasters can add links to their lenses -- is experiencing some technical difficulties.

Reorganization Chart

2006-01-11T17:58:00.000-05:00

Lensmasters have recently reported that they're having trouble sorting items within modules -- and modules within lenses. The drag and drop approach might not work every time, but it seems that the use of the relocation arrows (with which lensmasters can move modules up and down one slot) works pretty well.

Improving Our Images

2006-01-11T17:56:00.000-05:00

[2/2/2006 Update: Uploading images seems to be working much more consistently now.]

We're also returning to some challenges related to uploading and displaying images. If you can't upload or display photos in your text modules, we're working on making that work more consistently.

Duplication Situation

2006-01-11T17:54:00.000-05:00

A previously reported and repaired issue -- module duplication -- might be happening again. At least one lensmaster has experienced a module being inserted into a lens more than once. This has happened in the Edit view, and not in the Published view that's visible to readers.

Downtime: Sunday 3 p.m. EST

2006-01-08T15:05:00.000-05:00

Squidoo will be down for a very short while this afternoon. We're working on a few important server improvements.

Thanks for your patience!

Confirmation Frustration

2006-01-04T12:15:00.000-05:00

[1/12/2006 Update: The new lens confirmation process should now work more easily.]

Lensmasters have also recently reported difficulty confirming new lenses. After entering the security word we use to ensure a person is building a lens, the browser hangs... and the lens isn't confirmed. When lensmasters return, they're prompted to confirm the lens again. We've made this a top priority.

Introduction Interruption

2006-01-04T12:12:00.000-05:00

[1/9/2006 Update: Some lensmasters who couldn't edit their Introduction modules could not do so because of a stylesheet issue that we've now fixed. If anyone encounters this again, let us know.]

Lensmasters who use Firefox may experience some difficulty editing the Introduction module in a lens. Right now, photos can be uploaded -- and will display -- but some Firefox users have reported being unable to add text. (We've experienced this ourselves.)

In Search of...

2006-01-03T00:15:00.000-05:00

While searching for lenses, occasionally search results pages indicate that there are more lenses than those reflected on the results page -- without including a Next or More link to see the rest of the results. We'll add that in the future.

Double Trouble

2005-12-20T19:19:00.000-05:00

[12/27/05 Update: Module duplication shouldn't be an issue any more, as well. Let us know if that's not the case.]

[12/21/05 Update: We've made some modifications to the back end of the lens editing and publishing process that should solve the second issue: module loss. We're testing it today, and if it checks out as an adequate fix, we'll push the improvement platform-wide.]

The Squidoo tech team is hard at work fixing what might be the most interesting bug to date. Some -- not all - lensmasters are experiencing one of two things:

Adding modules to a lens results in multiples of that module being added to the lens.

Modules that are displaying in the live, published version of a lens aren't showing up in the edit view.

This is at the very, very top of the bugs that we're working on, and we hope to have the problem solved soon.

For now, to address #2, try this:

If modules are showing up in the live, published view of a lens, but not in the edit view for that lens, do this: Click on the Discard This Draft button. If the resulting edit view looks OK to you -- do take a look to ensure that most if not all live modules are present -- hit the Publish button.

Rest assured, we know this is huge, and we're on it. You can always email me directly if you need further assistance.

Google Goggles

2005-12-20T18:53:00.000-05:00

We recently introduced the new Google Maps Module, and while many lensmasters are able to use it to good effect, some are not. In some instances, the module displays a blank map on the lens in which it's been published.

This is the result of an error that we're currently looking into. It won't affect all Google Maps Modules, but it might botch the display of some. Just a head's up.

Amazon Module Glitch

2005-12-16T11:28:00.000-05:00

[12/16/05 Update: This now appears to be working as it should be. Lensmasters may need to re-Publish their lenses to see the change take effect.]

If you build an Amazon lens, personally picking what titles show up (the Let Me Pick approach), you're able to Add a Description to each item, explaining why you think it's interesting and important. Right now, those descriptions aren't showing up in the module display once lensmasters Publish their lenses. We're working on that, and descriptions that you've saved should display correctly once we figure this out.

Picture Imperfect

2005-12-16T10:30:00.000-05:00

[1/4/2006 Update: We've started to use a new image server, so image display should be more consistent.]

Some lensmasters are reporting that images they upload -- and can see when editing their lens -- aren't displaying when they view the published lens. We're experiencing some difficulties with our image server and are working on making image performance more consistent.

Technorati Take Down

2005-12-15T16:34:00.000-05:00

[3/17/06 Update: We recently rentroduced the Technorati module.]

The Technorati module isn't working very well right now because the Squidoo co-op has exceeded its allotment of queries. We've applied for a more accommodating license and hope to offer better performance soon.