Watch out for website suspension for "ABUSING RESOURCES".?
A HEADS UP TO OTHERS WHO ARE AS CLUELESS AS MYSELF
Here's a note I got from Kyle and Carson that surprised me into doing some stupid things.
Hi Alexx,
We hope that you are having a great day. We have noticed that your website is using a large amount of storage space and we wanted to reach out to see if there is anything we can do to help you maintain a less "bloated" website footprint.
Ideally, your website should have media such as video, and large images hosted on specialized hosting services so that your site runs optimally, loads quickly, and offers your visitors the best user experience possible.
(I HAVE NO VIDEO, SO ESPECIALLY NEVER EXPECTED ANY OF THIS)
For example, rather than host video's directly on your website server that is optimized for serving website content, you could host the video on a service like youtube which specializes in serving fast streaming rates for video.
Hosting large files on your WordPress website here at WA is not optimal and could lead to slower site performance, a less than optimal experience for your visitors, and could lead to lower rankings and traffic.
You website storage usage is around 2.1 GB, take required action so your website will not be disabled for abusing resources.
So, today we wanted to reach out and offer to help optimize your storage space and see if we can minimize your website storage footprint to ensure the best possible performance for your site.
We suggest moving your large files to a dedicated service such as YouTube for video hosting, or Flickr for image hosting.
Let's discuss how we can work towards this and really optimize your site.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Kyle & Carson
Needless to say, I panicked! I do have a lot of photos on one site but I had a plug-in called WP SMUSH on it, which I apparently hadn't used well. So I went searching for plug-ins, found DNUI (Stands for DO NOT USE) which "cleans" your system of unused crap. It looks to me like for each image we store in the Media Library there are actually MULTIPLE versions stored in order to provide the option of multiple sizes to be used on our site.
So I watched this plug in "clean" like 6000 images (weird... no way I have that many, but again... these duplicates exist).
THEN when finished I started going through the site and finding TOTALLY MISSING PHOTOS. HOLY. CRAP. GREAT.
The DNUI program was supposed to clean only UNUSED pics. It did, along with many USED pics I clearly wanted to keep.. And of course it had warned me that sh*t could happen, but I felt I needed to do something fast. I don't respond well to unexpected catastrophe notices when I have all my eggs in this WA basket. (A SLIGHT PTSD issue, let's say... LOL)
So out of like 120 pages/posts I really don't have a good idea where to start. I guess anywhere is as good as anywhere else.
Meanwhile I've also opened a Flickr account and am figuring that out... but the workload of redoing so many pics on the site is mad aggravating.
I don't know what the best solution would be for anyone getting this notice in the future. I just know I won't run up against it again because I'm redoing EVERYTHING. It really spooked me, especially since I have 13 sites hosted here right now and for some reason I was under the impression that we had unlimited "service" generally. There are clearly BIG exceptions to that.
I've been absent from WA for a bit... a family death and dying and aftermath thing wherein I had to completely re-prioritize for a while. I did well to keep up with ANY websites, and the last thing I needed was a big ass problem with WA trying to get back in the saddle.
I sure hope this info helps somebody out to avoid a panic. Just don't jump onto a program that causes you more problems if you can avoid it. These plug-ins can be really glitchy.
Take care, all... and sorry I've been a bit scarce.
-Alexx
Recent Comments
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Thanks for sharing Alexx! I had no idea this could be an issue. On the brighter side, you can do a training about how to fix this the right way once you get it all figured out. We'll be waiting to see it! Glad to see you back and I hope things have finally settled down for you.
Blessings, Debby
Thank you for sharing Alexx!
I didn't realize this either!
That would have freaked me out!
Thanks again for this heads up
Sheila
I know that HostGator had this same thing. It was not really "unlimited". They had some sort of alert of using resources as well. Didn't really understand it from a technical angle to be able to explain what I am talking about. I host my sites here now. I do use pics in most posts, as is suggested.
EXACTLY! LOL Here we are trying to push pics into our posts to make them visually appealing then POW... "Stop that" LOL. Kidding, of course. If I were better equipped with endless time I'd do a training when I figure this out. This is really important I think. -A
I could swear during the different training's on here......Kyle would use the upload image to Media Library to demonstrate how to add pics to our posts in Wordpess. It is the only way I have ever done it. I already knew about the YouTube thing and embeding videos, etc.
I'll have to revisit this because I don't recall any of his trainings mentioning to use Flickr or whatever service to "embed" photos in our posts.
If you open a Flickr account now and start to learn it, it might be better in the long run than being smacked in the face LOL -Alexx
How are pictures supposed to be added to a post? My pics are on my hard drive and in order to add one to a post, don't we have to upload pic to media library? I'm really confused....how else can we add pics to posts in WordPress?
YES!!!! ABSOLUTELY that's exactly what I did! Another way is to have a Flickr account, load your pics up there, then insert a link to that pic. I can't say I've figured out Flickr yet though. But it's the same way you'd embed a YouTube video... where it just links it. Apparently WA doesn't really want pics hosted here on our sites. The storage adds up, and I'm guessing especially if we have a lot of sites it's worse. I just didn't know in time to avoid the mess I got into. -Alexx
Welcome back Alexx. This is good to. Know. Perhaps instead of rushing in, you should have taken Kyle's offer of help. I know I will if he comes knocking at my door. My site is full of images!
Thank you. I knew it was just a standard form letter from support... I corresponded but it was definitely not Kyle. I SHOULD have taken time, but O.M.G. I just thought - that's all I freakin' need.
Now today NONE of my logins are working. A guy in chat said he's having the same problem. How are your logins today? -Alexx
Mine was fine bit I have not been on this afternoon. I hope you get your site sorted soon as it can be very frustrating. I spent a few days fixing mine last week.
Hmmm....... interesting. I didn't realize 2.1 GB is large. Will have to check my size as I have nearly 150 posts each with images - no videos, but still. Thanks for the headsup Alexx.
Wow, that sounds like a nightmare. I would not know what to do in your situation. I am sorry that you have to go through this.
I also assumed there were no storage limits to hosting. I am sure if you PM Kyle/Carson they would be able to help you out.
Good luck.
Hi Tanja... yeah when I did write back but waiting for the guys to have time wasn't something I wanted to take a chance on... I wish I had. -Alexx
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Hi Alex, It's kind of funny me stumbling on this post.I got a warning from Hostgator a few days ago about me using there data base for storage an that i was using 25 GB of space which violates there terms of use.The first thing i said is ,what are you talking about i have my own storage.
I guess the storage i have didn't work the way i thought it was.I to have thousands of images on my website.So now i have to reduce that because i am trying to host my website over at Namecheap an they wont transfer any website over 10 GB. Thanks for this post.
Yeah, I knew that Hostgators unlimited was limited. I still just don't understand then what the Wordpress Media Library is there for.....
This is where I upload pics from my hard drive and add them to my posts. I did not know there was another way that I was supposed to be doing it. Why would I upload pics to another 3rd party and embed the pics in my post when there is a Media Library?
I would never upload videos though. I already know that most people upload them to YouTube and embed them in the posts.
It's just the picture thing is really throwing me....
I have been using Wordpress since 2009 and used to host at HostGator and now I host at WA.
I know that half the files they are talking about i cant get to them because of permissions. They have to remove them an i don't even know what half of it is.
I am hoping Jay will chime in on my questions. I alerted him via the chat line of this post.
I just gotta say... WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP. I know this is a learning process but how hard would it be to send little reminders/trainings once they see what type of usage we have building in the event that, like ALMOST EVERYONE, we don't realize we're heading for trouble in their limited system. At least here I don't have to worry about moving my site... I don't think, anyway! -Alexx
I would have to revisit all the training and videos to be sure, but I just don't remember anything about hosting pics on 3rd party sites and embedding them in posts. Bypassing the Media Library just never crossed my mind and I don't recall being instructed to do that, but maybe I missed something all these years.....