Oops! We broke the website!

Ok so lots of web problems today. You can now access the website using the built in domain here:

https://salty-revolution.squarespace.com/

Why isn't the usual web address working?

Ok, so the simple explanation is that we have had 3 major web problems all in one day.

1- At around 4:30pm today, following the launch of our Wild West SALE yesterday, so many people all tried accessing the website at once it completely overwhelmed the server, and crashed the whole website repeatedly. It appears to have been approaching the previous record for amount of web visitors in 1 day, and it was just too much for the server to handle. You might remember we have had this problem twice before with the August Bank Holiday sale in 2020, and the Boxing day sale in 2020. After each of these the server allocation was upgraded, but, today it still broke under the strain. To give you an idea of the scale involved I think we had around 50,000 google impressions in the previous 36 hours alone, and around another 20,000 people see the sale ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, YouTube, etc!

2- Now it starts getting technical. Following straight on the heels of the domain server constantly going down due to the traffic problem, the domain server then encountered problems with DNS tables. This may be related to the server going down and resetting we're not sure yet. There are also major works being carried out on our broadband and mobile services for all of Mildenhall yesterday and today, and whilst this is unlikely to be a factor, it is somewhat a coincidence that the first day the website goes down in nearly 2 years happens to coincide with the largest works on our internet services here in a year, but, could be coincidence.

3- Resetting the DNS tables with the domain provider is normally a fairly straightforward process, but, I can't remember my customer ID number, and resetting it is rather tricky because the email address and phone number attached to the account appears to have never been changed over from Dale's ones, and of course Dale sadly passed away in 2020. This can be quite a common problem these days with phone verification if you ever lose your phone etc. I have submitted all the access requests, verification documents, etc, but this can take 24 hours or more to resolve.

What does this affect?

Ok so this only affects the domain address. In simple terms when you go to the domain:

www.saltyrevolution.co.uk

That is the domain, it is basically a shortened version of the actual website address to make it easier to remember and shorter. this is similar to having say a personalised number plate on a car, you can change your number plate, but, it's still the same car. A domain name is like that, you can change a domain name, but, the website it goes to is still the same website. When you go to the domain it then redirects you to the actual website at:

https://salty-revolution.squarespace.com/

It's a bit more complex than that, but, it's the simplest way to explain it. The only thing affected is the domain (essentially the shortcut to the website), the website itself, accounts, payment system, and everything else is completely unaffected. The contact details for me are also unaffected:

Text on 07854 514744

Email jamesgoodchild@live.com

And we are still in the same building and haven't moved yet either.

Hopefully that explains it as simply as possible if you don't know much about computers, and enough technical detail for those that know far more about it than me.

In the meantime you can continue to use the website as normal using this link:

https://salty-revolution.squarespace.com/

Make sure you check out our Wild West SALE offers and see why they are so popular they broke the server!

We'll let you know when the domain is back up again, but, you can always continue using the link above as well.

Sorry for the incovenience.

James Goodchild

14th November 2022, the day our Wild West SALE proved so popular it broke the server!