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Reddit Crashed Me

Posted by Phil Ferguson on September 6th, 2012 – 5 Comments – Posted in Uncategorized

Another bit of excitement here at Skeptic Money.  In the past I have had trouble with volume spikes caused by a sudden increase in blog hits.  However, after a few upgrades and a little more money out of my pocket the blog can handle a spike up to 7 – 8,000 hits per hour.  I expected that it would be plenty.

Well, my post about Ken Ham and Bill Nye went to #1 on Reddit Atheism and was on the front page for all of Reddit.  It got almost 2,000 (net) up votes and 2,000 comments.  At the peak over 10,000 hits per hour were coming to the blog and the server crashed.

Now the big dilemma:  Do I spend more money to cover a crazy spike that may never happen again or allow the blog to crash at the moment that so many people want to visit?

I know first world problem!

I thought I had another solution.  I had been working with a group that hosts a lot of bloggers and we had agreed to all of the details and I even signed a contract.  However, at the last minute they had a change of heart and decided to not add Skeptic Money.  It is not so much that they turned me away but, how it happened.

So, now I am kinda sad about it all and part of me (a small part mind you) wonders if I am just wasting time doing a blog.

Am I making a difference?

Am I helping people think or at least see that religion is harmful?

Thanks for listening!

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  1. steve says:
    September 6, 2012 at 6:22 PM

    While I don’t need convincing that religion is harmful, I’m a big fan of your blog and would be sad to see you quit. I especially liked your bits about raising kids to be critical of religion, a big concern of mine for my daughter. Keep it up.

    • Phil says:
      September 6, 2012 at 8:17 PM

      @ Steve,
      Thanks for the kind words.
      Don’t worry I am not going anywhere. I just in a little bit of a mood.

      Thanks for your support!

  2. Savonarola says:
    September 6, 2012 at 11:47 PM

    My answer to your question is that I think your question is ridiculous. Your blog is pinned in my browser so that it always loads; closing the page would require extra steps if ever I’d want to do something so foolish.

  3. William Brinkman says:
    September 7, 2012 at 9:57 PM

    Every blog is a voice, and a democracy requires everyone to speak out. Of course you make a difference. :)

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