Music PCB where are you?

[funkgang49]

Anyone else unable to connect to the Music PCB website?

[funkgang49]

Ahh, anyone know what is the status of Music Pcb?

[Crontox102098]

Ahh, anyone know what is the status of Music Pcb?

Just is it down, it means they're maybe doing something in the website. Just i guess.

[Ben N]

Maybe Taylor finally got around to the unappetizing task of dealing with whatever it is about the site kept tripping off AV blockers (like mine). I hope so, although I don't envy him the headache.

[GGBB]

Looks like his registration expired, but it was updated/renewed this morning so perhaps it will be back online soon when the name server gets the update.

[Taylor]

Hey guys, I am moving the site to a new domain host and platform, website will be completely new so hopefully the issues some people have had with the site will no longer be a problem. The new site is all there, but I guess it takes some time for the domain move to get verified and take effect. I think the site should be back up in the next day or so.

[Ben N]

Yay for the new Musicpcb website! Boo for my work server that blocks it anyway (no, nothing about viruses or worms, just work orneriness).

[PRR]

> takes some time for the domain move to get verified and take effect.

I don't think there is much/any "verification" (after your check clears).

Problem is in "DNS".

A "name" like "musicpcb.com" doesn't tell you how to connect. The internet runs on NUMBERS (IP numbers), not names.

I remember when a printed look-up was posted in the computer lab.

But people are not good with long numbers. And that print-out grew from 10 to 30 to 500 pages.

So the "DNS" system was invented. You type a name like "musicpcb.com". Your internet stack says "I can't use that! Gimme a number!" But instead of yelling at the silly human, it hollers to a DNS server, asking for the IP number which gets to musicpcb.com

Your home PC asks your internet service's DNS server for the number. If it does not know, it has higher DNS servers who know or know-who-knows.

Mostly this works great, faster than you could type the number even if you knew it.

Mostly IP numbers do not change. (I held some for 15 years.)

However they can change, when servers move to different routers, or in this case where Taylor switched from Dad's ISP to Jane's ISP. The site name is the same, but the IP number changed. (Jane has a different block of IP numbers than Dad.)

Like when your friend moves to a different town and his land-line number changes. It may take a day or two for the 411 operators to get the new number.

Since IP numbers rarely change, most DNS servers "cache" recent results. Often for several days.

At this moment, "musicpcb.com" is not working for me. I'm asking Time-Warner's DNS, and they probably have yesterday's IP number cached, which is taking me to Taylor's old IP number, but that was turned-off when he quit the deal with his old provider.

DNS cache can be whatever, but often defaults to 2 days. So "musicpcb.com" may not resolve correctly until tomorrow.

If he knew this was gonna happen, if he was a DNS guru, Taylor "could" have pre-tinkered his DNS entry. Instead of "valid for 48 hours" he could have set to "valid for 5 minutes". Then downstream DNS servers would (if polite) respected that and re-requested the IP number if the cached response was more than 5 minutes old. (Not all ISPs and DNS services let mere users tinker this way.) (Not all DNS servers respect cache-limit suggestions.)

[Taylor]

Hmm, thanks Paul. I used the word verify because there is a button on the new hosting platform that says "verify ownership" and when I click it it says "verifying" and then "unable to verify, try later." I guess it's Squarespace's terminology. I have been fiddling with the DNS settings for a few days but as you say, I'm no guru on this topic, and there's some hangup somewhere. I'll give it some more time to work itself out but will dig in further if it becomes necessary.

[PRR]

Put in a support request. Some staffer who does this 50 times a day (and has back-end access) will spot the problem.

Also:

http://help.squarespace.com/guides/verifying-your-squarespace-managed-domain
http://help7.squarespace.com/guides/verifying-your-squarespace-managed-domain

"...domains registered through Squarespace must be verified through email."
"Ensure the Website Owner's email address is listed correctly in their Contributor Profile."

"You must submit the ticket from the email address of the Website Owner of the site you're verifying.
"Provide the following information in your support ticket:
    Custom Domain Name
    Squarespace site URL
    Full name and last four digits for the credit card on file for the site (Second level of security)
    Desired Email Address
"Click Open a Ticket below to get started."
http://help7.squarespace.com/open-a-ticket

[Taylor]

OK, those problems are solved, but I have hit a new one, maybe a big one, and I would love feedback from anybody who is interested in purchasing PCBs from the site:

The new site is built on the Squarespace platform, rather than Wordpress as in the past. WP is very open and configurable and generally easy, but partly because of this and partly how widespread its use is, people are constantly finding ways to hack it and that's why the MusicPCB site got hacked and people would get malware warnings when visiting it. So the switch is meant to deal with those problems.

However, I didn't do enough research  and only after setting it up have I found that Squarespace doesn't allow for Paypal integration with their shopping cart and inventory system. It can only accept credit cards, through the service Swipe. I can set up "loose" Paypal buttons which would allow you to send a payment, but it wouldn't be connected to inventory or any of the convenient shopping cart features that are the whole point of switching to this platform.

So, how much of an inconvenience would it be for you if you can only purchase from MusicPCB with a credit/debit card? I'm a heavy Paypal user but I have the Paypal card that links to my Paypal balance, so this would be just as easy to use from my standpoint. Anyway, let me know your thoughts.

[bcalla]

I would prefer a paypal link, but CC is OK, too.  I'll put it this way - I wouldn't pass on buying something from you just because you can only take my CC.

[ggedamed]

You do use Stripe, right? They're gaining lots of momentum in comparison to Paypal (these guys made an extensive comparison).

[Taylor]

Sure, I'm familiar with all that and Swipe will work fine from my perspective as I said, I just wanted to find out what people who will use the MusicPCB site think.

[Taylor]

OK, the site is now live and ready to accept orders. Please let me know if you guys have any issues with the new site or purchasing.