farpastpost’s blog

At Least Farpastpost Is Free, Right?

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:29:59 -0700

So as many of you know there have been technical issues with the website and podcasts over the past month. Before you read any further just know that I'm not a professional web designer, and not especially tech savvy. If you are, and choose to continue reading, then you may find yourself slapping your forehead and asking “Why did he do that?” Fair warning...
It started with my website hosting company switching the farpastpost site from one server to another without informing me. From what I know this is fairly common practice for hosting providers. What this meant for me though is that my site wouldn't update because I was trying to update to the old server, not the new one. So I called my hosting providers Technical Support to see if they could help solve the updating issues. Keep in mind they still haven't told me that the server had changed! Their first suggestion was to change my upload settings in my website editor. This didn't sound right to me as the current settings had been working for years. But I did it anyway because I stupidly assumed they knew better than me. Well the changed settings still did not work so I call back and I suggest that it seems as though it's a server issue and not a problem on my end. That's when they tell me that in fact they had moved my site to a new server a week earlier and that I should upload to the new server. DUH! They kindly offered me the new server's address. I'm not even going to start ranting about how bad this customer service is.
Now let's move on to the next problem :) I use Apple's iWeb software to design, manage, and upload the farpastpost website. And the site is over 30 gigs in size, mostly due to a couple hundred podcasts. I mention iWeb because it won't recognize the copied site on the new server. iWeb thinks it must rewrite the entire website. I'm not sure if Dreamweaver or other website publishing software has this flaw, but I doubt it. So yeah, iWeb wants to rewrite the entire site. No big deal for most sites that are only a couple of gigs in size. But since farpastpost is full of high quality 2-hour audio podcasts, it adds up to over 30 gigs. At my normal upload speed at home it takes about 4-5 days to re-upload the entire site. Not the end of the world, right?
Well I've been having internet connectivity issues too. Meaning every few days I would lose my connection to the internet, or it would slow to a snails pace. This caused iWeb to stop uploading and require a complete re-start. AAARRRGGGHH!!! It took a week to get my ISP to come trouble-shoot the issue. They didn't fix it the first time. They didn't fix it the second time. They didn't fix it a third time.
Instead of waiting for the fourth failure I decided to try paying for the upgrade to super fast upload speeds. I thought that maybe if I could get the site uploaded within a few hours instead of days I might be able to beat the dreaded lost connectivity issue. Well that still wasn't fast enough.
So I got desperate, and I made a copy of my site's iWeb domain file and proceeded to delete most of the podcasts, getting it down to 5 gigs instead of 30 and tried uploading that. Upload successful! But wait a minute, all of the podcast RSS feed links are broken, and all of the pages URL's have changed. WTF?
If you remember, in the process of trouble-shooting the initial problem of updating the site my hosting provider's Technical Support asked me to change my FTP settings in iWeb. I thought this sounded wrong at the time but knew I needed to try something to get the site to publish and update. I had forgotten to change them back when we “determined” the real issue was the site's move to a new server. Well it turned-out that I was right about not changing the settings and that this change broke the RSS feed links. So none of the new podcasts were getting published to the iTunes store or listener's podcast managers.
No problem, I'll just change the FTP settings back and hope it corrects the URL's and broken RSS feed links. Success! Podcasts are being updated in the iTunes store and various podcast subscription services. Now, if all of those old podcasts that I'd deleted from the website domain file were lost forever, so be it. As long as current podcast subscribers were getting updates. Not willing to quite while I was ahead I thought why not try and re-upload those 25 gigs of old podcasts and get the site back to it's original form. Success again!
Phew! So now ALL podcasts are available and new podcasts are being updated to the correct RSS feed as proven by podcast #169 fpp/120506/phew!.
After all that you may wonder why I use iWeb at all. Because in late 2006 when we started farpastpost we had no idea where it was going or how much to invest in it. iWeb was free for me because I owned a Mac, and easy to learn. Dreamweaver on the other hand was expensive, and daunting to learn.
After 5 years I've learned a lot. Primarily that I painted myself into a corner with iWeb. I've known for years that I need to buckle down and buy Dreamweaver and learn HTML code. OK yeah, I've been procrastinating. But it's not like farpastpost brings in revenue. And between work, my band, personal responsibilities, and just keeping the show afloat, there's not a lot of time for homework. But if this recent boondoggle has proven anything it's that I need to shit or get off the pot. So wish me luck because I've got to learn HTML coding now. And your likely to see some changes in the next few months. Please be patient with my mistakes in the meantime. And thanks for all of your support :)

Mike

DAMN HACKERS AND BLASTED TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES!

Sun, 2 Oct 2011 13:51:49 -0700

So this week has been a little rougher than normal. The farpastpost website hosting service Inmotion Hosting had their servers hacked. Meaning hundreds if not thousands of websites were defaced in some way, including farpastpost.net.

That wasn't too big of a deal as all I needed to do was re-upload the site and thereby fix the index page the hackers messed with. But simultaneously the shoutcast server host (different company) I use to stream the radio show stopped taking my commands. A week has gone by and the company still has not solved the issue. In fact 9 times out every 10 that the stream has issues it's because of something on that company's end.

So I've decided to leave them for another service. I've delayed leaving for a long time despite frequent dissatisfaction. Mostly because it would cause radio listeners who use a media player like iTunes, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, etc, to lose their connection to the radio show. This means that those of you using media players to stream the show will need to go the our website at http://www.farpastpost.net/farpastpost/radio.html to get the new stream links for your preferred media player.

I'm not particularly tech savvy but I think I found a way so that you won't have to do that ever again, regardless of how many times I may switch server hosts in the future.

If you listen to the show through our website and not an independent media player then this doesn't change anything for you. And this does not effect podcast subscriptions either. For everyone still listening to the old stream, it is no longer being updated with new music and will be discontinued within a few weeks.

If you have any issues feel free to email us at farpastpost@gmail.com or leave a comment on our facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/farpastpost-radio/56502378862

Thanks to all of you who have continued your support of the radio show and podcast!.

Mike
farpastpost.net
post-rock & post-metal radio

So What’s New With The Radio Show & Website You Ask?

Thu, 4 Aug 2011 22:09:48 -0700

1. We increased the radio stream bitrate from 128k to 192k. This should give a much better listening experience! If you already have trouble streaming the show at 128k (read lots of buffering and stream drops) or find that you have trouble streaming at the new 192k bitrate, let us know by emailing us at farpastpost@gmail.com or tweet us at www.twitter.com/farpastpost or post on our facebook wall here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/farpastpost-radio/56502378862?sk=wall

1. We’ve updated the website:
• We gave the site a little makeover, but kept the same basic layout and functionality.
• We also updated the bands page with new bands and updated older bands with current links. You may need to clear your browser’s cache to see the changes! Let us know if you find any errors.
• New facebook integration: By clicking the facebook Share link on our radio page you can post our radio stream music player on your facebook wall to share with your friends. It would mean a lot to us if you used this feature to help promote the show and podcast!
• The streaming radio player on our ‘radio’ page of our website is now HTML5 instead of Flash. This means everyone can stream the show, including iOS users i.e. iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
• There’s now a farpastpost facebook activity feed on our website’s radio page displaying the daily updates about the show and featured artists.
• We also have a facebook comments section on our website’s radio page. If you use this feature you can post to your facebook wall and farpastpost’s wall, or choose to only on comment on our website. This has taken the place of the barely used forum page.
• We’ve also added a tweet button on our website’s radio page and on our podcast page. If you use twitter, clicking these links will tweet about our radio stream or podcast respectively. We’d appreciate it if you shared our radio stream or podcasts with your twitter followers!
• We added a google +1 button to our radio page as well.

1. We also have a google+ account. Still developing it though.

1. We now have a music player that streams our radio show on our farpastpost facebook page. Just look for the tab on the left hand side that says ‘streaming radio player’. If you want to hear it in action go here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/farpastpost-radio/56502378862?sk=app_109602199135000

What’s on the horizon?
1. New band interview with Beware Of Safety.
2. Still working on getting new logos/graphics for the website and social media outlets.
3. We’ll update the ‘links’ page on our website to include all of the cool music resources we’ve found in the past year.

What else would you like to see us do? Let us know via email at farpastpost@gmail.com, tweet us a message at twitter.com/farpastpost or post on our facebook wall here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/farpastpost-radio/56502378862?sk=wall

Cheers

Mike & Terryn
www.farpastpost.net
post-rock & post-metal radio

updated bands page on our website

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 19:45:56 -0700

I updated the farpastpost website page listing the bands we play, here:
http://www.farpastpost.net/farpastpost/bands.html

I also updated the previously existing bands links to go to their respective facebook, bandcamp, or website instead of myspace. When we started the farpastpost website myspace was just about the only way to stream a bands music. Now that so many bands are abandoning myspace for other social media outlets I figured it was time to update all of the links. If you find that our site links to a bands myspace it’s because I could find no other alternative.

The bands below are the additions to what already existed. It’s been over a year since I updated the list. I’ll try to do it more often :) Keep in mind that the ‘bands’ page on the website is not a complete list of EVERY band played on farpastpost radio, just the bands that have lots of songs in regular rotation. This update is not a complete listing either. I probably forgot a couple bands. :)

Administration Shock Him
Alright The Captain
And The Furies Say
Arctic Whisperings
Avalon
Aylesbury Yacht Club
Balmorhea
Barn Owl
Bateleur
Bell Orchestre
Bersarin Quartet
The Best Pessimist
BLCKWVS
Blueneck
Boris
Braveyoung
Brian Eno
Broken Cities
The Burning Paris
Carta
Cecilia::Eyes
Cloudkicker
Codes in the Clouds
Commissure
Constants
A Dancing Beggar
Deadhorse
Del Ray
Detwiije
Don’t Mess With Texas
Eimog
The End of Science
The End of the Ocean
Exilym
Exxasens
The Farewell Monument
The Fierce & The Dead
Followed By Ghosts
For A Minor Reflection
Form And Fate
Glorie
Goonies Never Say Die
Henry Gale
Hungry Ghosts
il Rumore del Fiore di Carta
Industries of the Blind
In The Wake Of Giants
International Karate
Kasan
Kerretta
Khuda
Killington Fall
Kimika
Labirinto
Laura
Lavinia
Lento
Lights at Sea
Maybeshewill
Nebulo
New Century Classics
Nice Wings, Icarus!
Ninth Moon Black
Not To Reason Why
Ocoai
OdeOnDreams
One Hour Before The Trip
Orders of the British Empire
Ours To Alibi
Overhead, The Albatross
Pet Slimmers of the Year
A Place of Owls
Rosetta
Rumour Cubes
Sanchez Is Driven By Demons
The Shaking Sensations
Sioum
Sleep Dealer
The Sleep Design
Sleeping In Gethsemane
Sleepless Dreams
Suplex The Kid
They Say We’re Sinking
This Is Your Captain Speaking
This Patch Of Sky
This Specific Dream
Thisquietarmy
Three Steps To The Ocean
Tides From Nebula
Unholy Tongues
Walking Oceans

Cheers

Mike
www.farpastpost.net
post-rock & post-metal radio

A Blog of Disappointment!

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 11:04:33 -0700

In previous blog updates I was trying not to put too much of my whiny personal bullshit out there as an excuse for why farpastpost radio hasn’t grown in the ways that I’d hoped. But screw it, I’m just gonna lay it out there.

I’ve been considering shutting down farpastpost radio...

I’m not going to. At least not in the near future. But with all of the personal, medical, financial, and professional challenges I’ve had to face in the last few years I’ve been seriously considering giving-up on this show.

Due to an accident I’ve been in chronic pain for almost 3 years. My medical bills keep getting bigger, my job performance is suffering because I often can’t be there a full day due to pain, doctors appointments, or physical therapy sessions. The unintended home remodel project (AKA finding substantial mold and rot in my house) has put me into ridiculous amounts of debt, on top of the medical bills. And every time someone has tried to help me get the show moving, friends, girlfriends, colleagues, they’ve all backed out in one way or another. So I have very little to show for the last 3 years. The farpastpost website still needs a major redesign, and I don’t interact with you listeners like I should. I stopped doing band interviews and album reviews a long time ago and, there’s no listener driven forum to spread the word of new bands.

Don’t get me wrong. This is a labor of love for me. I wouldn’t do if it weren't for the fact that I love this music and it’s community. But it costs money and time to even keep the show going on a weekly basis. Both of which I have very little to spare. The main reason I haven’t given up is every day there are new farpastpost podcast subscribers, new facebook fans, new emails suggesting great new bands and thanking farpastpost for turning them on to so many new artists. That shit means a lot to me!!!

So... If I’m doing all this for you guys as much as for myself I think it’s about time I asked you all for a little help. I’m not asking for money. But you can help spread the word for farpastpost radio! Go to our website here: http://www.farpastpost.net/farpastpost/radio.html
and and use our share buttons to add our radio stream to your facebook wall or twitter feed! Write reviews/comments on our iTunes podcast page here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/farpastpost-radios-featured/id331270558
or any other directories you’ve found our podcasts.

I’m not ready to throw-in the towel just yet. So I’m going to give it my all and try to build this show the best I can. Let me know how this radio/podcast/website can improve your experience. And talk to each other damn it! What’s a community for if not to support each other?

Sorry for the rant. And thanks for reading. Stay tuned. I’ll be posting a new blog in a week detailing new radio stream/website/podcast features.

Cheers

Mike
www.farpastpost.net
post-rock & post-metal radio