PostRank

1) Yep, we know.

2) We ARE working on it.

3) I know, you’ve probably heard me say that before. Sorry about that. Trust me, no one wishes it was a quick fix more than we do.

It’s been a combination of things — upgrading the system, then troubleshooting to clean up some small issues that came up, and then a couple other things that have been maddeningly persistent and elusive. (You know how sometimes when things go wrong it’s just one little thing after another? Yeah, it’s like that.)

You may even have noticed that the issues are intermittent with posts showing up in the widget (or not), or posts and metrics showing up (and being updated in a timely manner) on your PostRank page (or not).

Again, we apologize for the instability, and we will get it licked. Unfortunately, at this point I don’t know exactly when things will be working properly. Also, once the system’s functioning right, we’ll have a backlog of new feeds, new posts, and new metrics to analyze, and THEN we’ll be back in tip top shape.

As soon as things are working properly, I’ll make sure everyone knows.

First off, sorry about that. Second, it’s not just your blog.

In good news, while the delays are a pain, in the end they stand for good things being afoot. We’re getting through the bulky part of converting to a new feeds system. The end result will be bigger, better, faster (though I am told it still won’t allow really awesome posts to go up to 11 — sorry).

From what we can see at this point, the work hasn’t fully broken anything, just slowed down the functions that grab new posts and their engagement metrics. We’re not missing the data, we just haven’t processed it yet. But we will.

Things should be working properly, and much faster, within a couple of days. Until then, there are only limited things we can do, so mostly we’re really grateful if you could just be patient a bit longer.

Of course, if, once we’re into next week, if things are still looking way behind for you or something else appears to have gone completely pear-shaped, please let us know. (When things are done and working properly, we’ll be in touch.)

We had a system issue over the last day and a half that has now been fixed. Functionality that it affected included:

• adding new feeds to the system
• gathering/analyzing metrics for new and existing feeds
• display of feeds’ posts and metrics on postrank.com
• updating and display of feeds in Google Reader.

We’ll be working on confirming that reported issues are fixed and getting back to those who reported them via email, Twitter, and Get Satisfaction as soon as we can. (That includes older issues people reported that we couldn’t confirm were fixed while the issue was ongoing.)

The system is also now processing the backlog of new feeds to add to the system, and new posts to update with engagement. That should be caught up within 24 hours.

In the mean time, if you notice any new issues, please let us know on Get Satisfaction by Reporting a problem.

Thanks to those who’ve reported problems, and for your patience while we get caught up.

This morning TechCrunch published an article by Brian Solis entitled Are Blogs Losing Their Authority To The Statusphere? It was a great read not only because it nicely illustrates how the Web is evolving into a highly flexible and inclusive organism, but also really validates the reasons behind our existence as a company and what we’re working on. (Thanks, Brian!)

Technorati gets a lot of flack for the shortcomings of their service, (they did respond to the TechCrunch article). From our perspective, however, Technorati was the best tool for what it measured in its time. But times have changed, and links are but one of many important metrics behind the big picture of publisher/audience engagement now.

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Those who use the Extension will be prompted to update it. Those who use the Greasemonkey script will have to update manually.

If you notice any lingering quirks, please let us know.