I regret to inform you that Party Favorz will not be releasing any new content this weekend. Unfortunately, as I was putting the finishing touches on the website, I encountered some unexpected expenses related to plugin and hosting renewals. The donation portal costs have doubled, going from $200 to $400, and my web hosting account fees have also skyrocketed from $250 to $600, which is not even for their top hosting plan. Consequently, I’ve made the decision to switch hosts tomorrow in order to reduce these costs.
Additionally, I’m in the process of transitioning to a new donation form that offers more features at a reasonable price. However, I’ve encountered a setback with PayPal discontinuing one of its payment options, making it difficult to connect to their service. I’m currently working on setting up alternative payment options such as Credit Card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, while PayPal and Venmo will have to wait until support reopens next week.
Furthermore, there was a major issue with my caching plugin, which is essential for maintaining site speed and accessibility globally. Although the problem was initially attributed to my web host, Siteground, and both the plugin developer and Siteground blamed each other, it seems that the issue has finally been resolved. I’ve just purged the full cache, so it may take a couple of hours for everything to return to normal.
On a positive note, I’ve simplified the podcast player by adding a play button on top of each post, with a sticky player at the bottom that includes download, donation, and sharing links. The mobile and tablet experience has been enhanced, as the player now goes full screen when clicked, making it more user-friendly for smaller screens. However, I’m working with the developer to improve the visibility of certain options and enlarge buttons for functions like rewind and fast forward.
To conserve funds, I’ve disconnected from my previous podcast host, but this has caused some episodes to become temporarily unavailable on streaming services. Rest assured, I’m working diligently to restore access to these episodes on platforms such as Apple, Amazon, and Deezer.
In personal news, I’ve had to reschedule my doctor’s appointment for Tuesday to avoid being dropped by them. So, I’ll be in Atlanta all day on Tuesday. Additionally, I’ve discovered unauthorized use of my social security number to open credit card accounts, likely stemming from either the T-Mobile or Equifax breaches. Dealing with Equifax has been particularly frustrating, as they’ve made it difficult for me to access my account to dispute these fraudulent accounts. I pride myself on having good credit and right now, I’m beyond myself.
Despite these challenges, I’m optimistic that everything will be back to normal by the end of next week, with a new episode hopefully dropping shortly thereafter (fingers crossed). Until then, thank you for your understanding and support.
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