Two important points today.

1. I got a new web hosting provider, asmallorange, this weekend. I’ve tested everything I can think of on the site, and the only issue so far is that the database transfer wasn’t perfect – in some posts with double-quote marks, the right quote is replaced by a weird black symbol and a question mark. If anyone notices any other problems, or knows how to easily fix the black mark problem, let me know.

2. asmallorange is incredible so far, and by the reports of their other customers, their servers are reliable and fast. They offer pretty much any feature you’d want, including Ruby on Rails and SSH access. The most impressive thing to me, however, is the support. They have a very easy-to-use support system where you can choose a web interface or email to view/submit support tickets. Every time I’ve submitted a ticket, they’ve responded in 5 minutes or less. And you never get a canned answer; all of the support team knows what they’re talking about, knows the servers, and can help with pretty much anything. If it’s complicated, it gets elevated to the owner, Tim, who is an unsleeping robot support machine. And you can start on the basic plan for $2.50/month. Hard to beat, and I highly recommend it.