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I am really irritated that Freeola make changes to web server configurations without letting users know - either before or after the event. Some months ago there was the change which stopped PHP programs running until you changed your folder/file permissions. And just recently the change affecting calls by reference, which again stopped PHP programs working that had previously worked fine for many months.
I understand that Freeola may sometimes need to make changes for e.g. security reasons (though I can't see any logical reason for the reference call change), but surely they plan these changes and don't just make them on a whim overnight. There is an email address associated with every website, so why don't they send out an advance warning (at least 1 month before) and again after the change has been effected? Then we could plan to make the necessary changes at a convenient time.
As it is, I was left to find out by accident. After the first change, I got a few emails from users complaining that the site didn't work anymore. In the second case, it was just luck that I happened to test the site just before going away on holliday - so I had to scramble to make corrections to my code when I was already really busy. I know it's a free service, but this is just treating users with contempt.
Also the so-called Help about the reference call change was pitiful - it suggested you could change the php.ini file, but I (and probably most users) don't have a specific ini file, and to create one we need to copy the existing default Freeola php.ini file - but how do we do that? Not a clue.
And the change itself seems very odd - if a function is defined having a call-by-reference argument [e.g. foo(&$xyz) ] then previously it could be called either implicitly as foo($abc) or explicitly as foo(&$abc) - but now the 2nd call type doesn't work (although it matches the function definition!). It's not a case of disabling call-by-reference, just disabling the form of calling that makes the reference explicit! Weird.
I understand that Freeola may sometimes need to make changes for e.g. security reasons (though I can't see any logical reason for the reference call change), but surely they plan these changes and don't just make them on a whim overnight. There is an email address associated with every website, so why don't they send out an advance warning (at least 1 month before) and again after the change has been effected? Then we could plan to make the necessary changes at a convenient time.
As it is, I was left to find out by accident. After the first change, I got a few emails from users complaining that the site didn't work anymore. In the second case, it was just luck that I happened to test the site just before going away on holliday - so I had to scramble to make corrections to my code when I was already really busy. I know it's a free service, but this is just treating users with contempt.
Also the so-called Help about the reference call change was pitiful - it suggested you could change the php.ini file, but I (and probably most users) don't have a specific ini file, and to create one we need to copy the existing default Freeola php.ini file - but how do we do that? Not a clue.
And the change itself seems very odd - if a function is defined having a call-by-reference argument [e.g. foo(&$xyz) ] then previously it could be called either implicitly as foo($abc) or explicitly as foo(&$abc) - but now the 2nd call type doesn't work (although it matches the function definition!). It's not a case of disabling call-by-reference, just disabling the form of calling that makes the reference explicit! Weird.
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Hi alanb,
If you didn't receive any prior notification, it might be worth checking that your MyFreeola e-mail address is vaild and up-to-date as this is the address we normally use to contact users.
Also, if you have Hotmail or use any other e-mail service with an overly agressive spam filter, it may help to whitelist e-mails from freeola.co.uk and .com addresses to ensure that notifications get through in future.
If you didn't receive any prior notification, it might be worth checking that your MyFreeola e-mail address is vaild and up-to-date as this is the address we normally use to contact users.
Also, if you have Hotmail or use any other e-mail service with an overly agressive spam filter, it may help to whitelist e-mails from freeola.co.uk and .com addresses to ensure that notifications get through in future.
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