The June issue of Business 2.0 magazine was inadvertantly deleted from the editorial server on April 23, according to a number of sources. And the backup server wasn’t working properly. The result? An entire issue down the drain just two weeks before press time.
Editor in Chief Josh Quittner told the New York Times that they’d still make the print deadline because their lawyers had email copies of all of the text. All of the artwork and page layouts were gone forever, however, and had to be recreated from scratch.
A 2003 article in Business 2.0 likened backups to flossing - “everyone knows it’s important, but few devote enough thought or energy to it.” I guess Business 2.0 forgot to floss.
Hmmm, so what do I get in my mailbox next month? How about a copy of BYTE
You know something funny? I type all of my blog posts out in Word, then cut-and-paste them into the text box and post them, and THEN proceed to delete the Word document.
I don’t know why… every time I do it I think it’s totally bad form but it’s almost become ritualistic. Does anyone else do this?
@ryan
I do something similar but I do it in Dreamweaver instead. I mostly do this because I never really like the richtext or html editors or Wordpress but it is nice to have a backup as well.
Show of hands: how many people here will actually run out now and do a backup of their own? Be honest now…. Yup, that’s what I thought.
Don’t they hit ctrl-s every few keystrokes?
Seriously, I have been a subscriber of this magazine since the first issue, by accident, and it’s my favorite monthly read despite being a software engineer. I hope they can pull it back together without too much rework.
@lex, :: raises hand ::
Even though I’ve never suffered a huge data loss I’m well prepared.
- raided HDD’s
- carbonite backup
- weekly norton ghost backups to ext. drive
- each night I take a rock tablet and chisel to record all emails/documents/code
Ok, I might of made that last one up
@ Ryan, I use Google Docs for some of my blogging because I like the autosave, change tracking, and instant search features. I think both Google Docs and Zoho will post directly to many blogging platforms. I definitely like being able to rapidly switch back and forth between WYSISWYG and HTML.
Wow — Somehow with all our fancy nex technology business seems to be getting more stressful not less. This would have never happened with the old screen press machines.
http://www.ebizmba.com
Writing, publishing, be it websites or magazines rely on some form of CMS.
There’s a central repository server where writers will “check in” their content for version control. It will go through a workflow for editing and approvals (hence the lawyers receiving emailed copies) and drafting.
That central repos server is the key, that goes down and the whole world crumbles. I would put this on the IT team since they royally screwed up not only the saving capabilities of the repos server but wasn’t able to get a backup system in there as well. Which brings me back to the point of how worthless IT people are. They’re always inter-replaced by dirt-cheap H1Bs that can’t function out of a paper bag.
Oh well, they should just release June’s magazine electronically. Just have the lawyers forward their emails to the subscribers.
@lex: im backing up now…
People don’t realize backup is important (crucial) until its too late. I’ve had my share and I won’t ever miss a backup schedule again.
Thanks to Mozy (Windows) and my iTunes backup - Bandwagon (Mac).
It sucks - for them -
- “Im prepared” - umm They thought they were….
- and we think we are ….
- but so did our grandfathers before the crash. - RB
I’m sure their designers had copies (iterations) of their artwork. It was probably only matter of reassembling the pieces. Annoying but not a complete disaster.
Karma is a bitch when it’s disruptive
Thanks for the wise tips, mrshl and sean. BTW - mrshl, how do you like Vox?
I think I don’t back up any of my blogs because I’m into that element of DANGER - like I’m flirting with disaster… its so silly
I just want a hard copy, none of this backing up business. Isn’t there some kind of company that turns your blogs into a book? Think I heard about that - would be sweet.
This should get a top award in their own 2007 edition of the 101 Dumbest Moments in Business.
Hilarious!
Sounds like somebody needs a better IT department. If anything, I’d fire the IT guy who let the backups go, not the guy who deleted it. You should never be able to remove the only copy of anything, ever, unless it’s a personal file on your local box.
If I ever wind up in charge of a publication, I’m teaching the entire staff to use subversion on my first day. That’s a huge amount of work to do in two weeks.
We had a phrase in high school journalism… save early and safe often. Good luck to the design editors putting things back together from scratch.
Their IT infrastructure must be real bad. If there was a hardware failure it is still understandable. Accidentally deleted? Wouldn’t you at least keep the last couple of issues even if you thought of deleting a bunch of files!
@sami
good call on the 101 dumbest moments in business!
I’m definitely loving Mozy for the auto backups. I no longer have to think about it.
Somebody must have tripped a wire or hit the wrong switch.
Can you imagine if Google inadvertently wipes out one of its datacenters. OMG! the chaos!
Owww….That stinks, especially for the network admin.
I feel bad for them but this is hilarious. It’s always great when the lawyers are the ones to save your butt!
Thank goodness their LAWYERS had copies. Now here is a magazine going places
“Thank goodness their LAWYERS had copies. Now here is a magazine going places”
Uhh, a lot of companies have law firms CC’d to all email documentation to maintain attorney-client privilege umbrellas.
Also, Mike, interesting story and all, but this is really a reach on being related to startups. I can get this sort of info at other places.
Even something as simple as blogging requires some sort of back up system. For my lengthier posts, I compose them elsewhere before posting them via WordPress. I back up my data frequently, as much as daily for one site and up to weekly for others.
It is easy to get lazy and overlook things. Automating the process helps big time.
who’s the handsome guy on the cover?
The New York Times says that Business 2.0 had the issue ready on time - last Thursday. That took a lot of heroic work putting the artwork back together. No way should they make their own list of “Dumbest Business Mistakes.” They would have qualified had they not made it to press on time — but they did. It showed a magazine ready to handle a disaster. Kudos to all of those at Business 2.0 who rose to the occasion.
“Thank goodness their LAWYERS had copies. Now here is a magazine going places”
Here’s one instance I’d say they got their money’s worth from their $500/hr lawyers. LOL.
That is unfortunate for them. I’ve been near similar things happening with businesses (and friends!) and after awhile realized that it might be worth starting up a company/project around it (and have done so).
Hopefully these guys will recover their documents, but in the future I hope that more people start using backup solutions like the ones mentioned in previous comments or others out on the market.
To the guy who writes his blog posts in Word first: be careful because Word inserts special characters that will show up if you have to import the database at any point (odds are you will). I recommend using Note Tab Light.
A little off topic — We’re working on a completely new backup system — a new paradigm in backup if you will.
If you’re interested in providing feedback on what would make the perfect / ideal backup system - please contactme dstevens at servosity dot com
This is also my favorite mag. They didnt have a Jan issue, I wonder if it was the same type of ordeal.
In 1989 when in grade 5 I had to go with mum and fish 3 pages of rough draft out of the rubbish bin at the bus stop. I accidentally deleted the original file. Human error can be a problem.
Somebody is getting fired…
Business 2.0 is best… Mike…
I’m serious. I have candy and watery eyes on Business 2.0 stuff.
helloooooooo oh deary me… someones stuffed up havnt they teheheheh
a beeeeeen beeeen tang
SAWAHhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
BEN TANG!
After reading about Carbonite (online backup) in TC in the fall, I subscribed. It’s saved my ass TWICE in the last two weeks with computer wipeouts. (and no, I have NO professional connection to Carbonite). Anyway, backup can be easier than flossing.
Must be an alpha version rather than a beta when it was “done” for publication. A nasty bug must have hit it dead.
At last, I’ve found a good explanation for the existence of lawyers.
yeah, while lawyers are at it, they can just as well inquire of hosting company’s liability
–
We Will Create Your Very Own Domain Name - http://PowerNamer.com
Wow. I had that happen once, but it was on a *campus* newspaper! Ouch.
For online backup news, information and articles, there is an excellent website:
BackupReview.info
This site lists more than 400 online backup companies and ranks the top 25 on a monthly basis.
Any one can add their company in the directory. Just click on the “Search” button found at the top.
Cheers,