Optimize my Wordpress blog for 15 BTC

[ripper234]

I have a wordpress blog hosted at GoDaddy, and it's acting very slow lately.
I propose 10 BTC for someone to:

1. Explain to me why he has proven wordpress experience
2. Take a snapshot of all files from my blog's FTP site.
3. Prepare a demo micro EC2 image running in US East zone.
4. Optimize my blog's performance so that the main page loads in less than 1 second from my computer (currently it's above 6!). Don't shut down any plugins without talking to me (if there's a problematic plugin, I want to know about it)
5. Briefly explain what he did to gain the perf boost.

>timethis wget ripper234.com
...
TimeThis :  Elapsed Time :  00:00:06.383


See also: http://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/13382/is-there-a-security-risk-giving-someone-temporary-access-to-my-blogs-code

[1714999369]

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[mewantsbitcoins]

currently it's above 6

Not exactly.

Code:

username:Desktop username$ wget ripper234.com
--2011-03-29 14:34:57--  http://ripper234.com/
Resolving ripper234.com (ripper234.com)... 68.178.254.56
Connecting to ripper234.com (ripper234.com)|68.178.254.56|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: unspecified [text/html]
Saving to: `index.html'

    [    <=>                                                                           ] 82,049      88.2K/s   in 0.9s    

2011-03-29 14:34:58 (88.2 KB/s) - `index.html' saved [82049]

I fixed it with magic. Can I haz the reward? 

[ripper234]

No, your magic didn't work, I'm still seeing 6 seconds from my computer

I admit my internet sucks because I'm located in Israel, but it shouldn't be this bad.
Wgetting bitcoin.org takes 2 seconds.

[ripper234]

BTW, for some reason I'm not getting any email notifications when someone replies, even though I specifically checked that setting on.

If you're interested, email me at ron.gross@gmail.com

[mewantsbitcoins]

I'm just trying to save you your bitcoins, because there's nothing wrong with your page. If you are adamant to improve it, you could try:

1. Making fewer http requests(your page has 15 external javascripts and 8 external stylesheets)
2. Use compression for plain text files
3. Reduce DNS lookups by linking to pages by their IP addresses and not domain names

I am no expert in these things, but I doubt, you are going to see much gain. You said it just happened recently, so I'd hazard a guess that one of the nodes on your path to your blog is in maintenance and they are using back up. You could try using traceroute to see where it's getting stuck.

Regards,
m

P.S. I am new around here, but I read yesterday that email notifications don't work for some reason

[ripper234]

Hmm, it could be a networking problem. I'll take a look at how this behaves over the next few days - thanks.

[mewantsbitcoins]

No problem.
I just checked your page on host-tracker.com and average response time across the globe is just above 1.06s. This confirms my suspicion that the delay you are experiencing is a local issue.
As there might be millions of reasons why this is happening, I'd start investigating it with my own connection because it's the easiest and you can actually do something about it. If it is a local area or your ISP issue you could report it I suppose, but they probably already know about it and it will be resolved some time in the near future.

[error]

I see a delay of a bit over a second after the connection and before the data starts coming back. That's not terribly bad, but it's not terribly good either. I suggest you install and set up W3 Total Cache.

[JackSparrow]

You should speak with your ISP:

Code:

time wget -q ripper234.com
real	0m1.408s

Can you run mtr on your system?

Code:

mtr -r -c 1000 ripper234.com

[error]

I see a delay of a bit over a second after the connection and before the data starts coming back. That's not terribly bad, but it's not terribly good either. I suggest you install and set up W3 Total Cache.

Well it seems you already have WP Super Cache running, which is good enough. The long delay between connection and data return, then, is totally the fault of your crappy web host. (GoDaddy is great at domains, but pretty much everything else they do is terrible.)

[mewantsbitcoins]

GoDaddy is great at domains, but pretty much everything else they do is terrible

This is very true. I had some bad experience(delays, downtime, etc) to the point where I had to cancel my subscription. Then I went with bluehost, but they are pretty useless too. Although after numerous complaints they moved me to another server couple of days ago and now it seems to be ok.

[semyazza]

GoDaddy is great at domains, but pretty much everything else they do is terrible

This is very true. I had some bad experience(delays, downtime, etc) to the point where I had to cancel my subscription. Then I went with bluehost, but they are pretty useless too. Although after numerous complaints they moved me to another server couple of days ago and now it seems to be ok.

We can personally recommend slicehost.com and nearlyfreespeech.net . Nearlyfreespeech.net being very good for small blogs and things not requiring much and to be done cheaply.  Slicehost if you need full customization. Stay away from godaddy as much a possible lots of problems.  Namecheap.com as an alternative for domain names and DNS although can't vouch for their hosting.

*Edit*
Also, if you wish to do anything controversial always make sure your hosting provider is different from your domain registrar.  It's good practice to do even if there is nothing controversial as it provides redundancy, technically and legally(take down notices,etc.)