50% OFF GROUP BUY DISCOUNT EXTENDED TO JUNE 15TH, Server Issues Resolved. FREE GIFT to all...

[Gregjazz]

I wanted to thank everyone again for their patience during the past two days as we were experiencing server issues.

First, and most importantly, the OrangeTreeSamples.com website is back online, fully operational, and prepared for high traffic. The e-commerce functionality is tested and working reliably. File downloads are working smoothly and we are now very well capable of handling extremely high amounts of traffic and downloads.

This year was Orange Tree Samples' second Group Buy, and we had more than twice the number of members we had in our first Group Buy, last year. We believed that our server and bandwidth would be capable of handling the expected traffic. However, what we found was that the traffic spike was far beyond our expectations. After the initial spike in traffic, we added an additional alternate server, to spread the load from our main server. However, that was not sufficient to handle the incoming traffic and our site was regularly having outages. (We are working with our web hosting provider to investigate the possibility that the issues with our server were the result of a denial of service or server flooding attack on the Orange Tree Samples website, intended to slow down or stop our server.) It was at that point that I made the difficult decision that it was best to take our website offline until we could be confident that our customers would be ensured of a smooth, trouble-free ordering and downloading process. I contacted Amazon to set up an arrangement to use their servers from this point on, which are extremely well prepared and tested to handle traffic spikes far beyond what we have received during this Group Buy. As it has taken some time to get our files and ordering system set up with Amazon, I am happy to say that all systems are now working properly -- far better than they ever have -- and can easily handle ten times the traffic we could handle prior to this time.

While this experience was by no means something any developer or business that depends on the Web would wish for, I want to share that it brought out the best in Orange Tree Samples customers. From emails to PMs to posts I received, I was really quite moved by how supportive Orange Tree Samples customers were during this very stressful situation for both of us. In return for all of your patience and loyalty, we will be issuing everyone who has taken part of this Group Buy already, or at any point from the start of the Group Buy until the end of the discount period, a $40 USD Orange Tree Samples Store Credit towards the purchase of our next sample library, Evolution Acoustic Guitar (steel string acoustic guitar), expected for release in late July 2010. For anybody who might have visited the site and left, I will also extend this offer to anyone who purchases at any time during the Group Buy discount period. Also, the Group Buy discount will be extended until June 15, 2010 at 11:59 PM GMT.

I thank you for your support and understanding and look forward to a smoother finish to this year's Group Buy.

Sincerely,
Greg
President
Orange Tree Samples

[michaelbanin]