I’m an honest kind of guy. Not necessarily because it’s rewarding, but because I just believe it’s morally correct. So, let me tell you my story about hosting, and just why my site has been down for almost two days now…
It all started sometime mid-July. Being the #1 poster at the Web Developer Forums, I was only a natural choice for the owner of ISPHost to contact via PM and offer me a free hosting package. (Note: the top I think 5 posters were offered, but four of them turned him down — I didn’t.)
My new friend gave me his Platinum reseller hosting plan free for an unlimited time…well, at least, for as long as I put a link to his site in my signature. The agreement was made and soon I was the happy owner of the best, free hosting around.
However, recently I was notified via email that “commercial links are not allowed in signatures.” Joe, one of the administrators of the WD Forums, said he had to modify my signature for this reason. This isn’t good. Now I am faced with a decision: do I tell my “friend” about this mishap, or do I avoid confrontation and act like the link is still there? Well, one of two things would happen, based on my choice. If I told him, it’s more likely my account will be deleted (but there’s the chance that I can secure and maintain the hosting package through other means, if I’m honest enough to let the host know about it); on the other hand, if I don’t tell him, there may be a spontaneous deletion of my site at any time in the future. Both present complications, but, being an honest guy, I opted for the first. Bad idea.
Hello,
A few months ago, I acquired the Platinum hosting plan from ISPHost for free, in exchange for my linking to your web site from the Web Developer Forums, www.webdeveloper.com/forum/ . However, I have been notified by the administrators of those forums that linking to your site breaches their Acceptable Use Policy. Therefore, I have been forced to remove the link in my signature.
I would like to know if there is any way I can secure and maintain my existing Platinum status at no extra cost to me (for example, linking to you from my own web site or recommending you as my web host to others).
Admittedly, the thought crossed my mind that perhaps you wouldn’t notice that the link had been removed, but I found that irresponsible and in bad taste. In addition, I have reason to believe that you may forget the reason why you permitted to host me without requiring payment, and since I have removed the link, there will be no way for me to secure my free hosting at that point.
Thank you for your time,
Jonathan
The response was a hopeful, yet expecting. “Could you link to another one of my sites from webdevelopers?” My response was that, no, I can’t link to any commercial sites. After that, I got no response. Sunday, I find that my site is offline. Yea, big problem..
So, off goes another email (thank goodness I have more than one) to my friend. Basically I said, “Hey, hold up! You didn’t even notify me or even respond to my last email! Why didn’t you at least say ‘I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but your account has to be removed now, unless you choose to pay for your hosting from this point forward.’ or anything!” He responds back, apologizing for not notifying me (or giving me some time to backup my stuff, which thankfully I had already done) and stating that he assumed I was not interested in purchasing hosting due to the fact that I noted I was interested in maintaining my free status. I can see that being misleading, but it was still an opportunity for him to make some money off me. Why not pitch a sale whenever you can?
Anyway, so I went back to ISPHost’s site and purchased their Gold package for $5/mo. ($60/yr.) and he got me setup almost immediately. I was moved to another DNS, so it took most of today for the domain to propogate again. But anyway, now I’m back up and running. For those of you who’ve sent me email (excluding you, spammers!) please send them again, because more than likely I did not get them.
The moral of the story is, folks, nothing is free, so live with it.
Jeez. Talk about a mess! I don’t believe in free hosting and feel a hell of a lot more comfortable paying for my hosting with a reliable host.
A Small Orange have met all my needs and the plan I am working with really is top notch. I am currently on the ‘Super’ plan and have had no problems.
Tell your host to redesign, it’s not a pretty site. ;-)
October 25th, 2005 at 12:31 pm
Man that stinks. I would have stuck with Ipower, but that’s just me.
October 25th, 2005 at 1:48 pm
Had it been me in your position, I would’ve done something completely different… I would’ve complained to Joe (because quite frankly, I can’t stand the guy) and said that lots of other users have links to their own commercial sites in their signatures.
But of course, I’ve got much less tact than yourself.
October 25th, 2005 at 4:25 pm
Admirable Jona, my man.
Dan, it’s not Joe’s fault. Advertising just plain isn’t allowed on the forums, it’s part of the EULA you agree to when joining. And if you see other people with advertising in their signature, let one of us know so that we can remove them.
See now Jona, I hope you’ve learned something. It doesn’t pay to be honest, so lie as much as possible. See, my advice was free!
October 25th, 2005 at 4:57 pm
Personally, I would have switched hosts. To be honest, I haven’t found any great speed to this host, and I would have most likely moved to the small package of A Small Orange for $60 a year. (which is my current package). If the person is that unreasonable and doesn’t give you any chance to back anything up then I wouldn’t waste my time with him.
October 26th, 2005 at 7:07 pm
I agree with what you have done. You were honest man, and you decided to stay the same way, so if you end up paying $60 per annum to keep your honesty, its definetly worth, cause selling it this cheap would have been plain stupid, and complete loss.
October 27th, 2005 at 2:41 am
I agree with Martin. If you were honest about it, and they dropped you without warning, I would go some place else and not decide to actually give them money in response for what they did.
October 27th, 2005 at 1:46 pm
Funny, some said ipower. I don’t know how they are on the user level, but trying to rent real servers from them was a huge problem that lasted some three weeks. I only know of one good host, me, but I offer fully managed hosting, which wouldn’t have been good for you, Jona, else I would have offered.
October 27th, 2005 at 4:26 pm
As an almost former two year user with them, ipowerweb is a rather good personal host. My deal with them is still done Nov. 7th, and my new site hosted at a small orange should be up by then. (crosses fingers) :-P
October 27th, 2005 at 7:22 pm
It will be, if you purchase it. I got all my stuff set up within 30 minutes of making payment, the only long part (24 hours) were the DNS Servers setting up. Great choice with ASO though, I absolutely love them.
October 27th, 2005 at 8:36 pm
Jona, there was a thread in the mod room about this, he got banned 4 months ago. How did you miss that?
October 28th, 2005 at 5:39 am