Hosting

[gothweb]

Is it normal for a host to cut off your service, without warning, on a Saturday morning, without discussing the perceived breach? I think I just got all of my hosting turned-off because I send out emails to my affiliates letting them know about the new features. I am totally blown away.

[Brad Mitchell]

I know you and that you didn't spam someone else's list. Ian, that's not normal. Unless a situation seems out of control, I'll always contact the client first.

Brad

[Mutt]

who's your hosting company?

sounds unlikely that any host would shut you down off a small mailing to affilliates. maybe something else is up. whatever it is, they should at least give you the chance to answer to whatever the charges are before they shut you down.

[gothweb]

I am still waiting to hear back from the new host. I guess my post may have come out wrong... I really am curious. They have a "no bulk email" rule. Does sending 275 people an update on my program (when they signed up for the program) seem bad enough to suspend hosting? (Go to any of my sites to see what I mean.)

[Mutt]

that sounds nuts, an adult host or any host for that matter knows that people have legitimate mailing lists, they can't have
a policy where you can't mail the same thing to multiple addresses.

when they say 'no bulk mailing' they mean 'no spam/UCE'.

if they took such a drastic measure why don't you call them, do they have a 24/7 support person?

[corvette]

Originally posted by gothweb
Is it normal for a host to cut off your service, without warning,

is it normal? a host should keep you in the loop with anything and everything that might potentially affect your account...especially something as major as turning it off

[Brad Mitchell]

Originally posted by corvett


is it normal? a host should keep you in the loop with anything and everything that might potentially affect your account...especially something as major as turning it off

Yup... Besides which, 275 emails is nothing. A few thousand, sure maybe..

Brad

[gothweb]

It's weird... This host has been really good, and everything I have heard says they are stand-up people. This is not what I expected to wake up to this morning. I just double, checked, and the email does indeed say "terminated", not "suspended". Seems pretty final.

[CurrentlySober]

MOVE... NOW !

[dantheman]

contact your host and see what their reasoning was, and then decide on if you still want to give them your business.

your list is small and it shouldnt have generated many problems. *unless its a old one and the members have been gone for awhile. either way you should have be notified.

I've closed 17 dollar a month accounts that thinks that they can send 200k mailings


let me know if I can help in anyway

[gothweb]

It's only 7:40 am in California (almost 4 pm here), so I am wary of calling, since quite a few hosts seem to use home phone numbers or celphones. I think I deserve the attention, but waking someone up isn't the best way to get a charitable reaction.

Anyhow, I finally swallowed that impulse and called. No answer on the extension of the guy who emailed me about termination.

[Mutt]

xfrnetwork

hmmmm........... you don't seem the spamming type. so that ain't the reason. you shoot your own content so it can't be copyright problem.

maybe somebody has set you up for this fall. but a decent host knows how to read forged email headers, they better be able to do that.

[demented]

That's some crazy fucked up shit. I'd be pulling my hair out right about now.

[EscortBiz]

Originally posted by corvett


is it normal? a host should keep you in the loop with anything and everything that might potentially affect your account...especially something as major as turning it off

[gothweb]

My termination email:
Your hosting account has been terminated effective immediately.

Please see terms and conditions posted here:

http://www.xfr.com/virtual-t5.html

Please take not of section 3.

3. Unsolicited Advertising - Unsolicited advertising (spam) via E-mail or
newsgroups is prohibited and shall result in immediate account dismissal.
"Spamming", including (but not limited to) mass-E-mailing, cross-posting, or
otherwise causing abuse to others on the net is prohibited and will be
grounds for account dismissal. Any actions construed to be negligent,
malicious, or a denial-of-service attack is strictly prohibited.

This was what was in the queue when I looked.

So, yes, I am pulling my hair out.

[Libertine]

Originally posted by gothweb


So, yes, I am pulling my hair out.

That sucks dude. Only thing to do now is email them back asap and start looking for a new host in case that doesn't work.

[gothweb]

Yesterday, my computer died and I spent most of the day fixing it. Today, my hosting has been shut down out of the blue.

Anyone wishing to kick me in the nuts should form a queue to the left, take a number, and wait their turn. Thanks.

[Moose]

Are you sure that is the reason?

It dosnt sound right that he would do that.

[gothweb]

Originally posted by Moose
Are you sure that is the reason?

It dosnt sound right that he would do that.

I posted the whole email, minus the list of queued emails. It certainly looks like the email was the sole reason given.

I hope posting here wasn't inappropriate. Hopefully, when he checks his email we can work this out. In the meantime, my sites are offline, though, which tends to make me a little impatient.

[EscortBiz]

Originally posted by gothweb
Yesterday, my computer died and I spent most of the day fixing it. Today, my hosting has been shut down out of the blue.

Anyone wishing to kick me in the nuts should form a queue to the left, take a number, and wait their turn. Thanks.

And right before that you made some stupid comments about my program, good luck

[gothweb]

Originally posted by EscortBiz


And right before that you made some stupid comments about my program, good luck

Huh? Because I don't support prostitution, you have something against me?

[hahmike]

xfr pulled the plug? interesting


looks like it's time for gothboy to pull out the vampire fangs and go to work

[gothweb]

Originally posted by hahmike
xfr pulled the plug? interesting


looks like it's time for gothboy to pull out the vampire fangs and go to work

Has nobody yet learned the ever important lesson that I am a big wuss?

[digifan]

Sorry to hear that Ian..

Now if you could upload some pics in a zip file somewhere and send me the link that would be great.

TA

[Kick Ass Chat]

Originally posted by Mutt
who's your hosting company?

http://xfrnetworks.com/ Any quality host would be reachable by now??....Weren't you looking for new hosting like just a few weeks ago??

[gothweb]

Originally posted by digifan
Sorry to hear that Ian..

Now if you could upload some pics in a zip file somewhere and send me the link that would be great.

TA

Upload to where? Sorry, all of my hosting is down. Nowhere to put pics for you. Will have to wait until I have hosting again.

It's amazing how a little thing can change everything.

[Moose]

Originally posted by gothweb


I posted the whole email, minus the list of queued emails. It certainly looks like the email was the sole reason given.

I hope posting here wasn't inappropriate. Hopefully, when he checks his email we can work this out. In the meantime, my sites are offline, though, which tends to make me a little impatient.

My bad...skipped that part.

There has to be more to it.

[gothweb]

Originally posted by Moose



My bad...skipped that part.

There has to be more to it.

I don't know. I haven't been hosting with them for very long, and they haven't given me any warnings or anything. It's not like I'm the kind of guy to abuse a host, either. I think this is it, and I think they jumped the gun pretty quickly.

if they really don't want me sending out emails above a certain number of recipients, all they need to do is say so. I am flexible. I can't believe they would just flip the switch. I can't afford this right now!

[Libertine]

If you're looking for new hosting, let me know and I'll recommend you my personal favorite. They haven't failed me yet, and offer great support.

[gothweb]

Originally posted by punkworld
If you're looking for new hosting, let me know and I'll recommend you my personal favorite. They haven't failed me yet, and offer great support.

I thought about trying to find another host, in case this doesn't work out. However, I have decided that this is so insane that it *has* to be a misunderstanding, so I will wait to hear back from them before I consider shopping around.

[Smegma]

1: I don't discuss customer (ex or otherwise) issues in a public forum.

2: We don't turn turn off customers unless you violate one of the three rules.

A: You have uploaded / served illegal content off our servers.
B: You used your account to SPAM
C: You didn't pay your hosting bill.

3: Give me a little credit here. Do you really think I am going to cut off an account who sent out a "few hundred" e-mails?

That's as much as I am going to say about this situation publicly. I will speak with gothweb offline about this. If he chooses to make it public, so be it.

[gothweb]

That's fair. I didn't want to resolve it on here. I just wanted input on whether it was normal, and (frankly) to vent my terror at losing my hosting. I await your email, ICQ, or whatever.

[Mutt]

Originally posted by Smegma


A: You have uploaded / served illegal content off our servers.
B: You used your account to SPAM
C: You didn't pay your hosting bill.

say it ain't so Gothweb!


illegal content as in underage or as in infringing?

[Libertine]

Originally posted by Mutt



say it ain't so Gothweb!


illegal content as in underage or as in infringing?

He said one of those three. Not all three.

[gothweb]

None of the above. Given the email they sent, its fair to say they think I was spamming. I am a content creator, I would never steal content-- and I think people know me well enough to know I wouldn't mess with CP or any such bullshit. Nice of them to imply that, huh?

Still waiting to hear from you, XFR...

[Backov]

I got that email, and I got it twice, because I am registered twice.

If gothweb were spamming, I'd suggest you drive to his house and shoot him. He's not, so I don't.

Searching NANAU (news.admin.net-abuse.usenet) and NANAE (email) - There is not a single reported spam for a blood money site. Thus likely that it's never been spammed.

As for illegal content - bull fucking shit. Since when does a host turn a client off without asking for ID first. I've seen Ians models, they're far from dubious.

Besides, the email said he got terminated for spam.

You seem to be getting fucked a lot lately, Ian. Maybe you should buy a lottery ticket. Ah well, there's tons of good hosts out there. I'm betting Moose here can give you a killer deal.

Cheers,
Backov

[Brujah]

Maybe it was someone else spamming you. It's been done before you said, no ? I think you said it was pimpdog (or someone else) that had done it ?

[Libertine]

Originally posted by gothweb
None of the above. Given the email they sent, its fair to say they think I was spamming. I am a content creator, I would never steal content-- and I think people know me well enough to know I wouldn't mess with CP or any such bullshit. Nice of them to imply that, huh?

Still waiting to hear from you, XFR...

They didn't imply it, in all fairness. They just stated their 3 main rules.
As for the spamming, you don't seem like the spammer type to me, but someone with a grudge against you could have tried to screw you.

[gothweb]

Originally posted by Backov
You seem to be getting fucked a lot lately, Ian. Maybe you should buy a lottery ticket.

I'd just get a papercut.

[Mutt]

oh, i misread it, it is a bit misleading.

so i guess the charge is spamming.

[Backov]

If it was a joe job, they should know better. The mailing Ian sent the other day was from a BT dialup or DSL account, so it's not like he was trying to be anon. If they got some complaints because of a joe-job, then I'd be interested to see what the headers say. As I said, I saw no spam incidences at all for his sites.

Cheers,
Backov

[Brujah]

Whatever the reason, get out of there now. They apparently have a certain impression of you already whether you earned it or not, and/or are afraid to get their own ass in trouble by not complying with someone that scared the shit out of them. Some hosts are terrified of any spam complaints.

[gothweb]

Originally posted by Mutt
oh, i misread it, it is a bit misleading.

so i guess the charge is spamming.

I guess it wasn't exactly misleading, but the fact that it lead even one person to ask me what kind of content infringement I was making is enough to worry me. I don't see why they can't say they think I was spamming, since I have already said that was the reason they gave.

Anyhow, I don't really care. I am more concerned with hearingback from someone at XFR, than I am about this little thread. Since I know I wasn't spamming, I hope they will work something out. Unfortunately, nobody is answering my phone calls, emails, or ICQ messages yet.

[Snake Doctor]

That sucks dude. Even if you were blatantly spamming you'd think some kind of warning or phone call would be in order before they turn the switch.

[Brujah]

Originally posted by gothweb

Anyhow, I don't really care. I am more concerned with hearingback from someone at XFR, than I am about this little thread. Since I know I wasn't spamming, I hope they will work something out. Unfortunately, nobody is answering my phone calls, emails, or ICQ messages yet.

Ian, you really need to stop "waiting to hear" from someone in a situation like this. The priority I'd think is to get back up and running. The situation and relationship is already problematic from the beginning and that should give you a clue what it's going to be like for the duration.

Seriously, get outta there. Put your sites somewhere else. You've been punished and presumed guilty. Not all hosts are like that. I've got thousands of domains and had to deal with spam complaints before. Hosts usually email me and I call them and talk about it. They never just shut me off without notice like that.

Jason from Candid Hosting can probably help you out and get you up and running pretty fast too. He recently helped a friend of mine get setup and it was mostly done by ICQ. Drop me an icq msg if you want his number and I'll send it to you.

[gothweb]

It looks like their policy is pretty much not to investigate, if it looks like spam. So, I violated their terms by sending two batches of 275 emails, and now I am done for.

As such, I am looking for new hosting. It is a shame, as until this incident I was very happy with them and would rather not jump hosts this much.

Here are my specs... I imagine some hosts are reading this... This is for a virtual account, and I don't have deep pockets.

I need...

- ...about 20 domains, with individual IPs. Also a couple of subdomains.

- ...around 40 gigs of transfer.

- ...at least 3 gigs of storage.

- I would like to have a control panel, if possible.

- I like to be able to email my members, affiliates, and people who signed up for my opt-in newsletter from time to time without getting my service shut down.

[Honeyslut]

m3server.com

[gothweb]

Ray has been good enough to reactivate my hosting, so I can stay or be able to transfer my files.

I am sorry about appearing to try to bash XFR on the boards. I swear that was not my intention. The *only* thing anyone at XFR has ever done that I take any issue at all with is not contacting me before terminating my account. I do not think you are a bad host, or a bunch of jerks.

For the time being, I am going to stick with XFR. I would rather not switch hosts immediately, while I am still upset. We will have to see if we can still get along, after this.

[EscortBiz]

Originally posted by gothweb
Ray has been good enough to reactivate my hosting, so I can stay or be able to transfer my files.

I am sorry about appearing to try to bash XFR on the boards. I swear that was not my intention. The *only* thing anyone at XFR has ever done that I take any issue at all with is not contacting me before terminating my account. I do not think you are a bad host, or a bunch of jerks.

For the time being, I am going to stick with XFR. I would rather not switch hosts immediately, while I am still upset. We will have to see if we can still get along, after this.

Good choice, XFR is a great company!

[gothweb]

Originally posted by EscortBiz


Good choice, XFR is a great company!

As far as I can tell, you are right. Like I said, today's drama is my only complaint about them at all. They have offered me a great service at an incredible price, and have lived-up to it 100%. Communication could be better, but they are a large host and I am a small client.