Web Hosts Reject Rip-Offs, Scams

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Web Hosts Reject Rip-Offs, Scams
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by Jay Lyman
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June 7, 2004 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY
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REVIEW) — The underlying themes of last week’s online hosting
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discussion centered on Web hosting providers’ concerns, from the
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industry’s image, to kiddies and criminals and the practices that are
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giving Web hosts a bad name. All that led to a discussion of Wal-Mart
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stepping into the game.
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There seemed to be a unanimous rejection
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and repudiation of fly-by-night business practices and bargain prices
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from providers that end up punishing their customers not only with lack
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of service, but with fraudulent charges to boot.
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On WebHosting Talk (webhostingtalk.com) much of the criticism was leveled around the troubling case
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of Pagecreators’ Bryan Kruchten, alleged to have ripped off would-be
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customers by promising bandwidth and delivering bunk charges to their
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credit cards.
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Like the journalists jilted by New York
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Times’ fabricator Jason Blair, Web hosts seemed to draw a number of
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so-called “kiddie hosts” and otherwise unprofessional or quick
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buck-oriented ventures into their sites, complaining that an entire
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industry might pay the price for the actions of a few bad apples.
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“I don’t know about you guys, but I am
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sick of all these fraud web hosting companies that rip people of. It is
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real [disappointing]!” said a post in the Kruchten discussion.
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Other users concurred: “[I] feel your
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pain. [Another] fact is that all this scamming affects the rest of us
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quality Web hosts, [newcomers] get the impression that we’re all bad
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and trying to steal [their] money…”
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The consensus was that bad business
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translates to a bad future — lack of sleep or a cellmate or two — and
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there was some satisfaction with the idea of punishing a hosting
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industry scoundrel, but there was also criticism of some business
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practices that while not necessarily illegal or unethical, are not good
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for the business.
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One discussion
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of “lifetime hosting” described the practice as everything from an
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invitation to legal trouble and an impossible feat to a solid startup
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strategy and highly possible.
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However, the consensus was that in the
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long term, it was not a sound plan and would end up becoming too
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burdensome to deliver. There were also questions about what is promised
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and how “lifetime” is defined.
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“Companies offering lifetime hosting end
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up bankrupt or charging you after 1 year because they realize they
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can’t continue with the offer,” said one post. “If you have the money
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to pay $200+ for a lifetime hosting do yourself a favour and go with a
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reasonable host.”
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Still, the lifetime model held promise
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for at least one other poster, who again referred to the issue of
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ethics and a sustainable business plan.
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“To me it is an interesting way to start.
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Not anyone could do this though, the person would have to be trusted
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greatly because many people that might try this would probably be in it
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for a quick buck….”
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The debate’s ethical tone was echoed in a Host Hideout (hosthideout.com) thread regarding another recent discussion on regulation.
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That discussion concerned Aplus.Net’s use
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of a subcontractor that, in its effort to improve the company’s Google
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search position, installed hidden links on customers’ sites. The
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tactic, and the Aplus press release on the matter did not prevent the company from encountering criticism.
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“Sleezy, sleezy, sleezy, leeching off
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customers’ hard work and messing with their sites and search
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positions,” said a post from April. The thread was revived last week
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with a condemnation of the spin control and a call for government
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oversight.
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“Just because they bought a press release
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on Yahoo ‘explaining’ things doesn’t make them blameless. I have said
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it before and I’ll say it again,” the poster said. “The hosting
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industry needs to be regulated to keep this kind of thing from
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happening. The same as all spammers and quick buck artists need to be
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stamped out.”
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The debate on regulation went into the
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usual issues of the other problems that are created and challenges
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including, especially for an industry such as Web hosting, the barrier
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of all of those borders and jurisdictions. Tying the discussion back to
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the original subject, one poster pointedly put it:
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“No form of regulation would have prevented this from happening.”
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Along the lines of regulation, Big Brother and big business, Wal-Mart caused a stir on the SitePoint (sitepoint.com) forums with its announcement that it would offer Web sites for $5 a month.
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Some viewed the addition of the
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superstore hosting approach just as the small town businesses that were
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wiped out by Wal-Marts in recent years, arguing the “international
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corporate superpower” would be a “great way to totally dissolve the
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value and importance of having a REAL website.”
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However, others were unthreatened by the
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low price leader effect, welcoming the giant to the highly competitive
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industry hosts know and love.
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“I don’t really care…my client base
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isn’t interested in template sites,” said one poster. “They’re
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interested in differentiating themselves from the gaggle of half assed
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internet businesses who use template sites and nephew designers…and I
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don’t have time for cheap *** clients who want $10 Web sites anyway.”
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