Feb 18, 2004 : Web Hosting Forum Watch by Karen Snider
📅 - Everyones Internet said in a posting to its own forum that it had scored a victory for online forums this week when the ISP won a lawsuit filed against it by C I Host for "derogatory" comments posted on an EV1 forum last year.
"C I Host said that because we owned the forum, then we were responsible for the posts that were on it," Everyones Internet CEO Robert Marsh told theWHIR.
"The first thing this case signifies is that the rights of free speech will be upheld and that the rights of free speech on the Internet will be upheld. No one should be prosecuted for stating their beliefs," he said. "Our forums are a perfect example of that. Our company has a deep-rooted belief that individuals have the right to say what they want to say. Just because they have a complaint about their service, we don't go and erase it. They have a right to those opinions, whether they are good or not."
The thread about C I Host has since been removed, and it is unclear exactly what was said about the Texas-based company. Of course, it's not unusual for forums to be used to complain about services.
This week, before the lawsuit was dismissed, one thread starter on WebHosting Talk noted that if people did their research first then they wouldn't end up on the forums complaining about bad hosting. He recommends people do their homework first: find out how long a host has been in business and when its domain was purchased; call the Better Business Bureau and find out whether the host has had any complaints against it. When it comes time to think about prices, this user recommends you don't always opt for the cheapest host, and never pay upfront.
Users also warned against getting involved with companies run by young people. "When the sh** hits the fan, highschoolers are usually the ones that don't make good on promises, walk away from hosting clients, refuse refunds and generally exercise bad business judgment," one host writes.
Others defended students, pointing out that hosting "is just the sort of job that some kids can handle very well. There is no 24/7 work required and there are kids these days that are as good with computers as the best of adults."
While some argue that student hosts may be good for personal sites, most agree they lack the solid foundation required to host business sites. "If a business needs their site to be up 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, their site is critical to their business. They want to deal with a real business that has trained staff who know what they are doing and who are online around the clock."
And bigger is not always better.
Another user started a thread touting the merits of smaller hosting companies. The thread starter, who switched from iPowerWeb to the much- smaller HostingPlex.com, praised the smaller host for its personalized service. The president of the company had personally answered the user's support questions, and the user favors HostingPlex for its online support chat tool.
Others agree that this personalized support is more difficult to get with larger companies. "It's a lot harder to do that the bigger you get," one host wrote. "You wouldn't be able to support everyone to give it that personal touch when you're a lot bigger."
Another host writes: "Smaller companies are far better then the big boys. I moved one of my sites to a smaller firm nearly a year ago. The old one took many hours, sometimes days to respond to a support ticket. The current host has ESP and starts working on the issue before you hit the send button."
"C I Host said that because we owned the forum, then we were responsible for the posts that were on it," Everyones Internet CEO Robert Marsh told theWHIR.
"The first thing this case signifies is that the rights of free speech will be upheld and that the rights of free speech on the Internet will be upheld. No one should be prosecuted for stating their beliefs," he said. "Our forums are a perfect example of that. Our company has a deep-rooted belief that individuals have the right to say what they want to say. Just because they have a complaint about their service, we don't go and erase it. They have a right to those opinions, whether they are good or not."
The thread about C I Host has since been removed, and it is unclear exactly what was said about the Texas-based company. Of course, it's not unusual for forums to be used to complain about services.
This week, before the lawsuit was dismissed, one thread starter on WebHosting Talk noted that if people did their research first then they wouldn't end up on the forums complaining about bad hosting. He recommends people do their homework first: find out how long a host has been in business and when its domain was purchased; call the Better Business Bureau and find out whether the host has had any complaints against it. When it comes time to think about prices, this user recommends you don't always opt for the cheapest host, and never pay upfront.
Users also warned against getting involved with companies run by young people. "When the sh** hits the fan, highschoolers are usually the ones that don't make good on promises, walk away from hosting clients, refuse refunds and generally exercise bad business judgment," one host writes.
Others defended students, pointing out that hosting "is just the sort of job that some kids can handle very well. There is no 24/7 work required and there are kids these days that are as good with computers as the best of adults."
While some argue that student hosts may be good for personal sites, most agree they lack the solid foundation required to host business sites. "If a business needs their site to be up 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, their site is critical to their business. They want to deal with a real business that has trained staff who know what they are doing and who are online around the clock."
And bigger is not always better.
Another user started a thread touting the merits of smaller hosting companies. The thread starter, who switched from iPowerWeb to the much- smaller HostingPlex.com, praised the smaller host for its personalized service. The president of the company had personally answered the user's support questions, and the user favors HostingPlex for its online support chat tool.
Others agree that this personalized support is more difficult to get with larger companies. "It's a lot harder to do that the bigger you get," one host wrote. "You wouldn't be able to support everyone to give it that personal touch when you're a lot bigger."
Another host writes: "Smaller companies are far better then the big boys. I moved one of my sites to a smaller firm nearly a year ago. The old one took many hours, sometimes days to respond to a support ticket. The current host has ESP and starts working on the issue before you hit the send button."
URL source: http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/forum021804.cfm
Company: Hosting Plex [hostingplex.com -> hostmds.com]
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