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Was I treated fairly by my VPS provider?
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Was I treated fairly by my VPS provider?

Hi,
I'm not sure if this is something worth switching VPS providers over. Can you please provide me some insight.

I recently setup my first VPS and put a blog on it for which I was providing the content. I wrote a blog post about someone who works at a major technology company in which I quoted some statements they made. The statements were all true etc. The person I wrote about, however, apparently didn't like the story and they filed a complaint with the VPS provider and the VPS provider told me that I had to take down the story or my account would be terminated.

In my view, the person who complained should have contacted me directly rather than the VPS provider.

As a further complicating issue, I had reason to believe that the person who complained wasn't actually even the person the story about, but that they had sent an email from a dummy account claiming to be that person and claiming to be offended as a way to attack me. That was another reason I wanted my VPS provider to get the person complaining to contact me directly. MY VPS provider just said "no, take it down, or we terminate your account"

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Comments

  • Bad provider, leave.

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    I'd have to see the content and the complaint to make a judgement. If the content was an obvious legal problem waiting to happen, maybe they did right. Otherwise, nope.

    Thanked by 1vRozenSch00n
  • Yeah, basically depending on the content. What does the TOS say?

  • I'm afraid about giving too much information about the TOS because I guess there's a possibility that the VPS provider could read this.

    There was nothing defamatory in the content. I merely quoted some statements the individual made, however, the remarks he made reflected very poorly on him.

    There was no use of swear words in the content even.

    One concern I had also was that the person I wrote about knew someone at the VPS provider

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    @sortofnewbie said:
    I'm afraid about giving too much information about the TOS because I guess there's a possibility that the VPS provider could read this.

    There was nothing defamatory in the content. I merely quoted some statements the individual made, however, the remarks he made reflected very poorly on him.

    There was no use of swear words in the content even.

    One concern I had also was that the person I wrote about knew someone at the VPS provider

    Based on the way you describe it, you were treated unfairly. Two sides to every story, of course. You can't always like your clients, but you should always respect them.

  • Leave immediately and post their name on this board VPS so future customers can be better informed with their purchasing decisions.

    If you don't want to, SSH tunnel from your VPS to a page of mine and i'll whois the ip and post them here myself.

    Thanked by 1k0nsl
  • Thank you for your answers. As I said, I'm sort of a newbie so I'm not really sure if my expectations were reasonable.

    One other concern I have is of burning bridges with VPS providers. For example, if I leave this company, and then run into a problem with another company, will I ever run out of options for low priced VPS providers. I actually only know of one other VPS provider in the U.S. and the servers cost $20 per month, which is a little out of my price range.

    How big is the VPS world? should I be concerned about this?

    I emphasize that I don't expect to get into a lot of problems because I'm not posting illegal content, no porn, etc. At worst, my posts could be viewed as slightly trollish because I'm obviously hoping for cheap page clicks...

  • SpiritSpirit Member
    edited January 2014

    How big is the VPS world? should I be concerned about this?

    If you're honest non abusive customer this should not be concern. VPS world is big, really big. Most people here pay for (unmanaged) VPSs between $1 - $7 monthly.

    Check offers section, but pick carefully:

    http://lowendtalk.com/categories/offers
    http://lowendbox.com/

  • Ok, I might let everyone know what happened with this VPS provider. I've got screenshots!

  • We still need to see that blog post too. Since it was a public post i doubt there is anything secret about it.

  • You shouldn't be worried about any other providers. Post your blog post as we need both sides of the story.

  • sortofnewbiesortofnewbie Member
    edited January 2014

    if I post the blog post (as it was originally published) and the vps provider sees it, then my account will be terminated. so I'll only do it if I decide to reveal everything they said to me. Also if I post the edited version of it on here, then my account would also likely be terminated because my vps provider would see that as arguing

    I will likely do it but will sleep on it to make sure

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider
    edited January 2014

    Well a few things on this,

    1) No they should have contacted the VPS provider unless you made it very easy to request removal yourself.

    2) The VPS provider in all honesty probably did not take the time to really study it, but without seeing the content I don't want to be too critical of the host.

    3) If I get a take down request for content which is not infringing copyright, and is not against my terms I forward it as a request only, I would not force you to comply.

    4) You may find the the data centre got the abuse report, they sent it to the provider and the provider enforced it upon you simply because the DC would impose it on them as well.

  • GaNiGaNi Member
    edited January 2014

    Use Cloudflare?

    PS: take a backup and rage?

    Thanked by 1AnthonySmith
  • jaypeesmithjaypeesmith Member
    edited January 2014

    I would have to see the post but, honestly, I have never heard of someone contacting a provider about being quoted in a blog post. There are too many providers out there for you to be wasting your energy worrying about being censored by your hosting company. Switch hosts and get back to focusing on your blog. When you do, let me know who your host was so that I can avoid them in the future.

  • @sortofnewbie said:
    and the vps provider sees it, then my account will be terminated.

    They shouldn't/can't terminate you for posting an article on a server they don't own :) hell they should threaten to terminate you for what you've done regardless...

  • maybe give the link to someone trusted here,then he will share what he found without revealing the site/content....

  • Please name and shame the host after you move your blog. Don't want them terminating you for shaming them now do we?

  • I doubt anyone here is interested in the specific person/company you wrote about, rather in what/how you wrote about him/her/them. If you ask for an opinion or advice, you should also provide the necessary information. So just post here what you wrote with the relevant name(s) blanked out (xxxxxx instead of John Somebody) and there should be no problem at all. And don't be afraid to name your provider if you think you have been treated unfairly - if that is already a problem for them, you should be running rather than walking away from this company. If they see your post here and don't agree with your side of the story, they can always respond and share their point of view, too.

    Leaving one provider for a an other is not necessarily difficult or expensive and there are so many cheap offers in this field that you might even save some money by leaving your current one. Just make sure you have a complete, up-to-date backup of your account before you do anything you think might cause your current host to terminate your account.

    Btw., if any of my providers ever threatened me with account terminition for such a reason (which should be handled directly between the content provider, i.e. you, and the allegedly offended person/company), I myself would cancel any services with them immediately, as that would completely break any trust between them and me. Unless your provider is required by law to take direct action (e.g. if a client posted nazi content or child pornography) - and in that case he should not have "warned" you first but just put your account offline immediately - i.m.o., any such disputes should be settled between the two involved parties. This might, of course, mean legal action against you, if the offended party is serious and you really offended, but that's really none of your provider's business. If you (and your account) are in a jurisdiction that doesn't require a full imprint with real contact address (name, email, street address) on your web site, I think it would be ok for your hoster to provide your contact details - upon a quick check of the claimed incrimination - to somebody who contacts them because he feels offended by your content if, you post anonymously, so he can contact you in some way. Aside from that, I think your content is your own responsibility and not your provider's, and if you think you're right and it's worth fighting for it (with all the potential risks associated with such a decision), it should only be your decision if you want to leave your content online (and possibly face legal problems) or take it down.

  • rds100rds100 Member
    edited January 2014

    If the post metioned things like jews, nazis, porn, sexual preferences, violence, etc. i can see why they wanted you to remove it. Such things could cause trouble.

    Yes, free speech is a myth.

  • Ok, I will re-post the blog post on a different server (i.e. with a different company) but also show the VPS' communications with me. I think you'll find these most interesting....

    since I'm just posting what happened, I guess my VPS provider can't object but I suspect they will based on what's already happened, but then I'll just move

    It'll take me a day or two to get every together

    Btw, the worst that can be said about my post is that it was a bit trollish or snarky in the style that a blog like Gawker might post.

    I think you'll see the real reason my VPS Provider objected once I post some screenshots.

    Stay tuned...

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    @sortofnewbie said:
    Stay tuned...

    Any particular brand of popcorn you suggest?

  • @jarland said:
    Any particular brand of popcorn you suggest?

    I think this will require something salty and cheesy.

  • i've never read such a b.s. set of posts together in my life. why is everybody acting weird? your provider can't say jack about your content. leave them immediately and post all evidence everywhere. what kind of orwellian b.s. is this? if you are wrongfully accusing sb of sth then they can sue you in court, than you have to pay them etc, that's if they can spot who you are. how is a silly little vps provider the judge of any of this? that's like a newspaper running some bad news about someone so the goddamn company that prints the newspaper refuses to do so? what kind of insanity is that? i'd really suspect if the person you wrote about had ties with the vps provider.

    in any case the maintainer of the site (you) should ve been contacted first, than legal authorities, if they had a case against you.

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider
    edited January 2014

    @kerouac

    Wow that is some serious host rage/hate you have going on.

    And actually a provider can say what is and is not acceptable to them, no one forces anyone to sign up, if you don't agree with the terms then don't sign up and complain later.

    The truth here is that no one has any idea yet what was posted so to make any specific judgement is crazy, lets just wait and see, if it says something completely hateful/ racist and pro pre teen sex then I completely understand why the host would request it is taken down.

  • Ok, I can assure you, as you will see, there was nothing "completely hateful/ racist and pro pre teen sex". I'm in the process of writing everything up for you to see.

    Should I put the links in the bottom of this thread or create a new thread?

  • Throw links here, but based on the information you gave this does not sound like a good provider at all!

  • @AnthonySmith said:
    And actually a provider can say what is and is not acceptable to them, no one forces anyone to sign up, if you don't agree with the terms then don't sign up and complain later.then I completely understand why the host would request it is taken down.

    That would not be an ethical move. There are a lot of things a provider can do, doesn't mean they should or they are permitted to do these things. We don't know what the TOS is saying, but I'm gonna go ahead and assume it does not say "we will kick you out for writing stuff we don't like". It could say things about file-sharing, indecent (+18) content, etc. But I'm sure it won't say that.

    Even if it did, it would be highly debatable if they'd be allowed to say that. If I open up a DC and say that I can charge you €1000 whenever I want for nothing, also I can read all your mails, and edit contents in your blog and put all these things in my TOS, would that be legal? If I went ahead and did these, there's a high chance you'd win in court even though it's on my TOS. Not to mention consumers' rights legislation (in thecountry of provider --or maybe even in the country of the consumer in some cases--) might stop you from doing that.

    Owning and operating your business doesn't give you right to do everything you want.. With your notion, I could potentially block customers of African origin from my store. I refuse doing business with them. Or what if Ebay didn't sell products sold by people of Native American origin, what then?

    Like civil rights, freedom of speech is above any TOS any VPS provider can write up. (IMHO)

    PS: I didn't want to come across like in a rage/hate mode, but the fact that our first reactions to a freedom of speech complaint are changing for the worse makes me sad.

    Thanked by 1Mark_R
  • @kerouac said:
    PS: I didn't want to come across like in a rage/hate mode, but the fact that our first reactions to a freedom of speech complaint are changing for the worse makes me sad.

    I take it you're American? In the UK, we don't have freedom of speech. It's close, but not there. But i agree entirely with you.

    Thanked by 1k0nsl
  • c0yc0y Member

    @coolnow said:
    I take it you're American? In the UK, we don't have freedom of speech. It's close, but not there. But i agree entirely with you.

    Huh? You must be talking about a different UK then I'm thinking of :-P

    American dream is a myth too. In the US they have freedom of speech squares and parks where you can say what you like in a civilized matter. (provocation against gov etc still gets punished)

    It's a crazy world full of propaganda, the internet is luckily still a small step ahead on rather difficult setups for freedom of speech.

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