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What's happening with LEB?
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What's happening with LEB?

MikePTMikePT Moderator, Patron Provider, Veteran
edited October 2015 in General

What's happening with LEB?

There are almost no comments, the offers are being sent by providers who don't even get verified. The posting rules aren't being respected as well.

Let's take this example:

In this topic, http://lowendbox.com/blog/predator-vault-5-04month-512mb-and-6-57month-1gb-openvz-in-france/, was sent by a provider who happens to be portuguese as well. WHOIS protection is enabled and it seems "Carlos Rodrigues" didn't send the company VAT number/details because he registered the company as an individual and doesn't have a company VAT number, only his personal VAT number and therefore decided not to disclose it.

So I replied there that, as a portuguese fellow who have worked for several portuguese companies, I am totally sure that, if Carlos registered a company, even in individual name, he surely has a valid company VAT number, because any company, wether registered as individual or not, has a VAT number.

The offer was posted in 23th, Oct, 2015, by Jonathan and I wrote a reply stating the above information in the 24th. No reply from Jonathan at all. It seems LEB staff doesn't even bother to read the replies, nor to obligate the companies to follow the rules.

If WHOIS protection is on, and there's no VAT number / company information, then the offer shouldn't be posted, period.

I'm just venting here about this recent situation. What do you guys think about the current LEB?
Don't you guys miss those days with dozens or even hundreds of comment replies about the companies, its service quality and such?

TBH it's sad to see what's happening with LEB. Nowadays, LET is the first choice for anyone who needs to find an offer and check out the comments about its company. LEB itself is now useless.

«13

Comments

  • Awmusic12635Awmusic12635 Member, Host Rep
    edited October 2015

    MrGeneral said: There are almost no comments,

    Our offer had quite a good bit of comments from 2 weeks ago:

    And Jonathan replied

    http://lowendbox.com/blog/impact-vps-openvz-vps-from-6year-for-256mb-in-seattle-usa

    Though I would agree there are some issues

    Thanked by 1MikePT
  • Indeed. In the absence of new offers from decent verifiable hosts, abundance of basic yet pointless tutorials, LEB has more or less turned to crap.

    Back in the day, it was LEB that first brought me to LET. But, with time, I guess it has started to lose its relevance altogether.

    I really hope they get their act together.

    Thanked by 2kkrajk MikePT
  • When I joined here a year ago LEB already looked dead. Atleast I couldn't see any purpose for it at that time. You're right, LET is the place to keep an eye on for offers and comments. I don't think it's anything to worry about. Web sites die all the time and something else takes it's place. RIP LEB.

    Thanked by 2MikePT netomx
  • MikePTMikePT Moderator, Patron Provider, Veteran

    @Awmusic12635 said:
    Though I would agree there are some issues

    Well your offer is decent and hosted @Incero, you've proven here that you keep support on track and actually care about your customers. However, there are several offers in LEB which don't actually deserve to be there, IMHO. Jonathan didn't reply to my comment even though I provided a pretty detailed reply. Thing here is, this offer, with a domain name registered a few months ago, WHOIS protection active, and no company VAT number, doesn't certainly follow the rules. Why is it posted then? It looks way too shady.

    Even if you check the other offers, while there are still great offers, there are almost no comments. It's just sad to see this happening with LEB, it used to be a great website, and its traffic rank was great. People would visit it every damn day to find great offers.

    I've thought a bit about this and concluded that, one of the reasons, may be the fact that the top notch providers (Nodisto, Ramnode, BuyVM etc) don't bother to post there anymore. They do have their reasons. I assume they have their loyal client base and don't need to bother posting in LEB anymore. Anyway, what used to be a great website, is now looking dead.

    Thanked by 2SpeedyKVM ryanarp
  • MikePTMikePT Moderator, Patron Provider, Veteran

    @K4Y5 said:
    Indeed. In the absence of new offers from decent verifiable hosts, abundance of basic yet pointless tutorials, LEB has more or less turned to crap.

    Back in the day, it was LEB that first brought me to LET. But, with time, I guess it has started to lose its relevance altogether.

    I really hope they get their act together.

    Exactly. I used to check LEB offers daily and purchased a bunch of VPS due to the great promos there. The spirit was friendly and we could actually share our opinions there. Nowadays, it has no interest to visit it.
    IMHO, if they don't change the way it is right now, then might just want to shut it down.

    @Ole_Juul said:
    When I joined here a year ago LEB already looked dead. Atleast I couldn't see any purpose for it at that time. You're right, LET is the place to keep an eye on for offers and comments. I don't think it's anything to worry about. Web sites die all the time and something else takes it's place. RIP LEB.

    Yes, Ole, that was a year ago. Back in 2010/2011 it was brutal. It was excellent. I enjoyed reading hundreds of comments about x,y company. The company owners used to post there as well and it was great.

  • FranciscoFrancisco Top Host, Host Rep, Veteran

    MrGeneral said: (Nodisto, Ramnode, BuyVM etc)

    Nodisto doesn't take part on here anymore unless they have to, they left fully after their brands and the likes were getting constantly flooded. RN still posts, last offer was in June.

    As for us, we've not had a post up there since Liam was around. We've been mentioned a few times in votes and such but never an offer for us. Since we don't do coupons I don't know if the writers are interested. Like LET, LEB went very price focused so our angle of lots of features just gets people going "Give me cheaper prices you jerks!".

    Francisco

  • MikePTMikePT Moderator, Patron Provider, Veteran

    @Francisco said:
    Francisco

    Yes that is correct. I miss the old LEB times tho, was much fun.

  • MikePTMikePT Moderator, Patron Provider, Veteran

    Agreed with everything you mentioned.

  • RizRiz Member

    @MrGeneral I thought you left..?

  • MikePTMikePT Moderator, Patron Provider, Veteran

    @Riz said:
    MrGeneral I thought you left..?

    I did, for a few days. Sometimes we need to refrain and take a time off. Been here for a few more years than you :)

  • sinsin Member
    edited October 2015

    I rarely use LEB - most of the offers I use are right on here, LET. I just don't trust most of the newer hosts and (unless you need obscure locations or very specific requirements) why use them when you have all these great prices/promos from the companies like OVH, Leaseweb, Ramnode, VULTR, Dediserve, the list goes on and on aaaaand on.

    Basically I find all the good stuff on here and not LEB :)

    Thanked by 1MikePT
  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    The way I see it, LEB needs more interesting offers. So instead of tearing down the few that are getting put up, what you could do is go out in search of new and cool services and post them here. Maybe one of the writers or admins will like what they see and want to post something about them :)

    Thanked by 1MikePT
  • I think OVH reseller offers should only be posted, if the owner does not whine about "personal information", is not a new kid renting out spare space on his SYS, and the offer is significantly cheaper than OVH itself.

    Thanked by 1MikePT
  • FranciscoFrancisco Top Host, Host Rep, Veteran

    @4n0nx said:
    I think OVH reseller offers should only be posted, if the owner does not whine about "personal information", is not a new kid renting out spare space on his SYS, and the offer is significantly cheaper than OVH itself.

    OVH hosts used to be banned for a long time until CC removed the ban for whatever reason. LEA's reasoning was that it was simply too easy to turn up a brand and run off with cash. At the time there was a real epidemic where there was tons of dine/dash brands taking off with a lot of cash.

    Francisco

    Thanked by 34n0nx MikePT netomx
  • rm_rm_ IPv6 Advocate, Veteran
    edited October 2015

    What killed LEB comments was that they removed E-Mail notifications for replies to which you could subscribe. There is no point anymore to try and start a discussion there, unless you plan to keep manually refreshing that tab in a browser tab for days to come. Probably that's why staff also rarely replies to all the complaints, they simply don't know anyone posted anything.

  • MikePTMikePT Moderator, Patron Provider, Veteran

    @sin said:
    I rarely use LEB - most of the offers I use are right on here, LET. I just don't trust most of the newer hosts and (unless you need obscure locations or very specific requirements) why use them when you have all these great prices/promos from the companies like OVH, Leaseweb, Ramnode, VULTR, Dediserve, the list goes on and on aaaaand on.

    Basically I find all the good stuff on here and not LEB :)

    Same here!

    @Jar said:
    The way I see it, LEB needs more interesting offers. So instead of tearing down the few that are getting put up, what you could do is go out in search of new and cool services and post them here. Maybe one of the writers or admins will like what they see and want to post something about them :)

    Well, according to what @mpkossen wrote a few weeks ago, they're paid to do it, so that's their job. in this case, I'm highlightning an offer that was posted that doesn't obey to LEB rules, and even wrote there about it, ended up being ignored.
    I do agree that LEb needs more interesting offers.

    They could, for example, promote OVH SSD VPS's, which are really great, and the provider won't disappear. Just an example, even though I'm aware OVH doesn't need any publicity.

    @4n0nx said:
    I think OVH reseller offers should only be posted, if the owner does not whine about "personal information", is not a new kid renting out spare space on his SYS, and the offer is significantly cheaper than OVH itself.

    Indeed, it looks like it's not serious. Just a SYS server, and god knows when they'll deadpool. In the end, LEB would be helping him getting some bucks and disappear.

    @Francisco said:
    Francisco

    Yes, well, there are several serious companies running OVH nodes, though, but I do agree with your point.

    @rm_ said:
    What killed LEB comments was that they removed E-Mail notifications for replies to which you could subscribe. There is no point anymore to try and start a discussion there, unless you plan to keep manually refreshing that tab in a browser tab for days to come. Probably that's why staff also rarely replies to all the complaints, they simply don't know anyone posted anything.

    I wasn't aware they did that, and that it was one of the reasons why people no longer comment a lot in there. Maybe something can be done? @mmpkossen

    Thanked by 1sin
  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    MrGeneral said: They could, for example, promote OVH SSD VPS's, which are really great

    See now that's a good idea. In my opinion it's easy to point out flaws, but the real challenge (and the most rewarding) is to come up with good ideas.

    Thanked by 1MikePT
  • MikePTMikePT Moderator, Patron Provider, Veteran

    @Jar said:
    See now that's a good idea. In my opinion it's easy to point out flaws, but the real challenge (and the most rewarding) is to come up with good ideas.

    Yes, for sure. If this was all done for free, it would be our job but, in this case, people who post LEB offers are getting paid. It should be their job then. Dont you agree? It is no longer a free community, sort of speak.

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran
    edited October 2015

    @MrGeneral said:
    Yes, for sure. If this was all done for free, it would be our job but, in this case, people who post LEB offers are getting paid. It should be their job then. Dont you agree? It is no longer a free community, sort of speak.

    Everyone needs a hand. Doesn't much matter who is or isn't getting paid, if you like something enough and want to see it succeed, you contribute :)

    Just like the many open source projects out there run by companies that have paid staff. That's no reason not to contribute code to something you use.

  • If they don't post offers, then that's a problem.
    If they post offers, that's another problem.

    Looking at my icedove rss feed since August 27th, 2015, there is a post on every 2 days or less than 2 days a bit.

    There's only so much offers and hosts you can churn out before becoming repetitive.

    It's also worth noting, that since August 27th, Marten was only posting one offer. http://lowendbox.com/blog/virtualrocket-vrocket-io-smartvps-with-512mb-ram-for-4month/

    The rest of them were tutorials.

    Everything else were posted by Jonathan Tan, whether he's a real or person or not, is for you to decide or management to confirm.

    The posts aren't just posted like a blogger does, they are scheduled to be posted usually at 02:00 and 14:00.

    That's something they must have figured out over the years.

    As to whether a host's good or not, there's the comment section, if that's lacking, use google, and search site:lowendtalk.com + host's name.

    You're not supposed to be reliant on single sources of information anyway.

    Thanked by 2jar MikePT
  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    GM2015 said: whether he's a real or person or not

    He is. He's a really great guy :)

    Thanked by 1netomx
  • Well, I guess LEB is bound to fizzle out. It was supposed to help cheapskates find smaller providers with better pricing than large outfits (which presumably already have good visibility). There's no sense having LEB just to point to OVH. What's needed to get things going again are smaller providers than can beat OVH pricing. Righty ...

    Thanked by 1MikePT
  • Well, I'll believe you. I just assume regularly that on the internet, everybody is either from the USA or Asia, is male and between 30 or 40 and out to get my money.

    This way, you don't get suprised too often.

    Jar said: He is. He's a really great guy :)

    Thanked by 2jar MikePT
  • wait... what? This guy has an LEB offer with a website without any address information public + private whois and you complain about a missing VAT number? I'm much more worried about that....

    What EU country does even allow you to operate a commercial website without any contact info? Someone should buy, not pay, and just post the address data from the invoice here/at LEB (or if it does not contain any either best to PT authorities directly).

    Thanked by 1MikePT
  • MikePTMikePT Moderator, Patron Provider, Veteran

    @Jar said:
    Just like the many open source projects out there run by companies that have paid staff. That's no reason not to contribute code to something you use.

    OK that's a valid point, makes sense, at least to point them some offers, then they could elaborate the offer.

    @William said:
    wait... what? This guy has an LEB offer with a website without any address information public + private whois and you complain about a missing VAT number? I'm much more worried about that....

    What EU country does even allow you to operate a commercial website without any contact info? Someone should buy, not pay, and just post the address data from the invoice here/at LEB (or if it does not contain any either best to PT authorities directly).

    Yup. That's another thing. That post should have never been published without contact information. The VAT thing was just something I caught that surely isn't true. Wether you own a company as an individual, shares, or whatever, you always have a company VAT number. So it looks basically a shady company, ran by "someone" in order to make some bucks and disappear from the internet.

    Thanked by 1jar
  • GM2015GM2015 Member
    edited October 2015

    Not in the UK, you don't need a VAT number until your turnover reaches a certain point and/or you sell on the internet with the 1st Jan regulations.

    Simplified:
    https://www.gov.uk/vat-registration/when-to-register

    The UK gov raises the UK vat reg threshold £2000 every year from my observation.

    MrGeneral said: Yup. That's another thing. That post should have never been published without contact information. The VAT thing was just something I caught that surely isn't true. Wether you own a company as an individual, shares, or whatever, you always have a company VAT number. So it looks basically a shady company, ran by "someone" in order to make some bucks and disappear from the internet.

  • MikePTMikePT Moderator, Patron Provider, Veteran

    @GM2015 said:
    Not in the UK, you don't need a VAT number until your turnover reaches a certain point and/or you sell on the internet with the 1st Jan regulations.

    Simplified:
    https://www.gov.uk/vat-registration/when-to-register

    The UK gov raises the UK vat reg threshold £2000 every year from my observation.

    In this case, he's from Portugal. Any company has a VAT number.

  • @Jar said:
    The way I see it, LEB needs more interesting offers. So instead of tearing down the few that are getting put up, what you could do is go out in search of new and cool services and post them here. Maybe one of the writers or admins will like what they see and want to post something about them :)

    If that's the case, why are legitimate offers not being accepted? I know for a fact 2 people who have not been posted but the crap that OP mentions somehow got through.

    Thanked by 1MikePT
  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    @Jonchun said:
    If that's the case, why are legitimate offers not being accepted? I know for a fact 2 people who have not been posted but the crap that OP mentions somehow got through.

    I dunno, I don't know everything I just like to comment :)

    What I do know....is that I've been drinking red bull and vodka all wrong this whole time. It's much better when it's half and half.

This discussion has been closed.