I've decided to give Webservepro a try, even though they don't have a control panel. I didn't like the idea at first, but I knew that Alabanza's control panel is too buggy for me, and I just read about security problems with it: http://lists.linux-india.org/lists/linux-india-general/200003/msg00175.html (just one of the many sites that mention it). Then I came here and read posts from a few months back from someone who was threatening to exploit a hole in another control panel (cpanel3, I think) if he wasn't paid. And just a few messages ago, someone was complaining about other cpanel problems. I don't know if going through a host directly rather than through a control panel is likely to be safer, but if you want to, you can try Webservepro. They also accept check payments through the mail and they have received good reviews. <<EDIT>>

What is the point of this post?

Originally posted by Synergy
What is the point of this post?

This is a plug for his host

Be EXTREMELY careful with Webservepro. Keep records of ALL OF YOUR PAYMENTS AND PROMISES MADE BY THEM!!!!!!!

I had MAJOR problems with them...which entailed me paying an attorney $2000 to get my server from them. The server wasn't worth $2000 - but all the customers that I had on it were.

Erika, the owner, has been known to show less than professional behavior if she doesn't like you.

--Tina

I was going to inform people about the problems with Alabanza, then I read about problems with the other c-panels and decided to ask whether its safer to avoid all hosts with control panels, but then I figured it depends on the hosts software and nobody would be able to answer, so I turned it into a purely informative message again. A message intended to inform the fine young men and women who frequent this forum of some important considerations in the selection of a web hosting service. A message that will help advance society for all peoples, with no thought of my own monetary gain.

Well, so much for my research. My standards have dropped significantly though, so I'll try not to be too pissed off, and I'll keep good records.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend Webservepro to my worst enemy. I've been online for about 17 years and my experience with them was, by far, the WORST experience I've had with ANY online business...hosting or otherwise.

PS: I've been with about 4 other hosting companies and have dealings with 3 other NOCs - I have never had any problem with any of them...just Webservepro.


--Tina

I get the point. But one other thing I like about them, which I've found that very few other hosts do, is that they offer discounts for non-profit organizations. I don't have one, but I told them in a letter with my check that their help to non-profits was one reason for my choosing them. I hope that will get them to keep it up.

You're mistaken. Most hosts WILL give non-profits a discount. Some advertise it on their sites, most will give you one if you ask.

Anyway, good luck with WSP.

--Tina

Ummmm slightly off topic but how in the world could you have been online for 17 years?

Thats just not possible....
In 1993 there were only (roughly) 50 servers on the 'net
and it didn't really get started (the web as we know it) till around 1991 when I joined in on it.....

Originally posted by AffordableHost
You're mistaken. Most hosts WILL give non-profits a discount. Some advertise it on their sites, most will give you one if you ask.

Anyway, good luck with WSP.

--Tina

Exactly. In fact there are hosts who offer free hosting services to non-profit organization.:cool:

Well all the best

Originally posted by DanielP
Ummmm slightly off topic but how in the world could you have been online for 17 years?

Thats just not possible....
In 1993 there were only (roughly) 50 servers on the 'net
and it didn't really get started (the web as we know it) till around 1991 when I joined in on it.....


Yes, it is possible. My first online experience was in 1984 on a Commodore 64 and a whopping 300 baud modem (the kind you had to place the phone's handset on top of).

There were message boards, chat, online games and free downloads. This was back in the day when only intelligent people could figure out how to get online. ;)

Now I'm all homesick for my old BBS's. :bawling:

--Tina

all the internet back then were bbs, thats how isp started up as

As for the control panel question, my current host is the first
that I've had that offered it. While it has nice features, it is by
no means a requirement for me.

Originally posted by DanielP
Ummmm slightly off topic but how in the world could you have been online for 17 years?

Thats just not possible....
In 1993 there were only (roughly) 50 servers on the 'net
and it didn't really get started (the web as we know it) till around 1991 when I joined in on it..... "Online" doesn't necessarily mean "the web," and "50 servers on the 'net" is equally inaccurate. 50 webservers I'll grant, but there were over 300,000 internet hosts by 1990.

As Tina pointed out, BBS's were online well before that. As were services like Compuserve, Delphi, GEnie, and the like. And, yes, some of us were even using the Internet both for fun and for work before 1991.

Yes, one of our local BBS's even had internet access back in 1990, I believe it was.

It was pretty cool. They had two phone lines - so only two users could be connected at any one time. We'd get 30 minutes of access per day and everything was in text/ascii.

Do you know how much stuff you can download on a 1200 baud modem in 30 minutes? :stickout

--Tina

:laugh: I remember those days, Tina! I was on GEnie for a while, actually (about two years) then on CompuServe and in the chat rooms there... ... Plus, even before that, there were a whole host of local BBSs up and about ... I started doing that on an old Epson Equity II XT machine with a 1200 baud modem in 1988.

Hurrah for us old-timers! :)

--Jodi

Jodi,

YAY! You were probably one of the very few females online back then too!

I actually met my husband online wayyyyyyy before it was "the thing to do". Heck, we gave up trying to explain how we met back then...."You met on a line? Huh?"

:D


--Tina

Hello
I can rememebr sending an e-mail across JANET in 1979 using a machine which had no monitor (just a roll of paper).
JANET was the Univerities Joint Academic NETwork for the UK universities.
It still exists as www.ja.net

Then there was Prestel in the UK, the first attempt at a sort of intranet. I think I started using that in 82.
So there has been some sort of online community since way back then.

Gordon

WOW, Gordon. That's pretty impressive!

And yes, I guess I was one of the few females to be intrigued by the "online" community way back then, Tina ... I didn't meet my husband that way though. ;)

Still, I remember the almost breathless awe I felt on those first few forays into GEnie, Compuserve and local BBS's. And think about it. In the case of the local BBS's, you could have just picked up the phone and *called* your friends. :)

How far we've come. I confess that I very rarely feel that breathless awe about being online anymore... even though it's WAY cooler now than it ever was (I'm sure people will take exception to that statement :D but I'm going to say it anyway). The world is a much smaller, and infinitely more interesting place now that the internet has become a part of our every-day vocabulary.

I can exchanging e-mails with my friend in Leicester, England, play an online game with a friend in Vienna, Austria, chat online with another friend in Sydney, Australia... All in the space of an hour!

How cool is that?! :)

--Jodi

Originally posted by Jodi K.
In the case of the local BBS's, you could have just picked up the phone and *called* your friends. :)



Ohhhhh..what would be the fun in that? We actually installed Qmodem on our computers and connected directly (phoneline to phoneline) to chat and exchange files without the dreaded 30 minute time limit imposed back them.

I remember something like a 14 hour download for a 2 MB Wolfenstein game! :laugh:

Okay, this is WAYYY off topic now.

--Tina

Somebody please explain to me what exactly history of the internet
has to do with the question of the usefulness of control panels?
Either I'm missing the point or this thread is way off topic.

Hey! I was the only one that used Delphi? I think that it was in 1984, but not sure about that, with a Timex Sinclair 2068 with 64 Kb Ram and a 300 bds Modem.
What a hell machine :)

Sorry KG. We did get off topic... but this originally started as a question about whether or not C-panels were a security risk. I think we got into the discussion about how long it's been possible to be "online" because Tina mentioned she'd been online for about 17 years. :)

A few of us old-timers have been comparing notes, that's all.

So. Do you think C-panels are a security risk?

--Jodi

How big a risk they are depends on how well they are designed and maintained.
Some are a bigger security threat than others.

Although they have some nice features, I've managed 5 sites since 1996
without using a CP. We have one now, only because our new host offers it,
but to be honest other than monitoring bandwidth once a month or so, I'm not really using it. I found other tools for just about everything else it includes and I prefer using
CuteFTP to manage my files and permissions.

I can beat that. I started in 1983 with a Commodore Vic 20. In 1984 I had a C-64 like you and became a member if Compuserve in addition the the BBS's. Friends and Friends Too in NY were my favorites.

As for hosts that give free or reduced price hosting to non-profits, I'd only give them half credit if they don't advertise it or notify the client when they sign up. And I think I've only found one or two who still offer decent free hosting to non-profits. Coinsidently, one of the origional BBS's in NY, the Dorsai Embassy, is one provider of free webspace, I think only to good causes, but they don't offer much.