I have been watching this forum closely for the past few days and noticed that "BlueZebra" has been very helpful, then I noticed a post from one of the moderators saying he spoke with one of their reps, so I investigated. Low and behold, I signed up... and in just the few hours since then, they have setup my account, and answered several questions both live and by email. BlueZebra is great, so for everyone complaiining there aren't any web hosts recommended here, I'm recommending BlueZebra. Thanks for your help guys. Keep up the good work

http://www.bluezebrahosting.com

Yeah and whats your website address

::Coughing:: Thinking Spam ::Coughing::.

Whois for bluezebrahosting.com:

Administrative Contact:
Boulanger, Brian webmaster@bluezebrahosting.com
1740 Grande Blvd SE
Suite F
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
US
505-896-5540

Whois for IP 207.66.90.141:

New Mexico Technet, Inc. (NETBLK-NMTECHNET-BLK1) NMTECHNET-BLK1
207.66.0.0 - 207.66.127.0
Rio Rancho Public Schools (NETBLK-NM-RRPS) NM-RRPS 207.66.88.0 - 207.66.94.255


Same person maybe? :flamethrower:

Brian's the owner (I think) I spoke with him a few days ago, web site addy is http://www.nmspecter.com (I haven't uploaded any of my pages yet, so it's an under construction page right now) My name is Edgar Short, short@nmspecter.com

Almost forgot to mention, I'm a school teacher at the school you "traced" the IP to. That's why it showed up like that.

Out here where I live, the shchools were given free access from a company called New Mexico Technet, they also provide over 90% of the net access out here... so the IP of the WHOIS (which I don't even know what that is) is I guess the same cause of that. If you would like I can answer emails from anyone. I teach Seniors at a local High School so I don't have too much time on my hands.

This is pretty funny!

On the main page at bluezebrahosting.com there is a testimonial:

"...BlueZebra is my third web host, your service has been 100 times better than any of the other companies I've hosted with. Thank you so much! (P.S. I haven't seen a price this low with this many features!)..."
Edgar Short
http://www.nmspecter.com

Yet, you just signed up with them. If you just signed up with them, how do you know they are 100 times better? And if you haven't seen a price this low with this many features, you have not done your homework at all.

Check through the threads here and you will see that they are not the lowest with those features. In fact, they are one of the highest.

Looks to me like someone is self promoting their site!!

NICE TRY!!!!!!

Originally posted by Technics
Yeah and whats your website address

::Coughing:: Thinking Spam ::Coughing::.



Perfect example of some of the other recent posts where people were annoyed about the posts in general?? Look at this..IMMEDIATELY asking for the website url. Kinda reminds me of several months back when one of my clients posted right after signing up with me and she got pounced on.
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=1161
I dont badger my clients to come to forums, and I certainly wouldnt tell them to leave their url....those are just my personal feelings about it all in general! If they write a review, or are listed at my website...fine. There are alwaysss going to be NEW people logging on to the net daily..and honestly some people do not want to travel from forum to forum...join a forum..to make a post about their host!! they have better things to do.

I'm always suspicious of anyone whose name is Guest. That whole family seems to be a little unhinged and perhaps a bit unscrupulous.

The surname goes back to the 1400's, but, as Kant said: "Age is oft no honor." The rumors of history note that the Guest clan, originating from what is now known as Wales, interbred with the notorious Hapsburgs sometime during the reign of English King Henry VIII.

For that reason, any posts by persons named Guest may perhaps best be viewed with a degree of skepticism.

Originally posted by Just.Visiting
Almost forgot to mention, I'm a school teacher at the school you "traced" the IP to. That's why it showed up like that.

Originally posted by Just.Visiting
... so the IP of the WHOIS (which I don't even know what that is)

You are contradicting yourself, Brian.

Originally posted by A Guest
On the main page at bluezebrahosting.com there is a testimonial: Yep, a testimonial from the guy who supposedly signed up after seeing posts from BlueZebra here, yet that was on the page before those posts were made -- I checked out the BlueZebra site last week, and specifically because I was impressed that Chris, posting as "bluezebra," had showed up here and begun posting helpful and informative stuff. The testimonial from Edgar was there then.

Besides this suspicious event, though, one other thing makes me unwilling to recommend, or completely trust, this company: the doctored photo of the building on the "company info" page, which is there for no other reason than to try to mislead potential customers about the size and status of the company.

Of course, if there really is a 10-foot tall "BlueZebra" sign on the front of the building at 1740 Grande Blvd SE in Rio Rancho New Mexico -- somehow defying the laws of perspective by not lining up with the rest of the building when you look at it -- I'll apologize profusely!! :)

[Edited by JayC on 11-06-2000 at 03:54 PM]

You mean... that building could be a fake?

Wow.

******ATTENTION PLEASE*********


The orginial post is a fake. That message was sent from a student at a local High School who has Edgar Short as a teacher.

Edgar Short was not even in the state today.

Please disregard this thread, I don't know why it was put here but none of it is true.

If you have any questions please, don't even hesitate to email me. Chris@bluezebrahosting.com

Thank you so much for your help and understanding.
I am working to get the post deleted.

Nevermind the fake post, I want to know about the building.

I'm thinking of using The World Trade Center on our corporate site...

This is the whois of nmspecter.com

whois -h whois.opensrs.net nmspecter.com ...
Registrant:
BakerTRG, Inc.
1740 Grande Blvd SE
Suite D
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
US

Domain Name: NMSPECTER.COM

Administrative Contact:
Boulanger, Brian bhb@bakertrg.com
1740 Grande Blvd SE
Suite D
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
US
505-896-5540

Technical Contact:
Boulanger, Brian bhb@bakertrg.com
1740 Grande Blvd SE
Suite D<br>
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
US
505-896-5540

Billing Contact:
Boulanger, Brian bhb@bakertrg.com
1740 Grande Blvd SE
Suite D
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
US
505-896-5540


Record last updated on 06-Nov-2000.
Record expires on 12-Oct-2001.
Record Created on 12-Oct-2000.

Domain servers in listed order:
RAINBOW.LINUXENGINE.NET 64.39.21.227
NS.LINUXENGINE.NET 64.39.9.251

Same address as bluezebrahosting.com

nmspector.com was registered on 10-12-00
and bluezebrahosting.com was registered on 10-11-00

Whois for bluezebrahoting.com:

whois -h whois.opensrs.net bluezebrahosting.com ...
Registrant:
Blue Zebra
1740 Grande Blvd SE
Suite F
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
US

Domain Name: BLUEZEBRAHOSTING.COM

Administrative Contact:
Boulanger, Brian webmaster@bluezebrahosting.com
1740 Grande Blvd SE
Suite F
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
US
505-896-5540

Technical Contact:
Boulanger, Brian webmaster@bluezebrahosting.com
1740 Grande Blvd SE
Suite F<br>
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
US
505-896-5540

Billing Contact:
Boulanger, Brian webmaster@bluezebrahosting.com
1740 Grande Blvd SE
Suite F
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
US
505-896-5540


Record last updated on 06-Nov-2000.
Record expires on 11-Oct-2001.
Record Created on 11-Oct-2000.

Domain servers in listed order:
NS3.LINUXENGINE.NET 64.39.7.212
NS.LINUXENGINE.NET 64.39.9.251

They look almost identical don't they?

What about it, it's a large office suite, we have a small area of it (Suite F) and we have the BlueZebra sign on the side, the actual dimensions of the sign are about 15 feet high, it's full color, and lights up at night.

I don't understand the issue, it's a really bad picture.

LOL........check this out, I was going to find a pic of the whitehouse, then put my logo on it as a joke, but look what i got when i went to http://www.whitehouse.org .......LOL

http://www.whitehouse.org


Does anyone know the real addy for the whitehouse?


LOL......here's another: http://www.whitehouse.com

I'm scared to try whitehouse.net :)

Originally posted by BlueZebra
******ATTENTION PLEASE*********


The orginial post is a fake. That message was sent from a student at a local High School who has Edgar Short as a teacher.

Edgar Short was not even in the state today.

Please disregard this thread, I don't know why it was put here but none of it is true.

If you have any questions please, don't even hesitate to email me. Chris@bluezebrahosting.com

Thank you so much for your help and understanding.
I am working to get the post deleted.

Maybe, but why do you have a testimonial on your site from a "client" whose domain record is almost identical to yours? Did that high school student put that testimonial on your page?

Originally posted by Greg
LOL........check this out, I was going to find a pic of the whitehouse, then put my logo on it as a joke, but look what i got when i went to http://www.whitehouse.org .......LOL

http://www.whitehouse.org


Does anyone know the real addy for the whitehouse?


LOL......here's another: http://www.whitehouse.com

I'm scared to try whitehouse.net :)

whitehouse.gov

Originally posted by BlueZebra
What about it, it's a large office suite, we have a small area of it (Suite F) and we have the BlueZebra sign on the side, the actual dimensions of the sign are about 15 feet high, it's full color, and lights up at night.This is just sad. I had that page open in a browser window, and just refreshed it. He replaced the big picture of the building with one about a quarter of the size so it's not so obvious that the sign on the front is a Photoshop job. In fact it's so small now that you can't see what it is, so how would I have even known that it did say "BlueZebra?"

Chris, let me quote from one of your own posts in the "Biased Opinions" thread:
It's very sneaky, sly, and unprofessional.

I'm starting to know why you don't want to reveal yourself, no one likes a lier. People like this are frowned upon in this and other communities!



[Edited by JayC on 11-06-2000 at 04:21 PM]

Ha! Big picture's back at http://www.bluezebrahosting.com/companyinfo.htm

Though some of the uses of the whitehouse.*** domains seem somewhat appropriate in view of recent history, one really has to wonder that no one there had the foresight to lock down the .org, .net, etc. domains.

After all, Al Gore invented the Internet, didn't he...lol? And he should know about these things.

Oh, while I think of it, Al Gore also invented JavaScript, PHP, and Perl, of course, in case anyone was unaware of this.

Hmm,

Is it possible that Chris is just curious?

Originally posted by BlueZebra
What about it, it's a large office suite, we have a small area of it (Suite F) and we have the BlueZebra sign on the side, the actual dimensions of the sign are about 15 feet high, it's full color, and lights up at night.

I don't understand the issue, it's a really bad picture.

Ok, let me get this straight. You have a small suite in an office building and have a 15 foot sign on the outside of the whole building (adding up the costs).

You have a whole network infrastructure and only in October did you register your domain name.

2+2=5 here.

:: coughing :: Next Host Wannabee Please :: coughing ::

Sorry got the Flu still.

Hmm.. Where's the CDS crew?

lol......Chicken was going to recommend them, even though they registered here in November and are clearly a brand new company.

Quote from other post:


Chicken:"I've just got through speaking with a representative of bluezebrahosting.com so that I could offer some more choices to people. "

Sure. Blame it all on Chicken.

I'm keeping a damn close eye on this thread....

Wouldnt waste your time BC its going no where close it :).

Yeah, show us a picture of your logo shining in the night ;)

Errr... at school all day and... well, I did speak with Carl at Blue Zebra, who *did* seem helpful. The reason I did this, is that Chris requested a review of their site and while I was there, I figured I'd ask a few questions (human click thing floated by, heh).

I did ask Carl to check out the forum (as I do with all hosts and people involved in the industry in any way). I always do this just so we get new blood in here.

I'm not sure what to think of the thread just yet. It's hard to tell what is up when a post comes from the same town. I know if I owned a hosting company, I'd market it in my town and there would surely be some questionable posts made.

I'm checking out another host today, started with bluezebra only because I liked the name (interesting), and because I happened to be there already (plus the floating human click chat box was too much to pass up).

I'm checking out the hosts, not really so I can recommend you all (this seems to be a sour point among at least some of you), but so I can at least get a better idea of who is here and what you all offer.

Impropriety is entirely acceptable on the part of a moderator -- just so long as you don't burble any more.

This is the message I got over my ICQ account from them -->


Removed the message


I dunno what to believe, but the guys seems geniune, or he just realised how good we are with spammers and got scared.

hmmmm.

[Edited by kunal on 11-07-2000 at 03:26 PM]

Originally posted by kunal
This is the message I got over my ICQ account from them -->


You have received a message!
kunal, HELP, my company is being trashed because of someone at my High School.

Can you delete the post for "I found a great host" in the general hosting section,

I did not authorize that (not that it matters) the person that actually wrote that has no affiliation with my company what so ever, I need it deleted immediatley and a post put up explaining why it was done..... Please help



Please... all spammer-wannabes, next time you intend to do some shameless self promotion, at least make the story sound more convincing!! I find this whole Edgar Short episode and desperate measures to make up for mistake so laughable. :D

Kunal, that's not really nice of you when posting his private message here. I suppose that he knew he'd made a mistake, making fun of somebody who already regret for what he's done was not nice. If you didn't want to, then just keep it yourself. Just a thought, though :).

Nam, I know it aint a nice thing to do, but its just that I couldnt figure out wether to believe him or no. I have no intent of making fun of him, its just that, I think its a lame attempt to cover up spam.

[Edited by kunal on 11-07-2000 at 04:33 AM]

Well, if the said host knew he had made a mistake and regret for what he has done, he should have admit it instead of making up more lies to cover up for it.

Exactly. But then again, it might have not been him in the first post itself and what he said in the message might be true.

Well..I really don't know who to believe either. With his building thing and then that attempt to have his message deleted...hmm

I really think we should turn off Guest posting..most of this wouldn't have happened with the guest posting. He could've also deleted it too if he registered.

I don't know that shutting of guest participation is a great idea. However, as I said earlier...

I'm always suspicious of anyone whose name is Guest. That whole family seems to be a little unhinged and perhaps a bit unscrupulous.

The surname goes back to the 1400's, but, as Kant said: "Age is oft no honor." The rumors of history note that the Guest clan, originating from what is now known as Wales, interbred with the notorious Hapsburgs sometime during the reign of English King Henry VIII.

For that reason, any posts by persons named Guest may perhaps best be viewed with a degree of skepticism.

Kunal, I don't know, I just felt sorry for him, regardless that was him or someone who tried to ruin his reputation. It's hard to believe it wasn't him because what we've seen are so obvious. But then again, if I were him, I would not that stupid use the domain and address thing that are identical, people here are: 1. Computer-Internet experts 2. Hate spamming. So why would he do that? It just didn't make sense at all. Anyway, none of my business so I'll shut up from now on. How is your PHP board doing? Trying to make big bucks like vBulletion? :). Good luck with that.

Originally posted by Just.Visiting
I have been watching this forum closely for the past few days and noticed that "BlueZebra" has been very helpful, then I noticed a post from one of the moderators saying he spoke with one of their reps, so I investigated. Low and behold, I signed up... and in just the few hours since then, they have setup my account, and answered several questions both live and by email. BlueZebra is great, so for everyone complaiining there aren't any web hosts recommended here, I'm recommending BlueZebra. Thanks for your help guys. Keep up the good work

http://www.bluezebrahosting.com


Why does this look like it was made as a prank? There is nothing trashing the company here and looks very genuine. Why would some kid go out of his way to put this post up?

It doesn't make any sense that this was a prank post. I think it was a mistaken post and the person who posted it realized that they had better make up a story about it instead of admitting the truth ;)

Oh well, just my 3 cents.

And to think, it always used to be just your two cents you had to put in...

It used to be, but now that Reaganomics is over with, inflation finally hit me hard. ARGGGGGGGGGGH!

Originally posted by Nam
It's hard to believe it wasn't him because what we've seen are so obvious. But then again, if I were him, I would not that stupid use the domain and address thing that are identical, people here are: 1. Computer-Internet experts 2. Hate spamming. So why would he do that? It just didn't make sense at all.Even disregarding the post here (and as someone stated, that post only praised the company; removing it makes little sense, it's not where the problem arose) it's the same name (Edgar Short) and domain name (nmspecter.com) that are on the testimonial at bluezebrahosting.com -- and the registrant of nmspecter.com is BakerTRG, which is credited at bluezebrahosting.com as having designed the site.

So it's not so surprising to use that domain and name in a post here, if they use it on their site itself.

Reagan's out of office? I think I missed that.

Come to think of it, he probably did, too.

Hello,

My name is Brian Boulanger, and I'm the CTO at BlueZebra Hosting. This is the very first post I have made to this forum. My developers and tech's have been asking our clients for feedback and posts to this forum and now they are under attack. Why is this?

We run a reputable business and we attempt to give great value (service/support/features) for the cost of hosting. I think the problem here is that other hosts are inheritantly suspicious of their competition. We are based in NM, so of course we have local clients. I also work for Intel corporation, and I own a computer training company. These are both based in New Mexico and frequently lead to hosting refferals. Many of our hosting clients work for Intel, does this mean if they posted from an Intel IP address that it would mean I was doing it? There are over 5,000 people working on the New Mexico Campus and they all share the same IP addresses.

If I wanted to spam the list I would ask my Intel co-workers to use their work and home IP's to send tons of positive reviews to the list. I have 30 family members online and they are spread all over the country, they would also post a favorable review if asked. This just isn't how I do business. Rest assured we are not spamming the list. Just trying to market our company.

Please do us all a favor and stop guessing. If you know we did something wrong, send me a mail and I will fix it immediately. If you think we did something wrong, please don't post your assumptions, because we are savvy enough to spoof the IP tracking.

Thanks for your time,
Brian H Boulanger

Interesting...

Whats CTo Mean i know what CEO is.

I think it's Chief Training Officer? hehehe just guessing

I register quite a few of my clients domains under my name for management purposes. The reason BlueZebra is new is because we have another hosting company with an entirely different price structure and quite a few existing clients. There are no complaints about any of my businesses filed with the BBB. Do you know why this is? It is because we always make sure the client is satisfied even if we have to eat a loss.

I wanted to compete in the low cost arena, so I set up a second site and went to work. I really don't think any of this is your business, but the teachers at the local highschool were wanting hosting below the rates of my other business. I also regualrly discounted sites to Intel employees who know me. Now I can just send them to BlueZebra. Is this ok with you? Do I need to run my business plans by you in the future?

So in fact the BlueZebra website is relatively new, but we are not new to hosting. Neither of you are investigative wizards, but you are pretty sure you "know" what the hell your talking about.

I'm here to tell you that your wrong,
Brian H Boulanger

I am sorry for the original post I made. It should not have ever been made. Although this is a good hosting company, I lied about having an account here. For this I am truly sorry. I was asked to apologize to the group, which I am doing. Do not hold anything against them. It is my fault that all this started. Please forgive me.

CTO = Chief Technical Officer
CEO = Chief Executive Officer

I own 45% of BlueZebra and thus I am not the CEO. I manage the technical side of the WebHosting business and thus I'm the CTO.

Any thing else?
Brian

I think you may have confused my posts with some others, Brian. Other than several wry comments in this thread lampooning posts by anonymous guests and the moderators, I neither did any "investigation" nor claimed to do so.

Just a little frustrated by the tone of this thread. It should not have been neccessary for me to explain half my operations.

It was primarily Technics,

some other instant flamers....
UnitedTec, schweiz, Nashoba, Lil Mo

I just don't understand how anyone could be this hell bent on trying to flame BlueZebra

Brian

Beats me, Brian. Thank you for the correction.

Brian said:
I think the problem here is that other hosts are inheritantly suspicious of their competition.

I don't know of any host inherently suspicious of any other (except those who let their egos lead when they should let their brains do that instead). The folks you've named in your list there are not all hosts. They are, justifiably, suspicious of (anonymous) posts praising companies that have just appeared in the forums, and equally suspicious when it appears that there may be some shadiness around the corners (WHOIS records of the domain matching the host's, etc.). Those are the reasons you see what you do. Right or wrong, it's the way things are. until people have enough confidence in the hosting industry as a whole to start treating good news as good news and not with some ulterior motive underlying it, this type of situation will arise again and again. Unfortunately, the sheer number of complaints generated every day about poor hosts far outnumber the praise given to good ones, and that tends to darken peoples' outlooks about the whole industry.

can you trace me ? now.

i dont think some one talking about spoof is silly enough to use their ip.




but it looks to me like some one wants to spam a bit with out
knowing how to do it properly.....






[Edited by Davla on 11-07-2000 at 03:31 PM]

Perhaps this link will help...

http://www.over-the-counter.com/laxatives.html

Originally posted by Just.Visiting
I am sorry for the original post I made. It should not have ever been made. Although this is a good hosting company, I lied about having an account here. For this I am truly sorry. I was asked to apologize to the group, which I am doing. Do not hold anything against them. It is my fault that all this started. Please forgive me.

Maybe it just happened like this..but that message was posted 3 minutes after:


I register quite a few of my clients domains under my name for management purposes. The reason BlueZebra is new is because we have another hosting company with an entirely different price structure and quite a few existing clients. There are no complaints about any of my businesses filed with the BBB. Do you know why this is? It is because we always make sure the client is satisfied even if we have to eat a loss.

I wanted to compete in the low cost arena, so I set up a second site and went to work. I really don't think any of this is your business, but the teachers at the local highschool were wanting hosting below the rates of my other business. I also regualrly discounted sites to Intel employees who know me. Now I can just send them to BlueZebra. Is this ok with you? Do I need to run my business plans by you in the future?

So in fact the BlueZebra website is relatively new, but we are not new to hosting. Neither of you are investigative wizards, but you are pretty sure you "know" what the hell your talking about.

I'm here to tell you that your wrong,
Brian H Boulanger


__________________
CTO
BlueZebra Hosting
http://www.bluezebrahosting.com

Originally posted by mkaufman

Maybe it just happened like this..but that message was posted 3 minutes after:

[/B]

True, but did you notice the IP addresses? Must have been spoofing!! :homer: Doh!

Originally posted by Just.Visiting
I am sorry for the original post I made. It should not have ever been made. Although this is a good hosting company, I lied about having an account here. For this I am truly sorry. I was asked to apologize to the group, which I am doing. Do not hold anything against them. It is my fault that all this started. Please forgive me.

Who asked you to apologize? How did they contact you? Since you posted anonymously, how did they know who you were?

Originally posted by Annette
Brian said:
I think the problem here is that other hosts are inheritantly suspicious of their competition.

I don't know of any host inherently suspicious of any other (except those who let their egos lead when they should let their brains do that instead). The folks you've named in your list there are not all hosts. They are, justifiably, suspicious of (anonymous) posts praising companies that have just appeared in the forums, and equally suspicious when it appears that there may be some shadiness around the corners Justifiably, indeed. Let's not lose sight of the fact that the post that started all this, the anonymous post praising BlueZebra, has now been acknowledged to have been false. There's no reason to back off from being skeptical and from questioning such posts; in this case that healthy skepticism did what it's supposed to do: it identified a fraudulent recommendation.Regardless of whether the person who posted it has any connection to the company, it was not a legitimate customer making a good faith recommendation.

Skepticism and suspicion will continue as long as the suspicious skeptics keep finding out that they are right!

Certainly that doesn't mean that BlueZebra is a "bad" host, and as I said earlier I was impressed by the presence Chris was carving out here; that's why I went to the BlueZebra site in the first place. But it means the praise in that message has to be discounted.

And while there are legitimate reasons for domain information to match between a client and a host, there was certainly much going on here that didn't add up. Skepticism was reasonable.

The most important issue to me, as someone who also leases a small suite in a large office building, is this: how did you ever get the other tenants in that building to go along with you having a 15-foot tall lighted BlueZebra sign on the front of the building at 1740 Grande Blvd SE? If I knew your secret to that, I could probably at least get my building to give me a reserved parking space or something! :)

:rolleyes: Thank you for saying exactly what I was about to say Jay... Then post one min before I was going to post the exact same thing. Darn you :)

In all seriousness, I consider the thread now to be reasonably resolved - the issue of the BlueZebra sign can be taken to the General Conversations and can be debated until dawn (or until the US General Elections are completed) ;)

I also conclude that it is impossible to fully certify who is behind the IPs with regards to the original poster and the other similar associated IPs. Thus I simply think we'll all be wasting time if we dragged this on for another 20-30 posts debating who/why/where/what/how, as it is near impossible to prove 'this was the anonymous poster' and 'that was a white-faced spoof' and what not. In the end, you can all make your own minds up as to who is responsible for what.

If anyone has an issue with the closing (since I have stated the reasons for closing this thread), please feel free to e-mail me and discuss it further.

Thread closed.