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09-30-2014, 10:11 AM #1Web Hosting Master
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GVH Accused of being in shill ring with ServerMania and HostNun
Just passing along something I seen at this link https://vpsboard.com/topic/5383-gree...ng-shill-ring/
Addressing controversial allegations against GreenValueHost staff and moving forward
September 29, 2014
PO Box 972
Normal, IL 61761
United States
Addressing controversial allegations against GreenValueHost staff and moving forward
This announcement is being made to address recent controversial allegations regarding one of our staff members, Shivanthi B. (known by the nickname "Gallaeaho" on various community forums), our company as a whole, and a separate company based in Canada known as HostNun.
Maarten Kossen, community administrator of ColoCrossing-owned community LowEndTalk, has accused Shivanthi (or "Gallaeaho") of being an alias of username and company "HostNun" on the LowEndTalk community forum. In addition, he has made accusations of our company (Green Value Hosting, Inc.) having ownership of HostNun as well as accusations that both companies are participating in what is known as a "shill ring", which is defined as actions of exchanging false and influenced positive feedback for one or both parties participating in the "shill ring" in an attempt to raise reputation and/or pursuade the public.
All of these accusations and allegations are false. We have attempted to voice our words and evidence against such allegations by Mr. Kossen, however we were ignored and were told to, and we quote, "F*ck off" because Mr. Kossen had the final say and had the ability to make decisions without hearing our side.
As of the release of this announcement, Mr. Kossen has failed to present his evidence that the above allegations are true. His evidence as he stated was IPv4 login records that show that both Shivanthi and the HostNun account have logged in through an identical IPv4 address at least once in their account histories. The reason for this is because both the owner of HostNun as well as Shivanthi both utilize the same mobile network carrier (Telus Mobility) and IPv4 addresses from such carrier are not geolocated to any specific province. It is therefore possble that both the owner of HostNun and Shivanthi are able to have the same IPv4 address at the same time (through NAT).
The hostname wireless.telus.com relates the IPv4 address to a mobile phone. If Mr. Kossen were to release the IPv4 log records, we are more than positive of the fact that it would return the result that the IPv4 address belongs to Telus Mobility, and is used for mobile phones (to the absolute best of our knowledge). We are confident that the releasing of Maarten's evidence would prove us to be innocent. Additional proof of the innocence of our staff member Shivanthi and ourselves include legitimate and unedited scanned copies of government-issued identification and proof of address, which we are willing to present if given the opportunity. This additional proof would also prove against the claim that HostNun and Shivanthi is the same person, however we have been denied any and all opportunities to present a defense.
Nevertheless, our unwarranted and unfair ban has been confirmed and we are no longer able to involve ourselves in the LowEndTalk community.We've made this public announcement in an attempt to clear our name and in the best interest of protecting our staff members from wrongful accusations. Although we are prohibited from further involving ourselves in the LowEndTalk community, we are confident in our ability to strive forward as a company and will be moving on, with our goalset still being the same as it's always been: To provide high value services at low costs, and to ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction possible amongst our highly valued and appreciated client base.
We will still be the same GreenValueHost that you've all come to know and trust, and we'll always be here for our clients when we're needed. We will still have our bi-monthly blowout sales and will be looking forward to celebrating our 2 year anniversary of being in business with all of you when it comes time in October.
If anyone has any questions, we can always be reached at our helpdesk: ###########################
Until next time, we wish everyone a great day and a happy hosting experience for many years to come.
With the sincerest and kindest regards,
The GreenValueHost Team
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09-30-2014, 10:20 AM #2Disabled
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Those two individuals have been unbanned from LET as per Maarten and deemed innocent. He also stated that my account would remain banned from that forum because I'm simply too much work for him; I've accepted his decision and will be moving on. The case is therefore closed I'd assume.
Also .. the definition of shill is:
an accomplice of a hawker, gambler, or swindler who acts as an enthusiastic customer to entice or encourage others.
Edit
Additional information: It appears that MannDude/Curtis, administrator of vpsB, has done further checks over at his forum and verified that the two are not the same person. And for the record, since I can't reply to that other thread .. our staff member Shivanthi goes by the name Amy as well, with Shivanthi being more formal.Last edited by GreenValueHostGM; 09-30-2014 at 10:31 AM.
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09-30-2014, 10:47 AM #3Mostly Retired!
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I wondered when it would hit over here...
You guys try and play nice now...
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09-30-2014, 11:14 AM #4Web Hosting Master
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So much free publicity for these guys
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09-30-2014, 11:58 AM #5Hello World
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Sorry, But I don't want to be part of this drama since I have better things to be doing but since using dynamically assigned IP's from different providers over the years actually well over a 10 year span I've never been assigned the same IP twice and certainly never been assigned the same IP which just happens one of my pals had previously.
The internet providers have structure in there assignments and locate subnets to certain areas so they can keep track of there IP usage. Sorry but the millions of IP's this Canadian firm likely has the possibility of getting the same IP as your pal is quite slim actually the odds of getting the same IP from an address pool containing 100k IP's is pretty slim too.
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09-30-2014, 01:58 PM #6Disabled
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Really? I have. Multiple times, actually. Regardless though, the alleged IP has yet to be released by Maarten. The shared IP thing is our theory ***if*** such claim by Maarten were to be true. Curtis (MannDude) has performed checks with IP logs from vpsB and has verified that both people log in using different IPs ..
After the last incident (we all know what that was), we always gather as much info as we can about our staff. We have them sign contracts and provide legal government issued identification. Amy's case is no different. We have the necessary information as an employer, and are openly disputing these types of false allegations in the best interest of protecting our staff and our company image.Last edited by GreenValueHostGM; 09-30-2014 at 02:05 PM.
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09-30-2014, 02:34 PM #7Hello World
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Which would confirm that the IP's are grouped and distributed where needed but the chances of 2 different people using 2 different phones in 2 different area's all within the same forum/group getting the same IP's is very very minor. You know how dynamic addressing works right?
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09-30-2014, 02:54 PM #8Web Hosting Master
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There isnt a day when i dont see a post without GVH trending on the first page, You guys are marketing geniuses and theory of same ip on the mobile tower seems a little scripted to me though Marteen not replying to the thread makes it feel that OP may be right/
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09-30-2014, 03:57 PM #9Web Hosting Master
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09-30-2014, 04:56 PM #10Web Hosting Master
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I have to agree with cd/home on this. Myself and my wife both have Telus phones. I did a quick IP test...I'm on 216.218.xx.xxx and my wife is on 68.171.xxx.xxx. If Telus did have 5 million IP's...even with our phone numbers being very close as we chose when we got the phones....we would have better chances playing a lottery before our IP's were ever close to each other. Plus on my phone I have to vpn to work. The IP's are so dynamic that it makes it almost impossible to log into certain systems without a static IP.
It is such a strange coincidence. I found out about this last night, and this morning I see the email/newsletter about shilling shortly after I posted this. Eerie.Last edited by WPCYCLE; 09-30-2014 at 05:03 PM.
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09-30-2014, 04:57 PM #11Web Hosting Master
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You apparently missed the updated expanded definition of shill that SoftWareRevue gave today:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...ighlight=shill
Am I a shill?
Do you look for posts about your company (or a company you work for) so that you can pretend to be a customer when you reply?
Do you ask questions about your company as though you aren't associated with them?
Do you write in the third person (e.g., "they" instead of "we") when you talk about your company?
Have you hired a "marketing" firm or person that promises to increase your positive reviews?
Have friends or relatives written good reviews or recommendations based on their relationship with you or because you asked them to?
Is someone in your organization responsible for ensuring positive reviews and comments appear in search results?
Do you offer services, products, or any other form of compensation in exchange for positive mentions?
If you answered YES to any question, you are a shill.
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09-30-2014, 05:33 PM #12Disabled
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Yes I did apparently miss that post by Dennis, however I just read it over and we fit none of the criteria of being a shill.
Anyways, the same-Ip scenario is our assumption if the allegations of those two people having the same IP at one point in time are true. IF = key word. However, it has been confirmed by LET and vpsB that both parties are innocent, with vpsB's administration confirming that IPs are NOT matching.
I am on speaking terms with Maarten again and will settle the matter privately and close it once and for all. And no, I will not seek to return to his forum.
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09-30-2014, 11:50 PM #13Web Host Reviewer
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10-01-2014, 01:44 AM #14Web Hosting Master
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Are you going to sell GVH now?
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10-01-2014, 05:28 AM #15Web Hosting Guru
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10-03-2014, 09:58 PM #16
For what it's worth, the two members in question are members on my forum as well and while I can confirm that both use the same ISP, I've not seen a case where they ever used the same IP. Though this isn't the first time GVH has had an IP discrepancy similar to this.
Both are members here as well, was it ever checked here?
WHT is the last place available for GVH to actually post at. They were banned on vpsBoard a few months back when caught up in some big lies, and supposedly are perma-banned from LET as well. At this point it's almost like the boy who cried wofl.[ IncogNET LLC ] Privacy By Design [Liberty Lake, WA][Kansas City, MO][Allentown, PA][Naaldwijk, NL]
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