Web Hosting Talk : Other Forums : Web Hosting Lounge : Kiddie hosts. Who's to blame?

[Ed_Case]

The vast majority of posters here are all quick to berate the so called kiddie hosts for numerous reasons, the most common being
1) They are too young to legally operate a business.
2) They are giving hosting a bad name with underpricing, overselling and a plethora of dodgy marketing techniques bordering on scams, (in some cases actual scams)

Kids will be kids and if they see what they percieve to be an easy way to make money then they normally latch onto it pretty quickly.

Who is to blame here?

Is it entirely the kids fault for trying to make some money? or should resellers and server outlets take more of a responsible attitude in determing the buyers age?

I realise there would be financial repercussions for hosts trying to verify the age of a reseller account/server buyer. I feel that if the hosting industry as a whole took a more responsible attitude to this then we would see a dramatic reduction in fly by night hosts.

So who do you feel is to blame and what should/could be done to address this problem?

[Acroplex]

One word: TIMMAH!

[webmultitude]

I'd say their parents.

[sour]

I don't like kid hosts, however if a Kid can do a good job while running a legit business registered in his dad's name, there shouldn't be any problem.

I'm sure their are plenty of adult run hosts who are inferior to many kid-run hosts. It just depends on who's doing it I guess.

And a company who offers dedicated servers or resellers can't really discriminate against kids for one reason:
You want money, and you're not responsible for the age of your clients.


It's all business.

[Pilgrim]

I thought child labour was a bad thing?

[Ed_Case]

Originally posted by sour

And a company who offers dedicated servers or resellers can't really discriminate against kids for one reason:

If someone tries to rent a dedicated server with cpanel then you can be pretty sure of its intended use. Im sure that these dedicated vendors are well aware that minors cannot legally use the machine for selling hosting and a minor is not going to need a whole server just to provide hosting for their friends.

[Joe Bonanno]

Other. The people who buy from them.

I am sure there are some good kid hosts, but those that do a good job are hard to identify as kids.

[sour]

Originally posted by Ed_Case
If someone tries to rent a dedicated server with cpanel then you can be pretty sure of its intended use. Im sure that these dedicated vendors are well aware that minors cannot legally use the machine for selling hosting and a minor is not going to need a whole server just to provide hosting for their friends.

Once again, the dedicated vendors aren't responsible if someone is running a business which isnt fully legit. They're not doing it, all they're interested in is the 100+ dollars they're getting a month from the client, do you seriously think they care what they do with it as long as its not warez?

[Stephen]

ahh crap, I should really read these thread before voting... I thought you were talking about Kiddie Porn Site, and I put the people giving them there resources . Well honestly now that I noticed, other... nobody is responable, why should you care either way, if a kid *wait a minute I am a kid, well teen * is stupid enough to attempt to run a hosting business and loses a lot of money he should have thought first, but you have to give kids running hosts a chance, just make sure there parents are willing to take the legal side of things.

[akashik]

The dedicated server suppliers. You can be sure there's be a lot less 'kid hosts' around if they couldn't get a box for $99 or less a month.

[Stephen]

still, thats still expensive for a child to pay for.

[akashik]

But given many of us pay $300 a month and more for servers with a much lower data transfer allocation it would certainly make them think twice.

[Stephen]

yeah but them $99/month servers are not the same quality that most of you guys pay for.

[XGenesis]

Ive had many kids ask me how to start a hosting business and then they ask for free hosting

[Martie]

Originally posted by akashik
But given many of us pay $300 a month and more for servers with a much lower data transfer allocation it would certainly make them think twice.

Agree akashik
I think alot of it lies within the
1. Vendors
2. Hosts that offer the reseller plans with unlimited domains..I still shake my head at this offering. Its draws the kiddies in for sure.