[Hidden-tech] My experience in the Gaiahost to Be Cooperative transition, and my endorsement of Gaiahost, and Charles: Re: Information on Gaia Host

Wed Dec 4 12:28:13 UTC 2019

6 months with no response to multiple requests (that’s my experience) is too long and underserving of any more benefit of the doubt.

It’s like he pushed a bolder on top of his customers, said he’d be back in an hour to help, and then never returned. Maybe he forgot. Maybe he had an accident of his own. Nobody knows. Doesn’t matter. People should do whatever they can to get out from under. Waiting longer was already tried, and it did not work.

> On Dec 3, 2019, at 5:34 PM, Lisa Hoag via Hidden-discuss <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:
> 
> Hello to Joanne, and All,
> I've just read through a lot of the posts here about Gaiahost. I
> wanted to share my experience. I found out after October, about
> Gaiahost ending the company, and I read that I could send an email
> request to support at gaiahost.coop to join the queue to be transferred
> to Be Cooperative. I was patient, and waited for confirmation. It took
> a week or so, and I was a bit nervous, but I received an email from Be
> Cooperative requesting that I complete my profile for an account with
> them, which I have done. I now have received confirmation from Be
> Cooperative that I am in Be Cooperative's transfer queue, and my
> account at Gaiahost continues to operate without trouble while I wait.
> Gaiahost has maintained my domains for many years. Since 2016 I have
> hosting from Siteground, because I like having access to a cPanel, but
> left my domain registration, and email with Gaiahost, and my domain is
> pointed to my Siteground site. I preferred to have my email and my
> domains registered with a trusted friend. This has served me well for
> many years, and I believe in using services in the local community as
> much as possible. He provides a tech support phone number but
> requested that people don't use it unless their service is down. He is
> in the midst of processing 800 customers. I haven't communicated
> directly with Charles about the transfer. I am simply conveying my
> experience, and what I've learned from statements on the website here:
> https://gaiahost.coop/help#status
> 
> I have known Charles Strader for years, and he is a wonderful person,
> and someone who I have always known to go out of his way to provide
> good service, and be extra helpful. Though I don't know the details of
> the decision to end Gaiahost, I have read his statement about ending
> the company. I also have witnessed (I have been a web designer for
> many years, and have helped a few of Gaiahost's clients) that he seems
> to have bent over backwards to provide backwards compatibility for
> websites that are long overdue for updates to current code. It seems
> to me that for multiple reasons, Gaiahost's business model has
> experienced adversity due to the frequent disruption which we often
> experience in our web design world. It also seems to me that here in
> Western Mass we are a community, and we care about community. All of
> us are human beings after all, and sometimes run into adversity.
> Charles has always been helpful and understanding, at times when I had
> my own business challenges. Communities that are good to live in take
> care of each other, and help each other in hard times. I would suggest
> that knowing Charles, I am sure he is doing his best, and working as
> hard as he can to set all to rights, and is working though the
> transitions.
> 
> For anyone with time sensitive needs, I would suggest sending an email
> to support at gaiahost.coop, explaining the time sensitive necessity.
> Here is a link on Be Cooperative's site for a transfer from Gaiahost
> to Be Cooperative: http://be.coop/account/cart.php. Here is a support
> email address for be.cooperative: support at be.coop
> 
> In my own experience, I have only ever sought legal action through
> small claims court twice in my life. The only times I have done it
> were when I knew I was dealing with someone who I couldn't trust.
> Charles is one of the most trustworthy people I have ever met. I will
> also say that small claims court, although I was successful, took so
> much time that I could have worked at McDonalds, and earned the money
> quicker than it took to get it back through court.
> 
> I have at least one client who has successfully transferred away
> through Gaiahost's process, and I was able to assist, post-transfer,
> with display issues at the new hosting, which did not offer backwards
> compatibility for the site which had outdated code.
> 
> Feel free to ask any questions you might have. I can do my best to help.
> 
> Warm Best to All,
> 
> ~Lisa
> 
> Lisa Hoag
> PO Box 983
> Wendell, MA 01379
> www.lisahoag.com
> 
> On Fri, Nov 15, 2019 at 2:21 PM joanna campe via Hidden-discuss
> <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:
>> 
>> Dear Community,
>> 
>> I have just joined this list serve to see if I can get more information on Gaia Host. We are not able to change the plan of our website or migrate it without an authorization code and we have not been able to get the domains transferred either.
>> 
>> I have been advised by my hosting service that in order to be able to transfer the domain successfully, I need to take them to court. Has anyone in the community done that so far and with what success?
>> 
>> I have been told that I have two choices: take Gaia Host to court (small claims court?) or to create a new domain and clone the website until the issue can be resolved. Both of these are time consuming and meanwhile I have put off my fundraising campaign until the performance of the website can be improved by migrating it to a new plan.
>> 
>> I appreciate advice on this.
>> 
>> My best,
>> Joanna
>> 
>> 
>> Joanna Campe
>> Executive Director
>> Remineralize the Earth
>> 152 South Street
>> Northampton, MA 01060 USA
>> 
>> Tel: 413-563-9938
>> Skype: reminearth
>> Email: jcampe at remineralize.org
>> http://www.remineralize.org
>> 
>> Book
>> Geotherapy: Innovative Methods of Soil Fertility Restoration, Carbon Sequestration, and Reversing CO2 Increase
>> http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466595392
>> 
>> Please support us on Patreon.
>> 
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> 
> 
> --
> Lisa Hoag Designs
> PO Box 983
> Wendell, MA 01379
> http://www.lisahoagdesigns.com
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