[Hidden-tech] Siteground does serious screwup of web sites

Thu Jan 21 19:54:02 UTC 2021

Back in 1999 I started using a hosting company in California named Web66 
who had an early version of C-Panel, which I hated. Within a few years I 
switched to another company that sold VMs, where you essentially get an 
empty machine, Windows or Linux, and you build out what you need. 
Haven't turned back since.

I first used Viux.com, then EnterHost.com, and have since switched to 
CloudMailStore.com in Michigan. I lease a massive Host Machine (192GB 
RAM, 1600GB HD in a RAID, 12 quad-core CPUs -- it's a sick machine) into 
which I created five Virtual Machines (VMs) to hold my various web 
projects, one of which hosts 350 websites, and another hosts my databases.

If you can handle setting up a server to do what you need, it's a far 
better situation since you get charged only for the box, and not the 
number of sites held within. If you ever need to move to a new host, 
simply shut the VM down and copy the file to another Host and spin it up 
there. The beauty of this is the only thing that would change is your IP 
number.

A programmer I do a lot of work with uses https://www.colocrossing.com/ 
<https://www.colocrossing.com/> and their prices are pretty good, 
starting at $80/mo. Download and install cPanel yourself and you're off 
to the races.

Mik

---
Mik Muller, president
Montague WebWorks
239-R Main Street, Greenfield, MA
413-320-5336
http://MontagueWebWorks.com
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On 1/19/2021 5:59 PM, Rob Laporte via Hidden-discuss wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> For well over 15 years I've repeatedly warned clients that *all web 
> host for small and medium-sized business (sub ~$30/mo) go bad sooner 
> or later*, often by a sell-out. Web hosting is wrongly perceived as a 
> commodity, so web hosts compete rabidly on price, eventually requiring 
> either cutting quality to remain solvent, or selling out to a company 
> that thinks they can ring profit from the bought host. In my 25 years, 
> damage to the web hosts' clients /always/ resulted from the cruel 
> economies of web hosting.
>
> In my experience, the host with by far the longest stretch being good 
> was FutureHosting.com (FH), about ~10 years. A few months ago they 
> suddenly forced all clients to migrate to Nexcess.net, claiming 
> quality improvement, but it was a sell-out with costly consequences 
> for all its clients. *With almost no warning, we had to spend time and 
> client budget to ensure that all kinds of functionality worked, and 
> run the standard SEO tests to be sure that all SEO value and 
> performance was migrated.* The latter work is a crucial part of 
> migrating to a new web host; a substantial percent of the work by 
> search marketing firms like mine is ensuring that such migrations 
> cause no losses. A couple of the clients' websites got hacked 
> separately from the huge September web-wide hack that afflicted 
> hundreds of thousands of WordPress sites. Then, a couple of weeks ago, 
> we learned that the entire Nexcess web host got hacked, which we 
> discovered when sleuthing down-time for some of our clients.
>
> I asked a great lawyer I've long known about legal action, and he felt 
> that the provable financial losses and the complexity of proof made 
> legal action unlikely to succeed. However, *I've often wondered how 
> class action suits proceed. If hundreds or thousands of websites are 
> impacted, the accumulated losses may be worth the effort by a great 
> class action law firm. *
>
> Once my firm (DISC <https://www.2disc.com>) completes migrating our 
> own website from Nexcess (last in line), I plan to *at least post 
> negative reviews* in a few top sites. I just feel that *such feedback 
> is a civic obligation*, even though I don't have time for it now. 
> Likewise, I feel a civic obligation to leave good reviews, as when the 
> local AAA did a great job of redressing a big mistake in a towing delay.
>
> DISC <https://www.2disc.com/> has long worked with a small local tech 
> group with great chops (Computer Science degrees, experience), and 
> they have put together web hosting packages to which my firm is moving 
> our clients. This Nubbernaut Studios is currently upgrading their 
> website, but meanwhile their brief overview may interest some here: 
> https://nubbernaut.com/website-services 
> <https://nubbernaut.com/website-services>. While I can’t guarantee 
> their performance, NU is the best option DISC has found. (Though DISC 
> offers finder’s fees, we never accept them or any kickbacks from 
> people or firms we recommend, as that would impugn our objectivity--we 
> just want our clients to prosper and benefit from the search marketing 
> work we do.)
>
> *Below is a copy of a relevant part of an email I sent to this list on 
> 12/21:*
>
>     Below is my original advisory from ~3 years ago, followed by an
>     excellent, recent 7-minute video by my firm's CEO Jack Fox and
>     Nubbernaut Studios, explaining the "7 layers" problem and
>     solutions to one of our clients:
>
>     *
>
>     The 7 Layers of a Website
>
>     To understand why dedicated monthly website-tech management is
>     vital, it helps to glimpse the connected layers beneath content
>     managers’ typical interactions with a website. I’ll use WordPress
>     (WP) as an example, but this synopsis applies variously to all
>     website platforms.
>
>     1.
>
>         The top layer is where you add content.
>
>     2.
>
>         Beneath that is a layer of plugins or otherthird-party apps
>         and connections. This and the above layer often break when
>         crucial WP upgrades are rolled out a few times per year.
>
>     3.
>
>         Lower still isthe database holding not only visible content in
>         pages and posts, but also user profiles and passwords, client
>         or customer logins, and variously secure connections to layers
>         above and below.
>
>     4.
>
>         Supporting the above layers and connecting to the server
>         foundation is atech management layer often called cPanel. It
>         is open source and often upgraded automatically, and such
>         upgrades can damage other layers and break automatic back-up
>         systems. This layer often has entrances left over from past
>         webmasters’ work, via the likes of FTP. It also offers admin
>         panels for most aspects of email management, domain name
>         associations, and other vital functions of your website.
>
>     5.
>
>         Some web hosts offer access to yeta deeper layer, often called
>         WHM (Web Host Management). My recent spelunking there shows a
>         byzantine array of settings often pre-set and sometimes
>         changed willy-nilly by cheap hosting plans at the likes of
>         GoDaddy. Options in this setup, like caching and CDN services,
>         can have major impact on security, SEO, site speed, and other
>         functions.
>
>     6.
>
>         Finally, there’sthe server itself, which is set-up by web
>         hosts (or clients’ in-house IT people). I’ve never been inside
>         there, and just peering over the misty edge into that abyss is
>         terrifying.
>
>     7.
>
>         Another layer that wraps around all of the above isthe human
>         layer. People working in and on the site often unwittingly do
>         damage, and, given the compounding complexity of websites,
>         even excellent tech pros can make mistakes that impair
>         function and SEO performance.
>
>
>     *
>
>         *
>
>         Those layers change over time, and sometimes, like tectonic
>         plates, they can rupture, causing lots of screaming and
>         running for help.One among many consequences is declining site
>         speed, and Google is constantly making speed more of a ranking
>         factor, never mind the vital role of speed in conversion rate
>         optimization (CRO).
>
>         *
>
>
>     *Video:****Jack and Kevin September Hack and Site Security
>     Packages for THS
>     <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Quwp7J8PqAo&feature=youtu.be>. *
>
>
>
> Take Care,
>
>
> Rob Laporte
>
> Chief Business Development Officer | Founder | Chairman
>
> DISC - Making Websites Make Money
>
> 413-584-6500
>
> rob at 2disc.com <mailto:rob at 2disc.com> | LinkedIn 
> <https://www.linkedin.com/in/2disc/> | 2DISC.com <https://www.2disc.com>
>
>
> *NOTE:* Emails can be blocked by spam filters throughout the web. If 
> you don’t get a reply within an expected span of time, please call.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Hidden-discuss <hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net> 
> on behalf of Rich at tnr via Hidden-discuss 
> <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net>
> *Sent:* Monday, January 18, 2021 9:43 PM
> *To:* Shel Horowitz <shel at principledprofit.com>
> *Cc:* HT-discuss <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net>
> *Subject:* Re: [Hidden-tech] Siteground does serious screwup of web sites
>
> If any of these were my older serious business sites I'd have move on 
> that.
> Although a few are major research projects like Shakerpedia
> As is it, I don't think I'm up for the effort or cost of legal battle
>
> That said, I do think they totally violated best practices -- all our 
> AWS, google or other services give 3-6 months warning on such 
> structural changes.
> And I do plan on telling them that.
>
> Clearly time to move past SG.
>
> Thanks - Stay well all - Rich
>
> On 1/18/2021 9:31 PM, Shel Horowitz wrote:
>> You'll need to find a lawyer who is well-versed in this particular 
>> area. I think you have a claim--but that's personal opinion--I am not 
>> qualified to give legal advice. Many lawyers will give you a free 
>> initial consult, though--and if they smell a large settlement, 
>> working on spec for a (hefty) percentage of the settlement is pretty 
>> common.
>>
>> Good luck.
>>
>> I had one site hosted with Siteground for one year. I wasn't unhappy 
>> until they tripled the price for the second year and I left. I have 
>> all my sites with Hostgator now.
>>
>> Shel Horowitz - "The Transformpreneur"
>> ________________________________________________
>> Contact me to bake in profitability while addressing hunger,
>> poverty, war, and catastrophic climate change
>> * First business ever to be Green America Gold Certified
>> * Inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame
>> * Certified speaker: International Platform Association
>> http://goingbeyondsustainability.com 
>> <http://goingbeyondsustainability.com>
>> mailto:shel at greenandprofitable.com 
>> <mailto:shel at greenandprofitable.com> 413-586-2388
>> Award-winning, best-selling author of 10 books.
>> Latest:Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World
>> (co-authored with Jay Conrad Levinson)
>>
>> Watch my TEDx Talk,
>> "Impossible is a Dare: Business for a Better World"
>> http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/11809 
>> <http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/11809>
>> (move your mouse to "event videos")
>> _________________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 4:10 PM Rich at tnr via Hidden-discuss 
>> <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net 
>> <mailto:hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net>> wrote:
>>
>>     Just checking anyone else has been totally screwed up by
>>     siteground changes
>>     (and yes, I'm being very polite in my use of words)
>>
>>     They changed their goGreek hosting so each web site is it's own
>>     unix user id
>>     and blocking any shared logic between sites.
>>     Which would make no difference for simple sites,however
>>     I have some 50 sites on hosting with them and a number of busy
>>     ones use
>>     common logic.
>>     now broken at some unknown level -- it will be hours of unwinding.
>>
>>     Of course they did this without prior warning.
>>     Usually a change like this is down after months of warning.
>>     I am on the verge of calling a lawyer -- working to determine the
>>     damage
>>     first.
>>
>>     Very likely looking for alternative hosting.
>>     Before retiring this would have all been done on AWS instances,
>>     however since most of volunteer work I couldn't justify the expense.
>>
>>     Suggestions of hosting or how to handle common logic across domains.
>>
>>     Stay well - Rich
>>
>>     -- 
>>     Rich Roth
>>     CEO TnR Global
>>
>>     Bio and personal blog: http://rizbang.com <http://rizbang.com>
>>     Building the really big sites: http://www.tnrglobal.com
>>     <http://www.tnrglobal.com>
>>     Small/Soho business in the PV: http://www.hidden-tech.net
>>     <http://www.hidden-tech.net>
>>     Places to meet for business: http://www.meetmewhere.com
>>     <http://www.meetmewhere.com>
>>     And for Arts and relaxation:
>>     http://TarotMuertos.com <http://TarotMuertos.com> - Artistic
>>     Tarot Deck
>>     http://www.welovemuseums.com <http://www.welovemuseums.com>
>>     http://www.artonmytv.com/ <http://www.artonmytv.com/>
>>     Helping move the world: http://www.earththrives.com
>>     <http://www.earththrives.com>
>>
>>     _______________________________________________
>>     Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page:
>>     http://www.hidden-tech.net <http://www.hidden-tech.net>
>>     Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
>>     <mailto:Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net>
>>
>>     You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech
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>>
> -- 
> Rich Roth
> CEO TnR Global
>
> Bio and personal blog:http://rizbang.com  <http://rizbang.com>
> Building the really big sites:http://www.tnrglobal.com  <http://www.tnrglobal.com>
> Small/Soho business in the PV:http://www.hidden-tech.net  <http://www.hidden-tech.net>
> Places to meet for business:http://www.meetmewhere.com  <http://www.meetmewhere.com>
> And for Arts and relaxation:
> http://TarotMuertos.com  <http://TarotMuertos.com>  - Artistic Tarot Deck
>     http://www.welovemuseums.com  <http://www.welovemuseums.com>
>     http://www.artonmytv.com/  <http://www.artonmytv.com/>
> Helping move the world:http://www.earththrives.com  <http://www.earththrives.com>
>
> _______________________________________________
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