Anyone know anything about Graceful Hosting?

[kidsngarden]

Adam said the soonest would be Feb 9. After learning my lifetime sub was still good at HCM I am back with Frank, who I've always had no problem with in the first place. At least my old site was still there so now I am updating...

sure feel bad for Adam and for those of you who have no back up plan...it really stinks...

[prairieannie]

Adam said the soonest would be Feb 9. After learning my lifetime sub was still good at HCM I am back with Frank, who I've always had no problem with in the first place. At least my old site was still there so now I am updating...

sure feel bad for Adam and for those of you who have no back up plan...it really stinks...

I'm glad that Frank gave you that option. It's the least he could do considering that this whole fiasco with Adam was initiated by Frank in the first place.

You're just lucky that you don't need your hand held when it comes to building and managing your site. I wish you tons of luck and I mean that from the bottom of my heart!

[MissMary]

I'm glad that Frank gave you that option. It's the least he could do considering that this whole fiasco with Adam was initiated by Frank in the first place.

I don't know details, and I'm certainly not thrilled with either of them in their sales issues I have about it - BUT IF some of the coding was Frank's... then it's his. Doesn't matter that he started it. Adam should never have taken it.

[kidsngarden]

I didn't get to read the deleted posts on this thread from Adam and Frank so I really don't know the details, but I do know that it was Adam himself who emailed me advising me to go back to Frank, out of fairness to me since I was paid up with him and a definite time this whole thing was to end was not in site. Very good guy, Adam, I think to do that... And Frank is a very good buy too for honoring the lifetime subscription that I figured would be void after I left his hosting for a supposed "custom site" that was a total disaster.

I do not think it is Frank who filed this complaint.

I don't really get the whole let's gang up on Frank and HCM thing. he did help me tons when I set up my site. But now he doesn't have the time for new sites because it does require a lot of time for newbies.... Things change. There was brief moment I was scared for my site when he sold, but there were no issues after the sale at all. Again I was scared when it was time to host again because everyone was making him out to be such a bad guy, but that really has never been the case at all for me so it was silly of me to think that way. I totally cannot fault him in the slightest for his service to me. He is still helping me out a lot with this transition even fixing the mess my designer did trying to put wordpress over HCM hosting. Kudos to him I say. never ever had a problem.

[prairieannie]

You're right, it wasn't Frank who filed the complaint. He did get the ball rolling though, but that's neither here nor there now. I'm honestly glad that he's not screwing you over on your lifetime deal. I hope in your case that "lifetime" means a good long time.

Forgive my cynicism. I just hate what Frank let happen to Handcraft Market. No need to defend him here.. he's openly admitted on this forum how bad his customer service sucks. HCM was something that I loved and believed in. Mostly, I cared about the people who trusted that Handcraft Market was a great thing. I do believe that there are very few of those people left now. It's a sad thing, and there's nothing I can do about it now.

I'm sure I sound like a bitter ex-wife! LOL! Not the case. I'm just very bummed as I watch people that I care about and who believed in HCM at one point now fall back into a state of uncertainty with their websites. That was one of the reasons that Handcraft Market started in the first place.. to give another option to those people who were in a tizzy with their websites for whatever reason.

[MissMary]

Yep PA, you said it. Unfortunately, just as many of you guys preach over safety of candles for possibly tarnishing the home craft market, the same is said of small time "hosts" (Not quoting that to be snide, but anyone who charges more to basically outsource all the stuff and be middle man is not really a host IMO), there may be a legit one or two, but it certainly doesn't bode well.

[SliverOfWax]

Yep PA, you said it. Unfortunately, just as many of you guys preach over safety of candles for possibly tarnishing the home craft market, the same is said of small time "hosts" (Not quoting that to be snide, but anyone who charges more to basically outsource all the stuff and be middle man is not really a host IMO), there may be a legit one or two, but it certainly doesn't bode well.

Oh, Mary, there are very GOOD "middle man" hosting companies, as you call them. What you said just really pisses me off. And what some other "middle-man" hosting company does has absolutely nothing to do with the next one. That's like saying all chandlers are one and the same.

Not everybody wants to go with an outfit like Voda. Just because you are with them doesn't make them the end all-be all. I've looked at Voda and I wouldn't touch it with a 10' pole.

[MissMary]

Oh, Mary, there are very GOOD "middle man" hosting companies, as you call them. What you said just really pisses me off. And what some other "middle-man" hosting company does has absolutely nothing to do with the next one. That's like saying all chandlers are one and the same.

Not everybody wants to go with an outfit like Voda. Just because you are with them doesn't make them the end all-be all. I've looked at Voda and I wouldn't touch it with a 10' pole.

I've never said ALL of them are great. Read my post again before getting all hyped up. There are a few stupid ones out there that ruin it for the good ones. I even used the same example of chandlers being the same - if someone gets hurt or in trouble, we could all end up paying for it.

I never said Voda was perfect either. I've had problems with them myself, but it's been resolved.

But "looking" at Voda - given that they are cheaper and include everything HCM and GH were, and that I know of a particular host who actually hosts through Voda themselves, majority are happy. Their sites aren't getting yanked from under them with no recourse or way to get it back to them. Nothing.

That's never happened at Voda or other larger hosting companies who actually have their own servers.

It can piss you off all you want, but the evidence is in this thread that people can get ruined off the "middle man" companies - and yes, that's EXACTLY what they are. You pay them, then they super batch domain names, then you pay them more so they can buy the hosting service from someone else. Call it what you want, but it's still a middle man. Tell me exactly what this person hosts because your money?

And given that HCM has been saying they are going to reopen under a new owner in "fall 2008", if they care so little about their OWN site to sell stuff, I can't imagine how much better it will get.

Did I say every single service is crap? Nope, not at all, but for every decent guy, there are people ripping off people tenfold.

[SliverOfWax]

OK, Mary, since you asked. My point is that you're in the middle of something that I daresay you don't know much about. Have you hosted with do-it-yourself middle men, as you so superciliously call them? If so, did you have a bad experience? Two bad experiences? Three? If not, why are you in this thread?

There are a whole lot of us who don't have time to learn how to tweak a cpanel and post on forums all the live long day. We want a nice website that's easy and reliable and we're busy making product to sell on said websites. Plenty of us simply don't care about the nuts and bolts.

I'm neither criticizing nor defending the hosts in this thread. But I do have experience with them and others. Those who don't have that experience should probably stay out of it unless someone actually asks for their opinion with a specific host.

That's my point.

[southern.scents]

Hi,

I'm not here to defend myself, I am here to defend the "middleman hosts" in the world.

First off, reasearch should be done on the requirements and the costs of running your own server. If all of these "middleman hosts" owned their own server, do your realize how much we would need to charge just to overcome the huge overhead we would have?

Second, do you realize how many "middleman hosts" there are in the world? HostGator, for example, runs a HUGE operation and hosts thousands of customers. Guess what, HostGator is a "middleman host." HostGator probably doesn't own one server. All of the server space/hosting that they sell is leased through ThePlanet. Suprising, eh. Even further, your pal VodaHost.....they don't own and manage their own servers either. They appear to be leasing space with SoftLayer Technologies.

Before complaining about the number of people who are "middleman hosts," maybe you should consider what would happen if those "middleman hosts" did not exist. You would be forced to pay ridiculous prices or you would have to buy your own server.......

[LaVida]

..............he's openly admitted on this forum how bad his customer service sucks. HCM was something that I loved and believed in. Mostly, I cared about the people who trusted that Handcraft Market was a great thing. ..............I'm just very bummed as I watch people that I care about and who believed in HCM at one point now fall back into a state of uncertainty with their websites.

Prairie... I truly appreciated all you have done during mt stint *s* with HCM. You were VERY helpful... We chatted on IM for long times - several times. I do agree and appreciate that Frank said his Cust. Service left a bit to be desired (putting it nicely)..... That was my main issue - being a non- PC savvy person.....

[kidsngarden]

I never caught that you were his ex. You must have been the gal who helped me when I first signed on with getting the colors right - thanks!

Well, frank is not as quick with the CS as adam for me, but it's not terrible. Maybe I'm just a lucky favorite or something - though I really have no idea why that would be...

[MissMary]

OK, Mary, since you asked. My point is that you're in the middle of something that I daresay you don't know much about. Have you hosted with do-it-yourself middle men, as you so superciliously call them? If so, did you have a bad experience? Two bad experiences? Three? If not, why are you in this thread?

Yup, a while back for my family site because I didn't need commerce and I thought it would "save" me money. Until I found about about $3 hosting for simple family pages. I had an "alright" experience, but it was overpriced, they didn't provide a real service when I did my homework and all it was, was another step in between me and if something was wrong on my site server side. I'd have to contact the middle guy, wait for him to get the information, then contact the server guys, who would then contact him back who would then contact me back.

Aside from that, I think it's very ironic that you talk about me "being in this thread", when you get yourself in all sorts of threads the same way. Mrs. Pot! Lovely to see you again. Highly ironic, that you point out, just like others that "you're opinion doesn't match mine, so you can't have any experience with it".

I'm sure the others will be thrilled that you must have experience with BOTH companies and other companies to compare to be able to post a validated opinion.

There are a whole lot of us who don't have time to learn how to tweak a cpanel and post on forums all the live long day. We want a nice website that's easy and reliable and we're busy making product to sell on said websites. Plenty of us simply don't care about the nuts and bolts.

And you can get that. That's my point. You can get it from people who run their OWN servers, so if you have a problem, you don't wait days and days. They also, more often than not, not only back up your site, but will make copies available to you, should something happen. PLUS, they've got their legal ducks in a row. If something happens, they've got their lawyers, they did it right. If something happens to the head guy who's sick - someone is there backing him up.

You actually can get stuff, with already loaded click and publish builders, carts built in, and everything ready to go for you, and do EXACTLY what HCM does (albeit, even simpler, because HCM, when I checked last was using OSCommerce *removed a part because it doesn't pertain to this convo*), even EASIER and cheaper. And have their own servers.

I'm neither criticizing nor defending the hosts in this thread. But I do have experience with them and others. Those who don't have that experience should probably stay out of it unless someone actually asks for their opinion with a specific host.

That's my point.

Point taken, I'll be sure to note you want to be a thread police officer and submit your application to the proper people.

I'm glad you don't care about people getting ripped off or lied to, and that you think that you HAVE TO HAVE experience and BE ripped off to see a rip off, but I, unlike others, don't like to see people get ripped off, pay out the butt for the EXACT same thing other companies provide, AND have longer customer service lines, so that A can talk to B so they can talk to C, so they can report back to B, to tell A.

When I see people lying and taking people's money who really don't know anything different because as you say "cpanel" and all that, but don't know what they are getting and looking for, especially when some companies say "They don't have THIS, we DO!" when that cheaper company DOES have it... that's ripping people off.

[SliverOfWax]

Aside from that, I think it's very ironic that you talk about me "being in this thread", when you get yourself in all sorts of threads the same way. Mrs. Pot! Lovely to see you again. Highly ironic, that you point out, just like others that "you're opinion doesn't match mine, so you can't have any experience with it".

Why would I get in the middle of threads if I don't know anything about the subject? I'm not that eager to make a complete fool of myself.

On the other hand, just because I might not post to a subject doesn't mean I don't know something about it. I try to not make a habit of posting to every thread.