Oh Earthlink, how I loathe thee.

[icarus]

Snarl.

I just found out that Earthlink's overpriced dial-up account (costs slightly mitigated by the fact that they give you 50MB free webspace for each of your 8 email accounts) doesn't allow customized CGI scripts.

In English, that means I can't do the very simple task of counting hits on particular pages. They wouldn't allow me to upload a simple perl script to the /bin either, which, well this is like giving me a bicycle and saying, "Oh. What do you need breaks for? You can use your feet."

Earthlink's Indian customer support center is as clueless as ever. It took a lot of head-scratching and two customer service reps before they could figure out that this couldn't be done. They're staffed with people who hide behind American names, but I always say "Namasthe" as I sign off, and they always respond appropriately. I like to be polite at the same time I demonstrate that I'm not fooled.

Okay. So I'm paying now $21.95 a month on the dial-up I've had for years.

I can get a www.slashcity.org website that is fully useable (allows CGI and PHP which Earthlink doesn't support) for $25 a year, with some tech support. Then I can pay $9.95 a month for straight dial-up.

Hmmm. What a head-scratcher.

1) I can pay $144 a year for dial up and a site I can use to the ability I have now.
2) Or I can continue to pay $264 a year for dial up and a site I can't fully utilize.

I was sticking with them for the great tech support (which used to be stellar) and the free web space, but their tech support is shit now, and their web space is restricted on all sides.

I think I'm gonna set up the Slashcity site. Give it a month to change all the links. Then switch my dial-up to either Earthlink's $9.95 plan, or Yahoo's $9.95.

Who on my friendslist is already using Slashcity.org who can tell me about their experiences with them?

Comments

[scarah2.livejournal.com]

I've had a tiny plan with slashcity for almost two years. No problems, only one downtime that I noticed in nearly two years (which lasted maybe 30 minutes), and fast answers to questions.

Also, whether one actually gets/has been TOSed from competitors for adult material notwithstanding, I find value in the fact that the owners are actually dedicated to providing service that will not be TOSed for legal adult content.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've never been worried about being TOSed, but I probably should.

I'm going to sign up. Since you're the first "recommender" shall I say you're the one who referred me? It would be worth only $2 for you, but hey, that's a month's service. What name should I put in there as the referrer?

Icarus

[scarah2.livejournal.com]

Sure :D

My username there is scarah without the 2.

Thanks!

[scribbulus-ink.livejournal.com]

I've used Slashcity for going on 3 years, and I'm very satisfied with it. Their customer service is quick, and I've had very little downtime. I have the Small Plan, so I've got lots of space and bandwidth (which they've upped twice over the past 3 years), but even with the Tiny Plan, you get enough to support a single user website, plus email and some other nice perks. I have no complaints about Slashcity at all, and it's especially nice that you don't have to worry about being TOS'd due to slashy content.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

You know, your recommendation back when that whole muse-wanted.com thing blew up is one of the reasons I thought of slashcity. They were really happy to hear to so many people recommended them so highly.

Okay. I'm off and running: icarus.slashcity.net

I have a lot of changes to make to the site, but this should do for now.

Icarus

[denadadenada.livejournal.com]

If you're looking for free/cheap web hosts, eccentrix.com isn't half bad. :)

[justacat.livejournal.com]

I use slashcity for my own website and also for the Pros archive that I run (The Circuit Archive (http://www.thecircuitarchive.net)). I've found the owners to be wonderful to deal with and to respond quickly to any queries or issues, and their systems work well people remark at how quickly the search functions on the archive run, compared to other similar sites, and I can't remember my sites ever being down (though I know that Inkstained Fingers had some problems there - the archive functions kept crashing the servers for some unknown reason, or something like that). They're slash-friendly, efficient, and reasonably priced. Plus they are always willing to give you any help you need. I recommend them highly on all counts

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Heeeeyyyyyy. Good to see you around again. I'd been wondering where you'd disappeared to. I just noticed a post by you the other day. Doing more fannish stuff, eh?

Based on the high praise, I have already started my site: icarus.slashcity.org. The old one's still intact, but I'm already starting to tinker with my new playground.

Icarus

[justacat.livejournal.com]

Yep, I'm still around :-) I've never left, not at all (couldn't imagine leaving fandom) - I just got eaten up by the Pros bug - I'm utterly obsessed, and my other fandoms have suffered. I did an enormous archive overhaul of the online Pros archive, and it kept me busy for months and months ... (I even once brought down one of slashcity's servers with a bad piece of code in a cgi script - but they forgave me :-O)

Good luck with the site - I think you'll be quite happy with the slashcity people>

[mklutz]

>_> You can't get excellent cable internet for 40$CA/month?
I mean Rogers, Bell...there must be at least 5 companies, right?

[mklutz]

Oh wait, I'm an idiot. Hosting. >< Sorry.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

It's alright. I think I'm going to go with slashcity.org after all, though I'm still figuring out how to do simple things like make a customized counter work properly.

Icarus

[alchemia.livejournal.com]

Wait a sec, why havent i heard about 9.95 straight dial up (ok i know why, they want more $). Its still unlimitted hours though, just no web space?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Okay, I looked into it, and their deal is $9.95 for 6 months, and then it goes up to $21.95. You're really getting a $12 credit for 6 months. It's worth looking into asking them if you can get the deal. They'll want to say no, but if you threaten to leave -?

Now Yahoo (also reliable and well-known) has a deal for $16.95, and that seems to be their regular price if you agree to stick with them for 6 months. No word on whether they're gonna up the price as soon as your 6 months is up, but I'm awfully sick of seeing those $9.95 deals around and watching my service with Earthlink plummet while I continue to pay the same amount.

Icarus

[wyoming-knott.livejournal.com]

Add another to the chorus of slashcity people. I've been there for about a year and a half now. Reliable with good customer service. And cheap, really.

:)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

The people at slashcity were really happy to hear all this lavish praise. :D

Icarus

[femmequixotic]

I run my site off slashcity.

Love it. I've never, ever, ever had a problem with them. And you can do pretty much anything with their servers.

I've worked with lots of other servers, personally and professionally, and I'd highly recommend them. Especially because they won't TOS you for anything pornographic. :D

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I'm sold. Sold, sold, sold.

I also miss you guys (though I had no clue how to reply to Harry's message, so I'm pretending Percy hasn't checked his email in a while), and thought I might poke my head in chat tomorrow night. Oh, how I love Thanksgiving weekend.

Icarus

[femmequixotic]

I don't think you'll regret going with them. :)

We miss you too! *sniffles and throws arms around you* I was so happy to see Percy's post. And don't worry about replying to Harry...I know you're swamped. He just was delighted to see Percy too. *grin*

Although, if you have time over Christmas, I may have Harry owl Percy for advice on certain situations. :D

thought I might poke my head in chat tomorrow night.

YAY! *bounces*

Do! I have so missed having you hang around the chats. We all have. We need our Icarus! *smooches*

[blithesea.livejournal.com]

Ehm, I don't know if this would help you in any way, but if yes, I offer you one of my subdomains. My main domain has enough space, and the server allows perl and whathaveyou (gee, don't I sound like a dolt). In case your other plans don't work out for you, I'd be honoured to host your fics, of which I have been an avid fan. :-)