Web host shuts down site twice, promises to migrate,
then leaves customer in the lurch
By Sharon Rondeau
The Post & Email (site is under maintenance at time of publishing)
(Jan. 30, 2012) – Due to high traffic on both January 20 and 26 after Atty. Orly Taitz announced breaking news regarding the Georgia ballot challenges, The Post & Email’s web host, GoDaddy LLC, shut the site down without warning.
We worked quickly to hire a website developer to optimize the site and restore the twice-daily news alerts which had stopped working. He began work almost right away and was about to start the optimization process when GoDaddy shut the site down for the second time.
Although both the website developer and I contacted GoDaddy immediately and explained the steps we were taking to correct any overages, GoDaddy refused to turn the site back on. It made no difference that tens of thousands of readers were depending on the newspaper to report accurately, quickly, and in detail the breaking news of the day, which is vital in these days of the Obama regime.
On January 26, we prepaid $800 for a new hosting plan on a dedicated server to resolve the issue. We had already paid the website developer more than $200 to do his work. In a three-way conference call, GoDaddy told us that it would take up to 72 hours to prepare the server and that they would migrate the site content from the old server to the new. However, on the third day, they changed their story and said it was the website developer’s job to migrate the content.
He attempted to do so and after three hours stated that he was unfamiliar with their server, deferring to GoDaddy to do it. GoDaddy then put The Post & Email at the end of another 72-hour queue. I asked to speak with a supervisor and did so, but nothing changed. Later on January 29, the word from GoDaddy was that the migration had not even been started yet.
I am spending the last of The Post & Email’s funds to attempt to get the site up and running again. I may have to hire a specialist after the migration is done, as I had to sign a disclaimer acknowledging that problems with connections might be encountered. Having to pay another professional will most likely deplete the small amount of cash we have left.
Your editor has been working without pay for many months to bring you the news, complete with personal interviews, court documents, inside investigations, and detailed follow-up. However, even though we have tens of thousands of readers each month, only a relatively few actually support the paper. If we cannot get past this hurdle, The Post & Email will close, which is exactly what our enemies want.
GoDaddy can be reached at 480-505-8877, and the corporate office phone number is 480-505-8800. A detailed letter has been mailed to Bob Parsons, CEO, and a message left with one of his corporate staff this morning. I have pledged to withhold the contents of the letter from publication until after Parsons has had a chance to respond and act upon it.
If you wish to see The Post & Email return and grow, please send money via Paypal to payments@thepostemail.com.
Or send checks to:
The Post & Email
P.O. Box 195
Stafford Springs, CT 06076
We need approximately $1,500 to overcome this obstacle. Can that be raised from a monthly readership of possibly 200,000?
Thank you for your support.
Sharon Rondeau, Editor
Sharon, it seems pretty obvious that GoDaddy is trying to BLOCK your information flow.
Furthermorel, why stick with a host that supported SOPA until thousands migrated off his servers? You need to watch this Alex Jones (InfoWars) interview regarding GoDaddy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2VsIRqBeHU
Why not go with WordPress (like Citizen Wells) or similar?
Where do the finances for GoDaddy come from, the same “investors” who have such influence behind the scenes at Fox and elsewhere?
Hello Sharon,
This story is beyond disgusting.
As a web developer who has sent a lot of business to GoDaddy (over 15 years).
To think a clients would end up with this situation is mind blowing.
I have never recommended their “web service” because IMO they suck in that department.
As a registrar they were excellent.
Well treating a customer in this manner is not excusable.
Today ANY RECCOMMENDATION for this company ENDS.
I have written them a letter stating that.
Further I am posting your story on my blog at usa-wethepeople.com
The more who understand what is going on the better :)
Good luck in getting this situation fixed. :)
GoDaddy do have some problems in customer service. That’s not related to their ideology, assuming they have one as a business. But have you been missed by your huge audience, with your less than accurate reporting and your less than inclusive censorship of responses? Kidding, right? Cough up the money, Sharon and few fanatical followers. The internet ain’t free, y’know.
Direct message to Plutodog: Speaking of money, whatever monies were spent on your education was a complete waste and, if I were you, I’d demand a full refund, starting at Kindergarden.
You stated “GoDaddy do have some problems in customer service”. Gee, I wonder why? Maybe they aren’t versed in communicating in Ebonics.
I know what you do for a living, you’re a comedian, right? Kidding, right?
You think this is all fun and games? The “fanatical followers” are citizens of this country who support and defend the United States Constitution. How have you contributed to the society, cashing Social Security checks for being disabled?
And, no, the internet AIN’T free, and without the Post and Email, and other sites fighting the good fight, this country won’t be neither. Then what, you’re going to whine when they take away your freedoms and your Civil Rights? Be too late, Jack.
So get off your high horse and get with the program, or your going to spend the last half of your life as you’ve spent the first half: wasted.
The Post & Email is greatly missed. I refer to it daily for all of my news. I can’t wait until press time and the newspaper is delivered fresh to my computer screen
I really hope it is back soon so that I will know what happened in Georgia and what Orly Taitz and Walter Fitzpatrick think about that.
I found who hosts barackobama.com. The same Host as the Post & Email. Go Daddy. Hmmmm!
WHOIS information for barackobama.com
http://www.whois.net/whois/barackobama.com
Not sure why this didn’t post a while ago. So I’ll try again differently.
Arizona Patriot (January 30, 2012, 11:31 pm at 11:31 pm) said:
“I found who hosts barackobama.com. The same Host as the Post & Email. Go Daddy. Hmmmm!”
Good find! I was remembering that Obama used GoDaddy but could not find the DNS for two of his other sites. However, Whois puts it all together . . . Whois likewise hosts Obama’s AttackWatch and, before AttackWatch, hosted Obama’s Fight The Smears.
Sharon, why don’t you report your GoDaddy experience to Alex Jones? The publicity would inform InfoWars followers that it appears you relay info that Obama wants silenced.
FTR, Sharon, the reason I have never commented at your GoDaddy site, despite the contributions I could’ve made, is that it requires more personal information than do WordPress and other blog hosts. Now that I’ve learned The Post & Email is hosted by an Obama hire, I am thankful I kept my distance.
Can’t wait for the P and E to come back. It is like being deprived of Water not to have them fully operative.
I’m sorry this is not much help now, because you’ve already laid out some serious money, but I no longer use GoDaddy at all for either hosting or domain names. I find their interface intentionally obfuscating, a constantly shifting shell game of options, the purpose of which is to trick you into buying features for your website that you already have. It is no wonder your website developer deferred back to GoDaddy “specialists”. You cannot even blaze a popcorn trail through their site. I don’t know how they stay in business, other than their “catchy” name and superbowl ads, so everybody thinks they are the only game in town. They are NOT.
FWIW, once your hosting renewal comes up again, I might suggest finding a hosting service that offers a straightforward “cPanel” interface. It’s a standard in the industry and SOOOOO much easier for your website developer to use than the funhouse at GoDaddy.
One thing that is very good, is that both you and Gulagbound use WordPress, so it will be very easy for you to import your recent articles from Gulagbound back into your ThePostEmail site.
This would fall under the category of “euthanasia.”
Sharon,
I am a web professional and have been running my own web hosting business for over 10 years.
If you believe you need help (which is obvious at this point), don’t let big monsters such as GoDaddy take you down and stump on you.
We can provide you with a dedicated or shared server, and full access to our custom control panel. We support WordPress as well.
Contact me via email address provided and we can go over details.
Being small we can afford to treat each customer as if they were the only one. Keep that in mind.
Thanks