Actually, I don't know for sure if Tom is willing. His name was tossed out and I may have latched on to that prematurely. But, either way, some Buffista who is willing to be that root access having person and has the needed technical knowledge would get access to make changes.

Kristen, Tom did volunteer to do it.

Tom Scola "Buffistas Building a Better Board" Oct 23, 2003 9:00:09 am PDT

I wasn't sure if that applied to a server you're sharing with FG or if it was just a Buffistas-only deal so I thought I should probably put up a disclaimer in case Tom didn't feel comfortable with the idea.

I would also want to add a rider in there that if, somehow, the level of sservice and/or downtime reaches an unacceptable level, the 60 day cancellation window no longer applies. I doubt we'd have to excersize that clause, but I'd hate to need it and not have it, you know?

I'm perfectly willing to pony up a few $$, as long as the ponying can wait a couple of weeks. I have $3 to last me until November. :(

That "unacceptable" would have to be so rigidly quantifiable that I suspect it would never be practical.

Probably true, at least as far as service. Downtime is a lot easier: more than X% of downtime over Y timeframe, said downtime not being caused by our own screwups or issues out of fangeek's control. Basically, something that says that if they spill water on our server, we have the right to cancel immediately.

You don't allow water in the server room, do you, Kristen?

You'd also have to clearly separate or conflate IH and FG -- Kristen doesn't go into the server room, ever. But Steven can, I'd guess.

I'm not sure what refund conditions other hosts give, but I've never been in a position to exercise them, even when totally dicked over.

I don't like the idea.

Some stuff you just have to take on good faith, surely. 60 days isn't that long.

Well, to my way of thinking, you'd be giving me 60 days notice because you were dissatisfied with service and/or performance. Altering the TOS to include that clause is not something I would be comfortable doing. And honestly, it's not an unheard of requirement. Most hosting companies require some advance notice of account termination.

On the performance end, the best I could offer would be some kind of rebate for unscheduled downtime that is not the accountholder's fault. The details on that policy will need to be discussed with Monique before I commit to anything.

Regarding the water issue, you can read all about the network and the data center here. If you have any further questions after reading, I'd be happy to pass those on to Steven. Obviously, if someone spilled something into a cabinet and shorted us out, it would be repaired and you'd be credited for the downtime.

Also 60 days is not unreasonable even in a worst case scenario. In a move we'd probably need that time to find and move to a new service. It took us that much time to find and move to a news even when hr was dicking us around.

One of my concerns at this point is that if we stay and prove as big pita to her in the new circumstances as we were to Steve in the old, we end up straining a friendship. If we move to a big place where we don't have a strong personal friendship there are advantages as well as disadvantages. The relationship is strictly business and we don't have to worry as much about hurting our hosts feelings. It's not an overwhelming concern because Kristen is willing to take the risk. But it is a concern, because a certain amount of conversation that really was not out of line from a business point of view managed to hurt her deeply.