Just a couple of thoughts off the top of my head on suing, TB.

I'm not sure where (outside NY State) HorseHockey could be sued. I don't know whether they have enough presence anywhere else. (Jurisdiction isn't a subject I deal with much, and my law school days predated the 'Net.)

I'm not sure if the Buffistas as a group could sue anyone. I don't know if we're organized enough. (Again, not a subject I work with much.)

Damages could be surprisingly high. I'd argue that the time ita spent with HH, and possibly the time the Stompies spent in moving us to Fangeek, are consequential of HH's actions.

While small claims court is simple and quick, the amount at stake is small. If you're looking to really hurt HH financially, that's probably not the route to go.

Also, what was the language of the contract with HH? Did HH expressly reserve the right to suspend without notice? And (though I bet I already know the answer to this one), was the contract negotiated, or did HH offer a standardized take-it-or-leave-it deal?

I'd be happy to look over and comment on any nastygram. But it's best not to go out under my letterhead.

But how about concerted action? We already know of at least one other group that got similar treatment from HH -- and at least one key member of that group has a reputation for not shying away from confrontation. How many other victims are there? We could coordinate and cause HH grief with letters to the BBB and the NY State Attorney General (preferably signed by residents of NY State). IOW, let others fight the battle.

Not sure I like the banner ad idea, but it may be because of a faulty memory. Didn't someone say in PF Bureaucracy that hosts like HH aren't really geared toward post-intensive groups like us? It'd prevent HH from claiming more victims, but it might also benefit HH.

I am at a staff retreat for work on Friday when voting is over. I will be able to post the voting results sometime after 6 pm. I hope this is OK.

How many other victims are there?

I believe the Save Farscape campaign also was hosted there initially, but I don't know any of the financial details.

Theperfectworld.us also had to move over suckiness-of-hostrocket issues.

I think we want to seriously ponder how badly we want justice/vengeance, and the re-ponder rather than before we decide to take any sort of action. I'm glad we got our data and are now free of HostRocket. Although I think sharing honest, informal, word-of-mouth (or fingers) about them is fine, I'd be completely against taking out a banner ad.

I wouldn't mind if we wrote a letter telling them how dissatisfied we are. I wouldn't mind if we told them that none of our members could, in good conscience, ever recommend them as a webhost. I'd be okay if we detailed the hours ita and the other stompies/tech resources had to work, and were specific about the reasons for and causes of our dissatisfaction, and asked for a credit to our credit card account and/or called the credit card company we used and seeing if they'd reverse the payment.

Court - to me - seems like a lot of frustration on a less-than-sure-thing. In the last few months (maybe all of this calendar year), it seems we've tended to forget this is - above all else - supposed to be an enjoyable experience. I want us to put the fun back in. In general though, I'm the chalk-that-up-to-a-lesson-well-learned type of person and well... my Nana always said it's a long road that knows no turning. They'll either learn, or they'll get their just desserts.

I'm more than happy to talk ill of them, to yank my other accounts from them, but banner ads -- slanderiffic, and legal action? We're all here for the fun of it. Legal action is work.

Fuck 'em hard, but don't let them eat our energy now that we're free.

What ita said.

We're free of them, and while I think it will be good fun for any of us to say bad stuff about them on our own time, as a board we need to Not Feed the Energy Creature.

SF.com was hosted at HR and went through exactly the same treatment. Although they don't have anyone with quite ita's skills on board to quiz HR about the load, and basically they jumped ship immediately after the first suspension. This was, I admit, one of my concerns last fall, that I'd just been through this on the SF.com boards, when I realized that B.org was also hosted by HR.

Honestly, I wouldn't have made the crack about the banner ad if it had occurred to me that folks would take it seriously. I thought it clearly seemed like a crack-pipe crack. I should have known better. Mea culpa.

Fuck 'em hard, but don't let them eat our energy now that we're free.

I'm willing to expend the energy to report them to the Better Business Bureau, because I just feel a sense of responsibility to humanity in that regard, you know? If it's okay with everyone else, I would like to draft one to be able to report what happened. I mean, I'm not sure it does much to hurt them, aside from maybe nipping at their hees if they try to get business loans or some such.

It's not a lot of energy to write a letter, and might provide some folks with a gentle closure?