Die Spammer Die!
To the spammer that bought down our server for nearly two days, The Blog Herald says die!
Our apologies for The Blog Heralds disappearance over the weekend, our service provider had a major outage caused by a spammer which has now been rectified, however having said this the complete and utter lack of communication from HostDepartment is also cause for alarm and we will now consider hosting elsewhere. If anybody has any suggestion for low priced, high quality serving, please let us know.
And why are we unhappy with hostdepartment, two words: NO CORRESPONDENCE.
The only way we found out about the outage is through their live customer support service as below:
you are now chatting with ‘Elizar’
Elizar: Hello ! Welcome to the HostDepartment Live Chat Service with Elizar here. What can I do to help you?
Duncan Riley: I am unable to access my website (www.blogherald) and haven’t been able to for the last 8 hours, are you experiencing server problems?
Duncan Riley: sorry www.blogherald.com
Elizar: Yes. We apologize for any inconveniences. We have identified a spammer on web2 server (including mysql2 and mail2 ) which yours and other clients accounts reside. Our admin and Network Data Center Crew are still currently working and investigating the server and trying to remove the spammer from the server then bring it UP. They are only took down the web services (not the server). It should be back up shortly. Service will be fully restored as soon as possible. Your patience & understanding would be appreciated upon this matter.
Duncan Riley: thank you for letting me know, starting to worry everything might have been lost, all the best in getting the spammer
Elizar: yes, sure.
Elizar: Thank you for visiting. Don’t hesitate to contact us at anytime.
Elizar: Thank you for your cooperation & understanding.
This was Saturday, come Sunday no service, no email or correspondence, this is what I sent them:
Re: server outage
My site has remained offline now for over 24hours, and from chatting to your online assistance staff, I understand that you have had problems with a spammer, however from a customers viewpoint I find it extremely disappointing that no effort has been made to contact your customers via email to explain the situation and what is being done to rectify it. My understanding is you have 4 servers and 100,000 odd clients, if one is out it would be fair to guess over 20,000 clients may be affected, would you not see it fit to act in good faith to let us know what it going on? I know that it is not your fault, and I understand your difficult situation, however many will not, and a simple act of emailing your clients would go a long way in keeping your customer base content in this trying situation.
I have always been happy with your service and support in the past, but I must say that your failure so far to at least give me, and my fellow clients the courtesy of an email makes me question my loyalty.
I do hope that the service will be restored shortly, and that further problems do not arise.
Yours sincerely
Duncan Riley
Perhaps this is a cultural thing but here in Australia we would apologise for the lack of service, despite the fact that a third party caused it (in this case the Spammer), and notify what we are doing to fix things, this way we would maintain some faith with our loyal customers, but still nothing. Is this the American way?