random thoughts about random things

Dreamhost managed to bill their customers for the coming year, in advance, due to what I think the advanced layman would generally call a technical oversight. $7.5 million was charged automagically from alot of people, and the internet’s up in flames about it (just google it).

Some people think the Dreamhost-blog’s light tone about it is going too far, while some laugh it off and nothing more. Some people have serious mortgage issues, credit-card limits and stuff like that turned from an almost-problem to a big problem, while some had their sites shut down because their computers listed them as “not having paid”, some with a number of consequences.

Personally I didn’t notice it in the least. There’s not a trace of dreamhost on my account since sometime around this time last year, or a month from now, so I suppose I’m one of the lucky ones in this case, but that’s because I’ve paid for two years in advance so we’ll see what they’ll be kicking up for next year. I might get a $1000 bill in my lap for their new years party (ref their newsletter: “If your next web hosting bill from us is mysteriously tripled, now you know why.”).

That’s alot of comments. I bet they’re setting some sort of record.

From what I can read in the blog-post this was an up front and real post from the Dreamhost Head Honcho, Josh Jones, where he explained in detail what had happened, and how damned sorry he is about it. Alot of people reacted with anger at his flippant tone about it, and has decided to cancel their accounts to look for greener pastures. While I can’t blame them for their outrage, I can’t say I’m particularly understanding of the reason; Dreamhost’s been trying to be funny in their newletters and sites for a long time, since I smile or laugh pretty often when I read their quirky messages I can personally state that they’re successful.

The thing is, when you suddenly get the blooper of the new-born year on your hands I think it’s admirable to dare keep up a straight face and do it like they’ve always done it, up front and with a personal twist. That is, instead of writing “…we had a serious issue on our hands, and we’re still trying to find the source of the problem, although we suspect there’s an external factor involved…” they wrote “liek… 00ps.. soree my bad plz soz… :((((”.

They’ve been doing this for 10 years now, it’s even on their front page, so you’d immediately think that they’d be able to prevent something like this from happening. That’s the point, when you’ve been doing it for 10 years, and you’re so used to something running smoothly, making place for an unshakeable faith in the stuff that “always works”, I can easily imagine how something like this can happen when you do something the system’s not used to. You’d be pretty confused, and ultimately a bit miffed, if the sun suddenly didn’t turn up at the supposed time.

You might not like the way it’s written, the way it’s always been written, but you’ve got to admire him for being (as far as I can tell) honest and himself about it, and flippant like he’s always been/tried to be. It takes guts and credibility, and when they additionally state that

- they’re being serious.

So, for now, I’m content with Dreamhost. Except for the odd unresponsiveness of the site at times, which I’ve mailed them about, that I’m not even sure is their fault.

I’ll probably keep laughing when I visit their sites, and enjoy the newsletter when it arrives in my mail for a while yet. If their service turns shoddy as hell and the world needs to burn I’ll consider moving, but for now I’m fine, I emerged unscathed after all, and my flamethrower of divine purging shall rest.

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI