[nullmind]

We have created a "Clients Only" forum, a place for customers to discuss more sensitive topics that they might not wish non-clients to have access to.

To enable access to the forum, please login to your VPS.NET control panel, a new option is present on the "Support Centre" section



Enter your forum username to enable access to the client forum section

[anthonysomerset]

the way you have done it is really really cool, i like how you have semi automated it into the dashboard

nice work chaps

[nullmind]

thanks, and it's actually fully automated :)

[anthonysomerset]

well the user still has to put there username in the box :cool:

but yeah fully automated FTW :D

[Jake]

Great idea. Keeps ryan14 out. Haha.

[sam]

Jake said:

Great idea. Keeps ryan14 out. Haha.

Haha, I thought exactly the same myself. High-five!

[Steve]

I was thinking exactly the same thing!!! That guy is so annoying!

[Ditlev]

I think he gave up on us though :)

Good to see the first discussions in there getting started...

:)
D

[somesecretpeter]

This is a good move.

For a few reasons.

One being, quite cleverly, it prevents non-customers from seeing all the berating you guys get in the network status forum when there's an issue.

But related to that is two...no more spammers from other companies filling those necessary threads with boring and unhelpful promises of better packages from their dodgy firms. :)

Peter

[sam]

somesecretpeter said:

One being, quite cleverly, it prevents non-customers from seeing all the berating you guys get in the network status forum when there's an issue.

I think the reasoning for this is a lot of customers associate problems; if x happens and at the same time someone is having a problem with their server (not connected to the issue, maybe not even a problem with vps.net) they post up and it turns into a big "oh no, full of problems!" when really there's only a single issue.

I do think it's a bit iffy, but hopefully we'll get some sort of status section (or blog) and that'll remove that issue altogether :) So customers can discuss network problems and non customers can see them.

[nullmind]

One of the big problems we have is actually non-clients coming to a discussing and starting to say they experiencing problems, when they dont even have an account, competition ?, perhaps.

[anthonysomerset]

quite probably - to make it look like there are more problems than there are

[somesecretpeter]

I hope my comment didn't sound like I'm against the shift. I think it's advantageous.

You're quite right Sam, if it's a free for all then the thread on a major issue that needs resolving gets bogged down by unrelated issues, and people trying to poach our business. I'm not a fan of that kind of underhanded tactic.

Peter

[anthonysomerset]

good move with moving the network status to customer only, but you really need some sort of public read only status ideally external of your service otherwise people will whinge that you are hiding info, but i think its good progress

[Rob]

anthonysomerset said:

good move with moving the network status to customer only

It's daft. Restricting updates to just vps.net would be the normal approach.

anthonysomerset said:

people will whinge that you are hiding info

They're hiding info...

There is no valid reason not to put a short status update on a read-only public page.

My London VPS was down yet again. I come here to find out if it's something minor or major and find the status page is now hidden, with no notice.

I was just testing it for reliability until the end of the month anyway, so as there was no ETA for a fix visible I deleted it (had already moved the contents elsewhere).

Rackspace are even sillier - their forum's pre-sales area is restricted to customers only. :lol:

[nullmind]

Rob said:

There is no valid reason not to put a short status update on a read-only public page.

We agree, we are placing status.vps.net on public page so people can see if there are any open issues

[anthonysomerset]

Rob said:

It's daft. Restricting updates to just vps.net would be the normal approach.



They're hiding info...

There is no valid reason not to put a short status update on a read-only public page.

My London VPS was down yet again. I come here to find out if it's something minor or major and find the status page is now hidden, with no notice.

I was just testing it for reliability until the end of the month anyway, so as there was no ETA for a fix visible I deleted it (had already moved the contents elsewhere).

Rackspace are even sillier - their forum's pre-sales area is restricted to customers only. :lol:

there policy is quite standard for the hosting business, if you will have read the other forums you will have noticed this discussion has already been had and carlos and ditlev have already comitted to an external status page.

also its not hard to gain access to the section, just follow the instructions in the first post on this thread, i cant see why customers are complaining to be honest, you can all see the info, its only one step extra as an effort to improve the service to all customers by stopping non customers feeding misinformation into the mix

[elindir]

I really don't agree with hiding the network status from non-customers. It is almost like you're ashamed how you handle these situations. A public status page is one thing but that only shows your side of the story and not how your customers react to it. Even if it was setup so everyone can view but only customers can post?

[anthonysomerset]

elindir said:

I really don't agree with hiding the network status from non-customers. It is almost like you're ashamed how you handle these situations. A public status page is one thing but that only shows your side of the story and not how your customers react to it. Even if it was setup so everyone can view but only customers can post?

you missed the point they have already committed to a public status page which is due today or tomorrow, based upon customer input

they are not hiding info and i doubt it was there intention to begin with, just a matter of simply not having it done by the time they made the forum changes

[elindir]

anthonysomerset said:

you missed the point they have already committed to a public status page which is due today or tomorrow, based upon customer input

they are not hiding info and i doubt it was there intention to begin with, just a matter of simply not having it done by the time they made the forum changes

My understanding of a public status page is that it shows any current issues as reported by VPS.net staff. It doesn't show comments from customers as the situation progresses and it doesn't show past issues, issues which would interest someone considering VPS.net.