Web hosting when you need to install your own modules (was Re: Interact with SQL Database using Python 2.4 or lower)

[Chris Angelico]

On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 3:39 PM, Stephen Hansen
<me+list/python at ixokai.io> wrote:
> Just don't get too tied to a certain host until you feel them out.
> Sending them emails with detailed questions before you sign up is a good
> thing, for example.
>

That helps a lot, but the problems I had with my most recent pay-for
web host were less obvious:

* Outages that were scheduled, but not notified in a way that I had
noticed (it was on their web site, but they didn't mail my registered
other email address)
* Fine print on their uptime policy that explicitly excluded scheduled
outages, and considerably lengthier and more numerous scheduled
outages than I would have normally considered reasonable
* DNS record changes required a support ticket (this was shared web
hosting, so I didn't have control over the BIND files - that's what
they said, anyway)
* Some sort of weird lack of internal communication that meant that
they didn't ever close our account. I still, to this day, am getting
emails from their server saying "Hey, you have some package-installed
software that's out of date, you should log in and update it". I
cannot log in as our account has been suspended for non-payment. I
cannot close the account as it is suspended. They somehow didn't get
the message four months before the suspension, following their policy
strictly, requesting closure.

So... yeah. Hopefully, this is a rare situation, but that's why I
would look for a personal reference.

ChrisA