HostBill Forums Down?

John · May 16, 2013, 08:34:41 AM

Is it just me, or is the main HostBill forum down for you?

When I go there, I get the following message:

QuoteSorry, the board is unavailable at the moment while we are testing some functionality.

We will be back soon...

It's been like this for quite some time! $:-\$

tallship · May 16, 2013, 09:46:58 AM

It's probably just routine nightly maintenance, MySQL and stuff... right?

Actually, it's probably just one more good reason why we created this community for us here. It's been pretty apparent that we were all on our own for some time when it came to support, so at least now we all have each other

John · May 16, 2013, 10:35:07 AM

Quote from: tallship on May 16, 2013, 09:46:58 AM
It's probably just routine nightly maintenance, MySQL and stuff... right?

The only problem is that it has been down for over 7 hours... I think he just decided to pull to plug on it.

psybox · May 16, 2013, 12:02:00 PM

I think he just took the forums down once he knew about these ones. After all, its one less thing for him to check now! You'll probably find he's wanted to ditch them for a while, hence the closing of pre sales etc etc ....

Lawrence · May 16, 2013, 02:43:01 PM

He could be updating the forums, cleaning it up, or adding new features. We'll just have to find out!

Enterprisevpssolutions · May 17, 2013, 02:33:18 AM

Maybe They are adding a bug tracking interface. At least we can hope I wanted to see if there were any new bugs reported to the latest version.

Lawrence · May 17, 2013, 04:00:14 AM

Quote from: Enterprisevpssolutions on May 17, 2013, 02:33:18 AM
Maybe They are adding a bug tracking interface. At least we can hope I wanted to see if there were any new bugs reported to the latest version.

It's a possibility. We'll know when the forums come back online.

UCG_Keith · May 17, 2013, 09:16:32 AM

I have been following a number of threads across a few forums now. I have read about a lot of theories of what is happening with Hostbill and the current management.

We migrated from WHMCS last year after their breach; we were looking at Ubersmith and Hostbill as we operate a cloud hosting, colocation business and want to put more control into the hands of our clients allowing us to provide support more efficiently and productively. We chose Hostbill over Ubersmith for a couple of reasons; one was definitely price but more important was that we are already proficient at modifying templates and using the API. We also disliked that Ubersmith restricted us from customizing the feel of the Client Portal.

Over the first few months with hostbill we had a number of support tickets opened with bugs. I cannot say that Hostbill Support was steller but they either resolved the issues directly or it was part of an update as a patch. Since they resolved the issues we had, we have not had to open other tickets so we have not experienced the newer changes.

However, looking at the lack of communication from Hostbill in the recent months and the MIA of a couple of people on the forum and the final straw of the official forum at Hostbill going offline does raise a lot of concern about the life of Hostbill in its current state. History has proven that when a company stops customer service or stops allowing potential business from asking questions before buying the chances of survival is bleak. I hope that this is not the case for Hostbill as we have come to like most of the offering. I read a thread here that says it is not the case; my question is "how do you know?" Is it wishful thinking or do you have facts that Hostbill is stable and moving forward?

I am not here to bash Hostbill or their users, I am here because I don't want to find ourselves in a situation where the entire platform is unusable because Hostbill is gone as a company. I don't think any assurance from anyone but a company representative would be accepted.

These are my thoughts and concerns.

Cheers
Keith

Patrick · May 17, 2013, 11:38:29 AM

Quote from: UCG_Keith on May 17, 2013, 09:16:32 AM
I have been following a number of threads across a few forums now. I have read about a lot of theories of what is happening with Hostbill and the current management.

We migrated from WHMCS last year after their breach; we were looking at Ubersmith and Hostbill as we operate a cloud hosting, colocation business and want to put more control into the hands of our clients allowing us to provide support more efficiently and productively. We chose Hostbill over Ubersmith for a couple of reasons; one was definitely price but more important was that we are already proficient at modifying templates and using the API. We also disliked that Ubersmith restricted us from customizing the feel of the Client Portal.

Over the first few months with hostbill we had a number of support tickets opened with bugs. I cannot say that Hostbill Support was steller but they either resolved the issues directly or it was part of an update as a patch. Since they resolved the issues we had, we have not had to open other tickets so we have not experienced the newer changes.

However, looking at the lack of communication from Hostbill in the recent months and the MIA of a couple of people on the forum and the final straw of the official forum at Hostbill going offline does raise a lot of concern about the life of Hostbill in its current state. History has proven that when a company stops customer service or stops allowing potential business from asking questions before buying the chances of survival is bleak. I hope that this is not the case for Hostbill as we have come to like most of the offering. I read a thread here that says it is not the case; my question is "how do you know?" Is it wishful thinking or do you have facts that Hostbill is stable and moving forward?

I am not here to bash Hostbill or their users, I am here because I don't want to find ourselves in a situation where the entire platform is unusable because Hostbill is gone as a company. I don't think any assurance from anyone but a company representative would be accepted.

These are my thoughts and concerns.

Cheers
Keith

I'm sure it's not the answer you're looking for but with everything that has been going on, Kris brought an appropriate pricing back and annual renewals back to a justified price. To me this is a sign of something a little more positive. He could have closed the forums to implement his new bug tracker he created today some how in to the forums or simply thinking of allowing this community to help where he's unable to?

Since we all do like hostbill, the software is excellent, i think it's worth sitting back and seeing the little bit of positive from it even if it's in small doses at this time.

UCG_Keith · May 17, 2013, 12:08:55 PM

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for the reply. Liking an answer is irrelevant to the facts. As you said, I like the software and we are still developing around it. We made the choice to use it; migrated a few thousand accounts to it. Wrapped our hands around the Colo and IPAM modules and customized so parts of it. We are pleased with Hostbill at this point.

What Kris does regarding the future of the company and Hostbill is far beyond my control personally. I can only offer suggestions and opinions. However, lack of communication is the root cause to divorce between couples and I tell all of my vendors the same; don't communicate and it is the beginning of a breakup. I am not saying that with Hostbill, because at this point; outside of the public forum, Hostbill has been adequate with their support and have resolved what we have asked.

I look forward to see the future of Hostbill and hope that Kris and his staff will continue to communicate with his clients. The forum is only one tool. Another option for Hostbill is to take advantage of Twitter and/or Facebook or another social media whereby he could make announcements or even a quick message to say "hi".

My wife and I (my third and current wife) will call or text at least once a day even if its just a quick Hi...

Beyond the lack of communication, at least from my perspective, Hostbill is very functional and the bugs that are there don't seem to affect our daily operations. Again, I am concerned with the lack of communication but I am not reactionary.

Cheers
Keith

TommyK · May 19, 2013, 05:48:39 AM

forum.hostbillapp.com now forwards to http://help.hostbillapp.com/ and the text on the sales page regarding free support in the forums is now gone.

Methinks official forums are gone.

John · May 19, 2013, 07:19:32 AM

Quote from: TommyK on May 19, 2013, 05:48:39 AM
forum.hostbillapp.com now forwards to http://help.hostbillapp.com/ and the text on the sales page regarding free support in the forums is now gone.

Methinks official forums are gone.

This is probably true!

electric · May 19, 2013, 04:10:50 PM

I sure wish Kris would communicate with his customers.

It's like he gets a thrill by making all these constant changes. A drug or something.

Hey, I'm bored... why don't I increase hostbill pricing to $999! That will be fun!

24 hours later... I'm bored again... why don't I make a free version! That will be fun!

24 hours later... I'm bored again... why don't I remove the forums! that will be fun!

iso99 · May 19, 2013, 10:53:21 PM

Although I'm excited that they are now taking the bugs seriously, I'm also very unhappy that they have removed the community forums completely. It was the best way to ask support, for free, with the community that they themselves can monitor and reply to. Some of the topics there are still relevant and helpful. If they want to close the forum, they could have at least use it as an archive for viewing only. /endrant

Lawrence · May 19, 2013, 10:56:58 PM

Quote from: iso99 on May 19, 2013, 10:53:21 PM
Although I'm excited that they are now taking the bugs seriously, I'm also very unhappy that they have removed the community forums completely. It was the best way to ask support, for free, with the community that they themselves can monitor and reply to. Some of the topics there are still relevant and helpful. If they want to close the forum, they could have at least use it as an archive for viewing only. /endrant

I agree. I feel the original forums should have been archived, even if not publicly visible to the general public. There was a lot of useful topics posted there. I suppose the Way Back Machine will be the only way to view these topics.