Hi Jon,
My message board isn't too active, perhaps 50-100 messages/day. I don't know about Version 6, but for Version 5 the problem shows itself when writing the thread HTML files. Once the number of pages of a thread exceeds around 20 you'll start to have problems because you'll be exceeding virtual memory limits.
But if it were just an inability to render long threads it wouldn't be a big problem. The problem is severe only because Tera-Byte also imposed a limit on total CPU usage of 25%, so whenever two or more people are posting at the same time and one of the threads is long you can easily exceed this limit, and when the processes are killed the result is zeroed out thread files, zeroed out member registration files, and garbled forum thread summaries.
Tera-Byte is great until you receive the "Server Abuser" classification. They also have pretty severe bookkeeping problems, as you found with your credit card problems. I experienced something nearly identical, but that wasn't the worst incident. At one point I upgraded my plan and changed servers, and after about six months they realized they forgot to delete the copy of the site on the old server. So they deleted it, except they made a mistake and deleted the active site on the new server. Oops!
So I called and alerted them and restored my site from backup, but without telling me they also restored my site from backup later that afternoon, but their backup was six months old from the old server. Oops again!
I call that day Black Wednesday.
Another problem with Tera-Byte is lack of migration path. For those whose site grows past the basic shared hosting plans priced around $100-200/year, the next step up is virtual hosting at around $750/year.
Nobody's perfect, and I don't think there's a perfect webhosting company out there, but some are more professional than others. For as long as I had a good relationship with Tera-Byte I thought they were great, even after the accidental deletion. What upsets me is that they imposed the limits without telling their customers, then compounded things by blaming me for the problems they caused.
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator
