CASUALCHESSCLUB.com Website Rant

As webmaster for Casual Chess Club, I had encountered a situation whereby our former Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) iPage.com refused to update PHP (software that our WordPress platform runs on) to the latest version unless we purchased use of a dedicated server. If it were the case that the latest release of PHP would not be compatible with existing customer software, I could see why they would not upgrade as it could cause other customer software to ‘break’; however, the latest release of PHP is ‘back-version compatible’, so iPage.com’s position was unjustifiable.

With no reasonable explanation for not applying the latest software update, I am left to conclude that they are purposefully preventing newer applications that require the newer version of PHP from running unless the customer pays extra for the dedicated server. That’s akin to extortion.

We’ve since left iPage.com, only to discover the our new ISP, Bluehost.com, is owned by the same company as iPage.com. How ironic?

I’m left with the decision to either get a dedicated server or be limited to using software that is long since out-of-date, meaning that we are limited as to what we can use to create a satisfactory website presentation for our many visitors.

I’m asking all of my friends to avoid using iPage.com. I may have to extend that request to avoid Bluehost.com also, even though the experience with Bluehost.com has been much better,, despite the fact that they both are owned by the same parent company.