#1 Update By Author
AUTHOR: Audrius - Skyland (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Thursday, February 05, 2004
POSTED: Monday, November 28, 2005
Registrant:
ActiveUnit, Inc.
1702 Ski Slope Drive
Austin, TX 78733
US
Domain Name: LINHOST.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
ActiveUnit, Inc.
Chris O'Brien
1702 Ski Slope Drive
Austin, TX 78733
US
866-546-4678
Domain created on 10-Oct-2000
Domain expires on 10-Oct-2004
Last updated on 28-Oct-2003
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.RACKSHACK.NET
NS2.RACKSHACK.NET
----------------------------
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/archive/thread/98869-1.html
View original thread: Linhost is gone
-----------------------------
Hostkookster
Well it appears that Linhost.com has bit the dust. Their prices rivaled those of United Colo at one point. Their URL now goes to a web design company - probably the company that designed their site.
EDIT!!:: OOps - they are still up - just their site doesn't work... Linhost.net
-------------------------------
eddy2099
Read this :- [url]http://activeunit.com/action_eq_docs_amp_doc_eq_86.html[/url]
Linhost is ActiveUnit.com and it is just that ActiveUnit is the design arm and Linhost as a web hosting solution would be relaunched as Linhost [url]http://www.linhost.net/[/url] in the near future.
----------------------------
Hostkookster
Their launch date was supposed to be beginning of November. Guess it never happened
-----------------------------
mushrew
They were supposed to launch a long, long time ago.
----------------------------
eddy2099
Oh, That I did not know. In fact, this was the first time I heard of Linhost. Thanks for the update.
Hopefully it is not a failed venture.
------------------------------
mushrew
Looks like it. They had a pre-sale though I don't think anybody got their servers but I don't believe anybody was billed either since I never heard much about them after that. Then they were supposed to officially launch. Then they were forgotten about for a while. Then there was that official launch in November as mentioned above. They looked promising but oh well.
-------------------------------
Look: http://www.whois.sc/linhost.net
-----------------------------------
ActiveUnit (AU) STAFF / CREW (not stuff!):
http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=au_crew
------------------------------
One of the ActiveUnit's staff says on his website:
"I found myself in love with the Devil"
http://www.livejournal.com/users/xma/
He can be reached at: email: xma@activeunit.com
#2 Employee
AUTHOR: Chris O'Brien - Austin (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Monday, February 23, 2004
POSTED: Monday, November 28, 2005
Hello,
I am Chris O'Brien, the COO of ActiveUnit, Inc. and have been dealing with this customer for the past many months. We have been trying to complete his project so that it fits with all the ideas he has, but we've come to the conclusion that this is simply impossible. Because of this and blatant abuse of our employees we have chosen to close the project. Before I explain these things with examples of his own text, I would like to clear up the large number of loose ends the poster has brought up that have no real relevance to the situation:
1) I have read through our contract plenty of times. I believe the places where the client thinks that the term Contractor and Company are switched in fact are simply in the context of legal jargon he does not understand. It is strange that he did not ask me about these intances before he signed our agreement.
2) I am not a programmer myself. Because of this, I am naturally concerned about making sure our source code is of the highest quality. Quite a few of our clients have had our source code checked by experienced local programmers. One of these clients told me that the code was good, but not perfect. Another told me that the programmer he contacted could not believe the ammount of work we put into the project at that price.
3) It is stated in this post that we're not professional enough to create such complex websites. I find this completely illogical. I believe anyone who looks at our portfolio would agree (www.activeunit.com/portfolio.html). It is ironic, because the client chose us specifically because we've proven that we are capable of creating complex websites with our portfolio.
4) The poster claims that other projects of ours are either deserted, inactive or of low quality. I'm not sure where that information is coming from, because he of course has no access to other projects that are in development just like other clients do not have access to his project durring development. We would not divulge other project details to any client or other person not directly involved in development of the project. Moreover, we sign an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) with each client to legally bind us to this policy.
5) Like many companies, we have more than one brand name, geared toward different markets, and more than one office. Why this was brought into the situation, I do not know.
6) Web Pages Express was very small web development venture I ran over four years ago. The company had a total of four clients, the last of whom I spoke to over four years ago. To the best of my knowledge, all of the clients were happy with the work completed. Why that company should be involved in this dispute is beyond me. I assume he used that old company name with the acronym AKA to make us sound notorious.
7) I worked for LinHost over a year ago. Unfortunately, the company had to close due to ISP issues. We helped all customers to find and setup their site or server on a new host before closing. Because of that, I have heard no reports of unsatisfied customers. A large portion of the Additional Info part of the page is copy pasted from a thread posted on 12/24/2002. Again, I'm not sure why this was brought into the situation. Not only is the thread from over a year ago when the company was already dead, but the thread was not posted by anyone even claiming to be a customer.
8) We have no customer named Andrew from Asheville, NC. His claims are very similar to those of one of our customers, Audrius. Why Audrius chose to sign the top of the post with the name Andrew from Asheville, NC and the bottom of the thread as Audrius from Skyland, NC, I do not know. Until I hear information to the contrary, I'll assume both are Audrius.
9) A personal page of one of our employees was posted as well as some information about a group some of our employees choose to be in. Again, why this was brought into the situation, I do not know. However, Audrius' description of the page is very misleading. "I found myself in love with the Devil" is simply some graphics on the page. In the page, the user mentions that he works for ActiveUnit, however there is no more information regarding the company. It is an employees personal page, and of course there is no way we would even try to forbid employees from saying they work for us. The page for the group with a number of our employees in it seems like very much a positive thing to me. I'm glad our employees have a team spirit and want to form such groups.
Finally, on to the heart of the matter.
As stated, we are terminating the project due to two things:
1) The client is verbally abusive to our staff (Irena our client manager, Myself, and Andy, our CIO). In a given 30 minute phone conversation with Audrius, I am usually interrupted at least once per minute. Often he interrupts my reply to the question he just asked two or three times in one minute. He does not appear to want to hear my thoughts on how to continue to progress, but would rather yell. Andy has told me his experience with the client over the phone was the same.
2) It is simply impossible to create the site the client wants with the descriptions he provides.
I believe all I have to do to prove this is to copy, word for word, some of his descriptions of the site he wants:
"Targeted Audience - Human race including humanoids and human-alike creatures from other
planets EXcepting incest and zoophily."
>How do we make a site for "human-alike" creatures?
"I don't like when sexual preference becomes so important in life kind of everyone all they do is screw around sitting on a hamburger and then eat it"
>What does this mean?
"Also: in addition to Man, Woman - I'd like to add "Domestic Animal" which would further
specified as: Dog, Cat, Pig, Horse, Cow, Monkey, Snake etc. That is not zoophily, but
also could be "pet-dating" feature just along human one. "
>???
"It should "incorporate" my domain name [Removed domain name because it is confidential to the client].COM - I got no idea. emember I am a web master as well
and if I had an idea I would create the site myself, but I'm a bad designer as you can see how ugly my existing site is. OK, here's some ideas: it also should include some kind of beautiful unusual blue globe of Earth and please also use your own phantasy for showing me on sketches what can be done first. No standard stuff, something striking, original, sthg. that stands out, creates a special mood, sthg. that has a special lighting just like a sunroof window in a house creates that special atmosphere by lighting a room/house in a special angle. Something (logo) that blends amalgamates with the rst of the site creating a one whole unity at the same time standing out saying here i am a logo of the site, notice me and remember me, i'm easy to remember [Removed domain name because it is confidential to the client].COM (though this is the best I could register a few days ago, but I know that domains with numbers in them are not very popular or recommended). Still I have no same or shorter domain or idea and I avoid very long domains. [Removed domain name because it is confidential to the client].COM was another candidate which might be forwarding to the site. Inquired [Removed domain name because it is confidential to the client].COM and it is "to expensive" at almost 7K.
So [Removed domain name because it is confidential to the client].COM will be the domain to use. The logo (if it is pssible) could have a "super-ability" (?) to show that it also means "Single Too". I don't know how to explain this. But to make it carefully as someone already registered the domain [Removed domain name because it is confidential to the client].com And the words are posted on my site. The other might correct, but the main one is firm: "Are you single? I am single too! Let's connect!". Or should it say: "....THEN let's connect!" ??? And then "explanatory sentence" could be:
Single2.com - Connecting Single and Lonely People All Across The Blue Planet.
I want logo approved in "sketch stages" as well.
Also a smaller logo like "X" at http://www.partnersacrossamerica.com and like your AU-79
drop of gold logo, so the bigger logo could be used in the header and smaller one in footer and letterheads
emails etc. etc.
I also see "2" as a humanoid on their knees head down chest crooked (?) like a 2. "
>Very indecisive to begin with, and then judge the descriptions for yourself.
"Please no Asian colourful stuff nor Turkish Mongolian designs. I like Nordic-cool colours and can be
a bit colourful but not like Anytown USA loaded with banners and McDonalds signs. The design like
a Conservative Whore - not to blank (bleak?) and not to shiny."
>I ask of you, what colors would you use in this case?
"f) The site should NOT look like a vegetable or a Middle Eastern rug.... It should look like a breeze of wind
that is so easy to use, is so light and one soft touch and it's all yours.... "
>Once again, what does such a site look like?
"j) Please use royal colours for the site, not kindergarten colours, if you know what I mean. "
>Again. What color?
"So the emotions that should site cresate for a visitor would be a warm feeling of TOTAL FREENESS, almost like an orgasm from being able to use so many features for free and so cool design creating above-described mood and feel and a feel of being at home and completely safe from any charges, gimmicks. It should also feel that the site is not a "safe commercial heaven" where you are protected from crosswinds of vampires and serial killers, perverts and don juans writing women tons of emails - no it should feel like a complete democratic open "meet market" with tornados walking through it like a Paris of dating where you are safe but can't stay with closed eyes completely and that creates a certain atmosphere of intrigue which dominates in Europe and is so much missing in USA."
"Cool breezy light Nordic colours, with some intrigant Mediterranean palette but not to colourful. Royal colours vs. Kindergarten. "
"I envision this strange feature of my site - a dog barks at you. What a dog wants to say?
The Dog says that you are to single and you should find a mate, but what's the weirdest that
the dog sees you as a transparent ghost hanging in a field above dog
just like an astral projection of an unhappy person who has no mate. So once a person is single they
become transparent to a dog's view and The Dog sees you as a ghost theefore barking at you
looking up 12 feet in the air barking at you like mad. "
"A. I think I will need that Icelandic "create your dream mate" feature now. I think that feature will
be or might be the main attraction that will attract visitors to the site. And please make it so the people
can create not only the portrait, but the whole body, dress it and undress it (stays with underwear)."
"Difficult to say without seeing the sketches. Sections - I will add to what you will show me when I see it.
Naturally you create it. If I already had it I would present it earlier. Once again - I have zero materials on hand."
>In reply to this question: 13. How do you see the structure of your site (specifically the number of sections and hierarchy). Do you have any materials on this topic or should we create the site tree on us?
That should be plenty of information to show Audrius' way of describing what he wants us to do for him.
In closing, the client has very unclear ideas of what his site should be. Because of this, it is hard for us to make progress with it. That makes him angry, at which point he becomes verbally abusive. Until the client can clearly describe the product he wants developed and can hold his temper, we can not complete his project. Instead of picking up the site as it is now and providing it to a new developer to see if they can help him, Audrius is trying to slander the company until we cave and agree to work on his project at this price until he can not think of anymore ideas (note that this dating site already has a classifieds section, room mate section, WAP version, and a lost pets section).
It is very unfortunate, but I see no way to fix the situation if Audrius is unwilling to discuss things with us in a civil manner. We have provided Audrius with the complete source code we have developed thus far (even though he has only paid 50% of the project total cost). Furthermore, we have provided Audrius with an archive of all of his communication with us at his request so he can use it with a new web development company if he so chooses.
If anyone has any questions or concerns regarding this project or our company, I invite you to contact me directly at chris@activeunit.com or call me with the phone number listed on our website.
Best Regards,
Chief Operational Officer
ActiveUnit, Inc.
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