I was amongst the many who lost sites at Tripod in the last two weeks of
March. On March 18, my files were gone. By the 22nd, they had been
restored, with an apology and a very flimsy explanation at best. I went
to Tripod, renewed my membership by answering more questions and
entering the nearly undecipherable six-digit number. Everything was
fine, all my files and directories were back intact.
Yesterday, I received a letter from Tripod notifying me that my account
had been reactivated. I thought it was a little weird, since they had
already notified me once back in March after my stuff was restored. But
I went on.
Today, when I went to Tripod to log-in to my account, I received the now
infamous 'Newsflash' message, stating that due to a violation of
Tripod's terms of service, the account registered to my member name had
been cancelled.
Luckily, this time around my files are mirrored. But what I am curious
about is whether or not this is just more of the old 'glitch'
resurfacing, or a whole new deletion? To my knowledge, I was not
violating TOS. No porno, hate sites, remote loading, etc. Again, no
explanation or warning was given.
Although my stuff is mirrored, I do believe I am owed an explanation.
It's out of principle that I am upset. I wrote to Tripod, but I
sincerely doubt I will hear back from them. I wrote to them the last
time around, and only received the same generated letter that everyone
else did. I'm tired of the games Tripod is playing.
°Cristie°
The answer is pretty obvious to me---DON"T USE TRIPOD__EVER. I stopped
after they first deleted my file because I used a gif or two on my E
mail page a year or so ago.All my music disappeared at that time. They
are not friendly to Webbers. I've had Domania for some time now and am
totally satisfied.
dick
I no longer even look at a page at Tripod.
You cant use so why look or take up space in your favorites to keep one.
You can understand ,it is not profitable to give away space , why not
let us pay for the right to use Gifs or form clubs and pay membership to
be able to link.Our only use is to place the gif on E mail . The only
answer left is to use pagebuilder at WebTV.
Kathyrn Watson
My Name Is Tom Brobst,
i too use tripod for remote loading but my site was not lost in the
deletion.
but about the number code you have to enter sometimes it looks like you
put the right set of numbers in but then it says that it was wrong the
same process goes with angelfire and geocities
and sometimes i push back to correct it and the numbers are still the
same but it wont even let me enter them this time.
and now i said forget about tripod its causing me more trouble then it
is worth and i have everything on Angelfires Server, right now angelfire
seems to be the only 1 left that allows remote loading out of their
server, First Geocities Then Tripod i can afford to Lose Angelfire too
so im hoping that it will stay the same, but as i said before i will no
longer use Tripod Or Geocities again.
ssAxxess-Deniedss
When I encountered the hard (impossible) numbers to read I finally
printed them out and got them right the first time.
Hope this can help someone.
Enjoy reading your news letter. Lots of good info.
~Janice~
Dear Voice,
With regard to the ID numbers that are hard to see at the tripod
reregistration, all that one has to do is keep reloading the page until
they get a number that is legible. It only took me an extra minute to
do this, and I had no trouble reregistering after I got a number that I
could see. Incidentally, Angelfire has the same problem. I tried to
open a new account with them, and couldn't see the numbers. Once again,
I just kept reloading the page, and a different number showed up each
time, until I got one that I could see.
kenyagirl
That's a cool tip! We also featured it in our Features section.
Net4TV Voice Staff
I recently also had trouble registering at tripod due to the
confirmation number..
having a printer I printed the page out and was able to read the numbers
clearly..
It isn't a solution for all webbies but those with a printer will be
able to read the code if they print out the page with the confirmation
number first.
Thanks for the great info everyone at voice@net4 provides to us webbies.
U Touch My Heart
I think I have some information on why Tripod is asking members to
re-register their accounts. I believe Tripod is asking members to
re-register because its been awhile since they have UPDATED their sites.
I manage three sites for my two sisters and son and had to re-register
all 3 of the accounts, it had been several months since I updated them.
I know when I first started on Tripod over two years ago we were told
the site had to be updated monthly or it was possible it would be
deleted.
In order to keep your account/site active at least every month a member
should change a couple of words in the text or add a graphic to one of
your pages, and save the page.
Transloading or uploading a graphic to the file directory does not
count. You must edit one of your pages.
Think of it as having to pay a bill, say on the 1st of the month, when
you pay your rent or mortgage go to your Tripod account and change a
word. Example: Change the word Beautiful to Pretty, next month change
the word Pretty back to Beautiful. If you do it on the same day of the
month it will become a habit and the account should be safe.
Lady Delia
I have written to tripod abuse several times concerning the loss of my
account. I have not receved an answer as of yet. This is so
frustrating...while in the middle of trying to build a new page, this
happens.
Judy From Fl...
After reading the article on Tripod, it seems obvious to me that
Tripod is trying to rid themselves of Webtver's. They would never
blatantly say "Webtver's leave! We don't want your patronage." That
would be definite discrimination, so they are doing their best to make
it as hard for new Webbie's to register as well as the old Webbie's.
Tripod feels that if they can make it so bad for us then we will become
so disgusted that we will leave under our own volition.
They are opening a bigger can of worms then they realize. I quess
Lycos Network feels that they can afford it. After all, they've made so
much money, they can all retire and by a country.
dmbear
I think this form letter from Lycos is just more proof that Lycos will
continue the abuse of Webtv users that they have become famous for.We
apologise but we really don't care is what it is saying just go and sign
up for more abuse and you can spend another 3 or 4 years of your life
making pages and we will delete them again.There is no thought as to the
amount of time taken out of a persons life to learn and create a work of
art.The letter you printed from Lycos is below and I don't see how any
responsible company could try and justify the un-professional actions of
Lycos against Webtv users,It's not like it's the first or second time
Lycos has done this to Webtv...
In our ongoing effort to stabilize and optimize our web hosting
services, the Lycos Network has implemented a number of methods to flag
potential abuse suspects. During this process, your web site was flagged
and removed.
Unfortunately, some files from user accounts were deleted permanently.
This was clearly a mistake on our part, and we sincerely apologize.
We have reinstated your membership so you may upload files to your web
site again.
Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Melissa
Network Abuse Specialist
Lycos Inc.
Jack
I was one of those whose site was deleted...then, restored. But, I am a
lucky one. I not only have my webbie, but also a PC, so the first thing
I did when I regained access to my files was to copy all images, etc. to
disc. I also copied the entire site to another web-page provider with a
"site-mover." My advice to everyone else who experienced Tripod's
"error," is to do the same. And, if you don't have access to a computer
to copy [download] your files, try to either get to your local library
or see if a friend with a puter will do it for you. Some folks have
some files that are priceless to them stored at their Tripod sites, and
it was heartbreaking for them to find everything gone. One epal told me
she had the ONLY pics of her now deceased Mom stored there when Tripod
deleted her site. She was devastated! Understandable.....since this
friend runs a professional kennel, and the original photos had been
chewed up by one of the puppies there......but why worry? Tripod was
one of the most respected free servers on the WWW today! Needlesstosay,
all her files are now downloaded to disc(s) Thank you, Tripod for
restoring our sites, but PLEASE REMEMBER, these files are NOT just some
pics we found and liked a bit....enough to keep....some of these files
are irreplaceable to us! PLEASE PLEASE keep that in mind as you develop
"scripts" next time!
^-^
THEY LIE....
MINE was deleted B4 the mass "accident", as they call it...
at each inquiry, I got/get, a "new", different "answer"... I call each,
an excuse, "covering thier 'arse', so to speak", NO "FIX", NO
RECOVERY....
no REAL response...!!!
JUST another excuse, most are "not possible, to be true"...
they think they are dealing with idiots, that love to argue...
I HAVE NO TIME, for disagreements, &/or EXCUSEs...
soooo, I just started another...
I had used maybe a third of thier offered 50 mb...
SO, WE BEGIN AGAIN...LOL
JE R.A.M.
I have a site at geocities where I had transloaded music, pictures, etc.
for my emails. That has quit working. I contacted webtv about this
issue, they assured me that it would be restored within a day or
so...that was several weeks ago. This past week I found that all my
cgi-bin forms on Geos quit functioning. I did some reading at geos and
found that they no longer support cgi-bin. My site needs daily
maintenance and is a rather large one...this has been upsetting, to say
the least, to have so much work put into a site that I can no longer
use. I am now scrambling to locate another server that I can move
everything too, but have been unable to fine one. I think it is
appalling that companines like web and goeso offer these services then
suddenly yank them.
s. christian
Thats what happens when people try to play god.tripdod knows that they
are in america.i guess they didnt know it is the land of the free.
they make a mokery of the term free.they tell you you can have a free
webpage but they can dictate to you what to put on them.it is a
communist,fascist concept.dont people realize that
how free can something be when someone else
is telling you "here is something free but you must do what i say",its
redicuolus.they reap what they sow.
taino people
THIS IS NOT THE SAME TRIPOD ISSUE, MY SITE IS STILL THERE, BUT I CANNOT
LOG IN.
OK, I just tried to log in to tripod to update my site, and I got a page
that said, in effect, "you need to update your account before
continuing". So I clicked "continue" to get to this "update account"
page, and I got THIS:
[my comments are in these brackets]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lycos Network Privacy Policy
1. You're Now Eligible For These Special Offers [checkbox was
here]Yes! I would like to get 11 FREE CDs from BMG Music Service along
with other great offers from BMG.
[checkbox was here]Yes! I want to WIN $4,000 just for sharing my
opinions.
[checkbox was here]Yes! Send me details on a FREE BOOK offer and other
great deals on my favorite books.
Tripod & Lycos Network Offers
[checkbox was here]Please send me special offers from Lycos Network
advertisers.
[checkbox was here]Please send me news & updates about Lycos Network
companies.
[checkbox was here]Get expert lessons and tips from Handcrafted,
Tripod's biweekly guide to better site building.
[checkbox was here]Keep it real with the Insider, the biweekly bible of
Tripod news, views, and gossip.
[checkbox was here]I'm interested in earning extra cash with my
homepage.
[checkbox was here]Send me information about Commission Central, the
Lycos affiliate center.
[checkbox was here]Receive periodic e-mail notification of new features
and special offers from Tripod.
2. Enter Confirmation Code
Type the 6 digit number below into the box at the right. (This prevents
automated signups.)
Enter this number: [number so small I can't READ it was here]
Into this box: [little text area was here]
3. Privacy Policy and Terms of Service
By clicking "Sign Me Up" below, you agree to the Lycos Network Privacy
Policy, the Tripod Membership Terms, and the Terms of Service or Terms
and Conditions of all Lycos Network sites and services, which are easily
accessible from the homepages of each site or service.
["Sign me Up" button was here]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok now, you get the idea. In order for me to LOG IN to my account, I
HAVE to type the 6 digit number into the text area. OK, so I turn up the
contrast on the TV some more, and I THINK it's something like 64979, so
I type that in the text area. No go, it's say's "wrong confirmation
number" or some sh*t like that. So I try a few other numbers that it
COULD be. None of them work.
About this time my boyfriend, bech comes
into the room and says, hey, I got that last time I tried to log in to
tripod too. It wont work, no matter what you do, it wont accept the
numbers, it must not be webtv compatible. I'm thinking, OH GREAT! Now
what the heck am I suposed to do?
I can NEVER log in to Tripod again I
guess. So, anyways, I'm going to send Larry some more money to add some
more space to my wtv-zone account hosted at http://www.wtv-zone.com
(plug for Larry) and just move both of my tripod sites there. The heck
with it. Maybe I can FTP a NEW index page into the tripod accounts on
top of the old ones, or use the FTP work station at
http://ftpws.domania.net (plug for cool tool) to edit it when I move my
tripod sites.
Anyways, TRIPOD IS NO LONGER WEBTV COMPATIBLE. NOT ONLY
CAN YOU NOT READ THE LITTLE NUMBERS THEY ASK YOU TO TYPE OUT, BUT EVEN
IF YOU DO TYPE THE CORRECT ONES, IT STILL WONT WORK! IF YOU HAVE A SITE
THERE, AND YOU CAN STILL GET IN, MOVE IT BEFORE YOU GET LOCKED OUT TOO!
This is NOT the same tripod scandal as was just resolved, this is a
whole NEW issue! My site is still there, But I CANNOT log in!
Slightly Irritated,
§eeshing’“
Hi . Why has my name been deleted from all of your sites?
bingo lady
I have written to you before, and I still do not have an answer to my
problem, NOR has my problem been fixed. As you can see at the bottom of
this letter is a bunch of letters, on my e-mail page before it was
deleted and this came up, I had Dale Earnhardt's car, and his signature,
both were moving. Seems like when you deleted it, which I had no choice
in the matter, I lost it all. All I am asking for, is please, please put
it back on my e-mail as soon as possible, or at least e-mail me and let
me know when the problem will be cured. Thank you, A DIE-HARD FAN OF
DALE'S, Ginger Striker
GINGER STRIKER
I have small sites on each addy. The main site on infchoice was
restored in a couple of days. It was over a week before the one on this
addy, gabbelle, was restored. However, on chatterbee I can't get into
my site since 3/20. Tripod has it blocked with some sort of membership
update which no matter what I do I can't get it released. Reported to
Tripod more than once and trying to tell me this is an isolated case. I
know better.
I'm in the process of moving my main site to the Zone and will do the
same with the other sites if I can just get in it.
nancy
Hi! My site on tripod was deleted and then restored last week but i am
still having problems and wanted to let you know about them. I am able
to visit my site but some of the pages wont load. I get a message that
tripod cant find the requested page. I'm also having problems logging
in. Whenever i try to login i get a message to update my membership.
when i try it says my member name is restricted. I have emailed tripod
twice concerning this and havent recieved a response as of yet. I am
getting very upset with tripod and am in the process of trying to save
and move what files i can manage to get access to. Im seriously thinking
of moving my site eleswhere! Wich will take me sometime since it is
pretty big. I started my site in 1998 I can't believe tripod is doing
this to us!
Christie aka Aphreditie
I am tired of dealing with Tripod. I resorting to other sources now.
Rebel x2
I am not online regularly so I didn't know about the Tripod problem
until your last issue. I do not know if my account was deleted but when
I went to check it out it WAS there. However, I had to resign up under
their new terms of service.
If I use the Domania freeloaders to upload to Tripod when I click the
"View It" I don't get a view of the item anymore. I am taken to Tripod's
remote loading page. When I check my Tripod account though the item HAS
been uploaded.
I have a big problem though with GeoCities the way they are blocking
their sites. At least, those with more traffic. I don't know if it is
JUST WebTVers but I use to transload from fantasy sites like Angel
Fae's. Now all I get is a pop-up saying, "The publisher Geocities has
not responded to your request for information." Not allowed in at all.
Fortune City at similar sites will, at least, let me in to view them but
when I try to transload all I get is the Fortune City logo image.
Now this is punishing the innocent as well as the guilty. They could set
it up like the Banner Generators where a temporary url is provided to
upload it to your site. Then when the time limit is up ... no url, no
linking.
I do have my E-mail signature, thank goodness, because when Tripod would
not allow midis I opened an account at Domania.
~ Aquarius
Just read you newsletter and I was glad to get information concerning
Tripod's "mass murder" of thousands of website pages. Your report
answered all my questions about what was happening in this huge
mess....that is all but one....When is my site going to be restored??
Only Tripod can answer that.
And so far they ain't talkin....at least to me.
I was completely in the dark as to why my site was deleted, for I had
just opened my first account with Tripod approximately two weeks before
they deleted my account. Heck, I hadn't even been able to start a
webpage, much less break their Rules. I had just gotton around to
uploading some graphics, so I COULD start a page.
I emailed them, asking what TOS I had violated, but didn't get any
response back. Last week, I emailed Tripod again, and this time I did
receive an answer. Tripod stated, there had been a mistake and some
sites had been mistakenly deleted. They said if I hadn't violated their
TOS, my site would be re-instated.
As of tonite, my site is still down and I get taken to a page that tells
me I have violated Tripod's Terms of Agreement.
So much for Friendly Web Hosting Sites. Tripod has flunked on both
friendliness and keeping people informed.
Thank you for being there for us webtv users, Net4TV. Tripod ought to
take some hints from you great folks.
P.S. My wife has several pages at Tripod
but her's were not deleted......yet. If they should be taken Tripod due
to the "mistake", I invite you all over to our house, so you all can see
what a Wet Hen really acts like.
Calvin Garber
My tripod site was deleted about 10 days ago and I have not heard from
Tripod at all. The name of my site was "hoopergray" and literally years
of work has gone down the tripod tubes...they said they would try to
restore it when I tried logging on (on a pop up page) but I've never
heard from them again and it is still down.
Crowbelle and The Lobsterman
My site along with so many other's was deleted. Tripod finally restored
it and I can edit with no problems. But, when they restored my site,
they wrote me that I was in my file manager editing (which was true) and
they let me finish what I was doing before they deleted my site. Now
what I would like to know is, IF, it was a malfunction of some sort, how
could they know I was in there and how could they prevent the deletion
until I was through? I had just saved my changes in a page and when I
clicked on the page URL to see my changes, I was taken out.
Another problem, I tried sending my brother a picture from my files and
he said tripod wouldn't let him open it.
Also tripod advertises ebay yet won't let anyone put their pictures they
have on their tripod site at ebay. Figure that one. I can't. Thanks, I
really look forward to your paper.
Margaret1932
Hello, Voice;
I still haven't gotten back my accounts, and instead of getting the
"sorry for the error message," I now get one saying, "the accounts don't
exist." I never get replies, from Tripod or Lycos, to my countless
e-mails. Fortunately, I was able to salvage enough of my files, and
transfer them to another server. So it wasn't a total loss. As for
Tripod, they can take a long walk, off a short precipice.
PonyThatWalks
This is to advise you that I still cannot access my pages at Tripod to
edit them. This has been on going for several months even though I have
provided them with the exact registration info several times. It also
has nothing to do with improper use of TOS & I have never been notified
as to why I cannot use my pages as agreed.
After numerous "feedback" sumissions I was given a phone number to call
for help to resolve the problem. That was over a week ago & have yet to
hear from anyone or to have my access restored.
Ern
Hello,
I am a webtv user and have a website built through Tripod. The other day
I went to my Tripod builder site and when I clicked on I was no longer a
member. However, Lycos said I had to re-register. I was quite upset,
as I had heard about news through your newsletter that webtv users
may/are being attacked and that some sites have been deleted without
notice. I was concerned, and thought that my website of 1 yr. old had
been deleted. I re-registered and got a confirmation letter on Sunday,
the 25th. I logged in and I had found my website still there. However,
this morning (26th) I received another 'welcoming' letter from Lycos
(letter included) "thanking me for joining and getting the most from my
membership". I c/c/p the Special note that was near the end of the
e-mail and this is what it said:
[Special Note: We request that you publish a site within 28 days.
Otherwise, we'll need to delete your account to free up space for future
members.]
Still ?? Does that mean publish a new one there or find another site
builder ??
It is a good thing that through your newsletters my wife gets, I
learned this information about Tripod and their 'accidental' deleting
sites, files, etc. I really appreciate your informative site. Most of
the time I fail to read the end of the Tripod Insider newsletters, just
information I may need to use
I am glad I read it all the way to
bottom. Now they are deleting my website to make room for "Others" ??
This is, I believe, is a direct attack on webtv users who build home
pages, and informative web sites and also a sneaky and crude way to
inform me/all. Lucky, for me and my wife and through your informative
news letter, I went to WTV-Zone and signed up and yesterday....within 5
hours I had my entire website and files along with my wifes new
beginning site and files moved. It was so fast and easy! Thanks ! So
now I say good bye to Tripod and they can delete all they want and Beam
me up WTV-Zone! Thanks!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Also, I saved my webtv box from possibly 'frying' when my wife returned
a scanner she bought last Christmas and it was still unopened in the
shipping box for about 5 weeks! Fortunately my wifes intuition(?) one
of your newletters in the coming (?) and Procrastination, prevented me
to hook it up for her. :-) Thanks Again!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am grateful for all the work, the info you send out and now I am going
to sign up and receive my own Net4TV Voice! And well appreciated you
are!
MYSTIKbob
Tripod has deleted my extensive website maintained since 1997. Many pages
were features on Net4Tv Voice Better Homes and Websites.I would like the pages
reinstated !
I was amongst the many who lost sites at Tripod in the last two weeks of
March. On March 18, my files were gone. By the 22nd, they had been
restored, with an apology and a very flimsy explanation at best. I went
to Tripod, renewed my membership by answering more questions and
entering the nearly undecipherable six-digit number. Everything was
fine, all my files and directories were back intact.