Frontpage access disabled 28/08

[#1]

So why didn't you have your own Domain name?

[#2]

Oh to be wise after the event

[#3]

I have had my Domain name for years.   

[#4]

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We would probably arrange for the fp sub domain to point to our own Homepages server, that way a customer could also put their own holding page/redirect in place should they want to.

No good at all a total waste of time
There would have to be a one to one redirection to an address space of our choice
I don't believe you will do that

[#5]

This is so confusing, I could cry...  Have spent 6hrs trying to find a way round this problem, so I can keep my website going...?
I have 271 pages to my website, have followed the plusnets little workshop to convert to FTP, nothing works....  I'm in a mess...  After 8years of being a plusnet customer, they are offering little help...
Yes frontpage is old, yes I understand the security issues, but please abit more notice, and some guidense would be of help.
I'm in a mess, someone please help

[#6]

remmington wrote: "I'm in a mess, someone please help"
What is the link to your site, then I may have a idea how to help!

[#7]

Well after 12hrs at the PC and spending £62.50 for a download of Microsoft Expression 3.  A solution was found.  Imported Frontpage files into newly purchased (up to date) software and then uploaded them to plusnet homepage servers, ftp://  htdocs files.   The transition from Frontpage files to Expression files did take abit of reading the softwares help pages, but if I worked thru it, I'm sure everyone else will manage it.
This software is very simple to use and very like Frontpage.  It works the same....   As long as you use the domain name http://www.(username)plus.com as your index page, the fp. prefixs are just links to your website.  And thus the loss of them should make no difference.
Microsoft Expression 3 is availible as a free trial download with 25 uses of it, if you fancy ago at this method before the £62.50 purchase.
I've been a customer fo plusnet ever since we first had a PC, in fairness to them they have been a good ISP over the years.  I do understand the server/security issue, but abit of notice and some tips for novices would have been very usefull...

[#8]

As a former user of FrontPage (from 2000 to 2006) I can confirm that there should be no problem in using a FTP upload directly from that software to PN's homepages, as prior to joining PlusNet I used an ISP that did not have FrontPage extensions. No need to buy additional software! I no longer have FrontPage installed on my PC but did manage to find the very simple instructions on the M$ help pages - just follow the second method titled "Publish Your FrontPage Web to an Unextended Web Server by Using FTP" on the link given below.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/198523/
Of course, if you have have made extensive use of the extensions then it's back to the drawing board.
Hope this may be of some help.
Cliff

[#9]

Quote from: stonechat

I am disgusted with PlusNet and I quit This is not notice - what a bunch of charlatans pretendeing to give a damn for customer service Go to hell I 'm going to find another ISP

I'm sorry to hear that. What sort of notice period would you have considered acceptable? I've tried my best to justify our reasons for decommissioning the service however if you'd like anything clarifying then do let me know.

Quote from: stonechat

Quote We would probably arrange for the fp sub domain to point to our own Homepages server, that way a customer could also put their own holding page/redirect in place should they want to. No good at all a total waste of time There would have to be a one to one redirection to an address space of our choice I don't believe you will do that

If I'm honest I'd say you're probably right. Even pointing to the Homepages servers is going to involve us having to maintain custom DNS entries for a handful of customers.

Quote from: remmington

Well after 12hrs at the PC and spending £62.50 for a download of Microsoft Expression 3.  A solution was found.  Imported Frontpage files into newly purchased (up to date) software and then uploaded them to plusnet homepage servers, ftp://  htdocs files.  The transition from Frontpage files to Expression files did take abit of reading the softwares help pages, but if I worked thru it, I'm sure everyone else will manage it.

I'm glad to hear you've found a solution. Feel free to document the steps you took in our Community Support Library if you think it would help others.

Quote

I've been a customer fo plusnet ever since we first had a PC, in fairness to them they have been a good ISP over the years.  I do understand the server/security issue, but abit of notice and some tips for novices would have been very usefull...

We'd have liked to have had some more comprehensive guides, but each persons website is unique and we've not got a licensed copy of MS Expression in the office. What do you think would have been a more suitable notice period? It's not outside of the realms of possibility for us to change this.

[#10]

It was only when the access to the frontpage servers was disabled I looked on the forum and discovered that you were even considering discontinuing frontpage support.
This is clearly wrong, you should have forewarned people
Also You should re-enable access to the frontpages ervers, so that people can put warning notices on their pages.

I have put a lot of effort into my website and I and the people I refer to it rely on the addresses remaining the same.
As something that would have been part of long term planning, a period of 6 moths would not be unreasonable.
I can get another ISP on LLU and host my website elsewhere for what I pay no so I can see no reason to stay with Plus Net

[#11]

PS I have to say this is the worse ever own goal by PlusNet
Remember every disatisfied person here is telling at least 10 other not to use Plusnet

[#12]

Isn't it just the case that every frontpage site needs replacing with a .htaccess file that rewrites fp.* with www.*?

[#13]

Only if that is what the user wishes
I would prefer a variation on that

[#14]

Quote from: stonechat

It was only when the access to the frontpage servers was disabled I looked on the forum and discovered that you were even considering discontinuing frontpage support. This is clearly wrong, you should have forewarned people.

A post was made to our Service Status feed. You can subscribe to receive these notifications by either Email or RSS (have a look at the links in my signature).
Also, you do understand why we disabled editing/publishing access don't you?
[quote author="Bob Pullen"]The reason we took this decision was to help safeguard you from a recently published security vulnerability that could potentially have put your FrontPage data at risk.
Our customers' security is important to us and whilst we recognised that disabling access was inconvenient, we felt it the best course of action considering the circumstances.
We couldn't forewarn people as we had no way whatsoever of knowing about the security vulnerability in advance. Would you rather we left access to the servers possible knowing that your data could be at risk?

Quote

Also You should re-enable access to the frontpages ervers, so that people can put warning notices on their pages.

Which is possible on a per user basis. The following is an excerpt from the FAQ here.
[quote author="Bob Pullen"]3. How can I get access to my webspace so that I can move my files?
Due to way FrontPage works you will probably already have a locally stored copy of your website that you can upload to another hosting platform. If however you do need access to our servers to download a copy of your website then you can request this by raising a ticket to our support centre here.

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I have put a lot of effort into my website and I and the people I refer to it rely on the addresses remaining the same.

We're going to try and flip DNS so that the FP addresses point to the Homepages platform. As I mentioned earlier though, it's unlikely that we'll be able to point traffic to an external host.

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As something that would have been part of long term planning, a period of 6 moths would not be unreasonable.

Crikey! Six months is a *very* long period of time for something like this. There wasn't a great deal of long-term planning involved due to the circumstances under which we had to disable publishing access.

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I can get another ISP on LLU and host my website elsewhere for what I pay no so I can see no reason to stay with Plus Net

Will that ISP support FrontPage extensions? If it does then I would urge you not to make the same mistake again. It really isn't sensible to rely on software that Microsoft have announced as 'end of life'. It's a shame you're wanting to leave, especially as it will probably cause more of an inconvenience than staying with us and moving your website to the Homepages server.

[#15]

I feel totally let down by Plus Net - I have built up my genealogy site for about 6 years with the obscure fp URL so hundreds if not thousands of people have direct links to their genealogy pages NOW the site is to be chopped and I have no means of updating the site to even tell people what is happening - absolutely disgusting. Where is this information on how to access my site actually posted so that I can update it - is this being kept a secret ? Time is running out and I think this will be my last month paying anything to Plus Net.
Neepdocker