Bandwidth Exceeded Webpage - customer upset

[AffordableHOST]

This is what I've been told, regarding search engine listings and the bandwidth exceeded webpage:

" However, they all were blown out Google due to a moronic bug in CPanel. Cpanel returns in the HTTP headers are 200 error instead of a 509 error. Which means that the server is telling Google all is fine, and this site is one of thousands that voluntarily changed their home page to "509 Bandwidth Limit Exceeded." Which is exactly how Google is indexing these sites. Eventually Google will respider them, and their actual content will get in. However, until then they are Googlefucked and nobody will find them in that search engine, thanks to CPanel."

Any way around this? Fix??

--Tina

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[rpmws]

Originally posted by AffordableHOST
This is what I've been told, regarding search engine listings and the bandwidth exceeded webpage:

" However, they all were blown out Google due to a moronic bug in CPanel. Cpanel returns in the HTTP headers are 200 error instead of a 509 error. Which means that the server is telling Google all is fine, and this site is one of thousands that voluntarily changed their home page to "509 Bandwidth Limit Exceeded." Which is exactly how Google is indexing these sites. Eventually Google will respider them, and their actual content will get in. However, until then they are Googlefucked and nobody will find them in that search engine, thanks to CPanel."

Any way around this? Fix??

--Tina

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

How can this be a cPanel bug? when a site at 509 becuase of bandwidth .. and goodle spiders hit right then ..wouldn't it make sense for the spider to read the content? the 509 is correct. It's the content right? If a customer goes through the bandwidth .. we as web hosts do NOT want our servers feeding anything other than an error message while an account in over. Now if the web host doesn't notice in a few days that an account is over bandwidth and goodle happens to spider at that time then I can see a customer being mad at the host .. especially if the customer made aragnements in time with the host to resolve the issue of allowance. If the end user simply neglected to contact the host or decided to wait to see what happens .. then it's his fault .. not the host and certainly not cPanel's fault.

correct me if I am wrong ... did cPanel return the 509 errors on a working site?am I missing something here? Remember that Google wants to be accurate. If people search on google for that site and they manage to get a link to that domain's pages and they click it .. they will see exactally what goole saw right? a 509? right. Now if you are upset that once the site is restored that google still lists content as being 509, then you beef is with Google index frequency right?

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[AffordableHOST]

I have to tell you, your reply has generated ALOT of negative feedback. Also, there is now a very public thread in a search engine newsgroup about this. I beg you to reconsider. This is making BOTH of us look bad, because we don't have the access needed to be able to fix this.

Here is one of the more polite responses I've had:

" The problem is they aren't telling Google that there is an error. The HTTP headers indicate 200, which means "all is well." Google isn't seeing a 509, and that is the problem.

As far as Google being accurate, if 509 is returned in the headers then they know the site is down, and can respond accordingly. By returning a 200 with that error page, the
server is telling Google the webmaster has changed the site to that error page intentionally. The whole purpose of the returning error codes is to indicate to the world something is wrong.

Another way of looking at this is that if a site goes over the
bandwidth limit, CPanel instead of shutting it down hijacks it and replaces it with its own content. From the perspective of the webmaster concerned about search engines, just having the site totally offline would be much better."

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[rpmws]

Originally posted by AffordableHOST
I have to tell you, your reply has generated ALOT of negative feedback. Also, there is now a very public thread in a search engine newsgroup about this. I beg you to reconsider. This is making BOTH of us look bad, because we don't have the access needed to be able to fix this.

Here is one of the more polite responses I've had:

" The problem is they aren't telling Google that there is an error. The HTTP headers indicate 200, which means "all is well." Google isn't seeing a 509, and that is the problem.

As far as Google being accurate, if 509 is returned in the headers then they know the site is down, and can respond accordingly. By returning a 200 with that error page, the
server is telling Google the webmaster has changed the site to that error page intentionally. The whole purpose of the returning error codes is to indicate to the world something is wrong.

Another way of looking at this is that if a site goes over the
bandwidth limit, CPanel instead of shutting it down hijacks it and replaces it with its own content. From the perspective of the webmaster concerned about search engines, just having the site totally offline would be much better."

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

I see your point now about the headers.

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[AffordableHOST]

Of course.

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[PWSowner]

Do you realize that in the newsgroup, you quoted rpmws's reply and made it sound like it was a reply from cpanel? Rpmws is just another one of us cpanel users but in the newsgroup, the people replying sound like they think cpanel said that.

I made a note of it in the newsgoups.

It's true though. A 509 page should give the proper headers.

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[AffordableHOST]

My mistake, I thought he was from Cpanel's staff. The "Senior Member" title confused me.

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[PWSowner]

The senior member title is just the default title for anyone who has posted over a certain number of times. He didn't customize his title.

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[AffordableHOST]

Originally posted by squirrel
The senior member title is just the default title for anyone who has posted over a certain number of times. He didn't customize his title.

Yeah, its pretty obvious now that its been pointed out to me.

Does Cpanel staff read this forum? Are they pretty good about answering tickets (I think this is our first submitted)?

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[PWSowner]

They read the forum fairly regularly. As far as tickets, I've only submitted 3 or 4 in 2 years and usually got answers fairly quickly.

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[rpmws]

I can see where my post may have looked like it came from cPanel maybe. I should have read your post a little closer before I started defending the 509 error in general. Your point about the headers is valid.

Hey squirrel, looks like you been in this thing as long as I have. :D

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[PWSowner]

Originally posted by rpmws
Hey squirrel, looks like you been in this thing as long as I have. :D

Almost, but not quite.
You just go away for 3 months and we'll be tied. :p

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[bcolflesh]

Just want to add my request to have this major error corrected as soon as possible. Incorrect headers retrieved by Googlebot can financially destroy a site that depends on Google rankings - until this is fixed, Cpanel is not a viable solution for hosting sites that count on being indexed correctly in Google.

Regards,
Brent

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[rpmws]

Originally posted by bcolflesh
Just want to add my request to have this major error corrected as soon as possible. Incorrect headers retrieved by Googlebot can financially destroy a site that depends on Google rankings - until this is fixed, Cpanel is not a viable solution for hosting sites that count on being indexed correctly in Google.

Regards,
Brent

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

It could also financially destroy a trucking company if they sent their refer trucks out every day on long trips and didn't bother to keep track to their fuel they have in their tanks!

If a company makes enough from search engine rankings then it should have enough sense to pay attention to bandwidth warnings and make sure they have a host and hosting plan that will accomidate their bandwidth. If for some stupid reason they get turned off for bandwidth they should have no problem getting their host to increase their allowance within 1 hour. If google bot decides to make it's rounds during that short period of time then I guess it's just bad planning, bad practice of monitoring consumption and also just bad luck.

Having said that .. I do agree that this needs to be fixed. I also feel that a customer that depends on his or her web site could avoid this by "checking the gas gauge before they leave for a trip"

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[bcolflesh]

*snip nonsensical analogy*

I do agree that this needs to be fixed

Yes - errors need to be fixed.

Regards,
Brent

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[rpmws]

Originally posted by bcolflesh
*snip nonsensical analogy*



Yes - errors need to be fixed.

Regards,
Brent

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

Just curious.. how much sales from traffic do you think a site like this can generate while it has a "Bandwidth exceeded" page anyway? I would be more concerned about getting the site back online and making money first and take the chances with google bot.

How about when you manually susspend and site for non-payment or script abuse? I am not sure but does it have a error code? It's not 404 I know that. It's a page defined in WHM. The one I use says. "This site has been turned off for non-payment" well I have in the past found several sites I used to host by searching google for that phrase. Am I also required to return a header that will tell google bot to re-index later? I mean aren't we basicly debating weather or not continuing serving page headers (a hosted service) for a client that has already broken the (webhost pre-determined) allowance threshold. It could even be a matter of abuse that caused the limit to be reached. You want to make a big deal about continuing service at that point?

Again yes I agree ..the proper header is in order. But making it a priority I just can't see. And yes I can see where it could ruin a popular site. I can also see where if it was a freaky BW error and no one was available for soem time to fix it. I can see where that could get to a finger pointing deal ..and if google bot indexed at that time .. well that would suck for the site and the host. IF is was the hosts fault that the site was down for 509. If it was true useage then the webmaster admin for the site should keep track of those things to avoild the 509 in the first place. That's my 1cent worth anyway.

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[rfgdxm]

>Just curious.. how much sales from traffic do you think a site like this can generate while it has a "Bandwidth exceeded" page anyway? I would be more concerned about getting the site back online and making money first and take the chances with google bot.

What if it is a non-commercial informational site like mine are? And, what if it is a commercial site that depends on search engine traffic for almost all revenues? For those kind of commercial sites, being unfindable in search engines is almost the same as being offline.

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[rpmws]

Originally posted by rfgdxm
>Just curious.. how much sales from traffic do you think a site like this can generate while it has a "Bandwidth exceeded" page anyway? I would be more concerned about getting the site back online and making money first and take the chances with google bot.

What if it is a non-commercial informational site like mine are? And, what if it is a commercial site that depends on search engine traffic for almost all revenues? For those kind of commercial sites, being unfindable in search engines is almost the same as being offline.

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

I think you people are missing my point. I know it's like your site is offline. Hell it is supposed to be OFFLINE..YOU ARE OVER YOUR LIMIT for crying out loud. A site that depends on traffic from search engines that much should certainly be KEPT ONLINE AS MUCH as possible. I would say that the webmaster would make it his/her highest priority. non-profit, for-profit ..you name it. Small site, large site .. public service site or what have you. My point is keep the site working in the first place. If you happen to get burned by googlebot while your site is in 509 mode. Then I guess you don't pay attention enough to your useage or you are just plain unlucky as hell. In either case maybe the best thing to do is to keep your site up. You know google get's it accuracy by being accuarate. If it indexes at 509 then that's what you should see when you click google's displayed link for your page. You should be able to find it by searching for "509 Bandwidth Exceeded".

Maybe I am in a world of my own here. I know and agree the header needs fixing however. Good luck to anyone that run a "inportant" web site in 509 status!

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number:

 

[rpmws]

See works perfectly.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...+Bandwidth+Limit+Exceeded"&btnG=Google+Search

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[rfgdxm]

>Maybe I am in a world of my own here. I know and agree the header needs fixing however. Good luck to anyone that run a "inportant" web site in 509 status!

One possibility that you haven't seemed to consider here. It is possible for this 509 status to occur due to error or confusion by the host. You seem to think this will only happen due to the fault of the site owner. It could happen, and likely does in the real world, that the site owner wants to keep his beloved, pet website online, and tells the host to do whatever it takes and send him the bill. If that host is running CPanel and drops the ball, the host could destroy that site in search engines for months. In that case I'd say the host is morally responsible, and probably also financially.

cPanel.net Support Ticket Number: