does anyome know what happend to www.unlimihost.com ? The site has completely disappeared.......

I wonder if the 15 year old who owned it saw the bad posts written about him and changed his site/domain completely.

could be....who knows?

Either that or his parents found out about it, shut it all down, gave him a spanking he won't soon forget and he's like, grounded or something.

I can't say that I approve of these "kids" running hosting companies. It just shows what can happen on the internet. I accept that there are always going to be a minority of really smart kids who are perfectly capable of setting up a good hosting business delivering good service etc. and retiring billionaires at age 21.

However, it does not always work like this and chances are, a kid who's still at college will not be able to serve customer needs as much as a proper business would, so therefore, such businesses should be "encouraged" not to trade.

Phoenix - I remember a while a go, on these forums, you were starting a committee on young people running hosting compaines or something like that. What has happened here ?

I really do feel it is hard to determine if a hosting company is run by a youngster and a customer who goes with that company will end up disappointed with that service, bad press for industry etc etc.

Not good

But, you've gotta give it them for having the foresight, motivation to start up their own hosting company !

$0.02 worth.

I think your making a brave assumption, in that all the adult hosts are running their businesses as a full time occupation.

Just like a student many of them have other employment and are building their businesses up to a point where they can fully support them.

So as far as customer support goes, age doesnt really factor into it.

True. NTL a young person (teenager) is very likely going to have many more distractions coming at them very soon: Finishing High School, going to college, sports, socializing/dating, parties etc etc.

Adult do all that too but are general not as flighty.

Mr Chunder, I just put in a request to give you access to our discussion forum. The topic is a bit broader than just young people hosting-but that is one sticking point, drop me an email offline at phoenix@xensei.com and I'll give you more info.

Good point James, I know of a couple of hosting companies owned by adults but can only give their evenings to support. During the day they are working elsewhere.

I agree that there is a risk in hosting with a Company (or hosting provider) that is run by a young person (ie. teenager) but you have to admit there are some very intelligent kids out there and I have to take my hat off to them for being able to see opportunity and go for it! Are they choosing the right business? That is the question.

I think any opportunity to get a firm understanding of business principles at such a young age, cant be a bad thing. If they go on to run a different business in 5 years time, they'll still have learnt the basics, and be able to take that knowledge to their new venture.

I'm behind them 100%

Agreed, James, but I do feel that mentoring is a good idea, not just for the young ones, but anyone new to the industry. I had a guru when I first got involved in high-tech, he could answer questions that even Microsoft's level II engineers gave up on.

It's always a good thing to have someone who has 'been there and done that' to contact for guidance, a helping hand, pithy advice, or just a listening ear, when you find yourself and/or your business up the excremental watercourse with no means of propulsion.