No Confidence in SporeStack EU

Short Version

SporeStack EU is a whitelabeled provider that SporeStack does not directly run and only resells.

• You can no longer launch SporeStack EU servers through the website, API, or CLI.
• Backup all important data on SporeStack EU servers.
• Consider migrating away from SporeStack EU as soon as possible.
• There is no tangible immediate threat, but a strong lack of confidence.
• Feel free to request a refund on your remaining token balance if you no longer wish to use SporeStack.
• VPSs hosted with Slow Servers, Vultr, or DigitalOcean are not affected.
• VPSs hosted on Vultr or DigitalOcean in Europe are not affected.

You don't have to delete your SporeStack EU servers, but disable autorenew on them. They are paid upfront for the allotted time, so deleting doesn't do much for you. They might continue to run and be of some use until they are finally deleted on their expiration. But migrate away important workloads ASAP.

Past this notice and servers already paid for, continue using SporeStack EU at your own risk.

Long Version

As many of you know, I don't actually host SporeStack EU. It is a whitelabeled offering at a lower price point than Vultr or DigitalOcean.

While it has not been as stable, for most it has worked really well. I liked working with a smaller company and supporting them financially instead of a hyperscaler.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of communication from the upstream provider, I have to declare that I have no confidence in SporeStack EU.

What this means is that I can't trust that servers hosted there will stay up. It's possible things will be smooth sailing for months or years, but because of the long lapse in communication I have no reason to trust that bills are being paid on their end, that issues will be resolved, etc. I do not wish to be an alarmist or come to this conclusion prematurely, but your servers are too important to gamble with. I feel that my users ought to know in order to take appropriate steps.

While you should always backup your data, if you have anything important you should not put off backing it up any longer on a SporeStack EU server.

Unless the server is of minimal importance, consider migrating away from SporeStack EU. You could go to Slow Servers¹ or SporeStack's Vultr or DigitalOcean offerings. You could go elsewhere. If it's important, treat it as such. Again, nothing may happen but with over a decade of experience in the hosting business I am saying that I do not trust it any longer.

I don't have any great exit plan. The same Vultr or DigitalOcean server will cost more money through SporeStack. Slow Servers¹ is not in Europe, and many of you chose SporeStack EU to be in Amsterdam or Stockholm.

Ideally, I would have same-price plans ready to go in Europe, but I don't. I'm open to suggestions at this point. You can tell me if you would like to stay with SporeStack but on hardware that I manage in Europe, or if it can be anywhere. Or if there's a very reputable provider I can add that will replace the void that SporeStack EU is leaving.

I realize that many of you phased out your Vultr and DigitalOcean servers to save money on SporeStack EU, so this is a huge disappointment for you. And not all of you will find Slow Servers¹ relevant.

I have let all of you down by offering a provider that I can no longer trust after such a short time. I did vet and had reason to trust, but clearly not enough. I am very sorry. I will not whitelabel a host again. I think at this point, it needs to be a reputable hyperscaler or it needs to be hardware that I manage hosted at a reputable datacenter.

While Vultr or DigitalOcean could fail tomorrow, it would be unprecedented and no one would have such an expectation. They both have a trustworthy reputation for a reason.

This does bring up a final point, which is that the upstream provider has a small team. I am honestly not sure if it's a one man show, two man show, or several, but small nonetheless. SporeStack is a one man show, so there's a lot at risk if anything were to happen to me. I could get into a car accident tomorrow and services would be in some level of jeopardy or another. I have basic instructions and access information if something happens to me, but the transition would likely not be smooth.

It's obviously better to have a team here but I don't have the funds. Perhaps some day there can be a team behind SporeStack and Slow Servers so that it can keep persisting in my passing or if I'm suddenly unable to work, while still supporting my family.

Again, I am happy to refund you on your remaining token's balance if you no longer wish to use SporeStack.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this far.

-Mycelium

This was a follow up to this post.