Re: Am I unreasonable?

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

>>>>> "Jim" == Jim Schweizer <schweiz@example.com> writes:

    Jim> I just tried to chmod a file on my ISP's web server (yes, in
    Jim> my home directory) to find that permission was denied. It
    Jim> seems they've locked users out of practically everthing
    Jim> except ls, mkdir cp, mv and dele.

    Jim> Am I justified in being PO'd or should I accept this in the 'gaman'
    Jim> spirit of Japan? It seems to me that if you can't change the
    Jim> permissions on a file in your own directory there's something
    Jim> wrong!

If it's on the Web server, it's not really "your" home directory.  Do
you mean your shell account home directory, or just your home page?
Why do you want to change permissions on your home page's files?  I
can see why the admin might want to limit you to basically uploading
and file maintenance; I think they're being overly cautious.  (They
want control over CGI scripting; they don't want users to make
publically advertised files private, resulting in lots of complaints
to Webmaster.  As I say, I think this is silly.)  But they have the
right to impose whatever AUP they want to; the market will decide if
that's appropriate.  I would ask them why they're doing this, and
switch providers if you don't get a satisfactory answer.

On the other hand, if you're really talking about your home directory
on a shell account, I wouldn't bother asking them why they do it, I
would just switch providers, unless you're happy with a email and Web
publishing account.

-- 
                            Stephen J. Turnbull
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences                    Yaseppochi-Gumi
University of Tsukuba                      http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp/
Tel: +81 (298) 53-5091;  Fax: 55-3849              turnbull@example.com
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