[mort96]

Look I'm just a dude who happened to land on DO a decade ago due to podcast ads and now wants to move away from it. Not due to prices but because I would prefer a European alternative. I didn't bring up Russian spies and I don't know if there's any validity to that story, I just don't want to upload passport pictures to random services. Their competitors don't require it.

I'll probably find the time and energy to move to OVH or something some time.

[kuschku]

DO gave students $100 credit. Then required me to upload my passport, which they rejected. Then required me to pay $5 via PayPal just to verify me. Two weeks later they removed all the credit they had provided, without any warning period. I emailed them and explained that if something was provided without any stated validity period, EU law requires at least 3 years before it can expire. They suggested I delete my account if I don't like it.

After that experience (I've written about it multiple times in the past on HN), I really don't understand why people still defend DO.

[mort96]

That sounds pretty bad.

I don’t “defend DO”, I just use it for now; but as someone whose opinion on DO is at least neutral-to-positive, it is that way because I have never experienced what you did nor even read about similar experiences before. Your experiences don’t automatically impact my opinions without any form of communication.