in the TOS that you agreed to when you signed up it clearly says you have to log in to the FORUM at least once every two weeks, this is to ensure that you are active and still want to use your account (after a certain time of suspension the account is terminated). This is doneto ensure that the servers run as smoothly as possible, if they didn't there would be a lot wasted space on the servers in the end.
Another reason for the forum rule is that all news regarding updates, planned downtime and such things are announced here in the forum, so at the very least you should log in to check that regularly. No need for posting (I've seen other free hosts that require you to post x times a week as well)
If you wanna change hosting that is your decision, but truth is they are only doing what they said they'd do if you failed to follow TOS, in other words: If you don't follow TOS you get suspended. Serious breach if TOS may lead to direct termination ( making illegal copyrighted material available for download for instance, even hosting it could be a serious breach)
If you truly want your website to always be online, the only hosting that guarantees your site to be up is paid (here or elsewhere). No free host leaves guarantees of 100% (realistically they usually only guarantee a 99.9%) uptime, can't say I've ever seen a free host guarantee uptime of any kind though
the problem is:
1: the suspension algoryhtm is bugged. afer being active on 3/6/09, being suspended before 5/6/09, then reactivating, obviously active int he forums as i made the previous post. and after all that i am suspended YET AGAIN on 8/6/09. if you look at this it is not 2 weeks of inactivity, only 3 days as proven by the date on my previous post in this thread. now it is suspended again for inactivityonly a couple of days later. count the dates and you'll see that only 3 days have passed, not 14 days.
2: There was absolutely no warning email notifying of my website going offline. therefore it took some days before some friends noticed it and contacted me to let me know that the page was offline. now i find that it's been offline for a few days without my knowledge. an email notification would be appropriate if doing drastic actions such as suspending someones account! that would give people an opportunity to address the issue promptly instead of just letting it go unnoticed for some days. sending an email notification of these actions would be considered a sign of respect.
Edit:
(in my opinion) It's also better to go with a host that accurately states the limits of paid hosting than "unlimited" with "oops it's not" in the site's terms...
Also: You can remove the inactivity timer:
http://forums.x10hosting.com/payments.php .
I agree totally. i find it VERY shifty where sites claim to be "free", just to get you to sign up, only to wack you with some hidden costs/drawbacks where people are forced to pay. this is what i call false advertising, and in Australia companies can be sued for false advertising by claiming something different from.
I am furious with X10! i have used this service to set up a web page for my wedding, where i have included their web page on about 200 wedding invitations as a means of being in touch with people, showing directions etc. now i find that this service is a total flop, with my page being offline more than the time its been online. I'd change servers in a heartbeat if i hadn't already given the web address to everyone as the means of communication. changing the web address would mean having to contact everyone again to give them the new address, which is quite a pain.
it is somehow wrong for a company to claim to provide a service and not follow through with it. their approach of cooersing people to join "for free" and then forcing people to pay for the service to actually work is innapropriate and a shifty way of doing business. I honestly couldent care less about $3, but i refuse to pay them out of principle for them doing shifty business, lying in their initial offer, giving people suspension after 3 days of inactivity, and not having the decency of even emailing individuals when taking their web page offline.