Heh - I dunno - We make mistakes msrosie.
Some may be harsh and call you on your mistakes, but we are humans, not perfect.
As you said there is really no way to tell if a company is going to stay or die, you really, just don't know.
I know with Rock N Rabbit - we were a local IT company before we even moved into the web business. We made sure we had money for the first year upfront and right off the bat we got hit by some bad server providers.
However with all the bad, gave us a lot of good. We have established many growing contracts with other companies aswell as met alot of great people who are customers of other hosting companies who bought plans annually and are regretting it.
I can help you out - if you have your files, we can get you back online.
As to Richards point - Sure he was a bit harsh and as you said rude, but he is stating the obvious. Some providers are angered by hosts like Siko because they simply add to the growing horrible shared hosting industry. However - I have heard nothing but excellent things about Richard and his solutions, so I know I wouldn't hesitate to deal with him.
Cheers,
Tyler