Well, I won't take credit, that was actually Alexander who posted the fix.

The answers to your questions
1. REASON - Because PHP scripts in a shared environment and I suppose even in a dedicated environment don't need this function to work. It is an insecure function and the scripts could be written in a different way to accomplish the same thing.

2. COVERAGE - Yes, it only affects certain websites that use certain scripts that use ini_set()

3. ANNOUNCEMENT - Do you really want a couple hundred emails per week for all the changes we make behind the scenes? We do make announcements for major things that will affect all sites, but in shared hosting, some setting practically always affects one website or another on some server somewhere. There are too many variables about knowing who to notify and who not to notify. Its a bit different for dedicated servers as those settings are only changed when the owner needs them changed or requests them changed.

4. DIFFICULTY - The reality is that the owning a website is not a simple thing. It requires a basic skill-set that some people simply cannot grasp, and that others excel at. The former usually are not web site owners for very long. The later become successful website operators.

5. TICKET SYSTEM DOWN - The vendor that we purchased the helpdesk script from has a licensing server. Their licensing server was down, this the suspended page you saw one the 3rd party website that you clicked to. The suspended had nothing to do with you or GlowHost. Whoever hosts the helpdesk vendors licensing server suspended the site that holds the licenses. Everyone who runs this helpdesk system was down. Apparently it is back online as the helpdesk started working again yesterday sometime after we installed a temporary helpdesk solution. We have restored the old helpdesk and will be looking for a replacement soon. We were not aware that such a problem could arise and were just as surprised as everyone else when it was not working through no fault of our own, especially considering we own the script 100% it was a shock to find that anything remotely controlled could break the system.

Thanks for the other comments as well.