Web Hosting Forum

**Danthrax** · 03-05-2005, 10:47 PM

A little word of warning here to anyone looking for free hosting.

I have been in the web hosting industry for some time and have seen the best and worst of free and paid services. I'd like to warn users about the risks of using posting for hosting services.

The posting for hosting method is one of the least trustworthy systems. 99% of hosting services who use that method do not last longer than a few months. Usually they oversell, meaning that they offer people more space/bandwidth than they actually have, to suck users in. Those services end up with an "account suspended" message after not long. Secondly they generally have no stable source of income which is the main thing that leads to their downfall. Relying on ads for income is very risky. Also a lot of posting for hosting services are insecure and can often fall victim to many hack attacks. I would advise against posting for hosting services unless you are sure that that paticular service has been around for a long time.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a flame or bashing, just a good lesson for web users to learn if they're ever looking in the free hosting area. I hope this helps.

**burghbiz** · 03-06-2005, 02:16 AM

Good post... Nothing is ever free if you think about it....

**Duport** · 03-06-2005, 10:28 AM

Thirdy what is the posting for hosting all about, what is the reason in this?

**Anacrusis** · 03-06-2005, 10:49 AM

Maybe he just got burned by one of these deals and decided to tell everybody.

But you always wonder what the intentions are when you see this kind of post by someone with only 1 post.

Danthrax, you are right about free hosts. But it's not just "posting for hosting" sercices, it's most ALL free hosting and even some paid hosting that you'll find poor quality.

**Danthrax** · 03-06-2005, 04:43 PM

The reason for my post is that I see a lot of people advertising for this kind of free hosting, and a lot of people don't see the reality behind it. Myself, i've never lost anything due to services like this, I just feel that it needs to be said to maybe save people some time.

And yes, you're right, paid hosting can be just as bad, cheaper isn't always better.

**RollerC** · 03-06-2005, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burghbiz

Good post... Nothing is ever free if you think about it....

They want their forums to become active, so they usually make poeple post before getting space

**ORiN** · 03-07-2005, 04:37 AM

The service provider will usually have ads on their forums. Getting people to post means getting more traffic more page impressions though I do not find that effective. I personally provide sponsored hosting to websites that I think have a defined plan and know what they are doing. Doing that means I have to stick to a manual way of doing things instead of automating all the processes. I provide the sponsorships through advertising inventory, thus the service is much more reliable compared to post-4-hosting.

**dojo** · 03-07-2005, 04:52 AM

I had already an experience with webmanage. They seemed OK, until after 1 week they moved servers and started asking for donations. I lost my site (they told us to backup, I lost it online, I had the backup offline) and then had to recreate the forums you have to post in.

I think the were OK, but I found out I should be more attentive when it comes to free hosts. These people are doing an awesome thing, they offer service for free, but still they need to make a business plan. Althugh free, hosting should be OK. In the end we get angry to see our sites reduced to nothing, especially when we started promoting and developing. If we have to use free hosts (some of us cannot afford topay yet), that doesn't mean we don't work hard for the sites

I would adivce people to be careful and have backups and other oportunities. For the people offering free hosting .. think well. .. can you do it in the long run? If so, it;s ok. If not, maybe try to have some other money makin gopportunities so that you can sustain the service.

**ORiN** · 03-07-2005, 05:01 AM

For my case, I have been providing free hosting for the past 5 months and I try to keep a uptime of 99.5% each month. What frustrate free web hosts the most is usually the abusers of the free service and on some occasions, some webmasters don't even have a concrete plan of what content will the website have. Bascially, I try to stay away from greedy people who make big requests when they don't even have an existing website.

I do have sponsored clients who are using up quite a bit of bandwidth but I am still able to stay in the black with plans to upgrade my server in the near future.

**Duport** · 03-07-2005, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dojo

I had already an experience with webmanage. They seemed OK, until after 1 week they moved servers and started asking for donations. I lost my site (they told us to backup, I lost it online, I had the backup offline) and then had to recreate the forums you have to post in.

I think the were OK, but I found out I should be more attentive when it comes to free hosts. These people are doing an awesome thing, they offer service for free, but still they need to make a business plan. Althugh free, hosting should be OK. In the end we get angry to see our sites reduced to nothing, especially when we started promoting and developing. If we have to use free hosts (some of us cannot afford topay yet), that doesn't mean we don't work hard for the sites

I would adivce people to be careful and have backups and other oportunities. For the people offering free hosting .. think well. .. can you do it in the long run? If so, it;s ok. If not, maybe try to have some other money makin gopportunities so that you can sustain the service.

lol the guy makes me laugh, he offered me 50GB diskspace when there was only 23GB left on the server and had no idea when I ask him a few server config questions...

I seen the offer he has brought on Ebay (Reseller)

**Danthrax** · 03-07-2005, 05:31 PM

Yes, ORiN, people do abuse free services, but running a free hosting service also involves protecting the legitimate users by having a strong ToS, detecting abuse early, and preventing it. It can be difficult, however it must be done.

Backing up is always a good idea, most hosts that go down do so without any notice. And it's also good to know where the server is located. If the company is trustworthy.

It seems simple at a glance, but there's a lot to think about.

**designcodes** · 03-08-2005, 06:01 AM

I think those who are offering manual free hosting accounts can avoid abuse as of automated accounts.

**ORiN** · 03-09-2005, 12:50 AM

That's what I am doing. I manually scan through the applications and usually, I try to avoid giving hosting to teenagers. They always start to have a lack of interest after a while. I basically only make free hosting offers to webmasters that I find promising.

**Smokeydogg** · 03-09-2005, 04:27 AM

free hosting sucks if you pay for your hosting you get so much more and you have full control over what goes on your website as long as your host allows the content you wish to put like porn cause so hosts dont allow it but you can always find a paid host for what you want

free hosting is a bad idea dont use it your site will never take off

**ORiN** · 03-09-2005, 09:39 AM

Actually, you sound like you have a bad experience with a bad free host. 'Free' hosting is actually not free because in more cases, the user will be 'paying' by posting in forums or displaying ads. Completely free hosts are the ones that I think will usually go bust in a few months.

**Danthrax** · 03-09-2005, 10:30 PM

Just wait for a free robust hosting system to come along. One that makes logical sense and won't go under. I can feel it coming, not long now