[maxhest]

Free web hosting makes some hosts cringe. But some, it spells $$. What do you think you should consider when opening a free web hosting? Should it be ad free or ad-banners/text links? There are many questions and ideas, how do you all feel about this?

[Plead]

Free hosting is just like any other type of hosting, don't dive in without a plan.

Be PREPARED, read what other hosts have experienced, ask lots of questions. Expect to get to get heaps of users and expect to get a massive influx from China also. (Trust me, once 1 Chinese person finds your hosting, they will post it on Chinese forums and it just escalates massively from there)

I wish luck to anyone who goes into free hosting.

[LP-Trel]

Free webhosting is like asking someone to shove hot needles into your flesh and drive them in with a hammer if you aren't prepared.

As Plead said there will definately be alot of Chinese signups if you don't control it properly. Also another concern is spam from free webhosting accounts and users uploading illegal content. You have to watch all of this very closely.

All in all I think its about the same as a paid provider, you have to be prepared before you open your doors.

[Plead]

Oh yes, automated signup is a horrible idea IMO.

This just leaves you open to people signing up just to spam and upload illegal content.

People like this don't want to wait at all and will also use a fake email, this is better for you so if you get a bounced email you can just delete the account right away.

Sure accepting new users manually can be quite strenuous but it does get easier over time and everyone is generally happier when they aren't on some overloaded server crammed with spammers.

[LP-Trel]

I'd say diabling the mail functions and offering small quotas would solve these problems but, then you run into other issues. Its all about being prepared.

[nick]

Yep - no mail on free hosting, if they want to use email, they should use their ISPs. If you don't want the Chinese, just block their IPs from accessing the server, not that hard...

But like Trel said, it's all about being prepared.

[LP-Trel]

Originally Posted by nick

Yep - no mail on free hosting, if they want to use email, they should use their ISPs. If you don't want the Chinese, just block their IPs from accessing the server, not that hard...

But like Trel said, it's all about being prepared.

Enter into free webhosting without being prepared.. I need a good laugh these days.

[nick]

You don't enter into paid hosting without being prepared either...in that manner, it's the same.

[LP-Trel]

Originally Posted by nick

You don't enter into paid hosting without being prepared either...in that manner, it's the same.

I'd say free webhosting is a bit more dangerous as there aren't as many ways to check if a user is looking to do bad things.

[Plead]

I wonder how people feel about first starting off offering free hosting (of any kind) just to try out the hosting scene before then going into paid hosting?

Do you think thats a good idea or nay?