Omnimaga
General Discussion => Technology and Development => Web Programming and Design => Topic started by: blue_bear_94 on February 24, 2013, 09:17:34 am
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Hello, I just found out from Netham that the hosting service I was using contained malicious ads. I'm searching for another service; do you have any suggestions?
1) The service should provide a decent amount of account and forum functionality.
2) The service should not be malicious.
3) The service should be free.
I was thinking about using Zymic (http://www.zymic.com/free-web-hosting/), though.
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What about Invisionfree? There are the following limitations, though:
1) Unless you use some Javascript-based mods, you can only use 1 skin at once
2) You can't install PHP mods
3) The software used, while having been heavily patched for security since then, dates back in 2003.
4) If somehow your board get hacked and someone deletes the entire forum, it takes up to 4 years to get it restored.
5) You have no direct MySQL database access so if you want a backup, you must either pay them and wait months to get it or you can use less legit ways such as a simplemachines Invisionfree converter found on Google.
6) I think you still need a separate host to host the forum theme images, unless you don't mind having them hosted on Imageshack and stuff.
7) Only 16 MB of file attachment disk space.
They also have Zetaboards system, but it also have its downsides:
1) You can't install PHP mods
2) If somehow your board get hacked and someone deletes the entire forum, it takes up to 4 years to get it restored.
3) You have no direct MySQL database access so if you want a backup, you can use less legit ways such as a simplemachines Zetaboards converter found on Google.
4) I think you still need a separate host to host the forum theme images, unless you don't mind having them hosted on Imageshack and stuff.
5) Each attachment can only be 250 KB each.
The good side, though, is that they've been around for over a decade so they don't have as much chance to go away as other free forum hosting. The only ads they have are Google ads. It's just a major hassle to get a database back if you ever decided to move to different hosting.
Otherwise, free hosting supporting PHP that is guaranteed to stay in service for more than 2 years and also have an uptime of over 80% do not exist. The only current decent hosting might be Alberthrocks if he trusts you, but its uptime is terrible. Same issue with 57o9 (which is gonna suffer a 6 months downtime for the 2nd time in 2 years).
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Otherwise, free hosting supporting PHP that is guaranteed to stay in service for more than 2 years and also have an uptime of over 80% do not exist.
It does.
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Nope. I searched Google and many people here tried many hosts and they all either:
1) Have terrible uptime (Withg, Heliohost, Xhosting, etc)
2) Are incredibly slow (Free, for example, is only fast in France, and Heliohost speed is just brutally slow, I really hope that Jacobly moves all his emulator/screenshot stuff out of Heliohost ASAP.)
3) Vanish entirely after a while (57o9 and Geocities, for example)
4) Have terrible support.
5) Requires your home address to send you an install CD (Free, for example, is very hard to use for people living outside of France)
If you know any existing host that don't do that, then please link us to them to back up your claim. And even then, I'm pretty sure that #3 will happen to them anyway since companies are all hungry for money or can't afford to offer free hosting. I am surprised that Invisionfree have even existed for as long as it did.
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Nope. I searched Google and many people here tried many hosts and they all either:
1) Have terrible uptime (Withg, Heliohost, Xhosting, etc)
2) Are incredibly slow (Free, for example, is only fast in France, and Heliohost speed is just brutally slow.)
3) Vanish entirely after a while (57o9 and Geocities, for example)
4) Have terrible support.
5) Requires your home address to send you an install CD (Free, for example)
If you know any existing host that don't do that, then please link us to them to back up your claim. And even then, I'm pretty sure that #3 will happen to them anyway since companies are all hungry for money or can't afford to offer free hosting.
I had no problem with #1,#2 and #5 yet (btw, Free is only fast for people who have Free as their ISP). As for #4, I never deal with the support, so I don't know. #3 is for sure the main problem. But once again, the hosts I use never went down, possibly because they also offer paid services.
A few examples:
http://www.000webhost.com/ : Has been here for a long time, I know someone using it and he told me it was OK.
http://www.legtux.org/ || http://www.kegtux.org/ : Those are powered by donations, and have also been up for quite a long time. ( ask http://tiemulation.kegtux.org/ owners for more details)
...and moar. ;)
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000webhosting is great. No ads, cpanel, and php5
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I know some good ones, but what one were you using before?
Ones I use: Webs, Google Sites, and Enjin all are great IMO
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@Excale yeah the issue about 3 is that the hosts often seem promising and have a good reputation for uptime in general, because, as you said, they offer paid hosting. Yahoo, for example, had paid (Yahoo) and free hosting (Geocities). However, after a while, those companies get hungrier for money and they decide to force everyone to pay, so they shut down their free hosting to redirect customers to paid services.
The other scenario is when a free hosting service is community-based; Most are donation-ware or accept no donation, but what happens when the owner loses his job and no donation comes in? It's game over. Donation-ware is particularly bad if a big economic downturn occurs and nobody donates in a long while.
As for 000webhost I do remember some people using it here and we often had troubles accessing their hosted images and files, but it was definitively not as brutal as Heliohost. Heliohost speed is just absolutely terrible.
@Annoyingcalc For Google sites, is it possible to get rid of the adult content warning that appears before accessing any site (even when they have no adult content)? O.O
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I know some good ones, but what one were you using before?
I was using UCoz (http://ucoz.com) before.
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I'd use withg because you have complete control of what goes on there to your site.
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OK, so I'm trying to decide among Zymic, 000Webhost, and Withg (link please?).
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OK, so I'm trying to decide among Zymic, 000Webhost, and Withg (link please?).
withg has a sign-up topic on the forum... I don't have the link on me, tho.
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000webhost is one of the best services I've ever used before; I'd highly recommend it.
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I have both a withg and 000webhost account, but I tend to use 000webhost for website stuff
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@Annoyingcalc For Google sites, is it possible to get rid of the adult content warning that appears before accessing any site (even when they have no adult content)? O.O
X.x? This never has happened to me
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@Annoyingcalc For Google sites, is it possible to get rid of the adult content warning that appears before accessing any site (even when they have no adult content)? O.O
X.x? This never has happened to me
For me it appears on almost every Google site including a calculator one that is perfectly clean (not even a swear word). Might be Google's anti-Opera features, though.
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I know a forum that has many offers of free web hosting, check it: http://www.freewebhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?18-Free-Hosting-WITHOUT-ADS&s=dae2338318ca5d1e59b332d2efdfe526
There are many offers of free hosting and others pay 2 post. But, be careful before choosing an offer.
I recommend you check the age of the domain of companies and only choose one with > 1 year (at least).
And make regular backups.
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Actually another decent option might be Proboards if you are trying to find a pre-installed forum hosting. It's a bit more limited design-wise, though, and you can't get the database (there was a converter built in the IF/ZB one, but the author got a cease and desist letter from Proboards).
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I decided on 000webhost, and my website is now available at http://uccp.webuda.com
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Do they offer PHP and MySQL so that you can host the forum there?
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Yes, they do. There's an installer for the forum stuff, but it's updating, so it's currently not working.
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And....what are the downsides of 000webhost? (exept of small size)
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Well, it requires a little setup before getting the accounts and forum ready.
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Make it use OmnomIRC as chat! :D
(I can help you with that)
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Well, thanks
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You're making a forum? What for?
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The Union of Concerned Calculator Programmers, of course.