Does free game site hosting still exist?

[Shawn]

Myself and a fellow former Evilavatar poster (please put down those rocks) are going to create a new gaming culture site based around some unique ideas we've had. We're in the planning stages right now and I can see that the landscape for finding web hosting has changed pretty dramatically.

Does anyone know of any places that will host a new site for free or will we just have to pay for it ourselves?

[SpoofyChop]

Myself and a fellow former Evilavatar poster (please put down those rocks) are going to create a new gaming culture site based around some unique ideas we've had. We're in the planning stages right now and I can see that the landscape for finding web hosting has changed pretty dramatically.

Does anyone know of any places that will host a new site for free or will we just have to pay for it ourselves?

1997 called, they want their business plan back. :twisted:

No seriously though, I would be really REALLY surprised to find out that anybody is just giving away hosting these days.

Good luck though! :D

[GMicek]

Does anyone know of any places that will host a new site for free or will we just have to pay for it ourselves?

Check out Selected Hosting (http://www.selectedhosting.com). I've been with them for about a year and have never had any problems, even when we've had months of heady bandwidth usage. A nice group of guys, no doubt. Take the plunge and spend a couple hundred for a year. If you're not willing to spend that then maybe the website really isnt worthwhile afterall?

[chet]

Well if you are going to spend money - which you are going to have to. You can always try http://www.poehosting.com which actually hosts QT3 for free, but that is a special deal we would would not normally offer, especially someone just starting out.

Or go with the place mentioned above that has - Unlimited Transfer, *cough* yeah, bandwidth is free... its unlimited alright. Maybe they will send fairies to your house and tuck you in bed as well. Go with anyone, I don't mind - but do not support someone who says they offer unlimited transfer, because it simply is not true.

Chet

edited because I am a moron who cannot type my own company url correctly.

[GMicek]

Or go with the place mentioned above that has - Unlimited Transfer, *cough* yeah, bandwidth is free... its unlimited alright. Maybe they will send fairies to your house and tuck you in bed as well. Go with anyone, I don't mind - but do not support someone who says they offer unlimited transfer, because it simply is not true.

You know what's strange? I would completely agree with what you said except Selected Hosting seems to actually honor that. An old host I went with (CI Hosting) had an "unlimited" plan but after doing about 40 gigs in a week and a half it turns out their idea of unlimited excluded everything except text. Gave SH a call and stated we would need at least 100gigs a month and they said it wasnt a problem. We've had our high and low days, sure, but there's never been a problem.

Well, either way, I've been 100% happy so far.

The thing about hosting services is that it's best to ask people who have had dealings with the individual companies, there are so many shady ones out there that it's next to impossible to know if you're going to get screwed.

[SpoofyChop]

You can always try http://www.poehosting.com

Chet...your link actually has a comma in the url and isn't linking correctly.

[Sean Tudor]

Well if you are going to spend money - which you are going to have to. You can always try http://www.poehosting.com which actually hosts QT3 for free, but that is a special deal we would would not normally offer, especially someone just starting out.

I just checked out your prices - their good. You're a lot cheaper than many other hosting services. $13/mth for 600MB and 15 GB transfer - damned good.

Hmmm I might switch over.

[Bullhajj]

I am a happy customer and can vouch for poehosting. The few wrinkles I had during setup were worked out fast, like within an hour or two. Easy to use web interface for most admin chores, an http email service that works great, and forums/faqs resources for do-it-yourself types. And you really can't beat the price.

[Shawn]

Well if you are going to spend money - which you are going to have to. You can always try http://www.poehosting.com which actually hosts QT3 for free, but that is a special deal we would would not normally offer, especially someone just starting out.
Funny you should mention that since we already decided on POE once we realized how absolutely useless it was to try and score any free hosting. It helps that you're involved with it as well.

Quick question, how the hell is your domain registration so cheap? Is there a catch? There's a catch isn't there? You want naked pictures of me don't you? You sick bastard.

[Dave Long]

Chet seems to have a good thing with poehosting. I wouldn't overlook it.

--Dave

[chet]

thanks.

For the domain we are resellers for godaddy's program wildwest domain. We just have our prices set at the lowest they will allow us. It is our little loss leader, where we actually don't lost money, just not make a ton.

If you have any questions before you signup just let me know.

Thanks

Chet

[Aleck]

As long as we're on this topic, anyone know of someone out there who does good web design cheap?

My partner and I are starting a small consulting firm (after both having been laid off!) and need to throw together a small, static website. I think we may end up with POE hosting for the hosting end of things (even though I did buy an old Cobalt Qube 2 just in case I wanted to host from home), but I need someone who can (cheaply) throw together templates and whatnot. Any suggestions? PM me if you think it's inappropriate to post your suggestions.

ASJunk

[Sean Tudor]

If you have any questions before you signup just let me know.

Two questions. When a domain is up for renewal I assume you send an email out to the customer ?

Also what do you recommend is the best webpage designer ? I'd also like to design a webpage that doesn't require me to manually enter in news entries. I'd simply like to plug a news item into a database and then it appears on the webpage.

Sorry the above is probably 100% newbie question but I have to start somewhere.

[Guido Jones]

I've been using POEhosting for my domain for about 2 months now, haven't had a problem yet.

[chet]

You get a few emails warning you your domain is about to expire. Also when you register the domain you can choose to have it automatically renew, so it will try and charge the card you used to signup with.

Sadly you will also get about 50 emails from other registrars, the worse being network solutions, warning you your domain is about to expire. Those you can ignore.

For content management many people like the new PostNuke (http://www.postnuke.com/) which you can ask for us to setup when you signup. Other people like Moveabletype (http://www.moveabletype.org/). The thing with moveable type is, because of their user agreement, we cannot officially offer it with our hosting. But if you download from their site and upload it to yours, you can email us to help you "finish" the install.

If you see any other package you would prefer let us know, we are always looking to add new software to our installs.

chet

[Bokonon]

I've been with poehosting since it started with 2 of my sites. It's really great, and Chet is a great guy. Easily worth the money.


As long as we're on this topic, anyone know of someone out there who does good web design cheap?

I do some web design every now and then. I designed my site Planet Hate (http://www.planethate.com) and wrote most of it in PHP (other than the forums, those are Chet's baby). I could possibly help you out.

[Shawn]

I've signed up with POE Hosting and Chet has been fantastic so far, highly recommended!

Now if only someone could wave a magic wand and let me suddenly understand how to edit my PostNuke site without going insane :wink: