Web Hosting

[Gene Hunt]

In the light of recent issues (again) with Photobucket, I'm looking at buying my own webspace. It is all way over my head so thought I'd get a bit of advice from you guys if possible.

What is the difference between Linux and Windows hosting and which is best for me (primarily to host photos/videos and perhaps create a simple website with my own domain name)

What do I need to look out for as there appear to be so many options and prices available. I'd also like to have the ability to have a number of email aliases attached to the domain name too.

Any advice would be most helpful. Thank you.

GH

[D]

Afternoon,

If all you're doing is hosting images for your ProBoards forum what you need to look for is a shared hosting plan with a good amount of bandwidth (traffic). The Linux v. Windows choice would only really matter if you were buying a dedicated server. I wouldn't worry about that too much with what you want to do.

I'd personally recommend BigWetFish who I've been using for 10+ years now and who I know several other people here on PBS use. All of their shared hosting plans allow you to have multiple e-mail aliases. You can buy the domain at the same time through them. There are of course other options out there and if you need us to have a look over them for you feel free to post back.

One thing to bare in mind is just how much bandwidth you'd need. Do you know how many hits your forum tends to get every day? You should be able to work out how much bandwidth you need on your shared hosting account from that. Again if you want us to give further advice feel free to come back with some figures.

[Scott]

Hi Gene Hunt, unfortunately this is not something we would be able to offer advice on. I would suggest asking over in Managing your Forum or in General Talk.

I can move this thread to either if you wish, so you don't have to retype it.

[Gene Hunt]

Apologies for posting in the wrong area. If you'd be so kind as to move it to where it should be Scott I'd be grateful.

Thanks also D - I'll look into that and reply with any further questions in the relocated thread.

Thanks again,

GH.

[Boy_Wonder]

I just wanted to say if its just things like theme images you can host them on proboards using theme manager!

[Gene Hunt]

Nov 4, 2016 8:49:10 GMT -8 Boy_Wonder said:

I just wanted to say if its just things like theme images you can host them on proboards using theme manager!

Unfortunately not. There are hundreds of images posted on my forum in the threads and none are showing at he moment which makes it look a complete mess.

Thanks for the tip though.

GH

[♥ ℒʊ√ ♥]

If it's any consolation, I've used Photobucket for a decade as a powerseller on eBay, on my own personal websites and on our seven+ year old forum.

There are times they go down for maintenance ~ like many sites do.

But the important thing is they have never lost any data or images in all of the time I've used them.

When they return, there are no broken links or missing images to deal with.

All is always well when the site is up and running again. 

[Tommy Huynh]

I actually own a web host company. If you are interested, shoot me a message. I'll give you a good rate.

[♥ ℒʊ√ ♥]

Gene Hunt , I'm not sure if you got Photobucket's latest update

Update: Photobucket.com is now out of maintenance and the website is accessible. Our teams are working on a few remaining efforts, and some users may still experience slow page load times over the new few hours. We will provide another update as soon as all systems are 100% operational. At no time was any personal information and content at risk. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support.

(last updated November 5, 2016 – 9:04AM MST)

[Gene Hunt]

Thanks for the info ♥ ℒʊ√ ♥

I've noticed that all the images are now fully working on my forum, but am still suffering from ridiculously slow page load times on Photobucket itself. Anything between 3 and 5 minutes for the main page.

I have been pointed in the direction of a web hosting company called Hostinger - www.hostinger.co.uk/

It all looks good on paper but does anyone on here have any experience of Hostinger?

Many thanks for all your input. It is a great help.

GH.

[♥ ℒʊ√ ♥]

Gene Hunt , as the update says, they are still not 100% operational.

I got this email response I posted in another thread when this first began ~

The website interruptions are due to technical issues encountered during an upgrade intended to improve website performance. At no point is any personal information or data at risk. We know that our members rely on Photobucket to host and share their images for both business and personal use, and we sincerely thank you for patience and your continued loyalty.


So they're upgrading, which is where the problems initially began. I literally host thousands of personal photos and probably a thousand or more forum images on Photobucket and it's never lost data which is the most important thing for me. And I don't pay a dime so I can accept some downtime, as long as my data isn't wiped out.

I'm sorry that I have no experience with the host you're looking into.

But best of luck with whatever you choose to do.

[leif]

If you want some hosting, please PM me. I have plenty of room on my BigWetFish reseller. They're awesome folks, been using them for nearly a decade now.

I can do full cPanel access.

[Gene Hunt]

Very nice of you to offer leif and I'll bear it in mind - Thank you!

I have signed up with Flickr for the time being and will see how that goes first.

Thanks again.

GH.

[leif]

By the way, it's against Flickr's rules to hotlink unless you put a link under each hotlink to Flickr's image page. Keep that in mind!