Where are all the damn free web hosts going. They are all just either charging or shutting down, especially the ones without ads.

Have you noticed it :confused:

:confused:
:eek:
:bawling:
:angry:

Well, that is because banners are not worth much nowdays (specially CPM). They have to pay a lot for servers and bandwidth and they don't get anything in return, because banners do not pay like they used to.

In my opinion i never thought that ads ever paid what they claimed. Like there was a site called Mrmarketing.org that on one side had 63 ads, it got hime no where in the end.

:confused:

:cool:

None of them made any money, and they never will. Thank god they are dropping like flies.

Life is Good:)

well on one side I'm sadened by it that many are going under becuase it's always a shame when a company dies... :(

but on the otherhand it's nice to see them go becuase it means less junksites full of stolen content (especially for me) and of course more business for pay hosts :D

Huh? You mean all my competitors are going under? No they arent. It's just that everyone and their dog tries to start a free host on some $10 "unlimited" host which just never seems to work. Or they try to run a free host off of a RAQ....

Unfortunatly for you guys who are glad to see free hosts go, ours is doing just fine :D

Oh and I forgot to mention our free host has been in biz for over 3 years now..

hey you were looking for free web hosts?? i got some for ya.


www.worldzone.net
www.0catch.com
www.freeservers.com

theres lots more but cant think of them right now.

An example of one of those free web hosts for that tried to do it for $10 would be Portland or Isamillionaire. Portland are still going but 100 megs bw. They charge you a $10 if you go over.

The most monry i ever made off of ads was $200. That was one of those everyone.net ones.

In a way, I doubt if free (ad-supported) webhosting will ever die. Why? Because however fast advertising rates have been falling, the prices of bandwidth, disk space, etc. have been falling at least as fast -- and will continue to fall.

Ad-supported sites have been having trouble because they have "real people"to pay, ie they have costs to produce the content on which advertising is being placed; free hosts, however, get their "content" for free, so their primary expenses are direct, and decreasing. Yes, they still have to pay people to keep their servers running, but even that cost is dropping on a per-advert-served basis as servers get more powerful.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. They got to generate revenue somewhere on the line.

Didn't one of the free web hosts giants, bizland recently start charging for their hosting and they had a banner didnt they.

i am making 2500$ a month with adverisments

i cant name the site because its a rom/emulator site

but its the biggest one i have about 50,000 visitors a day with 900,000 hits a day

That explains the banner free hosts shutting down but what about banner hosts.

My theory is that as hosts begin to bring out cheaper and cheaper packages, people aren't as bothered about spending $50 a year on hosting as they used to.

aw man i get like less than 50¢ a day from ads :bawling:

They are all going the same way as the FREE cars, FREE sex, and FREE money. The idea that hosting should be free isn't practical.

Where are all the free host? They can all go straight to hell I hope! Basterds!:mad:

It is not just advertising, advertising is a big part of it, but also the incressed amount of administation due to warez. I am shutting down main for 2 reasons, money and warez. I really can not mentally putup with it. I offerd 75megs, and 3 meg file limit. I also allowed ftp. I ran this twice, over last summer, then started it up again in march. The warez just got worse. My hard drives were FILLED with illegal files, one one month 18 gigs. It was non stop. They have these bots, one day I had 1000 signups from bots. I made it so they had to type in a random number listed on the page to signup. I did not think that they would scan the page for it everytime. Now free hosts are having it implimented with images so it cant be scanned. I was on a dedicated 1.1 symetricall line. 99 percent of the time it was CAPPED! I would deleted the warez files, but another one just shot up. I had 5 times more 404 pages then real pages used. So many 404 pages where being sent my logs where getting too huge wusage could not read the log files in times. Then of course there were client programs that keep trying to download a files even if it is a 404. So after deleteing I would have to block 5 users each time because every secend they were requesting stuff. The final reason I shut down was spam. Im on my last strike with them, the spam is not comming from my servers, but the pages are, so who do people go to? ME. So Next week I send out the notice and move to just paid hosting. I like hosting, just not all the pressures that free hosting causes. Since I stopped signups, there has been no work to do, eveything ecept support runs it shelf, and my line is only using 1/4 of its capacity.

My company used to run a free web host, we reached 8000 clients but we had to look at it and say, we ain't earning any money from this, and we have to pay. We did it without ads on their pages.

The only ads were on the home page. On top of that, ot wasnt just warez but other illegal material, we were sent threats by infopop and the canal +. The french media giant to get rid of web sites.

So i have to agree with you

hey...you can't imagine the pain for the website holder...everywhere you go the webhost disappears.New ones pop up.Sign up...your site disappears....



hey..is there really anything wrong with NICE PEOPLE? There are people blessed with money and if they wish to offer charity? Bill Gates?


What about something I have not seen? Non-Profits.Anything wrong with an organization or person just trying to break even?

The internet evolved as the great information superhighway.Everything was free.It seems the goal was education.Multi-Millions participated. Not that terrible an idea? (although realistic?)


Then the dot com.The only purpose of the internet is for-profit.There is no logic in any other concept. A fool that devotes one second or one penny to any charity cause is an idiot.



I do think its all headed for a backlash.I don't think the multi-millions want to come home from a hard days work and dial up to pay-pay-pay.A relaxing settle back to watch the tv and it turns into a vending machine?


I don't know if my theories make any sense but #1--We don't have a choice as to living in this world.Its not always easy. #2-The Cyberspace world.Sort of a 2nd life? Pay for both existances? How about paying nothing for life#2? Don't dial up.


Another is that most the world can't afford even an isp to dial up.Then dial up and pay pay pay? The result is an internet only for those that can afford it and 99.9% from the wealthier countries. A simple Geocities gave EVERYBODY the ability to make a personal website.


Well..as it goes I have lost my tolerance with free webhosting in 2001.My 2 jumps into paid hosting? TacidBlue/TacidHost.It seems the operator signed up 14,000+ people and disappeared at a TacoBell in Houston.



Next HostYard....The commander in chief of it seems a one man operation disappeared in South Africa.He's surfaced in Las Vegas,USA in desperate search for a FREE ISP.MAKE ANY SENSE? Hey..the full story is not known and 'dylan' has a reputation as a nice person so....hard luck? I still can't figure it out but one signup to hostyard=isp cost for 2 months in las vegas? Food,a place to stay,Transportation? I'm not trying to be funny but if he left an address probably somebody would donate him some help?


o...I signed up for WorldZonePro.No complaints.I can get selfish and think the free version I'm paying for but I'm all for it if it does not sink the ship.(I guess I can have a free site too) At least the place seems to be in contact with reality and makes adjustments if financial reasons make it necessary. They seem to be nice enough to do the unheard of..grandfather people !!!!!! Sick of signing up for a free site and get stuck with 48 hours to opt for the new pay plan? Or pay and get involved and rates go 3x ? (at least I think they grandfather people.By theory the internet changes fast and even if you had 23,000 free sites how long before it would be 20,000? 15,000? 5000? 200? if you cut the free but grandfathered people??...)


A plug for WorldZone? --have no affiliation.....


plus my experience? 500 free hosts that are like insects. Tacid,HostYard.....

I understand what you mean. But you have to look at it from our point of view. It is very hard to make things really free on the internet. For example dial up services. It takes a lot of money to do a dial up service, if you wanted low quality I guess a few thousand could do it. So a few thousand, now span that across the US. Who will fit that bill? Then you get into abuse. Its a simple fact of the internet I have learned. Give something free and plenty of people will abuse it. Take netzero. They offerd free access, all they asked for was a banner to be displayed. A simple banner for free service. I am willing to bet that a high percentage of them found ways to get around it. You would have people connecting and spamming all over the place, with really no repercations. When you pay, it is different. Not many people want to spend money and risk it getting shutdown. Do you understand what I mean? A lot is still free, I think especially education. With exception to a connection service, today for example I help a couple of students find information on greek gods very quickly and easy.

Please understand from a freewebhosters point of view. There is not much choice to not move to paid because advertising is making people nothing, and abuse is causing a lot of lawsuits. I have had multiple threats and one that almost turned into a lawsuit that would of cost 60k no matter what the outcome. It is now a very very hard buissness to give free access.

Hi If i tell you that i have a free hosting site <EDIT> then you would bew amazed to know that i am going fine.

The Reason... a strong Strategy and A Colaboration with about.com Inc. :)

Follow My Steps. I don't think that i might die in Near future.

Is your free web hosting ad free cos that would be evn more surprising.

zz4,
What do you mean by Grandfathered? The only thing I can think of is price changes such as the recent one from $36 to $48. Those who signed up at $36 will always pay only $36.

Then there are those long term Free members whom I grandfathered into Pro at a lower rate.

davidb,
With the large amount of free users we have, you'd be surprised at how little it actually costs. We are extremely tough on warez and porn alike, and have the methods to find and detect them in as little of time as possible. We have removed warez quite often even as they start uploading their stuff. If you have the proper tools in place, you can keep the cost minimal.

Our free hosting doesnt really even cover it's own cost, unless you consider that majority of our paying clients are those switching from the free side. Given that, the Free side is quite profitable. Well, actually free is profitable now even without that due the large number paying the $12 per year for no ads. I tend to forget about that revenue stream..LOL

But free hosting is very tricky to start, and stay in business. There's nothing easy about it. Worldzone literally died twice. First time, it completely closed. Second time it didnt take signups for about 8 months, maybe more, but no existing accounts were closed.

Free Hosting proves Unlimited hosting as a big lie. With all the unlimited hosts out there, Free hosts should be thriving....correct? I know some unlimited hosts visit here, and will be reading this. If you are truly unlimited, then offer me an account for Worldzone free. If it is kept clean of warez and porn, it averages only about 500 gigs per month right now and takes only about 40 gigs of space. Bring your $10 per month unlimited hosting to my attention and offer me hosting. You wont because you know you are a lie.

Sorry bout the outburst. I hear it from clients. They leave me for the 'unlimited' and they come back hurt. They always come back after a month or two with an 'unlimited' host....Yes it's a lesson learned for them, but if hosts didnt lie about what they 'really' offered, these people wouldnt get hurt..

My take on this whole issue is people who get something for FREE shouldn't complain about it. :D

Good-Luck to all the hosts that took all the effort and time to offer free hosting.

what is worse? free hosting or unlimited hosting?

you decide :D

[ Lord Replies Back]
Hi To All esp To Mr Londo , Mr Webdude , And All Others...

Mr Londo : I Have a Banner Site ie You Have to get a Banner on your site and also a free eZine. I Also give paid accounts.

Mr webdude: I Work with About.com's Reps and Myself to keep my Server Clean after all we both are in a strategic Partnership.

[ Lord Loves you all]

I think free hosts(most not all) give a bad name to web hosting. In gerneral they are owned by under 17 yr olds which cannot keep the sites running for more that 6 months!

Just my two cents worth

Originally posted by Nicholas Brown
what is worse? free hosting or unlimited hosting?

you decide :D


From my experience . . . .Unlimited hosting :eek:


:D

what about free unlimted hosting? like what i use to offer lol.

I think there are 2 kinds, those that just install software and those who customizing software. I spent countless hours hacking the scripts so I could provide ftp and a lot of other great features. I really spent so much time on mine, but abuse caused me to stop, I was up for more then 6 months though :)

Originally posted by Nicholas Brown
what is worse? free hosting or unlimited hosting?

you decide :D

Very easy to decide.

Since unlimited does not exist, there is only one choice left. :rolleyes:

I think free hosts(most not all) give a bad name to web hosting. In gerneral they are owned by under 17 yr olds which cannot keep the sites running for more that 6 months!

Sir What Do You Think? 17 yr olds cannot do business... Mind It Even Bill Gates was Just 16 When He First Got His First Order of Soft. Dev. [ Source Chip Mag ]

Originally posted by lord2001


Sir What Do You Think? 17 yr olds cannot do business... Mind It Even Bill Gates was Just 16 When He First Got His First Order of Soft. Dev. [ Source Chip Mag ]

I agree that you have to start somewhere...

But i still stand by what i say! I do think the reason so many hosts go down is because they are run by ppl that do not have experience with keeping a business alive. All these hosts coming out offering hosting with no banners and free this and that. This is not business its a joke...

The only reason this would be done is if the owner was doing it for fun, and if its just for fun, what happens when the fun ends.... i guess its time to pack up shop, eh.

You tell me why all the free hosts are going under and deny that most fwh are owned by under 17 yr olds!

Not all of them are just shutting down, some are introducing hosting but it is at a charge, like my company.

Other hosts are also doing this and mine ran for 18 months. You need to bring in bigger profits so they you expand.

By the way it is quite easy and totally free to start free hosting without banners.

Not all of them are just shutting down, some are introducing hosting but it is at a charge, like my company

We Buddy Even I Got Ever 5ive plans... 4 paid ones and 1 free one... actually it is just for begineers...