The Letterville BullBoard: Free hosting dead or dying?

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Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :

A couple weeks ago, I got an e-mail from the folks at Bigstep.com. In the past, they offered free hosting in exchange for advertising space on your page just like Tripod and Angelfire. They will now be charging a modest fee and still force you to carry their banners unless you purchase a premium plan from them.

I got an e-mail from Photopoint today saying pretty much the same thing.

Is the free ride just about over?

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Warning: A well designed sign may cause fatigue due to increased business.
http://members.tripod.com/taylor_graphics
walldog@nc.rr.com

Posted by Douglas Worden (Member # 125) on :

Glenn it was never ever free...............you where still bound by inconvienence.

But the ride is about over. Those companies who speculated the market and gave the farm away to gain customers found out there is no loyalty in the internet community as a whole.

Hosting is cheap now anyways plus you get total control over how its run..........www.webcow.com

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http://www.doccyber.com

Posted by Brad Funk (Member # 1351) on :

$20.00 a month is worth not having to deal with those popups on every page. For yourself and your customers. Cant stand free hosted sites myself.

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Brad Funk
Artisan Signs
Phoenix, AZ
www.artisan-signs.com

Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :

I agree Brad..I pay a monthly internet access fee and that includes 10 meg of website hosting..no "popups" no "banners". I think that folks who use those sites "appear" cheap because they either don't want to pay for webspace or don't want to learn how to mount their own "real" website.

(I know that mine is real need of an overhaul )

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Dave Grundy
AKA "applicator" on mIRC
"stickin' sticky stuff to valuable vessels and vehicles!"
in Granton, Ontario, Canada
1-519-225-2634
dave.grundy@quadro.net
www.quadro.net/~shirley

Posted by Dana Aaron on :

I was really bummed when I got the email from BigStep. I basically use it as a place to post photos from. Yea, I have it set up as a site for the business I had, but have never made a sale off of it. I just used it as an on line portfolio.

And I really liked that it was easy to set up and use. I don't understand all that computer gobble-dee-gook stuff!!!

I guess we get space or something with the internet provider we have. I just don't know how to do stuff... guess I will have to learn...

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Dana Aaron
docs-gal on chat

I joined a health club last year, spent about 400 bucks. Haven't lost a pound. Apparently, you have to show up.

Posted by David Wright (Member # 111) on :

When Bigstep emailed me on the new charges it forced me to learn how to go about setting up my own site. Still learning but have page up on my own now. I found out that my ISP provides 10 meg free hosting for subscribers.
I then went to outputto.com to get url forwarding which basically is a way of giving you an easier web address and then forwarding it to your host without all the gibberish that entails.
Honesty. com and others all are going to start charging now too. Don't blame them, but they will find out customers don't value something that they used to get for free.

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Wright Signs
Wyandotte, Michigan
Since 1978
www.wrightsigns.outputto.com
All change isn't progress, and all progress isn't forward.

Posted by Brad Funk (Member # 1351) on :

David, what program was used to create your first page? It looks great. I have designed logos, buttons, etc. for our page but once on the net, look very jagged. Kindof like your new photo. haha

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Brad Funk
Artisan Signs
Phoenix, AZ
www.artisan-signs.com

[This message has been edited by AZBrad (edited June 29, 2001).]

Posted by Mike Clayton (Member # 723) on :

I use Dreamhost based in California. I have been with them for 4 years and have no complaints. I think the cheapest package is $9 a month for 30 mbs. Another good one is ohhello.com, $10 a month for 25 mbs.

www.dreamhost.com
www.ohhello.com

If you want to get your own plan and have more control, no ads, etc. try one of these two!

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Mike Clayton
MC Graphics
Barnegat, NJ
http://www.visualnoise.com/mcg/
mike@visualnoise.com

"I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused"

Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :

i had one at www.freeweb.com well they did the same thing...i guess they will have to change their name now to www.chargeweb.com
hehehehehehehehe

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joe pribish-A SIGN MINT
2811 longleaf Dr.
pensacola, fl 32526
850-944-5060
BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND

Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :

At $20 a month ya may as well get a real site.

I have mine hosted with www.web2010.com and even their basic sites offer some advanced stuff.

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Mike Pipes
Digital Illusion Custom Graphics
Lake Havasu City, AZ
http://www.stickerpimp.com

Posted by David Wright (Member # 111) on :

As far as programs to create web pages, I downloaded the trial of Dreamweaver and just didn't feel comfortable with it. Of course all of Macromedias programs are non-intuitive to me (maybe because they are Mac based). I have been using the shareware version of CoffeeCup software's Html editor and love it.
I am definitely going to purchase for $40.
With that there are a lot of java scripts you can cut and paste into your own file.
As far as images, I use Corel products and Eyecandy.
I just upgraded my old version of Fractal Painter (now Corel Painter 6) and it does some things other graphics programs doesn't.
Well worth looking at because of the fantastic digital effects that look like real world painterly ones.

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Wright Signs
Wyandotte, Michigan
Since 1978
www.wrightsigns.outputto.com
All change isn't progress, and all progress isn't forward.

Posted by Bob Rochon (Member # 30) on :

Not just web hosting is going fee based, Callwavw the free internet answering machine is going fee based now, and they still will have those annoying banners, So I geuss that program is going.

I refuse to pay for a service that is overrun with banner ads. No matter what the cost.

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Bob Rochon
Creative Signworks
Millbury, MA
bob@creativesignworks.com

"Some people's kids"

Posted by Mike Clayton (Member # 723) on :

If you are looking for "free" hosting, try here:
http://free.prohosting.com/

50 megs, cgi/ssi capabilities. They have ad banners, but for $25 a year you can have them removed. I used to use them, they have been around awhile.

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Mike Clayton
MC Graphics
Barnegat, NJ
http://www.visualnoise.com/mcg/
mike@visualnoise.com

"I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused"

Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :

David,

I love macromedia's products, especially Dreamweaver, and I'm a PC guy at heart.

I used to use FrontPage 98, then upgraded to FP2000 and got so frustrated with it I switched to Dreamweaver UltraDEV and havent looked back yet.
The things I like about Dreamweaver are the same things that turn other people off about it.. it's not designed for web idiots, but even so only limited experience is required.. it still works just like a word processing program.

I think Dreamweaver might be *too* simple, because it just makes sense the way it does things. You have to do everything, it doesnt think for you. It doesnt correct your mistakes or rearrange your HTML code if you happen to write your own.

My dad's biggest hurdle with Dreamweaver is the "PUT" and "GET" buttons... hehe.. I have to remind him DW was designed for MAC users, so PUT means upload and GET means download.

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Mike Pipes
Digital Illusion Custom Graphics
Lake Havasu City, AZ
http://www.stickerpimp.com

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