Free hosting required, for dead user

[wetwetwet]

Admittedly this is a strange request, but no harm in asking.

I'm going to be dead soon . I have a website that I would quite like to survive for as long as possible after I'm gone (years) because the content is of a nostalgic nature and the users who do stumble across the site are generally very glad to have found such a rare gem.

Since I'm not going to be around to pay the fees, I'm looking to move the site to free hosting. Requirements are pretty simple:

• 25MB of space
• 2GB of bandwidth
• All plain static html, jpeg, gif files. (Maybe an swf too).
• No inactivity limit.

It's the last one that causes the problems. Most of the hosts require logins every month, or 6 months, or something, to keep the account alive. Or worse, they don't quote any terms and conditions, or use vague descriptions of the definition of inactivity.

I'm looking for a host that will keep a website around on the basis that it is receiving hits, has inbound links and a decent placement in google search results. I'm happy to have ads (although ads that don't break the html validation would be nice!).

[TaoPhoenix]

Dear Mr. Wet,

It turns out that I have been also researching sites that have no acitivity limits. See my thread for details.

Since it sounds fairly uncomplicated, I am happy to add a copy of your source files to my archives and make an adjunct page to help preserve it. I have built a spread of hosts specifically aimed at long term survival.

--TaoPhoenix

[TaoPhoenix]

I don't know the last gram of this part, but it's worth exploring:
Consider a Rename service to front your page. These hosts still wander around despite attempts at longevity. But if the redirector is intact, all that has to be done is to repoint the link to the current lead host. If a host goes under, I believe the search listing under the redirector stays intact.

Originally Posted by wetwetwet

...
I'm looking for a host that will keep a website around on the basis that it is receiving hits, has inbound links and a decent placement in google search results. I'm happy to have ads (although ads that don't break the html validation would be nice!).

[revolve3]

We can do this for you. We don't have "inactivity" limits based on logins. As long as you get at least a few hits per month, the site would be safe. And of course, I can always make sure the account is excluded from our inactivity scans for you.

We provide 1.5 GB disk space, 100 GB data transfer. I'm guessing due to the nature of your site, all the other features are N/A. We also have no forced ads so there is no issues about the HTML rendering. We have it all laid out right here for you: http://www.revolve3.com/?page=plans

[SitePenguin Ltd]

Well I'm sorry to hear that you'll be dead. I'd be willing to host your site for years to come for free. Our servers haven't been offline in months and because we own our own servers there is little risk of us ever disappearing. Since we are a paid and not a free host we're much more reliable than 99.9% of all free hosting companies out there.

However if your looking for a free hosting company that has been around for a while and doesn't require any kind of activity I'd suggest bravenet.com. I launched a site there about 6 years ago and have never logged in since and it is still up and running as you can see here:

http://wideworld2.bravehost.com/


(Side Note: This is a free offer from me to you and no one else. Your site will remain up as long as humanly possible. If you wanted we could agree to place ads on the site from a company like Google and donate the money received to a charity of your choice. I keep updating this as I come up with more ideas on how to help you.)

[Darksoul]

Even if a host is rocksolid for ten or so years it will eventually fail. Look at geocities, they finally closed down.

Your best bet would be to do what TaoPhoenix did (is doing - http://freewebspace.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2224602) and spread it out over as many hosts as possible. Make sure you include on the front page your dead or going to be dead so some of the nicer hosts wont just terminate you for inactivity.

Though I am curious on if this is a joke, or spam. Because your name is wetwetwet.. well, not trying to offend.

Best of luck, hopefully you will find a way to keep your site up as long as possible.

[wetwetwet]

Thanks for the replies so far, especially to those seemingly willing to make an offer to me as a special case. I must admit I'm a little uneasy about being considered a special case in this way from an organisation I've never dealt with before and would ideally prefer to find a general hosting arrangement where the publicly declared TOS serves my needs - obviously nothing is perfect and I don't expect the site to be around forever, but 5 years would be nice.

I will however continue to monitor this thread for any further replies and investigate these suggestions. Already it has turned up companies I'd probably never have stumbed across otherwise.

(Oh, and it's not a joke. The name wetwetwet... what can I say, it was raining heavily when I signed up... and it's the name of an 80's pop band here in the UK ).

[TaoPhoenix]

If it's just standard HTML, if you can get into the Internet Archive Wayback Machine that is this side of forever.

[.Bobby]

Your requirements aren't too high. I'm sure many companies are able to help you out there, and have your site up and running without any obligation of any kind on a regular basis. Though, it's weird for someone to say "i'm going to be gone soon", frankly.

[azoundria]

I think the big problem is:

Guaranteeing forever is a little like guaranteeing unlimited storage and bandwidth.

Because nobody lives forever. And even with the oldest company on the planet, they'll potentially be gone one day. In fact, there may come a day when the internet itself disappears.

But I never delete accounts with content, unless there's no traffic.

[TaoPhoenix]

That's just it gang, expect months of traffic lulls.