Help me find what I will need

[Never_pay]

What I want to do is set up an image host.
Im sick of all the free guys going under and making promises they cant keep.
Im a user of the net and find that image hosting always comes with a catch!
They either only allow so much linking per day or bandwidth amount.And most the time dont last because they didnt THINK of the traffic they would get offering the free service.

I want to fix this.
I want to offer those that need images for msgboards such as sig's as well the now/currently playing sig's.
I will put a limit on the image size,but will also keep in mind that some images will be bigger than others.
I will also keep very close eye on where they are being linked at and who abuses.

Some may ask that this wont last and how do I get payed.
Simple answer is that Im sick of all the hosts making promises and offers and then dont live up to them and or shut down.
As I said before,I am a user of the net and find myself going from freebie host to freebie host and Im now sick of it.
I get nothing in return from this other than giving people what they want and that is a no BS image host.

I am still working out things such as scripts and what not and will fill in the details later.
What I need now is suggestios for hosts that will allow the heavy traffic of hotlinking.
I would like to get as much as possible for the cheapest along with a domain name in the cost.Might as well kill 2 birds with 1 stone there.

Things I will need are:
-PHP 4.1.0 or later
-GD library
-A reasonably recent version of MySQL
-Massive bandwidth Im sure due to the hotlinking

All other goodies will be used Im sure but for the most part,I just want to have a place to allow people the use of linking thier images.

Again,you may say it wont last or why would I pay for something others use for free.
Lets just say once up and running,the only way the service will be down is due to the host I pay for.Other than that it will be up for good.

If anyone would like to help and give me pointers,and not negative ones say how do you expect this and that,please reply and or email me here
Never_Pay

I want to get the cheapest I can but just give me options and I'll look at them all.

Thank you!

 

[MN-Carl]

Hello,

How much disk space and data transfer do you really require?

Edit: Re-read it... :biggrin2:

 

[CareBear]

There's a few things you need to understand.. cheap hosts are cheap for a reason. Either they cut down on support, overload servers or they oversell hoping you won't ever use what you pay for.
Most of the cheap hosts have a rather strict AUP as well which in many cases will prohibit you from using your webspace for free/paid hosting unless you get a reseller account.
How are you planning on controlling content for that matter? What if someone uses your service to upload child pornography? Or upload something like pictures of the dead american soldiers from a week ago. There was a post on WHT about how level3 moved down the chain telling the host to cut the client off if the images weren't removed.
A while back one of the servers of my host got blacklisted because one of the clients on that server didn't guard against hotlinking and one little button image was hotlinked from in spam emails while the site in question had absolutely nothing to do with the spam.
If you go for shared hosting many hosts aren't going to be very happy to take you in or if they do, you run a high risk of loosing the account once the abuse starts.
Read any of the posts from people who offer free web space and you'll see abuse does and will happen.
If you do want to go through with it though, I'd suggest getting a dedicated server to handle the load. $99/month will get you a server and 400Gb month transfer from RackShack. That should get you far enough along I think.
Best of luck.

 

[Never_pay]

I know abuse will and can happen,this is why I am still working on how to avoid it at all costs.
I wont allow porn nor images of dead persons.I want to avoid that sort of abuse.

Thank you for your reply though.
Always nice to see that others deal with lamers on the net that just abuse freedom

 

[AngelaAndJewel]

you ever been to http://www.smartgroups.com/

Is that sorta what you want?

 

[Never_pay]

AngelaAndJewel
Not really what I am looking for,but thanks for the reply.

I have done some thinking and I may have a solution to the 'BAD' image uploading.
I thought I could just use an upload script for users to upload a few images at a time.Once on the server I could have a look at them for evaluation first,then make them available.
Rather than just have people upload images and then use right away.This is how they would upload 'BAD' images.
I am stil thinking this through so it all works out for both me and the people who would benifit from the service.

I am still in need of some more suggestions for hosts so please keep them coming.I have recieved a few offers via email so.......

Thank you for your help in advance

 

[CareBear]

try giving a specific number for the monthly data transfer and amount of webspace. Even if you give two or three different numbers. I think it's more difficult for hosts to answer when they don't have at least those two numbers to go on.

 

[BlackStorm]

Hello,
I can do you a special deal.
Check out my website, www.custom-hosting.net
I will do you a custom plan to suit your needs and offer you it at a special rate
Although I will need some rough specs on what space/bandwidth you require.
Thanks,
John

 

[Never_pay]

Still looking.........

Im still looking at hosts.
If anyone else has offers,I would appreciate it.
Keep in mind that I would like the domain name included as stated above.Just one less thing to deal with as I forget things sometimes.

Thank you all for the help.

ALSO:
I have changed some of the ideas......
What I want to be doing is a free sig host.
By that I mean I want to be able to host sig's for people as well as winamp Now Playing sigs.
I will be having the setup for that as well.
I will have an upload script(as soon as I can find a good easy one to install) that people can upload thier sigs BUT NOT use then imediately untill I view them.I dont want the wrong images being linked from me.

Things are still in the works as I want to make sure all is well and nothing bad can come from a free image type host.

Thanks in advance for the help

 

[Never_pay]

*BUMP*

Still looking.
Hosting that includes domain name free is hard to find.

As for bandwidth,I think somewhere around 5 gig should be ok.
If I need to upgrade to larger amount I will.
Just to show what I am looking for,these are hosts I have looked at.
www.60Host.com and www.ipowerweb.com/ both offer free domain with hosting.