How Do Free W/H's Stay Alive?

[Richard]

The host is small (around 7 forums currently hosted) but I feel it is a valuable service to anyone who wants to use it. For some people it's all about making the internet better whereas with others it's all about the money. I hate people that are all about the money. They make life suck.

If you are in any way refering to my post. I would just like to add this;

If a free host is not making a profit, how long untill he decides that he can be doing much better things with the time and shuts down the free host? About 2 months.

If a host is making a profit, it means they will be more interested in the hosting and support.

 

[BMR777]

Well, there have to be limits with what free ad-supported hosts will do. Also, I believe that in life you can't let money drive what you do. Look at people that work in a job they hate just to make money. Are they really happy?

I'm not saying that all ad-supported hosts are bad. In fact, ads can help grow a free host. I have observed, however, some shady practices by free web hosts that serve ads. The best example of this is CJB. They are a VERY popular free web host but it clearly puts money above their users. They attempt to install adware onto users' PCs without consent by attempting to trick their users. When it gets to the point when you forget about the user and put money above all else that's when things go bad.

Other free hosts that display ads may also be unknowingly contributing to the decaying state of the internet. Some of the ads on Google Adwords are downright dangerous from a security perspective, linking to adware and spyware sites. While the hosting company may not be aware of this, they are, along with Google, contributing to someone's profiting on an uninformed user who is tricked or bated into downloading adware.

Also, to this statement:

A correctly run free host will give a profit, not a loss.

There doesn't always have to be a profit or a loss, sometimes it can just be a kind jesture. You can run a free host with excess space. If you own a server with X GB free and have more bandwidth than you will ever use, and you are using it for something else already, than why not give away the extra free space? You don't have to gain or lose money. It's like someone who owns 4 cars. You can only drive one car at a time, so why not put the others to good use. As long as you paid for the gas, and you know you won't use it all before it all dries up (hosting fees) why not let someone else use your car? It doesn't hurt you.

BMR777

 

[Tree]

Because it's business. To stay in business, you have to utilize all of your available resources. And free hosts must make money some way. Often it is through advertisements.

 

[PaulP]

Because it's business. To stay in business, you have to utilize all of your available resources. And free hosts must make money some way. Often it is through advertisements.

I disagree completely. Like said before it could be a nice thing to do for other people. It depends on the motivation to run a free webhost.

If you call this business then don't talk about free webhosting. Business=Money and Free webhost=FREE

I do not make any money with my free webhosting but I learn a lot from it... that is my motivation, it also helps me in my full time job.

And as long as I have a job, then my free webhosting will stay (FOR FREE, no advertisements or posts needed)

Getting in touch with other people around the world is nice too, making them happy with something they could not afford is great. And again... all the tools are already in place to setup a free webhost without the need of being afraid that it cannot last for a few years.
So paying bills is not a problem, the hardware runs and the Internet bill will be paid anyway.

FREE still exists in this corrupted world of money :ditsy2:

Problem is that giving free webhosting invites far too many "bad people" with "bad intentions". So you must choose your users wisely. And not only that... being warned or even being threatened by paid hosting companies is absurd... But I see that as a compliment that I am running a good Free Webhost for nearly 1 year and many years to come.

Kind regards,
PaulP.

 

[X3r0X]

Personally, I dont make any money out of the free host im running now. I also dont intend to make money, for a long time at least, because I believe 728x90 ads really clutter up my website and forums. For the time being, im quite content running it as a service to people, I actually get enjoyment out of it .

 

[Chris L.]

I host out of my own pocket. I am 16 and have a job selling advertisements to NetOsmosis(.com)'s customers.
I am flexable with my ads. (they can choose any style floating, static, or geocities style)
If they put 2 ad styles up, I dubble there space
If they put all 3 and I get money from clicks on there site I 4x there space.
If someone passes an "English Test" they can request ads free web hosting accounts. The "English Test" is they must be able to talk to me via Skype (Microphone, not text) or allow me to mail them a code to give to me(to prove they live in the US)

Beleive it or not, 1/2 of my free accounts are Ad Free.
I do loose $10 / month.
I make up for it by selling PHP scripts (custom)
So thats how my site works.

 

[niyogi]

For most free hosting companies, it's an interesting experiment to see how much money they can make cramming as many customers on a server and running Google AdSense on them. Sorry guys - it's the harsh truth. :-D

Roj