The webhosting Co-Op that I run isn’t doing so well. It’s not that people aren’t paying, it’s simply that there are not enough paying customers, and waaay too many free customers (that’s my own fault, mostly). So, right now, I’m paying $60/mo out of pocket, *and* I have to add new accounts, deal with billing, troubleshoot problems, deal with spammers and hackers, handle security upgrades, and scream and yell when the server is running too slow for my tastes since there are so many people on it.
It just isn’t worth it. And I really don’t need a dedicated server. Not with companies like “DreamHost”:http://dreamhost.com/ offering exactly what I need, with all of the features I need, at a price much lower than I’m paying now. So, I’m thinking about switching. If any of you have something good or bad to say about DreamHost, I’d like to hear it. Though it isn’t much, I’ll award my referral to the most helpful of you.
Furthermore, for those that are hosting with the Co-Op now, if I decide to move to DreamHost, I would recommend that you do the same. If so, I’ll be happy to help you move your data over, and duplicate your current setup. If you’re willing to pre-pay for a year out, you’ll actually save $0.05 over hosting with the Co-Op (assuming you choose the lowest plan, which has all the features you have now). If you’re not willing to pre-pay, there’s a $49.95 setup fee.
For those of you that I am currently hosting for free… in most cases, I won’t be able to any more because I’ll have to pay extra to host additional domains. However, there are a couple of you that I can (basically, anyone who I am hosting ONLY a gallery for, and doing so at a subdomain of one of my domains).
If I decide to make the move, there will be at least a one month transition period and I will let you all know what’s in store for you and where you’ll be when every thing’s said and done. For those of you that have pre-paid with me in advance, I don’t have any way of figuring that out since I never bothered to keep any really billing records, as you all know. So, you know better than I do. If you pre-paid and will now have your service cut short, let me know and I’ll send you a refund.
And, again, let me know anything you can about DreamHost. They look pretty solid but, any first hand information you can add will really help me out.