1. I don't mind having ads on my site if it helps Astahost.

2. This shouldn't be a problem for me. I usually find some topics that interest me and provide my feedback on them.

3. Nope. I never felt obligated to post here. I have some problems with my account (you might know about this already - see below for more info).

4. I think we have enough features for this free hosting service, but...see below again.

5. YES. I need this more than I need FTP. I know this has been mentioned many times regarding the bandwidth for cPanel, but I can NEVER get into my cPanel without waiting for 10-20 minutes logging in. And even then all my images are not showing up in cPanel. If I click on, say, the File Manager, that would take an extra 10 minutes or so just to get me to that page. I have no problems with this at my old workplace, but can never get this to work at home. I tried morning, afternoon, evening and night times.

6. Basically no. I actually don't need that much space and bandwidth. Just a decent amount like what we have now is great. I want to get my cPanel working though

Here is my feedback based on the questions you asked. Hope it helps:

1> Are you ready to accept ads on your website ?

-No, never! Unless there's something in it for us, then no. There are many other ad-supported networks that don't require posting, and if you start adding some, there will be no hesitation from everyone moving their site somewhere else and leave the forums dry.

2> Are you ready to make a small payment for not posting?

If we would, then we would all go to ComputingHost. Everyone here comprises of cheap people looking for a way to bypass paying. Otherwise, we would have paid a long time ago.

3> Do you feel that you are compelled to post? If yes, Suggest about other methods in which we can ask you to come up and support us. We are supported by advertising networks.

-Not really. Some people here might say they are, but that's just for your sake. You know so too, and if you want to test us, take away the hosting - this board will be dead within minutes...

4> Do you feel that the facilities provided by this host is enough for you. If not, what do you require.

-A hot tub. And nicer staff members. Both will do.

5> Do you require Cpanel. [ We provide the most advanced cpanel ]

-We all need cPanel. And Fantastico isn't the most advance, Fantastico2 is - but you're only reserving that for paid members.

6> Can you comprise Cpanel with more hosting facilites like space and BW.

-No, we will not compromise cPanel. Most free hosting users are amateurs who don't know enough to pay for hosting. Getting rid of cPanel will get rid of members.

Hi, Administrator!

I found Astahost through someone's "freebie" Web site. It did a breakdown of the best free Web hosting companies out there. I checked this one out because it's ad-free and I don't have to pay money for a really great amount of space (along with all the other benefits and perks that you guys offer here).

I prefer not to put ads on my site. The reason that I chose Astahost instead of one of the countless other free hosting sites is because I can actually do something constructive (posting in the forums) in exchange for Web space. If it came down to ads, I'd just move my site somewhere else or use my school's free Web space.

If it came down to paying cash instead of posting, I would keep posting. I really don't have any extra money to pay for Web space. I know, I know, it can be really cheap - just a few bucks a year, but I'm in college and really don't have much spare cash sitting around (hehe).

I'm compelled to post because I want hosting credits. HOWEVER: I ALSO like the fact that this forum is patrolled regularly by administrators and moderators who remove spam, plagiarized posts and other annoying things along those lines. I find that sort of junk in most of the other forums online, so I don't stick around in them very long. (If I want to wade through spam, I'll look in my e-mail account's junk mail folder.) I'm fairly certain that I would keep posting even if I didn't get hosting credits, but those credits definitely encourage me to keep coming back (I usually check in about once a day).

As for other methods of supporting Astahost: what if you came up with Astahost merchandise? You could do simple, inexpensive things like tee shirts and sell them (or maybe let us trade some hosting credits for them). I think plenty of us would want to get one, and wear it around a few times a month at the least. I live on a college campus with over 29,000 other students, so I have a really huge target audience that could be reached just by wearing a tee shirt or whatever.

You wouldn't make a killing off the tee shirts or whatever, but it would help offset the cost of hosting our sites AND get more inexpensive advertising all over the place (wherever we go, really) without much investment.

For what little that my site does, the resources are fine. I'm not going to speak for other people, as many other Astahost users definitely do a lot more with their sites than I do with mine.

As for cPanel: I really like it. I can manage without it, but I don't really feel like investing a whole lot of time or effort in my web site. If you visit it, you'll notice that it's just a bunch of my tangents/rants/whatever. I'm not trying to make money. I'm not trying to attract a whole bunch of worshipful sycophants. I'm not really trying to accomplish much of anything other than a little stress relief. If you take away the simplicity of managing my site, it's going to become more trouble than it's worth.


Overall ... keep the aforementioned things basically as they are. You can probably find some creative ways to help offset the costs without taking away the most compelling features of Astahost.

I'm here mostly because its a free host for MySQL+PHP .. something that isn't easy to find. At least, not easy to find quality hosting of the two. Another reason I came to Astahost is that there were no forced ads. I can't stand horrendous flashing banners at the top of my page, or 100 pop-ups every time a user clicks a link. However, I have Astahost.com listed on my "Credits" page, listed amongst others who have helped with the site, submitted content, or whatever. I feel I owe a thanks to my host, so I provide one. I'm sure most users have no problem with this optional link they could place.

You could also provide buttons. I'd be willing to stick that on my credits page. Heck, I'd even post ads on the credits page with a note to help this host stay alive. I do, however, draw the line at gaudy banners and links everywhere. If Astahost goes to that .. it's probably off to another site for me.

Keep it how it is!

My review still stands, guys - !

So lets see, what brings me here...

Well, first of all, the hosting plan is unlike anything I've ever seen. I mean, it has so many features that even paid hosting doesn't offer like PHP and Error Pages all in an easily configured Control Panel. And for free! I mean, it does sound too good to be true, and it isn't that correct for me to call it completely "free." It all depends. If you have a lot of time in your hand and enjoy posting in a quality forum then it's all good. But if you're in college or some ivy league school that overworks you with homework, then posting would be a pain. If so, you'd best stick with ComputingHost, or paid Astahost hosting (email OpaQue for more information about that).

But what I hear many people complain about is the "One Strike, you're out" principle we have here in Astahost. I mean sure we use a 4 Intel XEON Processor which is better than what is used in Trap17 (XEON processors are okay, but not the best) but it's really easy to lose your site completely if you don't think before you land your post.

But all in all, Astahost is okay. I'd give it a 7/10. The reason I'm so negative is personally the posting problem. We have homework, we have lives! But I still like it here personally, it's far more better and reliable than other host (most other free web hosting, I give 5/10).

Just remember, plan before you start using the hosting. It might SEEM like the perfect free hosting plan but in the long run, it taps into your resources. Especially if you're a teenager. Studies have shown over 80% of those who make websites are teenagers. When your a teenager, this is the point where you are expected to work harder than you ever have in your life. And when you reach college, that's the part that determines your life.

But to those who can use it, enjoy! It's better to post here genuinely than if you feel you're forced to.

1) I have no problem putting an ad for Astahost on my site; you folks provide a useful service and deserve to get business. I am in the habit of putting banners or icons for my vendors on a site. I would prefer not to be forced to. I would also prefer not to be forced to put rotating ads on my site without being able to select them myself. I have no idea that Astahost's advertising customers will be appropriate for my readers. I, say, I could select advertisers in exchange or hosting credits, that might be OK.

2) At the moment, I would not use the option. I am disabled and want a buffer for when I get sick, etc., but your posting requirements are so low (1 credit per day) that I should be able to build up a reserve of credits without any difficulty.

3) I have no problem with the posting-based system and the number of posts required is quite reasonable. If I did not want to be required to post, I would not have signed up.

4) I suppose a clip-art library might be useful for people to get their sites rolling. It would save you storage since the graphics would be in a shared deirectory. Many small site operators do not have access to basic graphics for their initial content. I produce much of my own artwork, but it takes time to get everything together that I need. For that matter, I would have no trouble donating artwork a little at a time; I have released images under Creative Commons before. You could just create a common repository for members to share art, possibly in exchange for hosting credits, possibly not. For my part, I would not want to assign copyright, but would have no problem with CC or other shared-licenses. The repository might be an additional draw for advertising click-throughs.

I am used to ssh access to perform certain tasks much more efficiently. For instance, uploading a zip file and unpacking it in the right place is much faster and more efficient through a shell. In general, shell activities take less bandwidth and CPU for routine site maintenance. If you could provide a secure (and probably restricted) shell I would use that in preference to the GUI file manager. FTP does not make it easy to move, rename, or decompress files or other routine tasks. One ends up copying or doing multiple uploads much more than seems necessary. I understand that this is a security issue, but FTP has its own security problems. Sites like SourceForge do a good job of restricting the shell for security but leaving it useful.

Some decent junk mail filtering would be useful. I know that SPAM/viruses can eat up bandwidth quickly, only some of which is accounted for in BW quotas. The last virtual hosting site I ran, SPAM accounted for almost half of the monthly bandwidth. Automated greylisting works very well without having to provide much control to the site owner or burn CPU cycles. I have seen it cut SPAM by over 90% with no user intervention, no false positives, and reduced CPU usage in the mail server. SPF is also a very safe way to reduce illigitimate traffic. You can provide a little bit of help to users (some links and canned MX records) to set this up. I would be happy to do a HOW-TO in a bit.

5) I do not require Cpanel and would be fine with one of the free alternatives such as webmin/virtualmin. I have used Webmin extensively before.

6) If you mean, would giving up Cpanel in exchange for more BW and space be worthwhile, then "yes" certainly, as long as another means is given for configuration (e.g. Virtualmin).

Other comments:

I got here by seeing consistently high ratings on review sites. Astahost has a good reputation throughout the community.

Show off your member sites. A rotating ad with a blurb about a member site would be very nice. It might be much easier to convince your members to run ads for you if this is done.

As for SPAM and useless posts, try a more visible moderation system. Look at the way it is done on Slashdot or Slashdot-derived sites. Give your moderators some standard buttons to subtract points for various reasons and have those reasons show up in a log and in the post. That way, the user gets feedback about why they were docked and a new member looking at the forum has a yardstick. In the end, you cannot do anything about the blatant abuses, other than ban them, but the majorty will start to improve in order to improve their credit.

You do not provide enough to buy with hosting credits (that I can see). Ater getting your hosting packages, 1 credit per day is very easy to maintain. there is no reason to keep improving posts. The ability to trade points which you just added is a start, but think about giving the member other useful things to buy which do not necessarily cost you cash, such as letting them spend credits to advertise their own site somewhere in the astahost pages. Also consider Slashdot's practice of giving long-standing and active users moderator points at random intervals. That might allow members to participate more and give you a larger pool of volunteers.

basically best things about astahost:

- no ads
- php
- cpanel
- ftp
- excellent b/w and space
- finding this forum

to tell the truth i am atually about to buy some computing host hosting but i am plainly too lazy to get round to it so i havent bothered - i like the forums, i like the comunity and i can get some really brilliant help on most subjects, and i feel that i contribute as well. i dont really understand how astahost is commercially viable but all the same its awsome. i was concidering putting a 'hosted by' tag on my site anyway but havent done that either. I personally feel that a way of buying a sort of 'top up', say if something unexpected happens and keeps you a way from a computer, so that you dont get your hosting suspended for a certain number of days would be pretty good.

thanks all the same :D

asta support team are very very weak, they don't respond to your questions and requests
it is an disadvantage for a webhost

When my old host closed down from lack of money i knew there was no other free hosting that will offer what they offer, so i turned to forum posting hosting and astahost is the first one i tried, and it is so good that i will stay here for as long as i need to. Posting here is easy, as there are alot of topics to choose from. The system you have works great and i think you should stick with it.

Good job