Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with host

Recommend me a new webhost for my client, please

Thorzdad — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 09:22:04 -0800

My client is talking about moving to a new host. I need options to suggest. My client is (finally!) fed-up with Network Solutions for their web host. I'd like to recommend a couple of good possibilities to them, but I'm not really up-to-date with the options.

They're a small business (an adoption agency, actually) with a mid-sized website, all pretty basic html, no fancy bells-and-whistles. They average between 2.5-3.5 GB of bandwidth per-month.

A really good webmail option would be a plus. Currently, the staff hate NS's webmail interface to the point where they are all having mail forwarded to Gmail accounts (a situation I'm not entirely comfortable with given the sensitive, personal nature of a lot of their emails and, well, Google being Google.) The host's mail should have solid spam filtering that doesn't require each user mess-around with Spam Assassin or whatnot. Ditto for not using multiple webmail clients (for instance, my own webhost has you choose between three webmail clients each time you log in.) The fewer geek-oriented features for users, the better.

As for future site plans, there is always talk about having secure forms and, possibly, some limited sort of live chat, but they have never gone further than talk.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Obviously, cost is a concern (they're a non-profit) but almost anything has to be cheaper than NS.

Current host of Daily Planet?

cozenedindigo — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 04:47:44 -0800

Who's the current host of Daily Planet on Discovery Canada? Wiki tells me it's Ziya Tong, but there's another woman hosting with Dan Riskin. I only caught her first name (Jennifer) and google doesn't seem to be helping. Anyone know?

Let me entertain you and quiz you on random trivia!

lizbunny — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 13:08:08 -0800

I'm in charge of hosting a trivia & talent show night for a fundraiser. Need your advice and a few recommendations... We've got a party room in a local pub rented out, expecting about 40. People are responsible for their own drinks, but we've got a free appetizer buffet. We've only got five people signed up for the talent show (2 days away), my fundraiser lead thinks that's an ok number and we should still go ahead. Attendance was good last year and it seems people are planning on coming this year too. So we'll be riding largely on my charisma as host, our trivia, and my ability to get audience participation on-the-spot. I know it's mostly about just having fun with it all, but I've got a few things to ask of you:

1. One lady wants to sing a song karaoke-style, I'm not inclined to lay out cash for renting a machine and disks - has anyone tried out any good PC or Mac karaoke software? Preferably freeware?

2. What are some things I could probably get audience members to come up and perform? what mini competitions for prizes can you think of?

3. I need your favorite trivia / pub quiz databases and websites!

4. Links to good clean jokes to tell

5. Your tips/tricks of being a pub trivia master/host, and whatever else you can tell me about being the ringmaster of such events!

We'll be renting 2 wireless mics, I've got a laptop, and there's audio jacks to hook up to the sound board upstairs and pipe audio back down to the speakers in our room.

Thanks in advance!

I need a reliable download host that I can 'hotlink' for my band's website to download a zip folder of mp3's

rinsemedown — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 09:13:51 -0800

I need a reliable download host that I can 'hotlink' for my band's website to download a zip folder of mp3's As part of a promo campaign for my band's new songs we are building a one page website that will feature:

Artwork as the background
Two new songs streaming on Soundcloud embedded in the page
Download link for the two songs

I'd like it so when people click "Download" it downloads both songs straight away without taking the user elsewhere (such as Mediafire) to download the songs. Initially I was going to upgrade our Soundcloud account to premium and right click the 'download' buttons on the tracks and copy and paste the link location so the song starts downloading straight away, however it looks like you are unable to download more than one track at a time on soundcloud (I looked if you could download 'sets' and couldn't see anything either), so we would need to have two links for the two songs which wouldn't be the best.

So i'm looking for a website similar to Mediafire where I can right click, copy link location and have that as the download link on my website so when people click the link the tracks (I guess in a .zip or .rar) folder will just start downloading without taking the user elsewhere. I presume this is something that Rapidshare/Mediafire etc like people doing, so if that is the case what other inexpensive options do I have?
I have thought about using Bandcamp or LimitedRun or a similar website however I would like to have the simple, basic and clean website for the two songs.

Sorry for the essay!

Web host with best security against malware?

KimikoPi — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 10:50:03 -0800

What is the most secure webhost for a small business? I'm currently on bluehost and have had my wordpress sites repeatedly infected with malware. I read that a big portion of bluehost sites were infected. I figure that any high volume web host will be a popular target. Can you recommend any affordable web hosting company ($200 or less per year for a small wordpress site) that is extremely good at security? A smaller company is fine. I'm simply not aware of how to sort through the smaller web hosting companies. Thanks!

I've got issues

Terminal Verbosity — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:41:19 -0800

Please recommend a virtual magazine host. So, I edit an e-zine, which we host with a third party. That company, Bluetoad, is apparently at the center of the Apple UDID leak. Their website is now down and I'm on the lookout for something better.

I need a platform that will, in descending order of importance, do the following:

Take in a pdf and output an interactive e-zine

Enable linking

Have some sort of analytics built in

Display well in a magazine format on a computer as well as on a tablet

Not cost a fortune

One thing Bluetoad does that I like is keep a database of advertisers so that linking ads is not a chore

I have a domain name. I'd like it if the link to the magazine were www.domain.com/issue, not www.onlinemags.biz/domain-online/48332qwe45

Have pretty pretty page transitions, skins and other features

I've come across issuu.com and flippingbook.com. Do you have testimonials for these services? Would you recommend another?

Help me find myself, all suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Trinergy — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 19:12:11 -0800

I am lost, I am interested in being a positive influence to other people by making them laugh or helping them out with life problems. Need some suggestions. Hello guys, after doing lots of self-exploring, I've decided to take my question to the green. I need some suggestions!

My personality

The description for an ENFP personality is basically spot on for the kind of person I am. I tend to get easily enticed by the things that I'm interested in, and as soon as something new comes up, I drop the old one.

School / Skills

I am currently in my last year in university, I went from actuarial science to computing science to business to film to linguistics. I tend to plan a lot and the reason for these past shifts have been due to interest and also me having an internal conflict about whether or not I should be doing something for money or fun & etc. I chose linguistics because I found it easy and I seem to have a natural talent to picking out sounds and knowing how to properly articulate and pronounce certain sounds. (like telling my cousin-in-law where she placed her tongue wrong and where it should be placed when producing certain Chinese sounds).

In addition to the previous skill, I have also found that I have a good memory, especially visual memory. I can see a face on TV and say "hey, he/she looks like _____" and a lot of people tend to go "ohh ya!!!!" I also tend to memorize my notes visually much easier than knowing the concepts inside out.
I am also very good at improvising or making things that are completely irrelevant relate. This happens much more often in social gatherings when I make jokes and etc. Basically I can turn anything into a witty dirty joke.

I originally was planning to just settle and do a masters in speech pathology or audiology and get a decent pay and be on with my stable life, but i keep feeling like there's more. (Clearly I am not good with routine and mundane tasks) I want to do more. I get the biggest kind of satisfaction from helping people emotionally. I once started a music blog and stopped, and just one e-mail from a loyal reader who asked me how I was doing made my day. I love to make people laugh and I enjoy giving them advice.

Random: but ever since I was kid I always wanted to be a magician or have magical powers to impress/help people.

Please offer me some guidance/suggestions, I would REALLY appreciate it!

I've been thinking about possible careers such as:

Comedy Writer - Something I've been really thinking about but have no idea where to start. I always thought it'd be so cool to come up with funny commercial sketches for companies or anything that requires some sort of humor or good writing. (For those who are in this field or know about it, what should I do and where should I start?)

Voice Actors - I love doing accents, and impersonating characters, but not too sure of where to start. (for those who are doing this or know about it, what should I do and where should I start?)

Comedian - I enjoy making people laugh, only problem is I think I might have stage fright, more or less fear of failure. I always thought it'd be cool to do some stand up or be a part of a talk show (especially those crazy Asian game shows) < for those who know more about this, where should I start and how do I start??>

Actor? - Not as sure about this, most likely comedy actor?

Radio Host - I love sharing music and I think I would really enjoy being some sort of influential figure or just talking w/ someone or others. (For those who know more about this, where should I start?)

Something to do with Film or Entertainment?
I was a hardcore gamer and realized I want to devote more time to something else now. On my spare time, I tend to think about comedy sketches in my head or melodies I might want to produce. (I play guitar as some sort of spiritual/emotional release)

tl;dr I am lost, I am interested in being a positive influence to other people by making them laugh or helping them out with life problems. I had been concerned a lot about the financial aspects of things but now have been slowly crawling out of that mindset and want to pursue something that's fulfilling like traveling and doing a career related to the entertainment industry or some sort. I need some suggestions and greatly appreciate it.

Thank you so much for reading and I look forward to reading what you guys have to say!

[Hospitality filter] What has a family member done for you that made your visit the most comfortable and pleasant it could be?

Calicatt — Tue, 29 May 2012 13:05:38 -0800

My sister is visiting my tiny apartment on short notice and staying for a week. I'm touched she chose to visit me on her vacation and want to make her stay the best. How can I be the best hostess?
I'm thinking along the lines of having a nice, clean and fluffy bath towel ready for her, having her favorite foods in the fridge...that sort of thing.

Thought about getting an air mattress, but in my experience they are not that comfortable and spring a leak quickly.

Restrictions: thin wallet and tiny apartment.

Thanks!

Being an airbnb host?

lunasol — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:48:07 -0800

I'm thinking about becoming an airbnb host. Have you done this (or are you an experienced guest)? Is this a good idea, and do you have suggestions on how to make this more fun and profitable? I recently moved into a fairly spacious (800-900 sq ft) 2 bedroom apartment in a nice, central neighborhood of Seattle. I like talking to strangers and I'm not overly weirded out by the idea of having them in my home (I've done a lot of hostel traveling, couch surfing and random house-sharing). It recently occurred to me that acting as an airbnb host might be a good way to bring in a little extra cash and meet some interesting people.

Have you done this before? What are some things to think about, either good or bad, before deciding to do this? And some specific questions:

- The room that would be available is quite small (about 9x9 ft) - will this make it hard to find guests? The rest of the place is pretty spacious, with a large living room and kitchen, and a private deck area, all of which I would make available to guests.

- Speaking of which, how do you deal with kitchen and bathroom access? Do you give them a shelf in the fridge? Do you talk about morning schedules? That seems like it could get awkward.

- Interacting with guests - do you try to stay out of their way or are you friendly? Do you invite them to share meals with you?

- How do you deal with security, both for them and you?

- If this goes well, I may consider renting the whole apartment when I go out of town for work, etc. How do you deal with the logistics of that?

- I'm a renter, but it seems like a lot of airbnb hosts are. If you are also a renter, did you ask your landlord ahead of time?

Looking for Beetlejuice: The host with the most

karathrace — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:20:14 -0800

What do I need to look for in a higher end email host? I am going to take my domain and get an email host to provide that service rather than stick with commercial services. I definitely want IMAP, and push service for ios/android. 5GB of space would be more than enough, but I can see myself opting for up to 10GB. I will be the only user using this, but may want some aliases. Are there some cool nifgy features that I should opt for to make it easier for me, or more efficient. What I want to know is what I should look for, or what I should watch out for. A factor that I don't have to worry (much) about is cost, as I'm willing to pay bit more to get what I want. So any suggestions on features or hosts would be great, as this is my first advance into this territory.

new host

sgt.serenity — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:33:09 -0800

Anyone recommend a good domain/website host ? Finally getting a bit more net savvy after all these years - moving away from a use our template website type host - but where is the best place to move to ?

obv thinking affordability, good bandwith - that sort of thing.

thanks in advance.

I am not a Jill of all Trades or Web Technologies.

sio42 — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:31:09 -0800

WordPressFilter: Helping a friend...site was on one host, wanted to move to new host. Downloaded entire site into a folder from ftp. Attempted to just put this on the new host. Chaos ensues. I don't even know where to begin. I can fiddle around Wordpress ok but server/host stuff is beyond me. I don't even know what terms to use or what is going on. Someone else was supposed to be moving this site for him but now that's not happening. I worked on the site, but wasn't involved in any of the server/hosting stuff.

The new host for the site (same domain) does not have cpanel?!?! I thought all hosts had cpanel. So every tutorial and guide I can find has the user going through cpanel and/or phpMyAdmin to import the sql db backup.

The sql db backup is in the folder of everything that was downloaded from old host.

We have ftp access to the new site and wp-admin access, but no cpanel. So I'm confused. I've been trying to help for a few days now and my head hurts. I'm only getting more confused.

Please please hope me hope him.

Host For Photo Site?

justcorbly — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 18:45:52 -0800

Probably a perennial question, but stuff changes. I'm looking for recommendations for a host for a non-pro photo site. I've used Fiickr, SmugMug, and ZenFolio. I'm after a host that allows me to muck about with design, CSS and HTML, etc., but doesn't compel mr to admin servers or worry about installing security updates remotely. I can admin a server, but, you know, life's too short. Shared host is probably the best bet, but I'd look at renting a slice of a managed server. Basically, I just wanna build a site that looks like i want, upload photos, and be done with it.

Getting from concept to execution

The Winsome Parker Lewis — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 09:23:41 -0800

I'm developing a web app in Open BlueDragon with a MongoDB backend. So, uh... how do I deploy this thing, anyway? I installed OpenBD and MongoDB for a few reasons, one of which was price (you can't beat free!). Everything's coming along nicely and I love this platform. I was just obliviously writing code on my laptop when the thought occurred to me... I have no idea how to move to a production environment when the time comes. I'll break it down into five specific questions:

What are some reliable hosting companies that support both OpenBD and MongoDB? I don't anticipate needing oodles of bandwidth and I'm on a shoestring budget.
Could I use a BlueDragon host instead of OpenBD, without needing to change my code? What would be the pros and cons of that?
What do I need to know, in general, about making the switch from developer to site admin? With regards to security procedures, monitoring, and the like? The more of this my host will take care of for me, the better.
Should I be using GitHub? I never have, and don't really understand the point, but all the cool webdevs do it, so maybe there's some reason that I don't know about? An overview of the service would be very helpful for me.
More of a business question: How do I monetize this? It's a browser-based MMO space trading game. It's important to me that it remain free-to-play, free from ads, and with none of those Farmvillian in-game microtransactions. An acquaintance of mine suggested Kickstarter but I've never used it, and I'm concerned that it only pays an initial sum rather than an ongoing stream. I'm not looking to get rich here, just to cover my costs. I will have donation links in the site footer, maybe that alone would be sufficient over time?

Multiple control panels for website administering?

motorambler — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:51:27 -0800

We are a small company with 3 subdivisions, each with their own sub-domain: Main Website: www.widgets.com Sub Domain 1: things.widgets.com Sub Domain 2: stuff.widgets.com Sub Domain 3: morestuff.widgets.com Right now we can login to our webhost's control panel & admin our website. We are wondering if there's a web host out there that would give us a separate control panel for each subdomain so that the head of each division can admin his own subdomain?

Cast iron - did I ruin a pot?

makethemost — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 12:54:04 -0800

Cast iron pan question - did I ruin something at my host's house that I'm going to have to replace? So, I'm in Germany, living with a host who only speaks German. My German is decent, and I can get around, but I'm worried that I misunderstood my host's directions when it comes to her cast iron cookware.

So I scrambled some eggs, scrubbed it with a brush after I was done, and then put some cooking oil in the pan, rubbed it, and in my best knowledge, she told me to put it over fire. Well, I did that, but it caused some smoke, obviously. She came in, and told me the pan was kaputt, that it was burnt. I'm not quite sure if what I did is really irreversible. Is it? Can it be salvaged? It looks fine, maybe just some burnt cooking oil is all.

I read some on the internet, but not much helps me in solving such a silly question, that I'm obviously a little bit touchy about. I'd replace the pan if it really is a goner, and I'm not quite sure how to approach/explain to her if it really isn't either.

Maybe you could help me on both counts.

Fast web host for Wordpress and phpBB?

mamessner — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 10:03:52 -0800

What is the fastest web host for Wordpress and a phpBB forum? I've been with GoDaddy (I know, I know) for a while, and my main gripe is how slow my sites run.

Now I have an e-commerce site that consists of a Wordpress blog and phpBB forums. It often takes 4-5 seconds for pages to load, which is completely unacceptable, especially in the forums.

GoDaddy switched me to grid hosting, which seemed to help a little bit, but not much.

My questions are:

1. Is there an objective way to rate the speed of different web hosting companies?
2. Are objective measures of the speed of different hosts listed anywhere online? All I've found are affiliates promoting specific hosts, presumably for the commission.
3. Is there anything else I can do with my current host to speed things up? I've already put WPcache in place on my WP blog.

I'm willing to pay up to, say, $100 a month for a wicked-fast hosting plan.

P.S. - Your answer will immediately cease to be credible if you post an affiliate link below. :)

I'm Too Big and Dumb for My VPS.

kmel — Mon, 16 May 2011 10:03:09 -0800

I'm with a managed VPS webhost and apparently I've outgrown my current plan. Please help me figure out if it will be worth the added expense to move up a tier, or if there are things I can do to minimize my consumption of resources. I run a moderately busy (83K pageviews in the last month), image-heavy, ad-supported Wordpress blog. About a year ago I moved from a shared hosting plan to a managed VPS (I need the hand-holding of a managed plan, as I have no server admin experience). My site has never been exactly zippy, and now it's experiencing lots of slowdowns and timeouts that made me switch in the first place. The host tells me I just have a resource-intensive site and recommended moving up a tier to a more expensive plan.

I'm not dead set against spending the money ... maybe I am just spoiled by all those $5/month shared hosting plans of my youth. But it doesn't make sense to me that a blog would be too much for a basic VPS hosting package when these packages are typically marketed to be used for game servers, host reselling, VOIP, etc.

I also wonder if I should maybe look for an extra-robust shared hosting plan, since I don't have the experience to deal with a VPS.

Any guidance on what to do would be appreciated! Let me know if you need any specific site statistics.

Switch host with least downtime?

grammalvsu — Sun, 08 May 2011 10:57:02 -0800

DNS with 1and1. Hosting with HostPC. Something weird happened with my hosting account on Friday. I received a spike in traffic that suspended my account. They got it working again, but only partially. Email is still out of service after a few days. They say they're working on it, but I don't know how hard, and I can't risk being without it for much longer, so I'm considering now just switching hosts instead of waiting for HostPC to fix the issue. What host can I switch to that will propagate the fastest and have my email up and working as quickly as possible? 1and1 because I'm also doing DNS with them, or am I better off with someone else? Thanks for any help. (PS Any thoughts on the cause of my account troubles? The spike in traffic is suspicious as my sites have never been much frequented. And the reason for the continued email troubles appears to be because my email password file is now inaccessible. Is it possible my account was hacked or something?)

Thanks much for any help.

What gifts should we bring for our Icelandic hosts?

lulu68 — Sun, 01 May 2011 20:32:28 -0800

I'm looking for ideas for gifts to give our Icelandic hosts when I visit (accompanied by 2 friends) this summer. I am Iceland in July, and will be traveling with 2 friends. We will be spending time with a friend, as well as with his aunt and uncle. What are some gifts we can bring for our hosts? My friend is in his 20s and is a student, I don't know about his aunt and uncle but presumably they are in their 50s or 60s. We are coming from Canada. I am looking for ideas of things that are hard to find in Iceland, or expensive there and cheap in Canada, as well as any hints about Canadian gifts that a person from Iceland might actually like or want.

.org domain name for personal blog?

Devils Rancher — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:16:55 -0800

I want to but a domain name and .com is taken. Should I buy .org? I'm not an organization, or a non-profit. This will be for a topic-specific blog, and hopefully generate a little bit of income from product sales, but it's not a massive venture -- just a personal project.

Is it dodgy to run a blog that I will be selling stuff from on occasion under a .org domain name, or is that normal these days?

The owner of the "desired-name".com is a small-time seller of stuff in a totally unrelated craft-oriented business. Our products would not compete. All I could potentially be stealing from them is maybe some mis-directed eyeballs. Should I demur out of courtesy, if it's not actually someone I'd be competing with, or that just the way things go? Good domain names are scarce these days.

transplanting culture?

LN — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:43:20 -0800

What is it called when a language/cultural practice is transplanted to a new country, not by a diasporic group, but by interested members of the "host" country? I'm reasonably sure there's a name for this, and I can't remember it. Arg, sociologists, ethnographers and ethnomusicologists of Mefi, help, please!

Gift Ideas for Spanish Host/Hostess

Joleta — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 08:59:40 -0800

What should we take to Spain as a host gift for people we don't know who are letting us stay in their home for 3-4 days? We're spending 10 days in Spain next March. For four or five days we'll be in a smallish town visiting one of my husband's friends, whom he met when they both worked together here in the U.S. The friend has since gone back to Spain and lives with his parents. We have been invited to stay at their house for 3-4 nights and would like to bring a gift to express our thanks for their generosity. We live in the U.S. Midwest. Other than locally made chocolates, what can you suggest as a gift we could bring them? Preferably, the gift would be something smallish we could pack in our carry-ons, as I'd prefer not to check any bags (with bottles of wine, etc.). What have you taken as a gift from the U.S. to Spain or Europe in general that has gone over well?

Mom's night out for the social caterpillar

maloon — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:24:18 -0800

I want to be more social. Can you help me come up with ideas for hosting a mom's-night-out party at my home that isn't a jewelry, tupperware, pocketbook, home product party, etc. party? I want to get to know the mothers of my kids' friends a little better. I've been to quite a few of some of their home product parties and I admit I like the vibe of a quick casual get together that only lasts a couple of hours, perhaps falls some evening during the week instead of the weekend, and is a reason to have munchies and a drink or two. I don't want to sell anything, but I appreciate the ease of how those sort of "parties" get a group of women together. There seems to be a focus at a jewelry party that makes socializing easier.
I'm not really very confident about hosting something like Bunko or poker night, or a book club yet, but I won't rule it out yet if you can offer me your best tried and true tips. Also, I could entertain some kind of small benefit for a charity if you have any great ideas for that as well. Thanks for your help.

Help me find a web host that won't delete my files.

iamisaid — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:36:50 -0800

I'm looking for a new web host for my very low traffic personal resume/portfolio site. Caveat: they must be willing to host several non-copyrighted MP3s produced by me and linked only from the site itself. How might I go about searching for hosts that will definitely allow such files? Aside from being quite unreliable, my current host has routinely deleted the MP3 files I've put on their server, despite the fact that they are non-copyrighted files produced by me. I've argued with them about their ToS not prohibiting non-copyrighted MP3s, but my files are still removed - I believe through some automated process they routinely run on their servers.

Can you suggest a way to find web hosts that would allow MP3 files specifically, or some other reliable method of hosting these files off-site that would allow me to hotlink? Or, assuming it doesn't violate metafilter policy, can you suggest a specific host?

We're talking about a handful of spoken word MP3 files ranging from 2-15 megabytes. I would estimate that they're accessed a few times a month, if that. But they need to be there, along with the ability to run WordPress and a custom domain name.