72 replies to this topic

[Saint]

I just had an idea that might (might) make P2H a worthwhile investment for HostCell. Is it worth formulating the idea, or is P2H definitely closed to new members?

[HCN-SeriesN]

Promoting p2h and taking time to approve new accounts is something I am considering a waste. Why? Cause unlike the old users we have, most of the new players only like to spam.

[loremar]

I suspected that seriesn has no faith with post to host.

Not to advertise other hosting sites but I just have to show the good prospects of post to host. Besides, hostcell is no longer offering free hosting so I figured other free hosting aren't competition anymore since people who look for paid hosting won't be interested with free hosting sites. Besides, they don't offer premium upgrades. So I guess it's safe to share this.

Just today I discovered a thread from freewebhostingtalk dated June 2006. The OP criticized post to host, how it isn't a profitable business. Bondings, the owner of frihost defended the prospects for post to host.
The thread:http://www.freewebho...-Small-Question

5 years later, Bondings is cheering his 1 millionth forum post:http://www.frihost.c.../vp-126701.html
It was dated June 25, 2011 the day before I joined frihost which is about a month after I joined hostcell. Most members are students and coders. How active is their community? It's like me, reaper, aus, garry, northern, and sours multiplied by 100. That's how huge their community is. And you get about 5,000 posts per month. Though honestly, looking from their post statistics, the community is slowly dying. It's probably because the forums looks outdated. Not sure. Though I'm suspecting there's something happening behind the scene since Bondings is no longer showing up. It's already been a month since I requested for free top level domain and I'm still not getting mine.

Bonding's avatar->

Or could it be that post to host is already trending down? I searched for post to host and hostcell, stonerocket, and frihost is no longer displayed on the front page, just a bunch of threads. Plus, my hosting account got banned from stonerocket for no clear reason and when I came back they're already banning other members one by one.

[loremar]

There's also another interesting post to host that I joined the same day with frihost. It's knowledgesutra.com(Again I'm not advertising them, you are free to remove my post if you like, I'm just sharing this if maybe in case p2h is back on the plan). I actually think they're doing it perfectly. And looking at their forums, they're effective. I was to decide between knowledgesutra and frihost because I was interested in the free domain offer, but looking at how frihost is not responding to my requests, I might switch and besides knowledgesutra is doing everything automatically. So I'm certain that I'm getting freedomain from them. I choose frihost because I thought their forums were a lot more fun and knowledgesutra's forum was just a little bit too intimidating for me. There were too many smart members doing long paragraph posts and for an unexperienced like me, I was shy to post in there.

Anyways I think their system is very interesting. No need for Account Creators. Members get their hosting account and free domains in their billing page like this:

You can actually get as much as unlimited hosting depending on how much you post. And by looking at their forums you get smart ass members discussing about almost anything. I think it's quite effective.

How they do it? They have a point system called myCents much like HCMoney but in their system, once you get 100 myCents, you earn one US Dollar. Everytime you earn 100 myCents your billing page gets updated to add 1$, usually takes a day or more to update. So from above, I have to earn 200 myCEnts to get a free hosting account with a subdomain. I looked at my profile and I have 43 cents from 6 total posts but that really depends on the size of your posts,
Here, the details of myCents system:http://www.knowledge...e-registration/
They're actually strict against one liners/spammers. If you do it frequently you get a warning from moderators, usually shown as a status bar below your avatar to remind you. Plus, I think one liners doesn't pay a cent, so you have to post long paragraphs to build more cents.

The idea in post to host isn't really centralized on hosting, that's what I observed. It's more on gathering webmasters to build a community. Hosting is just like the icing on the cake to keep members motivated. If people are gaining profits from this, that I'm not sure.


I think the previous set up for Hostcell was a lot more charitable.That's why it died off quick. Even the current p2h is also merciful. Strict posting a month is how I think this kind of business should be run.

[HCN-SeriesN]

I might open up p2h back, But do not feel encouraged. But then again, I might have a better idea, may be combining my webmaster forum and hostcell we can get a job, But the only issue is advertising. It is really difficult to advertise both free and premium side by side.

And yes, I was really merciful with p2h plans. But If i start back, I might do something manual. You post a signup application, we approve and manually create your account with higher posting req. But TBH-Offering plain free hosting such as my other project bammz.com is easier then hostcell. But yes, loremar do have a point. Let me hear what the other members has to offer. Because right now there is around 15 p2h users but we can name only some
Sours,
Reaper,
AusWeb,
Loremar,
Garry,
Sid,
karman.
mezzi
The rest? One liners. Who are on their way to loose their account.

[HCN-Northern]

HCN-SeriesN, on 25 October 2011 - 08:17 PM, said:

The rest? One liners. Who are on their way to loose their account.

just remember my mates account is in the P2H side (this is just a reminder)

[HCN-SeriesN]

O ya almost forgot. I think I have linked him with you though, so your post ads him up

[gxjenkin]

I think p2h is great for some projects, but not so good for say a blog you hope to get listed and use for the long term.

Free or p2h plans usually don't have great Support which is one thing Hostcell excels at. Normally, with Free Hosting or p2h you have a longer wait for Support if you get it at all.

I think the way you have it set now is best. Its not "open enrollment", but if you need Free Hosting ask, and have a good reason.

[the_reaper]

really? only 15 p2h members left? and me number 2 on your list? coooooooooooooooool

i agree with garry - getting new users to post on the forums to ask for free hosting (with a valid reason) is a good option.

[HCN-SeriesN]

Yep this is exactly what i have in mind.
And about 15, was able to convert a bunch but 70% of old hc users were either abusing or inactivve so chopped em off.

[Saint]

HCN-SeriesN, on 25 October 2011 - 08:17 PM, said:

... One liners. Who are on their way to loose their account.

Heyyyyy!

[HCN-SeriesN]

[Saint]

loremar, on 25 October 2011 - 06:56 PM, said:

Strict posting a month is how I think this kind of business should be run.

By quarter or by 6-months, perhaps. But some poor bods spend over a month in hospital or so medicated that they can't cope with paying their credit card bills, let alone posting!

[HCN-SeriesN]

Hey I let every one slide (you should have known by now sours)

[Saint]

loremar, on 25 October 2011 - 06:03 PM, said:

... I figured other free hosting aren't competition anymore since people who look for paid hosting won't be interested with free hosting sites...

1. One wonders how many other hosting sites Colonel SeriesN owns under aliases?

2. It still seems sensible to me to learn about webmastering on a free host, and only pay for hosting when you outgrow the free offers.

[HCN-SeriesN]

Who me? Not many may be 7 or 9 something in between.

[the_reaper]

7 or 9 isn't many?

[HCN-SeriesN]

Nah. After a while you get used to. I have a plan to reach 30 and then combine. They all are different niche
Blog hosting, free, forum,app hosting and so on.

[HCN-SeriesN]

sours, on 25 October 2011 - 06:51 AM, said:

I just had an idea that might (might) make P2H a worthwhile investment for HostCell. Is it worth formulating the idea, or is P2H definitely closed to new members?

Want to share the idea?

[loremar]

HCN-SeriesN, on 26 October 2011 - 07:02 AM, said:

Nah. After a while you get used to. I have a plan to reach 30 and then combine. They all are different niche
Blog hosting, free, forum,app hosting and so on.

Wow, I bet you're making lots of profits. Maybe in the future, you can do some charity works and offer free unlimited premium hosting for us? lol.