Support NeoGAF

[IrishNinja]

i currently pay $30 a month to Invision (they make the software the board runs on as well) for 1GB of space, which isn't so hot but the service is usually good and we've been with them for over a decade. Recently, they emailed me to say I was going to be forced to upgrade a more current version of the board (3.4.5) as I'm running a crusty ol' 3.2.something something version, which was never something they did in the past and it's really inconvenient, since it means all the custom mods/skins/etc will be undone, which is precisely why I tend to way a year or two tops for a stable new version worth upgrading to. I've got a few weeks to comply, but i'm really not happy with the precedent this sets & am shopping around for another host.

Thought it'd cost me $150 to keep the license, my main concern is not losing data - last time we tried another place, they lied about keeping backups and we lost months of posts, which sucked hard. So while i dig the free upgrades, I don't think manually upgrading the software would be too terribly hard on my own, what i mainly want is:

• 24 hour tech support (at least for emergencies like downtime/hacking etc)
• Automatic backups, ideally every 24-48 hours (i think invision keeps up to a week as well, which is nice)
• Stability - we don't usually run more than say 10-15 active members tops (double that with search engine bots/etc) but i definitely don't want anything that'd struggle with such low #'s
• More space would be nice, it'd be cool to have room for uploading images/etc

just wondering if anyone on here could give recommendations!

 

[SmokeMaxX]

Shoryuken.com switched to Vanillaforums and my recommendation is to avoid it. They are still working out A LOT of bugs and basic functionality just isn't there yet.

 

[IrishNinja]

ah, good to know...i definitely avoid that one! also if anyone else is looking, assuming they yet live: ADDR.com sucks. said they kept backups, but only 24 hour ones, and back in like '04 it was amazing because the only person who could implement them wouldn't be there for just over 30 hours, after which they said it'd be their first priority.

i had to explain why this wouldn't work. shit was tragic.

 

[IrishNinja]

anybody else with suggestions?

 

[IrishNinja]

...okay let's see if the night crew has any input

 

[IrishNinja]

...okay one last shot and i swear ill bother another forum

 

[Easy_D]

I don't know much about maintaining forums or what not but: http://www.smfforfree.com/

Has free 24/7 support. Image uploads too.

 

[FillerB]

Is there a particular reason why you want a forum host instead of a just regular host? While the setup would take a bit more effort, you can then do whatever you want it.

 

[tycoonheart]

Yeah why not a regular host that supports php and MySQL and go with one of the many php forums.

 

[CheesecakeRecipe]

Is there a particular reason why you want a forum host instead of a just regular host? While the setup would take a bit more effort, you can then do whatever you want it.

This is really the best option. Total control over what you want to do with the forum, no need to worry about being pushed into updating and breaking everything you own.

Also, fuck Vanilla forums. The tech is stuck in 1995 and is missing extremely basic forum features. I've pretty much distanced myself from the Penny Arcade forums because I found the software to be as unpleasant to deal with as possible. I think I'd honestly prefer some ancient deployment of PHP to it.

 

[Aiii]

30 dollars is alot of money to run a forum with 1GB of data.

You'll find webhosts for as low as five dollars a month, sure you're gonna have to follow an install guide to install something like phpBB or something, but if you're even remotely familiar with computers that isn't even an issue.

 

[Ultimatum]

I wouldn't move away from IPB software if I were you, so I'd recommend just getting a normal web host and install whatever version of IPB you want (pretty easy process, I'm sure people here can help if you need it).

site5.com is what I use and I don't have anything to complain about with them.

 

[IrishNinja]

Is there a particular reason why you want a forum host instead of a just regular host? While the setup would take a bit more effort, you can then do whatever you want it.

yeah, i guess if i had everything backed up (which i would) it wouldn't be an issue, and again after purchasing the license to the software i wouldn't have to upgrade again until i wanted. i was just a bit gunshy after my aforementioned experience with another host that didnt allow/keep said backups.

30 dollars is alot of money to run a forum with 1GB of data.

You'll find webhosts for as low as five dollars a month, sure you're gonna have to follow an install guide to install something like phpBB or something, but if you're even remotely familiar with computers that isn't even an issue.

true, i'm certain i can get more space (one user paid for a private imgur account which we've been using in the meantime), i'd just need them to meet the required stuff i mentioned like 24 hour tech support and good speeds/little downtime for our size, which again isn't very large but it gave the last host trouble somehow

I wouldn't move away from IPB software if I were you, so I'd recommend just getting a normal web host and install whatever version of IPB you want (pretty easy process, I'm sure people here can help if you need it).

site5.com is what I use and I don't have anything to complain about with them.

thinking of doing just that, and thanks man, i'll look into site5...what package/price do you have with them, if you don't mind my asking?

 

[IrishNinja]

sorry for the bump, but i've had a semi-dedicated package with host4geeks since early this year, and it's largely been terrible. users (mobile & desktop alike) frequently can't access my site; i can't even get on right now to run a manual backup. when i message them about this they just say everything's great on their end & close the ticket.

site5.com is what I use and I don't have anything to complain about with them.

i was just talking with their sales people & was told that shared hosting wouldn't be ideal for mysql connections (despite the small size of my site), and that i should consider their vp (dedicated) packages which are well outside my range.

i'm gonna contact hostgator & certifiedhosting tonight to feel them out, but i need to change soon because this really isn't working. it's tempting to just go back to invision's hosting but again, i'm really uncomfortable with forced upgrades - any other suggestions?

 

[sangreal]

check 1and1; they should easily be able to handle your needs (and for less $). I moved away from them because they suspended my account for 24 hours after posting a gif in world cup thread but I was also using 1-2TB a month

I moved to digitalocean but that is a VPS you have to manage yourself

 

[terrisus]

I've been using Hosting Matters (hostmatters.com) for around a decade, and they've always been great for me.

 

[IrishNinja]

so certifiedhosting only does shared and said that our wee java based chat might violate their rules, despite like 3-5 people using it a day...does that really draw server resources? ugh
the IPB one is crap because it requires its own window so nobody ever really uses it

check 1and1; they should easily be able to handle your needs (and for less $). I moved away from them because they suspended my account for 24 hours after posting a gif in world cup thread but I was also using 1-2TB a month

I moved to digitalocean but that is a VPS you have to manage yourself

wait, so you were suspended for posting a gif? kinda confused here...and i didn't know VPS' were self-managed but then i'm not seeing one in my price range at the moment

I've been using Hosting Matters (hostmatters.com) for around a decade, and they've always been great for me.

yeah? what do you use them for? i guess i'm trying to sort out IPB software with mysql connections/users/etc at the moment

 

[Arkos]

You tryin to poach my skaters brah?

 

[terrisus]

yeah? what do you use them for? i guess i'm trying to sort out IPB software with mysql connections/users/etc at the moment

Just a plain website (terrisus.com), but they have a whole bunch of features and abilities and other stuff that they do, so I would imagine they could do that as well.

 

[sangreal]

wait, so you were suspended for posting a gif? kinda confused here...and i didn't know VPS' were self-managed but then i'm not seeing one in my price range at the moment

I was using it to host hotlinked images and this one was a 13mb gif in a high traffic thread so they saw a huge spike and suspended the account for abuse until I contacted them. I wasn't happy about it so took my business elsewhere

Other than that, I was pretty happy with them for several years though. Since I didn't actually have a site and was just using it as a file host, which you're not supposed to do I can't really blame them

 

[The Albatross]

I think that it's time to move away from having your forum hosted by the forum company and host it on your own. An InvisionPowerBoard just needs PHP and MySQL to run, which every host will grant you. You'll find better uptime and you can run it, generally, however you want. You can then setup your own backups at whatever cadence you want... Backup your databases every night, store them on Amazon, and backup your files occasionally. Store ~50 nightly backups and 5 whole site backups. You'll pay pennies a month doing your backup storage on Amazon.

Transferring from the hosted site to your own self-hosted should be possible, especially if it's anything like transferring from a hosted Wordpress.com blog to your own self-hosted site.

I use a company called WebFaction for all of my sites and recommend it for my clients. Here's a link with my affiliate signup. Their standard package is $12/mo and I'm very happy with them... You get a solid shared server, 100GB of storage, 600GB data a month, 512mb application ram, and it's they sell everything adhoc... If you want another 100GB/data a month, you pay a few bucks more, want another 256mb of memory, a few bucks more, etc.

I used to run InvisionPowerBoards... and I can't imagine you'd ever surpass anything with that. You will run into a few hiccups while transitioning and after the transition. Users will have cookie issues, you'll have to transfer the domain.

Also, here's the hting, you should update frequently. Don't go self-hosted for the sake of not updating. Running out of date software is a huge risk to your data and your site. The longer you go, the harder it'll be to update. You should be able to setup most modifications to IPB to stay after you upgrade.

 

[Blue Lou]

I also have a forum hosted by Invision.

Originally it was with another company (cost around £150 per year) and the Invision forum software was hosted on the server but the server company were saying that the hosting account needed to be upgraded as our site was not always working. At one point, it was suggested that we should look into a dedicated server (far too expensive!), they kept wanting more and more money so I left them to have a hosted by Invision (which I'm kind of regretting as the price is more than four times as much as I was paying per annum).

What mods do you have installed? When I have upgraded in the past, changes to the skin have carried over.

 

[nasax]

Do ezboards still exist? Early 2000s flashback.

 

[IrishNinja]

I think that it's time to move away from having your forum hosted by the forum company and host it on your own. An InvisionPowerBoard just needs PHP and MySQL to run, which every host will grant you.

I used to run InvisionPowerBoards... and I can't imagine you'd ever surpass anything with that. You will run into a few hiccups while transitioning and after the transition. Users will have cookie issues, you'll have to transfer the domain.

i hear you, but...i have zero coding knowledge, and just about as much inclination, honestly. i've used universal mod installer forever on IPB, and my last job allowed more time to mess around with backups & try editing lines where needed, but i can't do that anymore, much less every upgrade. i definitely need something with 24 hour tech support.

Also, here's the hting, you should update frequently. Don't go self-hosted for the sake of not updating. Running out of date software is a huge risk to your data and your site. The longer you go, the harder it'll be to update. You should be able to setup most modifications to IPB to stay after you upgrade.

i know, but ive a ton of forums & sub-forums that need skinning, and most of my resources for free ones have dried up, everyone's charging for them now..plus there's certain mods that my site has really grown accustomed to (chat on the main page, signatures once per page, etc etc) that i can't quite find on newer versions these days. you're right though, i am kinda delaying the inevitable.

...so I left them to have a hosted by Invision (which I'm kind of regretting as the price is more than four times as much as I was paying per annum).

What mods do you have installed? When I have upgraded in the past, changes to the skin have carried over.

yeah that's the thing too, the other part of not wanting to go back to IPB is paying like $30 or whatever they wanted per month for a paltry 1 GB of space, which constantly runs out just on monthly logs, to show how close we kept things.

i of course can't access my forum at the moment, but again we use a chat on the main page (think its java?), signatures once per page (kindve a custom thing), member anniversaries, who was online today and a few others but nothing really big like arcade or such
do you have any current resources for IPB skins & mods?

 

[weekend_warrior]

What does Neogaf use?

Spoiler

don't use that one.

 

[Blue Lou]

I only ever use the official site: http://community.invisionpower.com/files/

Although I rarely visit it, I've just discovered that v4.0 is nearly ready to be published

 

[IrishNinja]

I only ever use the official site: http://community.invisionpower.com/files/

Although I rarely visit it, I've just discovered that v4.0 is nearly ready to be published

yeah, it looks like invision modding & a few other spots rolled into that; last i checked skins became micro transactions though, shame

hmm wonder how far along 4.0 is, maybe i should wait? damn

 

[IrishNinja]

haha oh my god host4geeks is amazing.

so yesterday my site was down for 3 or 4 hours for me (not unusual) and i found a new hosting site, as i couldn't access my site's cpanel i requested a temp password from my current hosts - after a few failed ones, they provided a working one.

the new host went in but said i needed to trim my content down to 1GB for a free site transfer. sometime around here, my site was back up, and...everything reverted one year back. all my posts show from 9/2013.

I have been working with host4geeks since then to fix this, and it's maddening. they don't know how this happened, want to blame the new host (who i do not believe has actually done anything yet). regardless, they have a backup from 9/9/2014 and claim to have restored it, but my post data stays from 2013, despite this incident occurring on the 10th (yesterday).

they're telling me they've exhausted their options and are begrudgingly providing a copy of that full site backup (before they only wanted to provide the MySQL data (which they say shows 9/914 but still provides them a year prior).

I literally have no idea what happened. i'm talking to my new host to see how much they'd charge to work with this, but i'd appreciate any suggestions ya'll have.

 

[Blue Lou]

It sounds like someone's cocked up and restored a database from 09/2013 instead of 09/2014.

Do you have access to phpMyAdmin or similar to see what is actually in the database?

Who are the new hosts you decided to go with?

 

[Persona7]

i ran a forum on my dreamcast once