New AdminAddict Venture - Feedback Please!

Howdy, AA Community!

As you are all aware, our goal is to provide forum administrators and developers alike with the resources and information necessary to create, develop, and manage a successful online discussion community. We are constantly finding ways to improve upon and ultimately achieve this goal, and as such, I'd like to introduce our newest addition to our ever-growing community.

In the very near future, we will be offering customized web hosting packages to the members of this community. These plans will be designed specifically around the needs of each individual client, and as such, we'd like to gather some feedback in regards to what you (as a member of this community and as an administrator) would like to see in an ideal forum hosting package. Don't hold back - we want to hear your suggestions!

From shared and reseller packages to VPS accounts, we are willing to offer whatever you may need.

 

Yes, folks, if you don't believe it - this is real! :lol:

We've had this idea in mind since we started working together, but it's a daunting task and we haven't employed it until now.
As you can see, we are not going to just create packages and offer them to you on our terms; we want to offer hosting for forum administrators, by forum administrators. We are seeking active input from you guys to help devise a set of standard packages.

After that, we will still offer individual consultations and custom packages (for your specific needs) at custom rates - lower than you will see anyplace else (and that is a guarantee).

 

To begin with non-oversold servers. A limit on the amount of accounts per server, things like that would be great. Affiliate links for our forums to refer to AA Hosting

 

This is great, Chris and Nick - everyday, you guys come up with more and more great additions.

 

This is a great thing! I'm already taking advantage of a great deal from Chris, but I would definitely feel that something with a limited amount of 'accounts' on it would be a good start and would be a big benefit. Affiliate or reseller opportunities would be a great thing to offer the members of this community.

Next up, partner with vB or IPB (or other community software companies) to get 'discounted' licenses available to those members of the community.

From my point of view, being a vB member, I would want community-exclusive skins or modifications, etc.

 

Maybe along with purchasing a package of X amount of dollars or more, a 50 dollars Google AdWords voucher can be added?

 

Not sure I'm following...

Do you mean just purchase bulk licenses (and get the bulk discount) in our name, and allow our clients to run a vB license at whatever price we set (while we still maintain ownership of the license; we're just letting the client "use" it)? If so, couldn't they easily copy the files and potentially distribute them?

 

No I think he means for you guys to figure out a way to work out with IPS and Jelsoft a discount for members here (say like 10% off a license or whatever).

I seriously doubt either company would consider, though you never know.

Package One:
10 Concurrent users online at once
300MB space
3000MB bandwidth
24/7 support
99.7% uptime
$8.95 per month

Package 2:
25 concurrent users
1500MB of space
6000MB of bandwidth
support & uptime
$15.95 per month

Package 3
50 concurrent users
3000MB space
12000MB of bandwidth
Support & Uptime
Free forum optimization (one time)
$24.95 per month

In case anyone is wondering, concurrent users online would be the X number of users queering (man, that's spelled wrong but funny) the database at the same exact moment. So in theory, a 10 concurrent users could support probably 15-20 actual people online at one time if not more.

This would keep server loads down or require admins to have optimized sites and not run every single modification under the sun that will over load the servers and will prevent the servers from being oversold (hopefully).

 

I think Arny means partner with vBulletin and IPS to allow people to just get discounts while purchasing licenses? And in return, you all get something - almost like affiliating.

EDIT: David beat me to the punch.

 

Sweet!

There are soooo many niggly details that change between different forums that need to be worked out. A few things off the top of my head.

1. Minimum search length in the MySQL set to 3 instead of 4 for a full text search
2. Number of simultaneous connects set to something approaching 50 (just in case)
3. Number of max connections set to something 'reasonable'
4. An idea of what the other sites would be hosted on the hardware (although that would change over time)
5. Really good communication regarding when things are done on the server such as re-boot, MySQL re-boot/upgrades, etc. so when the "my sql server has gone away" message occurs we have 1/2 a chance to figure out 'why'.
6. Real live phone support, as in audio, as in the old fashioned thing people talk into when not connected to the internet. Occasionally the database needs to be 'repaired' (button clicked, repair database) and I'm no where near a computer.
7. Explicit/implicit trust in the privacy department e.g. you will have access through the database to many peoples moderators, and other private, forums. Some of them will be extremely sensitive, depending on the forum.
8. Is this through co-location? What server information would be found on domain tools? Wired Tree? If someone put up 'bad' or copyrighted things on a forum who would people be complaining to? Would they automatically shut a site down then try to contact the admin of the forum?

If you are interested in other ideas, especially because you are offering hosting, it would really be nice to offer general vB tech support. Repair corrupted tables, backup solutions (my current issue), and whatever else a moderate/small forum may need such as minor template tweaks. I've been trying to set things up so my forum is on autopilot and the mods can get help independent of my availability.

 

I thought that may be what he meant, but I realize that neither company would even consider the thought. I wouldn't expect them to.

But I could be surprised. :shrug:

 

I also think that e-mail support should be nearly instantaneous! Maybe hire a few people to be in each department. Maybe they can be volunteers from this community? For example, per forum script, we have a representative, or two, or three. This way, we have people who specialize in MyBB, for example.

 

I'm suggesting you might want to consider a 'one stop shop' for a vB forum. So people don't need to surf vB.com/org and other sites looking for a solution to a problem such as database error messages.

Many people people post error messages on vB.com. Their host told them that it was a vB code issue and when they go to vB.com they tell the people it was a hosting issue.

Many people know about what they want to do but do not want to be bothered keeping up on all the details of actually doing it. They just want things to work.

 

We will only allow a certain number of accounts per each machine. In addition, each account hosted will be proactively monitored for resource usage and server-load intensity. If one community in particular is using a rather large percentage of the server's resources, we'll take the appropriate action (depending on the situation) and migrate the account over to another machine.

Yes, absolutely. I'm currently in the process of developing an "information" page dedicated to the status of our machines and any and all announcements pertaining to the state of our services. Each client will be able to view a simplified status of each server from within WHMCS (our client portal of choice), however a more detailed, more enhanced "micro-bog" is in the works. I'm nit-picky in regards to constant communication between the client and the provider, which is why remaining in contact with each user is rather crucial to me.

All of our dedicated servers are purchased from WiredTree (located in their Chicago-based datacenter) and connected within their network infrastructure. As such, we are responsible for the material hosted on our machines and if a problem should arise, members will need to contact us. If the content reported is suspicious, we will make an attempt to resolve the situation with the client and then take appropriate action. Each machine is load-balanced and interconnected within a private network - ensuring maximum performance is crucial and we will upgrade our existing machines and purchase additional machines as necessary/desired. We run the latest stable release of CentOS and run cPanel/WHM (with RVSkin) and Fantastico De Luxe. We have replaced Apache with LiteSpeed Web Server and run at least 6GB of DDR3 RAM on each server.

We run Intel Quad Core processors and all server scripts are updated constantly.

 

Well, I'm still in shock from this awesome news!

For now, all I can think of, is keep the software as up-to-date as possible. And by that, I don't mean updating as soon as it's released, but as soon as you know it's stable, release that bad boy.

Oh, and I think there's this 20-year old in Cleveland that I know, who could probably help manage servers and customer support.

 

To be fair, call me a tad pessimistic, but is the web hosting business the best idea for AdminAddict? It's not like running a forum, and seems like it could be filled with possible complications. It's also unlikely that due to the top quality advice given here, any sites promoted here would be small enough for shared hosting to be viable.

 

There's really only one way to find out, though, and that's certainly not by guessing. He's got more server power/space than he knows what to do. Well, now he knows what to do.

I wouldn't knock the idea until it's been tried, though. And I'm sure Chris, along with a few other knowledgeable members here, know how to handle servers well enough to maintain a small hosting venture.

 

OH MY GOSH!!!!! This makes me want to start a new wee forum so I can do this!

I think looping them in to the advice and expertise available from other users and experts in their forum software as well as the community management advice that AA offers makes this a super deal!

 

Thanks for the honest feedback. We understand that the "standard" definition of shared web hosting is something that a majority of the members here would simply not consider (due to the sheer size, success, and growth potential of each individual community), which is why we've decided to take things a step further and offer solutions that are more viable for resource-intensive websites.

This is our goal. We're going to give it a go.

This is very possible, and would certainly be unique.

 

While I agree with cheat-master I also disagree with him.

Running a web hosting company or even a side hosting company off something like AA requires constant maintenance and somebody always being there to ensure that the server is up. You have to remember that people are paying you for this to be up and working if there is an error guess who they come to You, even if they know its the script they come to you first..

While I love those who host with me dearly i do get annoyed by them. While I have very few support tickets in I do receive alot of request for help on MSN and many times it is that there is a problem with the script and they blame the hosting.

Having a web host is a hard thing to do and deal with I spend 20 hours a day working on mine, while at school work or what not, and when not working on it I am freaking out thinking 'what if its down; what if there is a ticket; etc.."

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I also think if you do this it would be a fantastic addition to Admin Addict however I VPS seems abit much, AA is a forum administrator an many forum admins dont know a thing about servers (no offense to anybody!) and would simply cause most hassle then it is worth. Reseller hosting is a stretch however It can be good for those who run multiple forums. Shared hosting is alright.

those are my thoughts time for suggestions

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- Call Shared 'Single Forum Hosting'
- Call Reseller 'Multiple Forum Hosting'
- Call VPS 'Forum Hosting Reseller'
- Include IP addresses with your hosting, for forums it is lovely to have dedicated IP addresses (helps with seo)
- Offer users to purchase items such as vbseo, etc.. through you.
- Be sure to use WHMCS for your billing (but do not do the customizable addon, just sue customizable options built in)

Now that its all out of the bag, good luck!