ATBHost closed down

[valiha]

This morning, when I tried to open my website control panel to make some changes, I found the whole thing gone. Some googling a while later and I discovered that some users abused the service and the ISP shut it down with no warning, taking all the websites and data there down. It came as a shock to the host owner who wasn't notified either.

This means that I will have to correct all the links that show my website as http://mag7wallpapers.com/index.html to http://mag7wallpapers.isgreat.org/index.html, another host I was trying out but didn't like as well as ATBHost. Even though I'm a complete noob, the owner and the people on the forum always treated me with respect, and patiently explained everything I didn't understand. I'm sorry to see it go due to disrespects and abuse by some of the hostees. Shame.

If you linked to me somewhere using my domain, mag7wallpapers.com (I lost that too!) can you please change it to mag7wallpapers.isgreat.org? Thank you; and I'll crosspost this to groups I'm a member of.

Comments

[kayim.livejournal.com]

If you need any help with the website hosting or anything, let me know. I have plenty of space where my domains are hosted....

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I still have that other account, but I'm getting worried about the situation repeating itself. I chose them because I didn't have to worry about where to put ads on my pages and spoiling the layout, and the free domain didn't hurt either. Is there a place I could check what your host offers in case I need to switch?

[kayim.livejournal.com]

Absolutely.

I'm with Dreamhost (dreamhost.com). Domain names cost about £10 a year and I can set you up with some space on my account if you dont want to pay for your own account. If you do want your own account, let me know and I can give you a discount code for your setup that will either waive the setup fee, or give you a free domain name!

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

I'd like having my own account, just so I can fumble around without having to worry I'll mess someone's account up. :) Is it possible to make a payment with a debit card?

[kayim.livejournal.com]

They're great. I'll admit that they occasionally have some downtime, but for what little I pay, I'll never get another host with so much space and facilities...

As for billing, you can pay by Visa or Mastercard or Paypal or Google Checkout. Or by check or money order, I believe......

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

I just took a look at their page, and waiving a set up fee sounds great if possible, especially since my next semester fee is due in a few days and comes out to a few hundred marks more than my salary. I can always get a domain name later.

[kayim.livejournal.com]

Okay, using the promo code "MYNOCK" will give you $50 off the set-up fee (I'm not sure how much the setup fee is at the moment, but I think that covers it). If it doesn't cover it, let me know and I can set up a new code! It may depend on whether you're planning to pay monthly or yearly....

I'm on googletalk if you want to talk to me there....

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

This is what it says:

They list various features:
All this for just $8.95$8.95 per month!*

then at the bottom of the page they have
* $10.95/mo monthly, $0.00 off first payment; $9.95/mo for 1 year, $0.00 off first payment; $8.95/mo for 2 years, $0.00 off first payment; $49.95 set up fee if you pay monthly.

so the code would cover it. Huh, the "$0.00 off first payment; " didn't show until I pasted it here. I'd probably go with $9.95/mo for 1 year.

I'll sign in in a minute.

[pezgirl7.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that seems kinda expensive. Lunparpages.com has hosting for $5 a month, plus you get a free domain name. They also have a $3 a month plan. You could always buy your own domain name for about $9 a year at a place like Godaddy. I have a client hosted with Lunarpages, and have had them as a host for myself, and they're very good. if you do go with them, I can give you a link that will give me a commission, and I will split the commission with you. I think it would be around $25. Also, I just saw on their site that they're having a sale this weekend, for 50% off.

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

I'll have to look into that. My lack of funds and the fact that it can be extremely hard to pay for something internationally kept me with free hosts so far, knowing full well the risk of them going up in smoke. I just didn't think it would be so sudden. Good thing I kept a copy of my site on my hard drive.

OK, so I checked Lunarpages, and I liked what I saw. The $5 a month would be great, except they require you to sign up for 60 months - I don't know what's going to happen in a year, let alone five! $3 sounds like a more than reasonable deal.

I've looked at what features they offer, and it looks like more than enough for what I need. I'd prefer owning my own domain name, though I really detest Godaddy, just coz of the name. Reminds me of sugar daddy to much. :) But if they're the best that's actually a moot point. Any other reliable domain name sellers?

I have been toying with the idea of trying to earn something, maybe by offering some of my paintings for sale depending on how my skills develop and of whether there's any interest in them. I don't intend to run a blog, so I won't need a database, unless the store becomes a viable idea (are they run on databases? I presume they are). In any case, one database seems like all I'd need. If I do start making money, though it seems highly unlikely it will ever amount to much, what about taxes?

The gallery is something I might look into just to avoid hand coding my gallery pages, but then would I need a database for that? I don't know. (I've just realized how strange all this seems; so don't mind me, I'm just "thinking" out loud! But if you know an answer to any of these questions, feel free to jump in.)

[pezgirl7.livejournal.com]

Glad you figured out I meant Lunarpages! Sorry I think they must have just changed their pricing, because only a few months ago, you only had to sign up for a year to get that price. I'm assuming that with the starter plan you can use your own domain that is registered somewhere else, but that would be something to look into first. I hate the name of Godaddy also! They have these really skeezy commercials geared towards men, too. But they're one of the cheapest I've found, so I use them. www.domain.com is pretty cheap too.
The store and photo gallery would probably be run on databases, although I've seen some galleries that don't use one.

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

I didn't even notice the typo! I read it as Lunarpages. :)

I just checked both godaddy and domain.com, the first one has my preferred domain name for $9.99 and the second one for $21.99, so I think godaddy will be my choice. Getting that domain is the first step, but I was wondering, is it necessary to start using the domain name at once or can it be "dormant" until I find the host I like? (ETA Never mind, I found the answer to that.)

Oh and I think I can go with an outside source for a gallery; I saw some tutorials on how to embed your Flickr or Picasa albums on a web page. That might be a neat idea, since it means people can leave comments if they choose.

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

Unconscionable.
I constantly dread the thought of losing ALL my bookmarks
My bookmark site is loaded.
I guess I need to do something about it. Maybe put them all on a CD
or floppy. My new computer has a floppy drive on it.
Can you believe that?
I mean who would think anybody was using a floppy anymore?
I had it built and it came with the CPU..........

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

I know! To agree with the TOS and then disregard them completely is just... I have no words. Hundreds of websites, forums, blogs were lost. I'm lucky in that I had a small site and a copy of it on my hard drive, but what about those powered by WordPress or Joomla! or other CMS which ran on a database?

I... think my desktop has a floppy drive. I have never used it. I'm sure I still have floppies lying around, but I couldn't find them now if my life depended on it.

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

To agree with the TOS and then disregard them completely is just...

Yeah it really sucks..............it is the nightmare everyone dreams about, but believes it will not happen..........
**sighs**

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Oh that's dreadful!!! {hugs}

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

It is, and though I haven't updated it as much as I wanted to, I was working on making it more interesting, accessible and was thinking of ways I could interest people in coming back more often and interacting.