There's a lot of questions i need to ask...

Hi there,

i am seriously considering using Hostgator for hosting my forum. I'm currently using a free forum hosting, and so far, everything has been working well. The free forum is able to support alot of pple in the forum at one go(so far, the no, of members in the forum at the same time is 84 members.), and there haven been much problems yet. However, because recently, we're thinking of switching to a paid host instead, but we're afraid that instead of better performance, it would be even worse than a free forum.

Here are my questions. I hope that Hostgator staff will be able to help me with it.

1. Are there cases like this? Where the paid forum would actually be worse off than a free forum? Is there any chance that i would regret switching over to a paid forum when the free forum works just fine?

2. Will Hostgator help us to transfer the forum and all its members, content and etc over to the new hosting site? What are the charges if there are any?

3. Will my old forum still be available the moment the transfer is done? The moment the transfer is done to the new account, does it mean that my old forum will be non-existent? I'm considering this option to use it as a back-up in case the new paid forum doesn't meet up to my expectations.

4. Which plan of Hostgator would best suit us? And some further questions.

Here are the details of my forum.

Traffic(frequency of members coming in and out.)
- 10-30 people usually, on the average, 20 members, highest members online at the same time so far is 84 members.

Text
In a forum, of course there will be alot of text. Will it take up alot of space?

Pictures
Usually, the picture will be uploaded into external source like photobucket. And then link that pic fm photobucket to the forum. Does this take up alot of space? Bandwidth?

If we host our own pictures, will it be possible? Will it take up alot of diskspace and bandwidth?

Multimedia(Video clips and etc)
Usually, we just include the video link only... so basically its just text and hyperlink. Does this take up more space than text? or slightly more space would be needed?

We are also interested in linking youtube videos into our forum. For example, , is it possible? Will this action take up alot of bandwidth and diskspace?

5. What are the difference between monthly payments and those payments by one whole year and 2 whole years? What are the charges for set up fees and etc?

6. Do you guys support phppb 3?

7. At any one time, what is the maximum number of people you can support at the same time? What will be the repercussions if the forum exceeds and more members are surfing in the forum? Will account be suspended, or will there be a downtime?

8. Is it possible for us to add in functions in the forum, like for example, points and credits system? What i mean by this is like, for example, a member uses their points or "cash"(their accumulated posts) to buy multimedia clips and etc? Also, a restriction level(something like a reading limit) so some threads can be restricted to members who posts more and etc?

9. What does it take to get an account suspension for the month or a downtime? Will my forum be at risk of that?
These are the questions and problems that are affecting my decision.. I'm really sorry if some of the questions are not meant for you guys to answer. Because I'm not sure where to ask, so I'm hoping that you will be able to help me. If there are any parts unclear, let me know so that I'll clarify it even further.

Thanks so much for helping me out in advance~

[slapshotw]

Your current forum--is it specific forum software you use, or it's some kind of hosted system where you sign up for a forum but can't access the software?

Hi, thanks for replying to my enquiry.

What do you mean by specific forum software?

Oh, i think my forum is more on the latter. I signed up with forumotion. It's a free forum, and we signed on with them initially, and we're considering to move to hostgator since it's free. Somehow, it feels more secured with a paid forum instead of a free forum.

So i guess my answer to your question would be the latter. - it's some kind of hosted system where you sign up for a forum but can't access the software

[tletourneau]

It looks like they use phpBB, I'm not sure what version. HG has phpBB version 2 in Fantastico. I would think you should be able to take a backup of your current forum and import/convert it to phpBBv2.

[slapshotw]

Do they give you database access there, or access to export a phpbb backup?

[Goddess Dix]

Originally Posted by babyval22

Here are my questions. I hope that Hostgator staff will be able to help me with it.

this is a peer support forum, so the response you get are mostly from other customers. "peers" is probably too strong of a word here.

1. Are there cases like this? Where the paid forum would actually be worse off than a free forum? Is there any chance that i would regret switching over to a paid forum when the free forum works just fine?

anywhere throughout the entire universe? probably. my last web host, for example, really should have paid me for putting up with them.

2. Will Hostgator help us to transfer the forum and all its members, content and etc over to the new hosting site? What are the charges if there are any?

forum transfer depends on whether or not your free forum host can provide the access needed to do that. members will have to provide their own transportation (and food).

3. Will my old forum still be available the moment the transfer is done? The moment the transfer is done to the new account, does it mean that my old forum will be non-existent?

it will exist on the old computer unless it's deleted off the old computer. however, the old forum will suffer a significant identity crisis and may refuse to function.

4. Which plan of Hostgator would best suit us?

if you're big enough to buy a hosting plan, you're big enough to pick your own.

Text
In a forum, of course there will be alot of text. Will it take up alot of space?

only if you use very large fonts.

Pictures
Usually, the picture will be uploaded into external source like photobucket. And then link that pic fm photobucket to the forum. Does this take up alot of space? Bandwidth

for photobucket, maybe. if your pictures use very large fonts.

If we host our own pictures, will it be possible? Will it take up alot of diskspace and bandwidth?

possible if you can figure out how to do it, yes. on diskspace and bandwith, you'll use a lot only if your images use very large fonts.

Usually, we just include the video link only... so basically its just text and hyperlink. Does this take up more space than text? or slightly more space would be needed?

since a hyperlink IS text, it takes up approximately the same amount of space as text. however, the "hyper" part of the link has a slightly inflated self-image. figure an extra 2 bytes diskspage per hyperlink to accommodate it's ego.

We are also interested in linking youtube videos into our forum. For example, , is it possible? Will this action take up alot of bandwidth and diskspace?

possible if you can figure out how. the action itself will take up lots of bandwith and diskspace (for youtube) if your videos use very large fonts.

5. What are the difference between monthly payments and those payments by one whole year and 2 whole years?

annual payments tend to be higher than monthly payments. 2 year payments are often twice as much as annual payments, but, on the plus side, do last longer than either monthly or annual payments.

6. Do you guys support phppb 3?

i very seldom support phppb 3. i've been known to be downright critical on occasion.

7. At any one time, what is the maximum number of people you can support at the same time? What will be the repercussions if the forum exceeds and more members are surfing in the forum? Will account be suspended, or will there be a downtime?

i try to support one person at a time. in answer to your implied question, however, the server is capable of handling significantly more than 30 visitors watching youtube videos...

8. Is it possible for us to add in functions in the forum, like for example, points and credits system? What i mean by this is like, for example, a member uses their points or "cash"(their accumulated posts) to buy multimedia clips and etc? Also, a restriction level(something like a reading limit) so some threads can be restricted to members who posts more and etc?

i couldn't say if it's possible. the software is probably capable of it.

9. What does it take to get an account suspension for the month or a downtime? Will my forum be at risk of that?

you'll have to be pretty creative to get a month suspension . you could try refusing to pay your bill, though. could work.

these responses are tongue in cheek, in case you don't know. any paid commercial webhost is capable of handling a forum of your size without worry about resource usage. resources on other servers don't use your resources. your webhost won't help you figure out what forum you have or install it or install addons for your forums or tell you how to set threads to private, so you'll have to figure that out yourself or pay someone to do it for you.

best of luck with your decision.

[gtgeorge]

Thanks for the entertaining in depth replies. I look forward to more straight forward posts like this one where I can smile a little more!

[Lag]

As long as your current free forum host will give you a database backup of your forum you should be fine. You will probably experience a little downtime but not too much. Once you bought whatever hosting plan looked right to you I would suggest turning off the forums and getting a database backup and completely setup the forums on your new HostGator server. Then on go back to your free host and make an announcement that you have moved to a paid host and give the URL to the domain.

After that I'd say your set.

Originally Posted by slapshotw

Do they give you database access there, or access to export a phpbb backup?

I'm not too sure about this. But if i'm not wrong, they do provide something to backup my forum..

I'll check regarding this more thoroughly then get back to ya. I understand that you need ftp access in order for you guys to transfer my forum over to your site right?

[Jordanlw]

No,
HG Staff will transfer it they have root access to all servers,
So no need to supply them with the details for FTP.

Note: Forums are on here for PEER support,
Anyone with "Gator" in front of there name is Staff,
Anyone else is just another customer.

[slapshotw]

Originally Posted by babyval22

I'll check regarding this more thoroughly then get back to ya. I understand that you need ftp access in order for you guys to transfer my forum over to your site right?

They'll need FTP access or something that lets them access files. Jordanlw is correct that they can do it with SSH, but it's not likely you're going to have ssh access on a box that doesn't give you FTP.