I was thinking about renting a server lately and I wonder how much of a hassle it would be to offer free web hosting for personal websites and old web related stuff to other people.
I would like to give people the option to make use of server side scripting languages in a limited way. At least PHP because I really miss using it.
And I think some kind of server side scripting is needed to make the personal web less centralized as well.
I would consider it good practice to let people host their own guestbook script, counters etc. instead of relying on someone else to keep their 3rd party service up & running.
I like the hosting services of neocities and nekoweb and the old web feeling in general. But PHP has been around 30 years ago and should be considered part of the old web
I read a lot about managed servers and virtual servers and about the software (options). There are several automation tools but I really don’t have a clue how much administration is needed to keep a free web hosting service alive, healthy and secure.
Is there any1 here who has experience in this field?
I can see many hurdles to overcome already, not only from a technical standpoint of view but also regarding the legal side of things.
I think it’s absolutely doable if you plan to take applications for hosting (like leprd.space), but it would probably be a bit chaotic if it was open/instant sign-up like Neocities/Nekoweb. Because yeah, you would have to ensure that no nefarious stuff was happening on potentially thousands of websites.
I used to host people on subdomains and I would spend a lot of time ensuring their scripts were always updated to avoid any security issues. This process could definitely be automated these days, but you’d probably still find yourself having to spend a lot of time being tech support.
Every user get their own cloudpanel account and access to their own things. Cloudpanel can handle a lot of stuff on it’s own, and it is free unlike Cpanel, but you know it’s not a full running service like Neocities or Nekoweb. You’d have to be careful, but I am sharing because a lot of Webpanels are made for user access like this in general and plenty of server hosting sites allow you to run things like this too.
I’ll speak from personal experience, which I’ve had for two years now.
That’s spending over a thousand hours a year on a hobby.
That’s over a hundred forums where I regularly post information about hosting.
That’s frequent updates (CMS, templates, instructions, email service, search, links collection, redesign, keeping a small web journal).
That’s constant communication with the community (forums, chats).
You can’t just connect a server and wait for people to show up.
You can’t just leave your email address at the bottom of the website (that’s what most people do, and it’s of little use); you need to be constantly in touch.
It doesn’t generate income.
It doesn’t generate donations.
You often get trashed on various social media groups.
People don’t see all the work we’ve done; they see a flat website and turn up their noses.
But despite this, we expect our thousandth registration by the end of the year, and we continue to work.
The main thing is, you can’t do this alone. You need a reliable bro, or better yet, two.
I was dreaming of offering some sort of neocities / nekoweb with SSI and PHP support. Basically something like a free tier shared hosting provider. I thought about offering no support at first, only the infrastructure but I guess this wouldn’t work out. I can imagine people ranting about the service because they’re not able to make something work and happily blame the host for it
That’s exactly what I was thinking as well. I probably wouldn’t make use of a service that has no instant sign-up. So having to apply for some web space doesn’t seem right IMHO. On the other hand, how do you deal with people abusing your service?
How could this be monitored / controlled without being invasive? I don’t want to look into what people are hosting. I basically would like to trust them.
This sounds promising. Thank you for the link. The resource you have created seems more than worth of reading through. Will do as soon as I have time for this.
Maybe my initial thoughts have been too optimistic. I thought that people would be real happy for having a reliable and free host that offers PHP and SSI.
What are they blaming your hosting service for?
Congrats on your way to a thousand active users. This is a great achievement IMHO. Having that amount of satisfied users is what I dream of.
I wouldn’t have thought that it takes that much amount of marketing / advertising the service of a free hosting provider. I really thought that most of the time has to be spent on the technical side, configuring, administrating etc.
this sounds interesting. Ive just somewhat brought my forum into an usabel state now. Its fully made only by html and php and using sql as a database. So a website like which youve mentioned would be a perfect place for me.
Its been hosted over on AwardSpace, since they host phps for free. But I was shocked to see how less of options are aviable out there to host phps for free. Anyways maybe the guys over there on AwardSpace can somehow help you too, if you mail them.
Back in the days when blogs were common, it was pretty common to see domain owners “sub-let” their subdomains to friends and other enthusiasts. They would usually make a post saying something like, “I’m taking on subdomain applications, and can probably handle about three more.” And they’d usually all link to each other on their own blogs and pages. Most web hosts offer multi-user sign ins and with some configuration, they can be allowed to only access certain subdomains.
I mention that because it’s probably easier to learn that way, with only a few approved users, before upgrading to a full service. That way you’d have the technical expertise, but wouldn’t have to learn the moderation at the same time.
Just a suggestion I thought might help anyone who’s still weighing their options.
Even though we don’t have automatic registration, we have to periodically review and block certain websites, as well as block empty accounts that have been idle for over a year (we’re making some allowances for now, but that’s for now).
Sometimes I spend half a day on Telegram explaining things to newbies, like how to create a particular script or how to make a design more interesting. We write articles for the magazine for this purpose, but that’s a separate project from the hosting.
There are a lot of hosting services, hundreds of them. Creating something truly convenient, homey, and cozy requires a lot of time and effort.
If it’s “another Tilda hosting service but with PHP,” then there would be several hundred plus one.
Take NeoCities, for example—they have a complex script with a website exchange (recently created, popular, viewed, and so on). That’s their specialty; they came up with this method. and no one knows how much time and resources they spent to get so many people onto their hosting, it’s really expensive now.
That’s true. They really seem to do fine. I was just talking about my personal stance on the requirement to apply for a service. I think leprd is doing a good job.
Thank you, that’s very caring. I already have hosted websites for relatives and acquaintances in the past but running a public hosting service of course is a whole 'nother story.
I think my best option would be to collaborate with someone who has more experience in taking care of a server and who shares some of the same interests in general.
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Creating something truly convenient, homey, and cozy requires a lot of time and effort.[/quote]
That has to be true. It seems like you and your friends do a pretty good job and really care. I like that
