Free VPS's?

**sander k** · September 12th, 2011, 10:45

Hello guys,

It happens more and more on FWS that I see people asking for free VPS's.
Now I am working on a new website/forum at the moment and I am wondering if I should offer some sponsored VPS's to promote my website.

Not compleetly sponsored as I want posts in exchange for it.

What do you think of this:

10GB Disk Space
100GB Bandwidth
128MB Memory
256MB BURSTABLE
SolusVM Control Panel

I will pay for them for a year in advance. How many (one time) posts should I ask for? I am thinking of 500 or something like that.

**deeplist** · September 12th, 2011, 10:54

There's nothing wrong with giving out free VPS servers. It can be beneficial to both you and the party that you're sponsoring. The only advise I can give you is to make sure you giving them away to worthy causes. Don't hand them out like trick-or-treat candy because it'll serve no useful purpose at all.

Examples:
GOOD - I gave a VPS to theraptor so they can use it as a sandbox to continue development of The Hosting Tool.
BAD - Giving out a VPS to mtwiscool so he can attempt to develop a Win95 hosting platform.

See what I'm saying?

**mtwiscool** · September 12th, 2011, 10:58

Originally Posted by deeplist

There's nothing wrong with giving out free VPS servers. It can be beneficial to both you and the party that you're sponsoring. The only advise I can give you is to make sure you giving them away to worthy causes. Don't hand them out like trick-or-treat candy because it'll serve no useful purpose at all.

Examples:
GOOD - I gave a VPS to theraptor so they can use it as a sandbox to continue development of The Hosting Tool.
BAD - Giving out a VPS to mtwiscool so he can attempt to develop a Win95 hosting platform.

See what I'm saying?

im talking to sander k

**sander k** · September 12th, 2011, 11:05

Originally Posted by deeplist

There's nothing wrong with giving out free VPS servers. It can be beneficial to both you and the party that you're sponsoring. The only advise I can give you is to make sure you giving them away to worthy causes. Don't hand them out like trick-or-treat candy because it'll serve no useful purpose at all.

Examples:
GOOD - I gave a VPS to theraptor so they can use it as a sandbox to continue development of The Hosting Tool.
BAD - Giving out a VPS to mtwiscool so he can attempt to develop a Win95 hosting platform.

See what I'm saying?

I do understand what you say. And I am not going to give him one. The one he wants is to expensive.
I will hire some very cheap ones via lowendstock.com and I will not show my hosts name on that site

**mtwiscool** · September 12th, 2011, 11:09

Originally Posted by sander k

I do understand what you say. And I am not going to give him one. The one he wants is to expensive.
I will hire some very cheap ones via lowendstock.com and I will not show my hosts name on that site

i seid i will accept any one

**Sain Cai** · September 12th, 2011, 14:16

Originally Posted by mtwiscool

i seid i will accept any one

You claim your school gave you one, you dont need another.

**dmmcintyre3** · September 12th, 2011, 19:54

Here is what I have learned about the free VPS market:

Make sure it's post2host, not just order one and you get it. Those fail/get abused and shut down by the datacenter.
Ask hosts for volume discounts
People don't really trust new providers, and asking for 500 posts first is going to be tough until a few people get them. 2 years ago it might have worked.
If you manage it right, it is profitable
Don't buy a dedicated server right away, it's cheaper to resell at first.
If there is anything questionable about a user, ask him/her lots of questions.
Don't be afraid to accept sponsorships yourself.

**Tyler** · September 12th, 2011, 20:11

Originally Posted by dmmcintyre3

Here is what I have learned about the free VPS market:

Make sure it's post2host, not just order one and you get it. Those fail/get abused and shut down by the datacenter.
Ask hosts for volume discounts
People don't really trust new providers, and asking for 500 posts first is going to be tough until a few people get them. 2 years ago it might have worked.
If you manage it right, it is profitable
Don't buy a dedicated server right away, it's cheaper to resell at first.
If there is anything questionable about a user, ask him/her lots of questions.
Don't be afraid to accept sponsorships yourself.

How do you go through every VPS and make sure they aren't abusive? Perhaps your advice regarding this matter will help other potential free VPS hosts.

**dmmcintyre3** · September 12th, 2011, 20:16

I don't, but all of the abusive users so far have been filtered out before they got a VPS. Most spammers are not going to make a decent amount of forum posts and then wait around for me to release a VPS and hope they have more points/posts/etc than the other users requesting one.

**deeplist** · September 12th, 2011, 20:18

Originally Posted by dmmcintyre3

Most spammers are not going to make a decent amount of forum posts and then wait around for me to release a VPS and hope they have more points/posts/etc than the other users requesting one.

You'd be surprised.

**Tyler** · September 12th, 2011, 20:19

Originally Posted by dmmcintyre3

I don't, but all of the abusive users so far have been filtered out before they got a VPS. Most spammers are not going to make a decent amount of forum posts and then wait around for me to release a VPS and hope they have more points/posts/etc than the other users requesting one.

Have you ever hired a experienced Linux system administrator to check all of your VPS for abuse? I think you'd be surprised...

Originally Posted by deeplist

You'd be surprised.

Ninja'ed

**deeplist** · September 12th, 2011, 20:45

Originally Posted by Tyler

Ninja'ed

I'm cool like that.

**dmmcintyre3** · September 12th, 2011, 21:08

Last month I checked the outgoing email count on each VPS and it was lower than my VPS. I found 1 VPS downloading a torrent and I asked for the client to stop and he did. He was only downloading a linux ISO that was only available via torrent and his ISP blocked torrents.

Anyway, it's easier for them to buy a $2 VPS off of lowendbox.com than to spend a few hours posting on a forum.

**polieleos7777** · September 12th, 2011, 21:17

Originally Posted by sander k

I will pay for them for a year in advance. How many (one time) posts should I ask for? I am thinking of 500 or something like that.

500 is too much. Reduce it to 50 to apply and 20 to keep.

**Tyler** · September 12th, 2011, 21:24

Originally Posted by dmmcintyre3

Last month I checked the outgoing email count on each VPS and it was lower than my VPS. I found 1 VPS downloading a torrent and I asked for the client to stop and he did. He was only downloading a linux ISO that was only available via torrent and his ISP blocked torrents.

Anyway, it's easier for them to buy a $2 VPS off of lowendbox.com than to spend a few hours posting on a forum.

Who's talking about email? I'm referring to child pornography and other crap that could land you in prison. If you're not monitoring any VPS (or you don't know how to) I strongly advise you to hire someone who can do it for you. I would go check the WHT jobs and offers section.