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Should there be a limit on free requests?

It comes down to setting the limits again (with or without a form). If we say you could only request and offer 1 gb space and 10 gb bandwidth, then some host will come along complaining that they can offer more. And if we have a form specifying those limits everbody would request the maximum limit... I don't see how that would help the hosts.

Then we'd be forced to explain that you get less replies if you ask for too much and we are back to square one again. I think it's a good idea but it's very likely that it will bring us back to the same problem again.
 
Stay with me ..... Instead of presenting the user with a form filled with all the options that are available, you could present the process in the form of a questionaire about the site or idea, then using your knowledge of free hosting you could suggest to them one or more plans which they can choose from.

I dont think you'll be able to stop people saying I can offer more than that, only I don't see it as a problem, if the process that has decided what the user should request is a reasonable one, and users are happy with the suggestions they are getting, then what the host thinks on the other end is, well, void.

People would come to know how to "abuse" the system, but then if the maximum anyone can ever ask for is a reasonable amount ( remembering this is free hosting, and providers that offer the world last months at most ) then even the largest requests won't be an issue, will they ?

I suspect there will always be a few people that don't agree with the process, but then there will be far more that are grateful of the help, and all the hosts here would never be able to complain again that free hosting requests are ridiculous, the formula that you suggest plans with could be revisable, it wouldn't have to be a restriction in the real sense of the word, more of a feature of FWS to better inform users about how to get the most out of the hosters that hang about here, and in the process eradicate ridiculous and unreasonable requests.

I think maybe if you made a post outlining the idea from both a hostee's and a hosts perspective, and held a simple "do it or not" poll, you'll soon have a pretty good idea about wether it will work in the long term, from your users perspective at least.
 
Peo said:
It comes down to setting the limits again (with or without a form). If we say you could only request and offer 1 gb space and 10 gb bandwidth, then some host will come along complaining that they can offer more. And if we have a form specifying those limits everbody would request the maximum limit... I don't see how that would help the hosts.

Then we'd be forced to explain that you get less replies if you ask for too much and we are back to square one again. I think it's a good idea but it's very likely that it will bring us back to the same problem again.
Click to expand...

dont offer figures, work out how much space/band they need from questons:)
 
I think rules can be enforced, if done properly.

DnForum.com ( a forum about domains) has 10x number of rules comparing to fws.net yet everyone has been following them and the posting activity is very high.

I think if the culture of obeying the rules and making sensible posts are enforced, it will not be hard for people to follow them.
 
I disagree, rules can only be enforced if they are known about by those your trying to impose those rules on, and wether it's right or wrong, no-one ever reads the rules untill they break one.

The "culture" only applies to members that are part of that "culture" and it's mostly new members making outrageous requests.
 
what about an Infraction rule? people making outrageous requests /offers that they can not backup (e.g. with site stats) get Infractions.

After certain number of infractions, they get temporarily banned.
 
Instead of presenting the user with a form filled with all the options that are available, you could present the process in the form of a questionaire about the site or idea, then using your knowledge of free hosting you could suggest to them one or more plans which they can choose from.
Click to expand...

I think that will be very difficult to do when you give it some thought. And suggesting plans is what the hosts need to do themselves. This is a discussion forum not "Peo will suggest you a host".

Another idea somewhat similar to yours is to have a text with instructions on what to include in a request above the "Start new thread" within "Free hosting request".

Then we can have requests that look like this recent one:

The hosting I would like is;

* 500MB-1GB space,
* 2GB or 3GB bandwidth,
* PHP 4.4.4 +,
* Cpanel,
* 3 or 4 email forwarders (for me, the other admin and some friends),
* 4 or 5 MYSQL databases
* uni.cc domain support (already have)


I would use this hosting for;

* Moodle (or similar) management system
* SMF forum
* Wordpress Blogs
* Other php software (at a later date)

The site I wish to set up is a small how to (tutorial) site and discussion forums. I would also use it for my personal Blog (hence the Wordpress). We intend to 'hand-make' the tutorials and have information that will hopefully benefit all site users.

In return for hosting we are willing to do the following;

* Place Ads on the forums (and if possible Moogle).
* One time forum posts
Click to expand...
 
Or right on the left hand side of the actual post editor :

postbl8.png


That would be quite easy to implement, however I'm not sure it'll stop the silly requests, unless we use some js to physically stop people typing certain words, like unlimited or terrabyte .....
 
There are options in vB to censor words but the words unlimited and terrabyte are being used for good reasons on the forum so we won't censor those words. And even if we would, people would just write 'unl.' or something.

The sad thing is that there's no way to stop silly requests completely. We have to live with that to some degree. I'm sure there are silly requests being sent directly to web hosts from their company websites too. You just have to explain what is possible and what is not to those who don't understand it. We can do that in sticky posts, in the rules, in replies to what they post, writing info next to where they post the request, by sending out warnings to abusers etc. We've done some of that already and it still gets ignored.

Another suggestion is to have a subforum where silly requests gets moved. That would keep the noise at a low level for those of you annoyed by such requests. At the same time the person requesting it will hopefully understand the situation without us having to ban and warn those members. Keeping the request reasonable will be awarded this way.
 
Peo said:
Another suggestion is to have a subforum where silly requests gets moved. That would keep the noise at a low level for those of you annoyed by such requests. At the same time the person requesting it will hopefully understand the situation without us having to ban and warn those members. Keeping the request reasonable will be awarded this way.
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Thats not a bad idea at all. It help would educate more people, and having a sticky at the top "Why was my thread move here?".
 
Peo said:
Another suggestion is to have a subforum where silly requests gets moved. That would keep the noise at a low level for those of you annoyed by such requests. At the same time the person requesting it will hopefully understand the situation without us having to ban and warn those members. Keeping the request reasonable will be awarded this way.
Click to expand...
Can we move the silly offers there too :rolleyes:
 
As I said, it's just a suggestion. I agree that it most likely would be a problem to moderate all of this. And yes, the problem is also on the side of hosts making silly offers, making it even bigger. Maybe this isn't possible.
 
tie it into your current system then, allow hosts to add "packages" into their own little control panel, the packages get approved by an admin, this can be done very quickly as an admin can easily glance at a package and see if its ridiculous. then when replying allow the host to select one of their packages to offer and allow them to post a note, ask members to report posts where the note contains an offer.
 
Well, I feel that we, as hosts, need to take a stand and make it known that a request is ridiculous. If they state they need it, then we need proof.

However, it's good to see that we're getting a response from administration. Not that you don't respond, it's just this is something that has to be done.

- Lucas
 
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Peo said:
There are options in vB to censor words but the words unlimited and terrabyte are being used for good reasons on the forum so we won't censor those words. And even if we would, people would just write 'unl.' or something.
Click to expand...

Its not a problem, you hack up vB sources to echo the <script> tag to include a javascript that physically deletes the word from the post editor only in that section of the forum, also every abbreviation would soon become apparent.

Peo said:
The sad thing is that there's no way to stop silly requests completely. We have to live with that to some degree. I'm sure there are silly requests being sent directly to web hosts from their company websites too. You just have to explain what is possible and what is not to those who don't understand it. We can do that in sticky posts, in the rules, in replies to what they post, writing info next to where they post the request, by sending out warnings to abusers etc. We've done some of that already and it still gets ignored.
Click to expand...

I can't argue with those statements....giving up now ......
 
Well...

another solution would be to have offers and requests be posted in sort of a secret forum I guess where only MODs can see them... if the MOD thinks it's reasonable, they can have it moved to where everyone can see it.

The user who submitted the thread can see the thread they submit, and it can't be edited once moved in to a public thread, only replies would be allowed.
 
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