can someone recommend a web host?

I've used web.com for years, but they recently doubled the price of hosting without any warning ("we think you'll agree our services are worth it"), and I've always been irritated by how many randomly-generated passwords and usernames they made me remember-- none of which I could choose myself. I'm fairly certain there was a minotaur somewhere near the center of their god-forsaken web interface. and just to stab me in the kidneys on the way out, they made canceling my plan as difficult as possible.

so I'm looking for a new home, as cheap and user-friendly as possible. any recommendations?

1and1 web hosting.
Been with them for about a year now. Really cheap, lots of space and features, 0 downtime so far.

Dreamhost

1 on Dreamhost.

How do I shot web host?
Dreamhost is good.

eh?

It depends on what you need from a web host, if you just want to put stuff on the internets and aren't too concerned about uptimes or features, then yes the cheapest decent host will work for you (DreamHost, 1and1, etc.).

If you need to scale easily, like if you're building a business, or need non-standard libraries for development, or just generally want something more robust, I'd recommend MediaTemple. It's more expensive at $20/mo, but their GridService and all the extras you get with it I think are worth it.

Judging from the fact that you were with web.com though, I'd say that's probably not a concern.

nah, I'm just looking for some file hosting with fairly high transfer limits and a web page. but cheap isn't the only thing-- I want an intuitive management interface, good customer service, and nobody telling me my username has to be sd&45k!!tw?_AAtr but also 42764590826437eec and sometimes Gr#35x. that might seem minor, but if there's a web host that doesn't annoy me I want to know about it.

That's what I use for my website.

Here's a good example of why not to go with DreamHost.

No, but I can recommend Donnie Most.

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

Agreed. I've had their 3 domain package since 2006 and not a since problem.

It means why the hell are they touching that dude's files?

He goes on to say that he went with DreamHost because of the price, and he now doesn't know what else they've messed with without his permission.

Dreamhost seems to work great for most people. The people I've seen have problems are the sort of people who really want the privacy, security, and freedom that comes from a dedicated server, which they're unwilling to pay for.

As someone who has been an admin of an array of servers running vhosting software, I will tell you that it is not *possible* to run the servers without occasionally inconveniencing clients or touching their files -- a site got hacked and is being used to spam the world? Disable the scripts and notify the client. Client installed programs that do bad things? Disable the scripts and notify the client. Etc, etc, etc.

You don't want anyone to touch your stuff, ever, and be able to install and run anything you want? Pay the hosting fees for your very own dedicated server.

I've used http://www.apollohosting.com/ for years with only one 48-hour blip on the radar.

I dunno, bean. Even though it's only one opinion, it is AceT's opinion so you know it's got to be a fact.

I use Dreamhost and I've only experienced one downtime to my knowledge in about 2 years, and my request for help about that was answered within an hour or so and by then it was fixed.

They double billed me once (and I'm assuming many others), which i found comical more than anything. They sent out an apology afterwards. The web panel you use to manage your domains/hosting/other tiddlybits is really easy, the wikis they have about how to do stuff are pretty helpful. I would go as far as to say, I like them.

Has anyone had any positive/negative experiences with Blue Host?

Were you around when they had that big downtown issue in summer of '06? Granted that was a while ago and it's caused DH to be much more transparent since, but it's what originally scared me off their service.

And yes this is my personal opinion, but I think that all shared hosting suffers the same problems (that Shalome touched upon). The reason I recommended MediaTemple is they aim to solve this by providing affordable cluster-based grid hosting.

The big downtime issue... you mean when the LADWP accidentally cut the grid to all of downtown Los Angeles for a few hours and some stuff got fried? MediaTemple went down then too. So did a shitload of things hosted in LA.

That day sucked so much (the emergency lights didn't come on in my office building and we lit our way down 8 flights of stairs with cellphones). However, it also led to a lot of off-grid capabilities being put in or upgraded at most of the downtown LA hosting centers.

I'm not even going to get started on this one.



Turin, dude, Dreamhost is fine. I just set up a wordpress blog for Tuffy on his Dreamhost account. I recommend Dreamhost to my friends who don't know a whole lot about web stuff and just want something like you're talking about.

I meant this.

Though like I said before, it's led them to become a lot more transparent about their operations since.