hosts w/ discussion forum and vB specialty

[StevenAvery]

Hi Folks,

I'm planning to start a forum within the next day, which I discussed a bit in pre-sales. Today I was looking closer at the hosts (it is planned as a small-moderate forum for awhile, but we are bringing over many folks from yahogroups and such) . Originally I was looking at the $5 $10 stuff, however $20 is fine. There are so many little gotchas that you can't make a decision on small change.

Since there are so many hosts available:

Two things come to mind that I would really like:

1) A neat discussion forum on the web host

2) A host that specializes in vBulletin would be fine

(multi-domains in one host purchase would be nice too but a minor issue)

Any host that hosts a forum is really taking a nice open approach, allow allowing the kvetchers to mess them up and waste their time.

Companies with forums that look good are :

A Small Orange, HostGator (economy)

FutureQuest, RealWebHost

Dreamhost and LunarPages (not real vBulletin friendly) also have fine forums, yet I would probably pass on for vB. There probably are 5-25 more that fit this mix.

For a specialty host on vBulletin forum URLJet looks kewl. No forum, yet real savvy according to vBulletin threads. Slightly pricey, but not if they save me time and effort in installs and support and such, and help optimize for vB response.

GlobalGold may fit in here, as they advertise "vBulletin Custom Hosting" and good buzz here. However again, no forum, and UK-based. I see the buzz is excellent, so they may join URLJet as the ones to consider even without a fourm.

Companies like Liquidweb and Pair.com, like GlobalGold like good on the mid-level, but lack the forum, so I would probably take a Futurequest over them on that one point.

Knowing that I am strongly preferring hosts that fit one or both of the requirements, feel free to comment in any way or offer any suggestions (or good alternatives that are strong in the same way).

I'm ready to enroll tonite. Last night I was ready to start with Lunar or Dream (good $, good rep, 60-day trial), went to the checkout stage, and then I did some more checking and decided the above.

Right now the ones in the lead are URLJet, FutureQuest, RealWebHost and A Small Orange and HostGator. They all seem to represent different personalities, three have the forum, one has the vBulletin special emphasis. I'll probably run through the checkout with each one, check trials and such. The recent difficulties at A Small Orange being a concern.

"FutureQuest does not provide CPanel nor Fantastico. We have our own in-house developed control panel which we call the CNC or Command'N'Control."

CPanel in the new version is pretty neat, so this could be good or bad, depending.

Reading the threads is interesting. RealWebHosting does have a $50 fee for even a new customer with a fresh vBulletin install. Not on the FAQ. Transfers are free, which is strange, since that could be more work. I said that was a 'bit of a dealbreaker' and the phone fella sounded a tad upset, in a nice way. On the other hand I got a solid phone answer on Sunday night from somebody who sounded like a main fella on Labor Day weekend -- so maybe that balances out .

Will I save much time with URLJet connection for setup ? Or just a few minutes ?
ok, I found a thread that says that setup with CPanel is basically just upload.

Thanks.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

[mbooth]

I run a GlobalGold hosted forum and would recommend them. I've dabbled with US hosts in the past and would definitely not stray away from UK hosting again.

[wii]

Hmm, you write a lot about companies that you have found, but nothing about your requirements, please provide answers to this, and we'll find a good host for you.

1. How large is your forum ?
2. How much space do you need ?
3. How many concurrent users ?
4. Where are most of your visitors from ?
5. Do you need managed or unmanaged ?

For 20 Euro you should be able to get VPS hosting, and possibly ignore the shared hosting companies, but please, let us know what you need and we'll take it from there.

[Jah-Hools]

I run a GlobalGold hosted forum and would recommend them.

Ditto

GG roll up their sleeves and help you with VB stuff, they don't just toss you the keys and say 'good luck, see you later..'

[StevenAvery]

Hi Folks,

Hmm, you write a lot about companies that you have found, but nothing about your requirements, please provide answers to this, and we'll find a good host for you.
1. How large is your forum ?
2. How much space do you need ?
3. How many concurrent users ?
4. Where are most of your visitors from ?
5. Do you need managed or unmanaged ?
For 20 Euro you should be able to get VPS hosting, and possibly ignore the shared hosting companies, but please, let us know what you need and we'll take it from there.

Hi wii, it is a new forum, offshooting from a base of Yahoogroups forums that have a few hundred members, and a number of friends quite active on existing discussions on the Bible version forums who will be mainstays.

Thus it is likely to be a couple of hundred members, maybe 30-50 active posters, for the first few months, less concurrent, a small forum at least for six months or a year. Perhaps more community features will be added after the first month or two. Unmanaged and managed are hard to pin down, basically I am semi-tech (programmer) but not in server management, I just want to manage the vBulletin. This is one reason why I really like URLJet, it seems that they may save me some time in that regard, and optimize their servers and have a heads-up understanding on mods that I may want to implement, and if they save me 3-5 hours in a year, or things just generally run smoother and faster, that is far more important than an extra $5-10/mo. To a certain extent GlobalGold has similar advantages I gather, being very, very familiar and friendly to vBulletin. The buzz here for GlobalGold surpasses hat of URLJet, making my decision very complex and brain-steaming .

Neither has a forum, but I am coming to the conclusion that vBulletin expertise is the trumpcard, so at the moment they are my prime consideration. Of course the Brits can help with the colour of the webiste, while the colonies only deal with color.

Hope that helps !

Shalom,
Steven

[Mark.B]

I would go with Globalgold, I use them. If it's vBulletin expertise you want, nobody comes close. Drop Tim a line.

[rolypoly]

Another economy host to consider is mxhub.com .
With them for over 5 years and never had a problem. Thumb up!

[StevenAvery]

going with the gold

Hi Folks,

Yes, looks like Global Gold. I like the fact that they look the most flexible and helpful in things like setting up the extra test area that vBulletin offers (might as well get that set up at the beginning, apparently most never set it up at all) and working with some mods and plugins even with a low-level account (rather than say : "we don't do that on the Starter kit, you have to bump up"). In other words the impression is they try hard to give premium service even to the newbie. Had a couple of nice chats with Tim, even about a strange situation where a poster on the web (not here) is trying to make a little brouhaha about one of the GG accounts.

ADDED - They are actually encouraging me to get the vbulletin customer number and stuff, and I was off to work :-) . It's neat, they are more on the top of the game than I am.

Right behind GG for me was URLJet. They were truly impressive in my screening and the only limitation was I could only go with one company. They just seem a smidgen more likely to be bureaucratic for the little guy.

The other good names mentioned in these threads that I liked (especially the ones with forums) I socked away for other hosting, like a less intense SMF forum possibility and regular web pages.

Thanks, later I may get back to other stuff, I'm satisfied with the results of the research. Appreciate the input.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

[wii]

Good choice, you can read my review about globalgold here:

https://forum.vbulletin.com/node/323769