Preserved Topic: APOLOGIES

Remember me? -The Geocities amateur? Well, I'm back. I would be grateful if you would all critique my evolution. I've done NOTHING except study, learn, and create for the past two months. I followed Doc Ozone's advice about splitting my pages, but I regret I was unable to post on Crosswinds as someone else recommended. I tried for four hours, but that host is experiencing some difficulties. Would any of you be so kind as to recommend an alternative free host without ads? For reference, my previous work was at http://www.geocities.com/rancid666_7734/MyPage001.html. I don't do that anymore.

I just read the specifications for Stas.net. It's a "free unlimited space" host which has a feature to track how much free space remains available, and warns that files may have to be deleted to make room. I've sent them an E-mail asking what the phrase "free unlimited space" means.

Well, rancid, I personally checked up on about fifty free hosts. I found less than five which were minimally offensive to my intelligence. "Free unlimited space" was limited. One host had a maximum file size of 250kb. One host had absolutely NO way to contact them. A few offer the ability to post millions of pages, but only a very limited amount of total content. Several only revealed their terms and conditions after the registration process. Many hosts make you hunt through their pages for information. Most claimed rights to all posted material, while absolving themselves of any and all responsibility for the content. In short, I found the bulk of the "industry" to be run by roofers and solar-panel salesmen. I was profoundly angered. Here are the the points I discovered to be of primary importance to anyone looking to be treated fairly.

1. Copyright issues: Does the host claim automatic copyright to all of the material that you post therein?
2. Content rights: Does the host claim the right to copy, modify, and use all the material you post in any manner they see fit?
3. Maximum file size: Do any of the files you hope to post, exceed the maximum size allowed by the host?
4. Ads or banners: Does the host post advertising on each page, and how much of each free page is covered by the ad or banner?
5. Privacy information: Does the host pass personal information on to third parties, and if so, what kind?
6. Unsolicited E-mail: Does the host expect you to receive unsolicited E-mail from advertisers and business?
7. Unlimited: What does the host mean by "unlimited" and similar terms? You'd be surprised.

General:
1. Check the Terms and Conditions for your own answers to the above. It may take some hunting, but you might find something buried in the technical language that you don't like.
2. Check the FAQs. What kinds of questions are being asked so frequently? A.K.A. What's wrong with this host?
3. Check the forums. See if there are a lot of "Please help me" or "Not again" messages. See what the mood is in the forums. Is the mood happy and humorous, or dark and unsatisfied?
4. Check the site status archives. Are there a lot of explanations, dated close together, that explain what was done to resolve problem issues?

Summary: If a host does not have easy access to this information, they probably don't have a proud history, or they don't wish to advertise their shortcomings, or they don't provide any support. After all, how good is the service of a host who makes it hard to get answers to these very basic concerns? Advice: If they make you look for it, move on. But be prepared to move often because nothing is truly free.

I hope this helps you.

I agree. It 's hard to find a truly decent host without any hidden agendas. However, you might want to try a host called Internettrash.com. They passed the test on all the questions in their Terms of Service agreement. They offer 10MB of free space without ads, with no claim to your content, no sharing of personal info, and the place is packed with happy lunatics. I think the maximum file size is 100,000KB if you use the uploading wizard, which isn't too bad.

They also offer the option of upgrading to 20MB if you accept ad banners. It's the best free host I've found so far.

Good luck.

just testing this post.. but everyone is appearing as 'rancid' in this post. unless they're just talking to themselves, and very convincingly at that...

cheers.mikey.milker

Yeah I see that, I think rancid is just really convincing...


www.warmage.org

Well, I succeeded in posting to Internettrash.com. I found out that you can upload files as big as 1MB if you use the browser method (they have four methods of uploading). I also found out that you can upload a file as big as 4MB if you use the E-mail method (maybe bigger). I'd like to thank Rancid and Rancid for their help on this. I'm just beside myself. I promised a friend that he would be the first to see my new work. After that, I'll post my new site address in the proper forum here so the kind folks here can advise me where I need to focus my further education. Especially you, Doc Ozone. You're my mentor. In my studies, I have run across your name in even more places than I expected.

Hey, that *was* cool, how'd you do that? Rancid says, rancid responds, rancid argues with himself! I'll have to create a new category for "Schizophrenic"! <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif"> (Hmm, that would be nice, maybe I'll grab that one myself! Controlled schizophrenia can be a powerful tool, especially on the internet!)

RANCID, I'm glad you've been progressing! Post the URL as soon as you feel ready, and if you want some feedbacks before you go public, drop me an email, I'll help.

Your pal, -doc-<P>

That was a truly generous offer to give me pre-public review and comment. Thank you.

Hi Doc. I have this pane... actually seven panes, hehehe.

I walked into this asylum with a very Geocities-type of page and said I would try to EARN some credibility here. You see, I truly respect the maniacs here. I was unable to simply feed off the knowledge without some token of effort on my part. That means I had to fly or fall on my own this time.

My goal was also to be a contributor. I'm happy that my schizo style of posting messages here has raised a few eyebrows. I hope it's also informative. I really did inspect well over fifty web hosts.

Anyway, I already posted my new addy in the Site Review forum, I thought that was where I had to post it. A few other messages I posted in this forum vanished into some other unknown forum. But now that you have invited me to present it here, I can. I am dying to know if the reigning maniacs here agree that I have grown.

I admit I used cut-n-paste scripts, but I modified a lot and it's the first time I ever really USED scripts and I subsituted graphics. I also have not started creating my own graphics yet. But I tried to find unusal pre-made graphics and I tried to use them interestingly. Like I said, I'm just trying to grow.

I think my new stuff stomps all over my previous effort. Please tell me what you all think... http://internettrash.com/users/rancid/

For cryin' out loud, Rancid! If nothing else, you sure can yak a lot!

You know Doc, it may be possible to hack new code into the UBB CGI files, and create a joke forum, that everyone who posts a reply, their name will come up hte same as that of the person who started the thread.




What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine to - First Rule of a Dictatorship

After staying up all night optimizing my graphics and HTML, I just typed the following into the help forum at Internettrash:

Wow! I am impressed! I can't even count how many fans ask me why I chose such a slow host! But I have a cable modem and I have to say... I agree! I guess somebody's going out of business. I warm up the old 2000kb cable modem and tear down the road at a blistering 1kb an hour! YEEHAA! I'm chilled molassas, baby! Soon, I hope to be so slow, I can actually go back in time and perhaps find a free host with the top-notch ethics of this place, but also actual forward motion! I've multi-clicked on every ad I can find. It's a piece of cake with a cable modem. Anyways, here's some tips on making the journey less painfull:

1. Go take a shower while it loads and clean the grout.
2. Keep a good book next to your keyboard.
3. Smoke a pack and a half of favorites.
4. Open a second browser and surf elsewhere.
5. Use flyers to let other people see your pages.
6. Buy your beer by the keg.
7. Use the time to find a faster host.
8. Think up explanations for people who ask, WHY THEM?
9. Learn to watch TV again.
10. Get a big shovel to bury the dead air.

I hope this helps. I just thought typing this out would be a good way to pass the time while my page loads. Ciao, baby!

I don't think the host will be much help anymore. I'm intuitive that way. Is anyone here willing to help me find a free host who's cool?

Hey Rancid! I was only kidding about Internettrash.com. You should know better than to listen to me. Why do you think they call it trash, anyway? At least you still have your sense of humor. Wish I could help, but I'm rancid. I'm sure someone will help just so you'll quit talkin so much. Good luck.

That's okay. I just feel bad about Doc Ozone taking the time to check out my site. He was really cool to put up with that crappy speed. And I really worked hard to do this latest project. I wish people could see it...

Apology accepted. Just let the rest of us know when your done ranting so we can perform a lobotomy on you so we can dissect a true schizoid! MuuUUuuwwWWwwaaAAaahhHHhhaaa

RANCID, I dont know you at all but I except your apology .... just stop posting!!!!!

Jestah
Jestah91@aol.com
ICQ - 77252449