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Re: Joyent cancels lifetime hosting in October. New host recommendations?
Yiannis
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NeMe | hblack.art | EMAP | A Sea change | Toolkit of Care
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Re: Joyent cancels lifetime hosting in October. New host recommendations?
Destry wrote:
The idea in situation (b) is that reselling covers the costs of project domains
I don’t think we want to get into the hosting business. Not even for friends and colleagues.
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Re: Joyent cancels lifetime hosting in October. New host recommendations?
@wet
Agreed, I used to resell a bit on our webservers, now I don’t offer that. Too much pain for very little profit.
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Re: Joyent cancels lifetime hosting in October. New host recommendations?
bici wrote:
I am pretty sure i want a MANAGED reseller VPS. Which option is best?
You might consider the hosts listed on our Textpattern hosting page and in the left sidebar.
We do not endorse any of those over every other host on the planet (as we do not know your exact requirements) but if you happen to go for one of those we receive a kickback. This in turn goes to the core team and is spent for the booze we need to fuel our creativity.
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Re: Joyent cancels lifetime hosting in October. New host recommendations?
wet wrote:
You might consider the hosts listed on our Textpattern hosting page and in the left sidebar.
I guess you can take Joyent off that list, eh? I mean, isn’t that why were here? Anybody who’s losing their lifetime hosting from Joyent isn’t going to pay them anymore; not based on the sentiment I’m seeing in the rounds of discussion.
I don’t think we want to get into the hosting business (option “b”). Not even for friends and colleagues.
Can’t say I blame you. It was just an idea. You need contingency ideas at the moment. Here’s a running list, including the two I’ve mentioned already:
- Option A: Textpattern owns domains. Community covers registration and hosting costs. (Five domains, ouch.)
- Option B:
Textpattern looks into a small reseller scenario. Ruled out. - Option C: Try and make a new “partner” arrangement with a web host; they provide hosting like Joyent used to do, and Textpattern permanently gives them advertising. (As Editor for the magazine, this is the first thing I would pursue for that domain at least, but since you own the domain, it involves you on the administration side of things.)
- Option D: Still reliant on getting ownership of the scattered domains. The respective domains are given to the current leads of the sites to responsibly manage and fund—perhaps even under a contract of faith—who would freely transfer the domains to the next leaders, etc, when the time comes. This at least leverages the expenses if community donations aren’t made to one person. So, currently it’s:
- .com – Robert
- .net – Destry (or Ruud?)
- .org – Stef
- txpmag – Destry
- txg – Stuart
- Option E: Go for what Phil was implying in a different thread; actually create physical subdomains under .com for plugins, themes, and docs and put content there. That would reduce cost of five domains to two, and I’d still be willing to fund the magazine as long as I’m Editor (i.e., owning the domain). If Dean keeps up with registration costs on .com, then wet only funds the hosting. But again, the dark side to this option is that the other domains are then left in the ether for someone to use in potentially damaging ways.
- Option F: Similar to E, drop unnecessary domains by adopting (supposedly free) web-based tools to replace them. Though at the moment I an only think of a web-based wiki for docs, and that doesn’t seem worth the effort by itself.
You can see, perhaps, various combinations and alterations of these options. For example, go with option E, but still encourage option A. Or go with option D but still pursue option C. Etc.
Colak: Like Reid said in the J-forum, I’m sure Hoffman thought long and hard about the repercussions his announcement would make before he made it. Maybe he overlooked the Textpattern sites and something might be worked out there, but I’d recommend Textpattern keeps looking for a plan B just in case.
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Re: Joyent cancels lifetime hosting in October. New host recommendations?
Destry, this isn’t about the 9$ domain fees per year. Our current hosting is “worth” roundabout 100$ per month.
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Re: Joyent cancels lifetime hosting in October. New host recommendations?
I know. I’m talking about the hosting and registration costs combined. Everything I’ve laid out are legitimate ways to offset/leverage those costs so you, or “Textpattern”, isn’t paying for it all.
Honestly, it’s too bad that nobody has any business ambition (as in, make money) for the Textpattern project, because it’s ripe for it right now in so many ways. Nothing is truly ever free, as this situation makes blatantly clear. That’s a term that should be struck from the marketing copy. I’m not just suggesting Txp is a paid-for product; there are different kinds of business ideas to kick around (core plugins at cost), (supported themes at cost), partnerships, advertising, etc. Lots of creative options. But it all means nothing if there’s no ambition for it.
So what I’m suggesting above is just ideas in the current no-business model. Maybe you’ll get lucky and Joyent will come through.
Last edited by Destry (2012-08-17 09:07:36)
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Re: Joyent cancels lifetime hosting in October. New host recommendations?
wet wrote:
Our current hosting is “worth” roundabout 100$ per month.
Wouldn’t it cost less at dreamhost should Jason not accept to waver the fee for txp?
Destry wrote:
Colak: Like Reid said in the J-forum, I’m sure Hoffman thought long and hard about the repercussions his announcement would make before he made it.
On answering to the question “…my sense is that you greatly underestimated the damage to Joyent’s reputation.”, Jason wrote: I might have,
Maybe he overlooked the Textpattern sites and something might be worked out there…
I sure hope so that’s why I posted this in the j-forum
Yiannis
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NeMe | hblack.art | EMAP | A Sea change | Toolkit of Care
I do my best editing after I click on the submit button.
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Re: Joyent cancels lifetime hosting in October. New host recommendations?
Hmmm. I do have a lot of spare capacity on one of my dedicated servers. Maybe I could work something out if it became an emergency (obviously I’d rather the textpattern sites had their own hosting solution though).
Last edited by philwareham (2012-08-17 10:10:37)
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Re: Joyent cancels lifetime hosting in October. New host recommendations?
Colak,
I read your post there when you mentioned it before, but I wouldn’t be too excited about anything the Joyent CEO says at this point. CEO’s will say and do whatever the business agenda requires, including buying you a drink if you fly to San Francisco, like old pals. Please. Dancing around subtleties is a CEO’s best trick, and Hoffman is well-versed.
This is my personal opinion, not any reflection of Textpattern’s opinion, of course.
On a different note, I think it’s complete bullshit, if the rumors are true, that people are negotiating refunds through Joyent support. Some people reporting getting some (or alluding to that fact). Joyent should be dealing with the situation wholesale, for everybody the same way, not through back-alley dealings in a short time frame where most everybody would never have a chance.
Hmm… why do I have the feeling I know who this is? A TextDrive/Joyent user since 2004. (I could be wrong.) A List Apart used to be hosted by TextDrive.
Last edited by Destry (2012-08-17 10:19:48)
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Re: Joyent cancels lifetime hosting in October. New host recommendations?
I guess now is a good time to do more work on the website redesign then :)
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Re: Joyent cancels lifetime hosting in October. New host recommendations?
philwareham wrote:
I guess now is a good time to do more work on the website redesign then :)
:)
You know what I mean.
Sorry, I’m in the writing mood today…
Benevolent work is powerful, no doubt, and especially when it’s coordinated like what we’re doing across the board with recognition (for example), and what you, Phil, are doing with design, and Stef with plugins (someday… JOKE!), and Philipp with brand. And all the years some of us have put into the wiki, etc. We’ve done a tremendous amount so far, putting a lot of pieces together where they’ve been missing. I don’t think it’s even recognized how much has been achieved in just the last year.
But while that’s better than what’s ever existed before, it’s still not going to be ever-lasting. Textpattern can’t simply keep operating on the good will of the small community. The good will vibe doesn’t work in today’s world, not by itself anyway. What CMS out there anymore operate on a “free” model alone? None that I know of worth a crap, or that the market will ever recognize. Robert has even admitted the “patrons” are few and the donations fewer. It’s non-sustaining, and especially at the higher bar we’ve created now with brand, publications, etc. The project needs to get serious with business thinking. Sooner or later, someone will make a business move on it (in a way, TXP Builders already have). It could be Textpattern, but it will be its own loss if not.
(I think Les “lazlo” Smith was on to something when he said a year ago in planning that it’s past time for a Txp Foundation. A topic that begs for a magazine article… who can write it?)
I might as well go ahead and say… I, for one, have plans for developing a paid theme or two, much along the same model as IA’s IA3, where it’s copyrighted, fits Textpattern (and whatever else I choose), and buyers will always be supported through help, upgrades, etc. I can imagine other designers will be doing the same thing. Something like this should be orchestrated through Themes in a way that benefits both Textpattern and designers. I’ve talked about it before. That’s a business tactic. One that’s mutually beneficial to core and community. One of many that could be employed.
Enough from me, I have a magazine to get ready…
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