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Post by High Priestess on Dec 21, 2017 19:58:08 GMT
Hello everyone who visits or uses this site --
Since the creation of this forum, I've been paying both for the domain names as well as a monthly subscription to keep this site free of the ads that would otherwise appear. This annual cost to me has been about $120 for the domain names (6 different domain names) and about $140 a year to keep the site free of ads, so about $260 a year of expense for me to keep this site as it is now.
Initially I was hoping that this forum would be a replacement for the Airbnb Host community groups, which were closed in May 2016, after a 3 year lifespan. However, in spite of the fact that a forum like this has many advantages over FaceBook groups, hosts overwhelmingly have preferred to use FaceBook groups instead of a forum of this type. Hosts found the FB style group to be more conducive to community building since everything posted was all in one place.
Quite obviously, however, having a scroll-down group where all posts just appear on one long feed, is not at all conducive to organizing content so that content can be sorted, organized, and then found via easily useable and multi-layered search tools. This forum which offers these methods of organization continues to be useful as a resource and a library of information, but since it's not being used as a forum, I dont' feel like continuing to pay so much to keep the site free of the ads that would otherwise appear here.
So as of today I'm cancelling my monthly payment to keep the site ad-free. The site will otherwise remain the same, and it's my hope it continues to be a valuable resource for the hosting community!
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Post by Mabel on Dec 21, 2017 20:17:30 GMT
Completely understandable! Glad you're not going anywhere, and your content is well worth a few annoying ads. I don't say it often enough but your incredibly helpful and informative posts - articles, insights, updates etc is very valuable and appreciated by me. I read it all even if i don't comment. I don't like social media much and don't tap into the groups there at all, so I'm appreciative to have your blog here, and for all the work you do. It's quite a substantial contribution.  |
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Post by High Priestess on Dec 21, 2017 21:20:53 GMT
Thanks Grace, I'm delighted that you appreciate all the information and posts. I do intend to keep up the site and continue to post as I have been (and invite others to do so as well, as desired).
One of the reasons I wanted to stop paying to keep this site ad-free was because I have another project in mind, something else for the host community, which involves setting up another website. I have many websites and most of them I'm able to run completely of charge since I dont' require much for them and the free sites tend to work. BUt my new idea is to create a community-based Short Term Rental listing platform where anyone could register on the site and post their listing, at no charge. I also want to create a map-based listing search tool that could I've been told that there are too many STR sites, and that "the world doesn't need another STR site", and that this would be a lot of work and that I'd need to charge users in order to pay for the work and the site upkeep.
However, from the get-go I've always felt strongly about the need to empower hosts, rather than corporations. I'm not happy with many of the changes Airbnb has made in terms of how much more controlling they've become about how they remove host's ability to do business in the way hosts want to do. ANd for those doing room rentals in particular, there are not that many alternative sites that are acceptable. WE can't use VRBO or HomeAway if we do room rentals.
Basically I am just tired of corporations taking a big cut out of our income, whether thru commissions or a flat fee to list on the site. As I see it, Craiglist is better in terms of offering freedoms to those listing places for rent, but it has several problematic shortcomings. One is that ads have to be continually updated -- you can't post an ad to stay permanently> It just keeps dropping down and you have to renew it every 2 days and then repost the whole thing every month. The other problem is that you can't post Airbnb links on Craiglist. So users on CL can't easily get connected to see your reviews and see you're a reputable host.
So there's a need for a site that both allows people to post freely, but also would allow a host's review history to be imported or easily accessible, so that the problem of scammers and fake listings is reduced.
Stay tuned...>i'm exploring what might be done to create a Community Based BnB site.
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Post by High Priestess on Dec 21, 2017 21:33:44 GMT
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Post by helgaparis on Dec 23, 2017 8:26:46 GMT
Hi Deborah, the first name, hostguestdirect, would incite me to post my listing, none of the others would. They evoke too much touchy feely or pretentions (people)
I understand the burden of the domain names and admire how you upholdnit all.
It seems your dimain names are rather expensive - I pay much less for the com and net. Evidently, if you registered porn or biz it would be more expensive. You could check out ovh.com. It was a French provider originally (I believe) and is now international. I use them, because they allow to choose the location of the server you rent, to have the fastest connection where most of your clients are, or in my case, to keep the data in France.
(That’s for a virtual private server, I don’t use the common space coming with the domain)
Sometimes they have long time offers, like pay 5 years, get 7, so most of mine run till 2021.
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Post by High Priestess on Dec 23, 2017 16:34:43 GMT
Thanks Helga for the feedback. Others are also saying they like Host Guest Direct so I plan to use that. I like "touchy feely" but not everyone does. Yet you can have more than one domain name for a website (several can be used that point to the same website) so I may do that. Good point about looking elsewhere, where domains are less expensive. I confess I have not shopped around, just used the standard GoDaddy.com for my domains. I like that they are all in one place. I pay less if I order the name for several years, but I dont' want to pay for several years if I end up not wanting the name, so I buy it first for year just to think on it. Also I buy "privacy protection" for all the domain names, which costs another $8 a year for each. This prevents people from finding out your name and address when they search to see who owns the domain. They just get pointed to an office of the company you bought the name from. Shannon on her group mentioned www.namesilo.com .....I should probably check there.... |
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Post by helgaparis on Dec 26, 2017 13:31:18 GMT
Deborah, hidden Who Is information, what you call privacy protection, is simply included by my provider. It’s a click-on or off option. I have it on for most domains, but not for all. Also click on or off are the transfer protections. Not included is a mailserver, but you may have as many addresses as you want to redirect them to another address.
I bought a mail server package, for a ridiculous sum, under 10 Euros to install a 5 mailbox server. There was a huge number for double that. It was a one time payment for as long as you keep the domain there. I changed the mail adresses a few times, as some artists of the association get a mailbox for a while.
Ovh is for professional use, if you resell to your own clients under your own brand, under their brand or install huge websites. The webmail is publicity free and protected and the invest in good DOS and other attack protection.
Our professional websites were under attack once, but did not break down. The log was impressive, how many incoming requests from exotic countries within seconds and going on for a few days, unsuccessfully. That was at another provider still, but since then I check for that.
You could check the Dada Group. Not sure if they have American business, but they are huge, all over Europe, and bought our former provider. They have several English brands and evidently sell .com domains too.
They are more consumer oriented and have packages with model websites and mail , part of it already included in the domain name. They also have forum software, blogs, galleries etc. I left them, because the vps got crazily expensive when they bought our provider. But you won’t need a vps
It could be interesting to compare. I like everything in one account too, but sometimes it’s just too expensive.
We created a few websites for clients, who already had their domain elsewhere. It may take a day to find out with a new provider how to set it up, but sometimes it’s just minutes, you enter the nic handles and other details and it just works. ;-)
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