Need advice
 

This is my forum: http://www.politicsforumpoliticalworld.com/

It has recently been getting slow. I currently have a shared hosting server with Go Daddy.

The forum has been growing fairly consistently. We're not a huge forum. Today we had a lot people on. 25 on at one time, 105 within a 24 hour period. Do I need to upgrade to a dedicated host? Who do you recommend?

How can I change hosts as painlessly as possible? Thank you.


FP

I recommend www.fluidhosting.com

I strongly suggest against staying with godaddy for hosting. I cringe everytime I have to work on a site that's hosted with godaddy..

I really don't know jackshit about hosting. What are the key specifications I should be looking for? Like I really don't know what specifications = good host or good capacity.

Ok, When looking for a host make sure they have the following.

1) Live support (that's online).
2) Ticket response time.
3) A phone number/Address (This sort of verifies there legit).
4) There page rank, a good host will normally have a good page rank.
5) There up time

Since your getting slow I would advise to contact the host your thinking of buying from asking them if they will cut you off after a certain CPU usage and what not.
Hope this helps.

Jac

OK, I am thinking of getting a "virtual dedicated host" which seems to be like 2-3 people sharing one server. Is there like a rule of thumb that exists for forum owners that says how many members are online at a given time and the corresponding hosting plan you should have? Thanks

Why not go with www.bluehost.com

I think even a high end VPS will be fine for you. You can upgrade to a Dedicated Server as per your requirements but at the moment Even a VPS will do for you.

You could get a cheap dedicated server from dediwebhost.com it might be more powerfull that a VPS your find, just a thought ;).

Jac

What do you guys think is a fair prices for a year for a VPS?

Thanks for the suggestions. :)

-FP

about 250-600 is a good price per year