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eternitas-archive · 4 years

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Oh one more thing before I leave

It’s just my two cents but I really gotta speak it into the world.

This is gonna be LONG so here have a read more

You all are hypocritical cherry pickers that want fandoms and communities to cater to your interests and morals

And let me tell you honey, that is gonna ruin not only your own experience, but everyone elses.

Lemme adress some things

Why y’all so ready to cry wolf when someone ages up a character?

The discourse is probably as old as this fucking community. It happens every other month and I am sick of it. “If you age up characters you are a pedo uvu sorry I don’t make the rules.” yes you do. You literally made up your own fucking rules about this. “Well you are shipping with a minor!” they’re aged up. “But you still ship with a minor!!”

Okay by that logic, why are we allowing all these other shippers doing their thing? The people that ship with Sans from Undertale that is a skeleton? I mean he is still just a skeleton linking him strongly to the image of death so necrophilia much?

What about the people shipping with inanimate objects? The people shipping with transformers? Those are aliens and or vehicles? Yeah that is mechanophilia.

What about people who ship with f/os that have animalistic features? I mean they are mainly antropomorphic but they still are animals. Beastiality

“No wait that is all dif-”

How about the people shipping with villains and criminals? Clearly that means they endorse that shit irl.

What about the people that ship with people MUUUCH older than them? some millenia or hundreds of years? or just 20? clearly endorse predatory behavior

While we’re at it what’s up with people shipping with divine beings? Angels? Demons? Sounds like blatant blasphemy to me

Do I want you to double down so you can prove yourself right? NO! I want you to understand that you guys are cherry picking and not understanding correlation between topics! Are there legit pedos on tumblr? yes. is it a strangers job to care for all the minors out there? no? If I go into a park it is not my job to hold an eye out for all kids that there are. I am not their parent, guardian or otherwise a person with any responsibility towards them. Same for people on the internet. I will do my shit and keep to myself. and if I happen to enjoy stuff for myself that is my right. Do I halt at a red light bc I want to be a good example for kids so they don’t learn bad behavior? Can I stop every person that crosses a red light and hold them a long ass lecture about how they endorse dangers in the streets? No.

“But there are minors on the internet!” Yes, I am aware, they will always be, always have been, your point?

“We need to make a safe space for the kids!” No we don’t? people need to follow the Terms of Service of a platform and honestly most people that reblog nsfw stuff even clearly state that minors should not interact.

“No like, YOU need to be on your best behavior bc there could be a minor anywhere!”

Since when did I become these minors parent? Since when did someone push these kids into my lap and say “your responsibility now”?

You need to understand that you can’t always just get upset at stuff EXISTING

nsfw fics are usually tagged and marked accordingly, most people that engage in a lot of nsfw stuff usually have “minors don’t interact” on their blog somewhere. Some even BLOCK people that follow them and are clear minors, that’s some DEDICATION.

But I have seen posts catering to FUCKING WRITERS saying “pls keep nsfw out of ur imagines and reader fics :)))) for the minors, otherwise I cant reblog it.” If you want to cater to your minor audience sure, but I can not stress enough how you can not tell others how to run their shit. Yes, you can suggest that to the imagine writers or writers in general but it is their right to say “no I run it like I want to” and proceed with their shit. And there is nothing you can do about it. Besides if minors really want some nsfw, trust me they WILL find it. Should we therefore police everyone and stuck them into horny jail? No.

“haha look at this lame ass adult getting upset they can’t be predatory anymore bc they are being called out on their pedophilia”

Idk how to tell you that it’s none of your fucking buisness what my personal history is and that you have no claim outside of “aging up is pedophilia” but sure go off, bc I am “upset I can not be predatory” anymore and not just outraged people are throwing around unreasonable claims.

Why would I even age up a character if pedophilia is about being into MINORS? Why would I age a character up if the WHOLE THING about pedophilia is that they are kids????

“Okay but then it’s predatory!” There is a point that depictions of an adult dating someione who is “barely legal” normalizes predatory behavior, but honestly, why is that MY responsibility? And who says I age them up to be barely legal? My social media/tumblr/ selfship experience is a very private thing. It’s a very personal thing, so why tf do I need to cater it to people who are NOT ME? When I do that it’s because I want to do it, not because I need to fill some moral obligations. (and yet I can say that YES caring about lgbt, other religious, non white selfshippers and boosting them is something generally people should do)

Like there is a thing about fiction. It doesn’t age like normal people. When I started to love one of my f/os we were the same age. The series eventually ended, it didn’t progress in real time, so I grew up while they stayed their age. And guess what! none of this backstory is any of your god damn buisness!! I don’t OWE it to you as much as writers and others don’t owe their trauma to you just so you can “give them permission” to deal with their trauma through selfshipping or writing. Who do you think you fucking are?

Fiction is not reality. And I am sick being stuck in medevial dark ages europe where people believed everything on a stage to be real life. Where actors were not allowed to exist and the people that did act and depicted a bad guy were generally shunned and hated by everyone bc they didn’t distinguish between fiction and reality.

Does fiction have an effect on reality? Yes. Jaws had repurcussions. Even the german novella “Die Leiden des jungen Werthers” had about a dozen suicides following the lead of the main character. 50 shades had an effect. 13 reasons why had an effect. But that doesn’t mean what you believe it means.

In the end I can not take the role of these minors parents to educate them and look after them. It shouldn’t be my job. And yes there are a lot of scummy adults on the internet. Like a LOT. But you need to understand that the internet will NEVER be a child safe place. And most adults take precautions already!

But fics aren’t for morality lessons. Fics aren’t for sex education. Fics aren’t there to be a fucking HOLY BOOK. Fics are just creative writing. And selfshippers are just there to have a bad time. And if they act out SURE call them out but otherwise just leave them tf alone?

“No no, what you write is what you actively endorse uvu”

Then say good bye to Horror and thriller. Say good by to books involving cheating. Say good bye to books in which anyone ever gets harmed. Say good bye to books ever even mentioning any problematic topic that isn’t 100% uwu pure

“Wait no that is different-”

How is it? Is it only problematic when you get off of it? Is that your argument? Are we going the christian route of condemning being sexually free and enjoying something that is legit a very important thing to a lot of people? (yes to asexuals their LACK of sexual attraction can also be a very important topic bc they have the right to express that without being condemed for not wanting to BONE or not being able to get horny by looking at bodies.)

Yes the over fetishization of certain topics is problematic, yes there is a lot of toxicity when it comes to porn and that shit, but kinks are just kinks.

“So you say pedophilia is just a kink!”

No. Pedophilia is aweful and no child should ever suffer through that sort of exploitation.

“But you say rape is just a kink!”

No. Real life rape is aweful and whoever rapes another human being deserves death full stop.

“You just said-”

YES! I know what I said! A lot of people hate real life stuff that they endorse in fiction. Some people are into pissing and shitting into each other! Some people are into hardcore bondage! And they all have their own histories, their own lifes and it’s their fucking thing? Do I want death on all rapists? Yes. Do I sometimes have questionable fantasies that might involve non con or dubious consent? Yes, so? Do I have my reasons for that? Yes, it’s none of your gd buisness?

It all always boils down to entitlement. Y’all need to understand that you can’t just run around demanding everyone to cater to your bullshit. You can not run around accusing people of pedophilia just because they would like to see themselves date a fictional character, but in their age.

If it makes you uncomfortable then don’t follow and interact with those people but you don’t need to pretend to have some moral high ground so you are the better person. You can just... have dislikes?

Even so, as I make this post I can not speak in broad terms because each case, each person is individual. Maybe some get off on shit and endorse it, how should I know? Maybe someone out there is fighting for not policing and censoring stuff because they actively want more pedo content, I don’t know, I am not the CIA or FBI?

It’s also none of my buisness. Is it aweful that these people exist? yeah. Are they prone to be on tumblr? probably? Are they that selfshipper that ages up their f/o so they can smooch? Unlikely.

People have their reasons. Their backstories, and none of that should have to be layed open just to get a strangers “okay” for shipping with the fictional character that makes them happy.

so uuuh before I leave

tldr: y’all full of shit and aging up is not pedophilia, you are just trying to give yourself some moral highground. you sound like a flatearther lol.

Gates closed, bitches

#and with that I abandon this sideblog for good. gbyeeeeee y'all insufferableeeeeee #except for aurora #she is a sweetheart and i support her

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erinoddly · 4 years

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Okay, I fumed about this some in the rant I just posted and then deleted, but let’s talk more about this specific issue:

English scholars and gatekeeping literature.

More specifically: Upholding outdated values of what makes a piece of literature ‘worthwhile,’ in this case specifically surrounding collegiate English communities. I’m aware that there are more than likely others outside of the college community who feel the same, but I’m going to talk about what I know.

Last semester in one of my classes, a debate started up. This debate was surrounding the following statement said by one of my classmates:

“Ebooks, self-publishing, and fanfiction are killing literature.”

At first, I thought that there was no way that statement would stand. I mean, it seems so outdated. But the thing was, only a couple of my classmates tried to argue against it. Almost everyone in the class agreed. And among those who did argue, the majority argued against the ebook point, one or two argued against the self-publishing point, and no one argued against the fanfiction point. I was the only person in my class who tried to argue against all three of the above points. And I’m pretty sure that the other people who argued against any of the points....weren’t English majors....

I became an English major thinking that people who studied literature did so because they had an appreciation for it. And I had always had this naive view of the world, where people would want the things they appreciate to be shared with a wide audience, not locked away where only a select few can enjoy it. I thought that this would be especially true for English majors, since so many of our discussions are about the roles and treatment of minorities in society, about classism, about equality.

But instead, I came across more people than I would have liked who seem to actively want to keep literature out of certain hands just because they have a list of criteria of what makes a piece of writing ~*worthwhile literature*~ and if it doesn’t hit every criteria, then it’s worthless and “killing literature” (and trust me, that phrase has me rolling my eyes so hard it hurts. Humans have always been storytellers and we always will be. Literature isn’t dying any time soon. Only your outdated ideals of what it ‘should’ be are.)

So. Let’s start with the idea that Ebooks are killing literature.

The classmate who said this works at a locally owned used bookstore. So I wholeheartedly understand the idea that online shopping is killing local businesses and that being able to buy books in an electronic format is making people less likely to buy physical copies, especially at smaller bookstores. That’s a valid fear that a lot of people have. And I’m not going to get into whether or not that’s factually correct because that isn’t the point (also I’m too lazy to find the research on it.)

The fact is, whether or not they’re killing small bookstores, ebooks make literature more accessible.

My mother has bad eyesight and needs a new prescription on her glasses. But she doesn’t have insurance and can’t get in to see an optometrist. But she absolutely adores reading. So guess what happened when I told her she could get the Kindle app for free on her computer? She lit up like a Christmas tree. It’s so much easier for her to read because 1. she doesn’t have to bend over a physical book and hurt her back and 2. she can make the font as large as she needs to in order to not strain her eyes. She also found books from her favorite authors that were electronic only. And yeah, there are a lot of ethical dilemmas about Amazon. I’m not saying there aren’t. But ebooks can be a better alternative for people with bad eyesight. And there are probably plenty of other disabilities that ebooks help with. Hell, I prefer ebooks sometimes because there’s so much more you can do with a computer interface that makes note taking, highlighting, bookmarking, using indexes, etc. so much easier than a physical copy of a book.

But, you know, it’s funny that my classmates (who are usually young and have decent eyesight) don’t complain about audiobooks killing literature as well. Even though a lot of them prefer listening over reading. But then again, a lot of them find the books they want to read for free on youtube and listen to them there instead of buying an audiobook. But I guess that’s okay.

This isn’t even bringing up the point that ebooks are less expensive than physical books. I grew up poor. To me, buying a new book is a luxury. So I get new books way less often than I would like to because I feel like I can’t justify the expense. I mean...upwards of $20-$30? For one book? But I can get ebooks online for $1-$5 sometimes. It’s so much easier to justify buying a new ebook every now and then than it is a physical book, though I still like to buy in person when I can.

Now the next point: Self-publishing

Okay. This one hits hard. My class was discussing this one as if the only authors who self-publish are the ones who were too awful to be accepted by traditional publishers. Which is bullshit. I’m not going to get much into this point because I’m writing this on a writeblr account and this community has talked a lot about traditional vs self publishing and I’m not going to rehash the same arguments.

But there are a couple of things I want to bring up.

Not everything that’s traditionally published is good literature. *cough*50shadesofgraygettingpickedupbyapublishingcompany*cough* And not everything that’s self-published is awful. One of my favorite series of all time was self-published. And sure, it’s got its flaws, but so does any piece of literature.

Getting published traditionally isn’t a matter of skill. You can be a great writer and never get picked up by a publisher if you’re not writing the right thing at the right time or if you’re not lucky or this or that or whatever. And there are some not so great authors who do get published.

And let’s be honest. The publishing industry is a complete mess in need of an overhaul right now. There have been at least two diversity scandals that I’ve heard of just within the last few months, one of which was making major headlines. And this definitely throws a wrench into the ‘getting traditionally published’ idea, especially for authors of color, LGBT authors, or authors that are trying to bring more diversity into mainstream literature. If you aren’t meeting a white man’s ideals of what diversity should be and are lucky enough to get picked to be their token diverse author of the year, you’re not going to get much in the way of marketing, if you’re even lucky enough to get published to begin with. But most of the diversity issues are around POC specifically and I feel like it isn’t my place as a white woman to talk about this any more than I already have.

And even with all this in mind, some people choose to self-publish over traditional publishing. It doesn’t automatically mean that they got rejected and took it upon themselves to share their masterpiece with the world despite the publishing industry telling them it’s a piece of shit, or whatever the gatekeepers think.

And the last point: Fanfiction

okay. listen. i’m done with this argument. we shouldn’t have to defend the existence of fanfiction. and I’m tired of arguing with people over whether or not it’s a literary genre or not. because it is. end of story. i’m not taking any criticism at this time, thank you.

It opens the door to new writers.

Some readers are more likely to read about characters they already know rather than trying to get to know brand new characters, but can also serve as a gateway to introducing to people to reading literature.

Some fanfics are written better than a lot of traditionally published literature than I’ve read.

Fanfic writers don’t even get paid, even when they crank out a fanfic longer than a novel. Like? What saints

It feels like, and I may be wrong but, fanfic writers tend to have more consistent one-on-one interaction with fans and those fans (no offense) in some cases tend to be...how do I say this....extremely entitled.

People have been writing fanfiction for who knows how long. It isn’t exactly new. But just as the internet is making it easier to access traditional literature, it’s making it easier to access fanfiction as well.

And a host of other things. FANFICTION IS NOT KILLING LITERATURE YOU PRETENTIOUS ASSHATS. YOU JUST WANT TO PRETEND THE ONLY FANFIC WRITERS ARE CRINGEY PRETEENS WHO DON’T KNOW HOW TO WRITE. And you know what?? So what if preteens are writing fanfic? That doesn’t mean it has no literary value. And it’s teaching them lessons and helping curate and improve their creative writing skills. It’s like you expect writers to just pop out of the womb with a quill in hand, a cigarette between their lips, twirling their fucking handlebar mustache as they discuss the value of metaphors in Paradise Lost with the doctor before writing a masterpiece as their family takes them home from the hospital for the first time.

TLDR; we can’t argue that something is ‘killing literature’ when literature isn’t dying. The medium is shifting with the times, just like everything else, while some people’s close-minded ideas of what constitutes ‘good’ or ‘worthwhile’ literature is stagnant. It’s irresponsible, as literary scholars, to gatekeep literature. All you’re doing, in the end, is shaming people out of reading in general, let alone reading what you believe are the correct things to read in the correct ways of reading them. You can’t argue the value of minorities, class differences, and diversity in literature and then also try and claim that only certain types of literature are allowed, when narrowing down those types blocks the very people you believe literature is supposed to uplift from accessing it.

#erin screams into the void #long post under read more #I...got kinda heated. I didn't expect this to get so long.#but you know what? I'm posting it anyway!#I did not write out a 1700+ word rant just to delete it #...holy shit i wrote a 1700 word rant on this....

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williamlwolf89 · 4 years

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WordPress Hosting: A Brutally Honest Guide (to Save You $)

This is painful to say, but…

Most of what’s published out there about WordPress hosting is total crap.

Not just incomplete information. Not just half-truths.

I’m talking outright lies and boldfaced scams.

You can’t even get straightforward answers to basic questions like…

Should you go to the trouble of setting up a WordPress site or just start a blog for free on Medium?

Which company is good? Who can you trust?

Are there any decent free WordPress hosting services?

What’s the difference between all the different options?

It’s infuriating, but listen…

I make money blogging because I have built and run some of the most popular blogs in the world, scaling them from nothing to millions of visitors per month. During that process, I learned a lot of valuable lessons — often the hard way — about what makes a good WordPress host.

And today, I’m publishing the guide I wish somebody had given me.

It’s brutally honest. It’s full of technical details (that I do my best to explain). It’ll also save you tons of time and money.

The Different Levels of WordPress Hosting Plans

To start, here’s an infographic explaining the typical path most bloggers take:

They start with a shared hosting plan, and then they grow to a Virtual Private Server, and then they grow to a Dedicated Server.

Wondering how that applies to you?

Here’s the short answer:

TLDR: The Best WordPress Hosting Right Now (In My Opinion)

If you’re under 100,000 visitors per month, don’t torture yourself by getting a VPS or dedicated server. Just grab a cheap, no-frills shared hosting account and install WordPress. Most hosting providers these days offer one-click WordPress installation, which makes the whole process a breeze.

Is it the best WordPress hosting in the world?

No, but it’s way better value than the alternatives. Here’s a pricing comparison:

The more expensive things get, the more complicated and frustrating it gets too. You’ve never experienced misery until you try to optimize a dedicated server for the first time.

My advice?

Keep it simple and cheap. Use a shared host.

Now, that begs the question…

What’s the Most Cost-Effective Hosting for WordPress?

Personally, I use SiteGround (affiliate link) for all my new WordPress websites. Here’s why:

It’s the best balance I’ve found of quality and price. You can find cheaper hosts, but you can’t find anyone cheap that’s as good as them.

They are optimized for WordPress. The load times for your site will be faster there than on many hosts

I use them personally to host most of our sites, and both their servers and support have always been excellent.

That being said, I’ll be straight with you…

SiteGround isn’t the only great host in the world. They’re just the one I personally use and recommend to our 3+ million readers. I wouldn’t endorse them publicly without having a lot of confidence in them.

But there other good companies with a different approach.

Who Is the Best WordPress Host, Regardless of Price?

WP Engine (affiliate) has an impeccable reputation for flawless hosting, high performance, great uptime, and a dynamite support team. In my opinion, there’s no question they are better than SiteGround, but they are also 10X more expensive.

Is it worth it?

If you want a managed WordPress host that can take unlimited traffic, offer perks like site migration and WordPress staging, and has WordPress experts standing by to help you with pretty much anything you need (plus you’re hosting an e-commerce website with a significant budget), maybe it’s worth the extra cost.

Quite a few big blogs host with them, and they believe it’s worth every penny.

I’ve also been to their offices in downtown Austin and met with the executive team. It’s a solid company that’ll be around for years to come.

The bottom line:

If you want to skip the rest of this post and just choose a host, go with SiteGround (affiliate link) if you have a small budget and WP Engine (affiliate) if you have a large one. You won’t regret going with other company.

Before you choose any WordPress host though, here’s an important point you should understand:

Most Reviews Are Bought and Paid for

Pretty much every blogger making a hosting recommendation is getting compensated by the host. And yes, that includes me.

The difference?

I’m not hiding anything. I’m proud of the partnerships I have with SiteGround (affiliate link) and WP Engine (affiliate), because I have personal experience with both companies, many of my students are customers, and they treat everyone extremely well. I would happily recommend them even if they weren’t paying me a penny.

And that’s NOT true for other bloggers.

Most don’t even use the host they are recommending. In my opinion, that’s just unethical.

Especially when it comes to one particular company…

Many Hosts are Owned by the Same Terrible Company

Do any of these sound familiar?

2slick.com AccountSupport A Small Orange ApolloHosting AptHost Arvixe Berry Information Systems BigRock BizLand BlueDomino BlueFur Bluehost BuyDomains Cirtex Hosting Cloud by IX Constant Contact Directi Dollar2Host Domain.com DomainHost Dot5Hosting Dotster easyCGI eHost EntryHost Escalate Internet FastDomain FatCow FreeYellow Glob@t Homestead HostCentric HostClear Host Excellence HostGator HostMonster HostNine HostYourSite.com HostV HyperMart IdeaHost IMOutdoors Impress.ly Intuit Websites iPage IPOWER/iPowerWeb IX Web Hosting JustCloud JustHost LogicBoxes MojoMarketplace MyDomain MyResellerHome NetFirms Networks Web Hosting Nexx PowWeb PureHost ReadyHosting ResellerClub SEOGears SEO Hosting Site5 SiteBuilder.com Sitelio Sitey Southeast Web Spry StartLogic SuperGreen Hosting TypePad USANetHosting vDeck Verio VirtualAvenue VPSLink WebHost4Life WebHosting.info WebsiteBuilder.com Webstrike Solutions Webzai World Wide Web Hosting Xeran YourWebHosting

Ever heard of Bluehost?

Or maybe Hostgator?

Both hosts are owned by a conglomerate called Endurance International Group (EIG). In fact, EIG runs most of the big hosting companies, and it continues to buy new ones all the time.

So what makes them so awful?

After they purchase a host, they lay off support staff, stop investing in new technology, and funnel the money into increased advertising and payouts to shareholders. Sure, they usually try to entice customers by offering perks such as free domain names or unlimited websites, but these relatively small perk aren’t worth it. In every case, the reputation of the host plummets.

Of course, you might be wondering how you find out if they own your host. Or for that matter, how do you know if your host is a good one if nearly every review is bought and paid for?

The answer:

The Best Way to Get Unbiased Reviews

Web Hosting Talk is the biggest forum on the web about hosting platforms, and it has literally millions of hosting reviews. They don’t allow affiliate links either, so you can count on the reviews to be unbiased.

Granted, every host — be it SiteGround or WPEngine, DreamHost or A2 Hosting, GoDaddy or InMotion hosting, or one of the less-than-ideal hosts mentioned above — gets a bad review now and again, but you can comb through dozens of reports to get a much better feel for the reputation of the host, as well as their strengths and weaknesses.

Also, here’s a little hack to save you some time…

Instead of using the search tool built into their forum, which can be a little clunky, grab the URL of the forum you want to search, and then put the following in Google:

site:URL “host name”

For example, if you wanted to verify the reputation of SiteGround (affiliate link), you can go to their list of forums, right click on the one that seems most appropriate, and copy the link:

From there, use the search parameter above in Google. In this case, it would be:

site:http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1 “SiteGround”

And voilà, you have a listing of reviews you can easily look through for reliable information.

In particular, here’s the biggest factor that should influence your decision:

How to Evaluate Customer Support

Customer support. When you’re a beginner or small business, it’s more important than anything.

No surprise there, right?

But here’s the big lesson…

It’s not just about wait times or the intelligence of the technicians. It’s also about the method of support, what the host supports, and the helpdesk schedule.

For instance:

Do you have to submit tickets through their helpdesk and wait for a response, or can you do a live chat or phone call with a technician and actually have a conversation?

Do they offer WordPress support, including the most popular WordPress themes and plug-ins? It’s shocking, but unless they specifically mention it, many don’t.

Do they offer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or is it only during normal business hours?

Do they do daily backups?

Personally, I want a host with technicians I can interact with in real time (either through phone or chat), have a thorough knowledge of WordPress.org, and are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And that’s actually relatively difficult to find at an affordable price.

That’s why I think SiteGround (affiliate link) is the best host for most beginners. They give you all those things for an entire year for less than the cost of a dinner at a nice restaurant.

And here’s what’s even cooler…

Their servers are also configured especially for WordPress. Let’s talk about that next.

The Configuration Matters More Than Tech

Chances are, you’ve seen a hosting package that looks something like this:

Almost like a foreign language, right? Disk space, RAM, page views, MySQL, cPanel (control panel), data centers, unlimited email accounts, SFTP, WooCommerce, downtime, CMS, WP-CLI, Git integration, add-ons, SSDs — what’s it all mean? And for that matter, how are you supposed to know which hosting plan is right for you?

Actually… you don’t have to. If you’re running a relatively simple WordPress site, none of those technical details matter much. You can ignore them.

Here’s proof:

In 2012, a fellow named Ewen Leith managed to get a $15 server to run a WordPress site receiving 10 million hits a day.

Granted, it was an extremely simple site using a set up that would be tough for a novice to manage, but it’s still proof the configuration of your web host matters much more than having high-end hardware or a free CDN (Content Delivery Network) like Cloudflare.

That’s another reason why I recommend SiteGround (affiliate link) – their servers are configured specifically for WordPress. Your site will be able to handle far more traffic with far fewer resources. Over the long term, it translates into significant savings, because you have to upgrade less often.

Granted, SiteGround isn’t the only host who does this. If you decide to search for someone else, here’s what to look for:

Litespeed or Apache NGINX

Database caching through Memcached

Support for PHP version 7 and HTTP/2

RAM, SSD storage, bandwidth — for a normal WordPress site, none of those specs really matter much. Ignore them and focus on the three above details.

But, also remember:

Installing Too Many Plugins Can Mess up Any WordPress Host

So, you found a host that’s perfectly optimized for WordPress. Your site should be nice and zippy, right?

Actually… not necessarily.

If you install too many WordPress plugins (or even just one really bad one), you can slow down your site or even cause your host to cancel your account. It’s the most common source of problems. (Plus, an out-of-date plugin can make your site vulnerable to malware and other attacks, so the more you have, the greater your risk.)

So, how do you know which plugins to install and which ones to avoid?

The short answer: install as few as possible, and if you ever have problems with your site, the first thing you should always do is try deactivating plugins. For a detailed answer, take a look at our post on essential WordPress plug-ins.

Make Sure You Get a Free SSL Certificate

Ever since Google announced that having an SSL certificate is now a ranking factor, it’s become essential for you to have one if you’re serious about your content being seen in search engines.

What’s an SSL certificate?

It’s an extra layer of security and reporting around the safety of your WordPress website. Any site using SSL will have the prefix “https” in the URL.

In the past, you had to pay a yearly fee to register your SSL certificate, but most of the top web hosting services are now offering one for free via services like Let’s Encrypt. You should take advantage of that savings and have your site on https from day one.

The 7 Things That Really Matter When Choosing the Best WordPress Host

By this point, I wouldn’t blame you if your head is spinning.

We’ve covered a lot of technical details in this post, so I thought I would conclude with a quick checklist to help you choose the best WordPress host for you. Here are the seven most important things to remember:

Unless your site is massive, you don’t need a VPS or dedicated server. Stick with shared WordPress hosting.

For the love of God, avoid any hosting company owned by EIG.

When evaluating customer support, look for 24/7 live chat and/or phone support.

The configuration of your web host matters more than the technical specs

Go easy on the WordPress plugins. They can slow down your site.

You should expect to get a free SSL certificate. Use it.

If you’re tired of thinking about all this stuff, go with a managed WordPress hosting solution like SiteGround (cheap but good) or WP Engine (premium). SiteGround offers a hassle-free, 30-day money-back guarantee, and WP Engine offers 60 days for new customers.

Follow those recommendations, and you’ll save yourself tons of time, money, and headaches. I speak from experience.

Ultimately though, the decision is yours. Choose wisely, my friend.

The post WordPress Hosting: A Brutally Honest Guide (to Save You $) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/wordpress-hosting/

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laurylyonus · 6 years

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WordPress Hosting: A Brutally Honest Guide That’ll Save You Money

This is painful to say, but…

Most of what’s published out there about WordPress hosting is total BS.

Not just incomplete information. Not just half-truths.

I’m talking outright lies and boldfaced scams.

You can’t even get straightforward answers to basic questions like…

Should you go to the trouble of setting up a WordPress site or just start a blog for free on Medium?

Which company is good? Who can you trust?

What’s the difference between all the different options?

It’s infuriating, but listen…

I’ve helped build and run some of the most popular blogs in the world, scaling them from nothing to millions of visitors per month. During that process, I learned a lot of valuable lessons — often the hard way — about what makes a good WordPress host.

And today, I’m publishing the guide I wish somebody had given me.

It’s brutally honest. It’s full of technical details (that I do my best to explain). It’ll also save you tons of time and money.

The Different Levels of WordPress Hosting

To start, here’s an infographic explaining the typical path most bloggers take:

They start with a shared host, and then they grow to a Virtual Private Server, and then they grow to a Dedicated Server.

Wondering how that applies to you?

Here’s the short answer:

TLDR: The Best WordPress Hosting Right Now (In My Opinion)

If you’re under 100,000 visitors per month, don’t torture yourself by getting a VPS or dedicated server. Just grab a cheap, no-frills shared hosting account.

Is it the best hosting in the world?

No, but it’s way better value than the alternatives. Here’s a pricing comparison:

The more expensive things get, the more complicated and frustrating it gets too. You’ve never experienced misery until you try to optimize a dedicated server for the first time.

My advice?

Keep it simple and cheap. Use a shared host.

Now, that begs the question…

What’s the Most Cost-Effective Hosting for WordPress?

Personally, I use SiteGround (affiliate link) for all my new sites. Here’s why:

It’s the best balance I’ve found of quality and price. You can find cheaper hosts, but you can’t find anyone cheap that’s as good as them.

They are optimized for WordPress. Your site will run faster there than on many hosts.

I use them personally to host most of our sites, and both their servers and support have always been excellent.

That being said, I’ll be straight with you…

SiteGround isn’t the only great host in the world. They’re just the one I personally use and recommend to our 2.6 million readers. I wouldn’t endorse them publicly without having a lot of confidence in them.

But there other good companies with a different approach.

Who Is the Best WordPress Host, Regardless of Price?

WP Engine (affiliate) has an impeccable reputation for flawless hosting and support. In my opinion, there’s no question they are better than SiteGround, but they are also 10X more expensive.

Is it worth it?

If you want a host that can take unlimited traffic and has WordPress experts standing by to help you with pretty much anything you need, plus you’re hosting a business website with a significant budget, maybe it’s worth the extra cost. Quite a few big blogs host with them, and they believe it’s worth every penny.

I’ve also been to their offices in downtown Austin and met with the executive team. It’s a solid company that’ll be around for years to come.

The bottom line:

Before you choose any WordPress host though, here’s an important point you should understand:

Most Reviews Are Bought and Paid for

Pretty much every blogger making a hosting recommendation is getting compensated by the host. And yes, that includes me.

The difference?

And that’s NOT true for other bloggers.

Most don’t even use the host they are recommending. In my opinion, that’s just unethical.

Especially when it comes to one particular company…

Many Hosts are Owned by the Same Terrible Company

2slick.com FreeYellow PowWeb AccountSupport Glob@t PureHost A Small Orange Homestead ReadyHosting ApolloHosting HostCentric ResellerClub AptHost HostClear SEOGears Arvixe Host Excellence SEO Hosting Berry Information Systems HostGator Site5 BigRock HostMonster SiteBuilder.com BizLand HostNine Sitelio BlueDomino HostYourSite.com Sitey BlueFur HostV Southeast Web BlueHost HyperMart Spry BuyDomains IdeaHost StartLogic Cirtex Hosting IMOutdoors SuperGreen Hosting Cloud by IX Impress.ly TypePad Constant Contact Intuit Websites USANetHosting Directi iPage vDeck Dollar2Host IPOWER/iPowerWeb Verio Domain.com IX Web Hosting VirtualAvenue DomainHost JustCloud VPSLink Dot5Hosting JustHost WebHost4Life Dotster LogicBoxes WebHosting.info easyCGI MojoMarketplace WebsiteBuilder.com eHost MyDomain Webstrike Solutions EntryHost MyResellerHome Webzai Escalate Internet NetFirms World Wide Web Hosting FastDomain Networks Web Hosting Xeran FatCow Nexx YourWebHosting

Ever heard of Bluehost?

Or maybe Hostgator?

Both hosts are owned by a conglomerate called Endurance International Group (EIG). In fact, EIG runs most of the big hosting companies, and it continues to buy new ones all the time.

So what makes them so awful?

After they purchase a host, they lay off support staff, stop investing in new technology, and funnel the money into increased advertising and payouts to shareholders. In every case, the reputation of the host plummets.

Of course, you might be wondering how you find out if they own your host. Or for that matter, how do you know if your host is a good one if nearly every review is bought and paid for?

The answer:

The Best Way to Get Unbiased Reviews

Web Hosting Talk is the biggest forum on the web about hosting, and it has literally millions of reviews. They don’t allow affiliate links either, so you can count on the reviews to be unbiased.

Granted, every host gets a bad review now and again, but you can comb through dozens of reports to get a much better feel for the reputation of the host, as well as their strengths and weaknesses.

Also, here’s a little hack to save you some time…

Instead of using the search tool built into their forum, which can be a little clunky, grab the URL of the forum you want to search, and then put the following in Google:

site:URL “host name”

For example, if you wanted to verify the reputation of SiteGround (affiliate link), you can go to their list of forums, right click on the one that seems most appropriate, and copy the link:

From there, use the search parameter above in Google. In this case, it would be:

site:http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1 “SiteGround”

And voilà, you have a listing of reviews you can easily look through for reliable information.

In particular, here’s the biggest factor that should influence your decision:

How to Evaluate Customer Support

Customer support. When you’re a beginner, it’s more important than anything.

No surprise there, right?

But here’s the big lesson…

It’s not just about wait times or the intelligence of the technicians. It’s also about the method of support, what the host supports, and the helpdesk schedule.

For instance:

Do you have to submit tickets through their helpdesk and wait for a response, or can you do a live chat or phone call with a technician and actually have a conversation?

Do they offer support for WordPress and the most popular themes and plug-ins? It’s shocking, but unless they specifically mention it, many don’t.

Do they offer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or is it only during normal business hours?

Personally, I want a host with technicians I can interact with in real time (either through phone or chat), have a thorough knowledge of WordPress, and are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And that’s actually relatively difficult to find at an affordable price.

That’s why I think SiteGround (affiliate link) is the best host for most beginners. They give you all those things for an entire year for less than the cost of a dinner at a nice restaurant.

And here’s what’s even cooler…

Their servers are also configured especially for WordPress. Let’s talk about that next.

The Configuration Matters More Than Tech

Chances are, you’ve seen a page on a hosting website that looks something like this:

Almost like a foreign language, right? Disk space, RAM, page views, uniques, SSDs — what’s it all mean? And for that matter, how are you supposed to know which plan is right for you?

Actually… you don’t have to. If you’re running a relatively simple WordPress site, none of those technical details matter much. You can ignore them.

Here’s proof:

In 2012, a fellow named Ewen Leith managed to get a $15 server to run a WordPress site receiving 10 million hits a day. Granted, it was an extremely simple site using a set up that would be tough for a novice to manage, but it’s still proof the configuration of your web host matters much more than having high-end hardware.

Granted, SiteGround isn’t the only host who does this. If you decide to search for someone else, here’s what to look for:

Litespeed or Apache NGINX

Database caching through Memcached

Support for PHP 7 and HTTP/2

RAM, SSD space, bandwidth — for a normal WordPress site, none of those specs really matter much. Ignore them and focus on the three above details.

Installing Too Many Plugins Can Mess up Any WordPress Host

So, you found a host that’s perfectly optimized for WordPress. Your site should be nice and zippy, right?

Actually… not necessarily.

If you install too many WordPress plugins (or even just one really bad one), you can slow down your site or even cause your host to cancel your account. It’s the most common source of problems.

So,how do you know which plugins to install and which ones to avoid?

Make Sure You Get a Free SSL Certificate

Ever since Google announced that having an SSL certificate is now a ranking factor, it’s become essential for you to have one.

What’s an SSL certificate?

It’s an extra layer of security and reporting around the safety of your website. Any site using SSL will have the prefix “https” in the URL.

In the past, you had to pay a yearly fee to register your SSL certificate, but most of the top web posts are now offering one for free. You should take advantage of that savings and have your site on https from day one.

The 7 Things That Really Matter When Choosing the Best WordPress Host

By this point, I wouldn’t blame you if your head is spinning.

Unless your site is massive, you don’t need a VPS or dedicated server. Stick with a shared host.

For the love of God, avoid any hosting company owned by EIG.

When evaluating customer support, look for 24/7 live chat and/or phone support.

The configuration of your web host matters more than the technical specs

Go easy on the WordPress plugins. They can slow down your site.

You should expect to get a free SSL certificate. Use it.

If you’re tired of thinking about all this stuff, go with either SiteGround (affiliate link) (cheap but good) or WP Engine (affiliate) (premium).

Follow those recommendations, and you’ll save yourself tons of time, money, and headaches. I speak from experience.

Ultimately though, the decision is yours. Choose wisely, my friend.

About the Author: Jon Morrow has asked repeatedly to be called “His Royal Awesomeness” but no one listens to him. So, he settles for CEO of Smart Blogger. Poor man. 🙂

The post WordPress Hosting: A Brutally Honest Guide That’ll Save You Money appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/wordpress-hosting/

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stevenshartus · 6 years