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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BSF" data-source="post: 1844438" data-attributes="member: 13098">Desert Gled,I believe you are operating under a false premise, though I can understand where you are coming from.  At the time that particular thread came up, the answer was a rapid-fire one that did not delve into details.  That isn't meant as criticism toward anyone because there really isn't a need to provide a detailed summary of expenses to anyone except Morrus.  But when you start considering the cost differences between a hosted site and a co-located server, there are a lot of variables you need to remember.Hosted sites have a low entry point.  Basically, it is cheap to get in the door and do some basic site hosting.  Depending on the service plan, you start with a little disk space and a little bandwidth, and you can move up to lots of disk space with lost of bandwidth.  Nevertheless, you are still sharing that server with other sites.  You are sharing that processing power that indexes and presents data.  You are sharing that memory space that caches your database.  A hosted site is not a very good option for a database driven forum site such as EN World.  If you think the site is slow now, imagine sharing the server with anywhere from 9 - 49 other sites.  (Trust me, my DM runs a hosted site for our game forums.  Sometimes that site, with all 6 of us online, serving those 11,000+ posts in Vbulletin is almost as slow as EN World.)You can also purchase a dedicated server site.  Now,this has potential to be a better option than a co-located server.  Cedant offers a dedicated server with good processors and good RAM for $379/month.  This isn't a bad option, except for support issues.  Well, and the fact that the biggest server option they currently offer isn't really any faster than a dual-system configuration.  Cedant offers a range of support issues as cost/incident and monthly costs. Really, this is a great service plan and is aggressively priced.  However, it is still not really that much better than co-location at Cyberstreet where the people there provide service above and beyond the call of duty (or the letter of contracts.)  Actually, that would be no better and potentialy worse.  If you can exist without ever having problems, then the most cost effective solution is an easy sell.  But when you do have problems do you really want to call a tech so you can borrow 10 minutes of their time to read a console message?  (This is one of the free benefits of Cedant.)  Or would you rather ask somebody that knows the system and cares that you are down to help you fix the problem?  Server co-location with payments for bandwidth allows you to have your preferred technical resource on site to fix problems.  It also allows you to put the hardware of choice in the datacenter.  A hosted site is insufficient for EN World.  (Certainly, I do not want that type of performance hit.)  Paying for a dedicated server is a possibility.  But right now the cost of a dedicated server does not appear to be significantly less than a co-located server and the troubleshooting considerations are a big factor in whether that cost difference is worthwhile.  Community Supporter Accounts might be able to sustain a dedicated server, but we would have potential issues with growth.  Right now, co-location at Cyberstreet might be slightly more expensive, but the intangible cost of good customer service needs to be factored in.  Personally, I think it is worth it.</blockquote>

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