Helping friends out...could it be a problem?

[Robato]

I was wondering, I have my own dedicated servers and have many domains, some of which I use for free sites.....

I have been submitting and trading links etc. and following all the rules of the game....however, I am recently helping a friend out and teaching him how to do this for a living like I do.

He is broke and can barely afford content....however he is going to invest in content and try his hand at this and I feel he has enough drive to get it done (although I have been trying to help friends out and teach them to do this for over 4 or 5 years and most quit when they dont see a check in a week or two)

Anyway to make a long story short, I figured I would host his sites, however I dont want to get caught as a "cheater" because I am hosting my buddy who will be submitting to the same link lists. What can I do if anything to prevent getting blacklisted for being a nice guy?

Should I just tell him to pay $200 a month for hosting eventhough I have ample bandwidth, just to prevent this dilemma?

As I have heard from the link lists owners on this board the "favorite excuse" from cheaters is "I was helping out a friend". I dont want to be thrown into this catagory as I will be helping out a friend if I do host him

[Hostive.com]

Would purchasing another IP address for a few domains on your server work?

[HC-Majick]

A virtual hosting account costs $19.95 a month. Most basic plans offer way more than he will need starting out. no chance of being labeled a cheater that way.

[raul]

I wouldn't host for them. I am also new at this but I feel if you have a vested interest you will work harder to make sure you succeed. Even if they have to borrow the money they need to put up something. Do you really need to pay $200. a month for hosting? I pay $20 a month and get 80GB bw.

Raul

[Hostive.com]

[cyberdream]

Had the same situation happen to me about 6 years ago when hosting for adult sites was 1k + per month. I helped out a friend in need. Long story short, I got banned from a lot of TGP's for his activities that cost thousands of lost revenue. Took me many weeks of begging to get off the blacklists. If he is new then he is going to make some mistakes unless you watch his "every" move, which then takes you away from your job. If you look you can get dedicated hosting for about $99/month with no setup fees.... dirt cheap... if you need some help getting a list of good cheap host just email me.

[Robato]

I appreciate the advice guys, however I want him not to waste his money on a shared box with others who may have been banned. Dedicated is the way to go, if you know of a dedicated box that offers a $20 a month fee let me know!!! LOL

So I take it hosting him would be shooting myself in the foot with the link lists.


Oh by the way, I am going to be looking at every single site he makes before he submits them. Im going to be over his shoulder for a while until he learns what he is doing....but I dont want the link lists to look at me as submitting 2 sites in a 24 hour period, because that is not the case.

Has anyone had a problem with shared box virtual hosting and getting listed? If not I will just tell him to start out with a $20 a month setup and that will fix all the problems.

[Cleo]

Your box, your responsibility.

If your friend does something bad it will come back to you.

If your friend does something dumb it will come back to you.

If the submits look like they are both coming from the same webmaster you are both fucked.

Hosting is way too cheap these days not to get your own hosting.

[Robato]

So what about virtual hosting and shared boxes? They have many webmasters on them at a time.

Are there many problems getting listed being on a $20 plan? Ive never used a shared box before....Ive been doing this since 1999 and was on my buddy's dedicated server back then when I started.

Cleo, I used to live in plantation...I just moved up here. Its a shame I didnt know any webmasters when I lived down there, we could have went out for some beers.

[JoeBlack]

Robato this is a very good question because I am taking on a partner soon and I wanted to host him on my account. I have free paid hosting because I am good friends with the owner of the hosting company so it would be nothing for me to just add his domains to my host rather than have him pay anything even if it is only $20.

He will also be another reviewer for my LL who I trust and am not worried about him trying to cheat or anything cause he is not that type of guy. So what would be the best course of action in my case.

JoeBlack

[Linkster]

The best solution would be to give him a separate IP on your dedicated box - that way its not associated with you - sign a domain over to him - hell its only $10 - let him have his own DNS info(whois) just in case he does mess up its separate from you.

Im doing this with my two step sons and they are just getting into the biz but it keeps things good on both ends

[Hostive.com]

I would agree and say just add an additional IP address to your server. We have a lot of clients do this. It is fairly inexpensive.

[Robato]

well if its just a matter of having his own ip and whois info, I was planning on that from the begining when I first posted.

I thought thats what everyone understood? I mean I currently have about 200 ips on my boxes I could just give him one and let him register a domain at godaddy for $7

This wouldnt get my box blacklisted though if I were to submit to greenguy and he submit to greenguy in the same day? I mean we are afterall on the same server. This is what I am worried about.

I mean if he can be hosted on a shared box for $10 a month with no problems, I am sure he can afford to do that until he starts making enough money for his own box.

[Linkster]

I would definitely post that he's going to be submitting over in the linklists threads - I would also recommend that he come by and introduce himself just so the LL owners get to know who he is

[jhussher]

[stuveltje]

I agree with linkster, nothing wrong with helping a friend, i do the same, have mention it before on the boards because, he makes free site and i do, my friends domains are on my name and all his hosting too. We have never had any problems yet, and i dont want any problems, but it is sure is a good feeling to help a friend in this bizz if you know they can do it.

[Nargule]

Originally posted by Robato
This wouldnt get my box blacklisted though if I were to submit to greenguy and he submit to greenguy in the same day? I mean we are afterall on the same server. This is what I am worried about.

I don't think I understand your concern. If you have 200 IPs on your box and you give one of them to your friend, how would anyone even know you two were on the same box?

Just make sure his domain has his whois info. You don't even have to share a nameserver.

[Robato]

Originally posted by Nargule
I don't think I understand your concern. If you have 200 IPs on your box and you give one of them to your friend, how would anyone even know you two were on the same box?

Just make sure his domain has his whois info. You don't even have to share a nameserver.

I dont know, which is why I was asking. I mean I have tons of ips, I could just submit 30 or 40 free sites a day to link lists like greenguy myself......however I dont.

The point is, if I help my friend by hosting his sites is there a way that I could get banned? I want to help my friend but I also want to prevent screwing myself in the process.

I have heard of others getting banned before and using the excuse of "I was helping a friend" and then all the domains and ips are posted here as being a cheater or whatever.....

now who is there to believe? Is it really a cheater or a trigger happy ban loving link list owner? Either way I dont want to get involved. Cause it is the webmaster that loses not the trigger happy link list.. So I just posted here to ask if it was a possiblity of getting my boxed banned even with different ips....I mean for example....

Eventhough my server has different ips if he uses my server as his mail server, the headers in both his email and my emails will have the same root domain that my server uses for mail in them. This is one way that link lists would know that its the same server....but how would they wouldnt know that its two people from two different cities

Originally posted by jhussher

Thanks for the useful reply, without people like you the board would be nothing!!

[Tommy]

you wont have a problem with me

I never went on witch hunts unless the submiter really burned me with a virus or spyware

[stuveltje]

Originally posted by Tommy
you wont have a problem with me

I never went on witch hunts unless the submiter really burned me with a virus or spyware

well i need to ban myself since today i got a nice email from my own netmaniak linksite saying me sending virusses to other people, greetings netmaniak crew, i havent laugh so loud as today.........

[jhussher]

IMHO, TGP's and all usually don't ban the whole IP...just that domain and/or email address of the cheater.

[tiny]

save the headache and not have him reg a godaddy

[ecchi]

Only a few TGP's or Link Lists ban via isp, and those of them I have dealt with have all been a******s (which is understandable, because you either have to be thick or a cheater to ban an entire IP because one of it's users is bad). So if you do get blacklisted by these, your friend has done you a favour by getting you banned.

However if you are worried, get him to set up his own IPs on your box, that way there is no problem, and it is a hell of a lot cheaper than renting his own box.

BTW $200 seems excessive for a dedicated server, you can get it for half that. Also any newbie reading this I would strongly advise you NOT to start dedicated. Unless you got a good friend who will let you go on their machine, get a virtual host. You are never going to need that much in your first year. Paying for one is like going to the end of the garden each month, taking nearly $100 out of your wallet, and burning it. When you need it, moving from virtual to dedicated is as easy as a couple of emails to your host if you have a good one (and if you have a bad one, you definitely don't want to pay for a dedicated box with them, also going virtual first is also a good way of testing the host out). remember, a good beginners package can be got for $4.99

[Greenguy]

I've had this backfire on me & I've had it work out rather well - it's a fine line being a "nice guy" when you're running a business, which we all are.

Maybe you can have him do some work for you 1st & pay him enough to get him set up on his own hosting & whatnot - that's the safest bet.

[freecashweb]