How important are fancy layouts

[tox]

I have another question in that matter, because I stumbled upon that issue a couple times: How much money are you guys willing to spend on your domain? Alexiel says she's not able to pay the yearly fee and I've read that on a lot of domains that closed. I pay round about 50 Euros for a whole year (which is less than 5 Euros a month) and for me it's ok, because it's a hobby I don't want to give up. Are the fees in your country higher than here in Germany? I would pay less, if I haven't chosen an "org" Domain. I'm just curious.

[Destinie]

When I closed down uingu-boy.net it was less of not being able to afford it and more of "cutting costs" at the time. (I hope this makes sense...) So even though I was paying ~ $25/yr for my domain, at the time, I was making so little with my job and had many other bills to pay. I could have probably afforded it but the value wasn't adding up for what I was spending. Let me clarify: At the time I had many other bills, I was working A LOT, and was also looking for other jobs, which left me little time to work on sites. So I felt like I didn't want to risk running out of funds for something I was hardly touching at the time. (But then I am glad I was hosted so I could come back when I had more money.)

In order to get a good domain, I feel like it's a lot more. For nyarth.net I pay $25/yr through Doteasy which is free hosting but that's what I pay for the name. For Love-Gala, I'm hosted and just pay for the name. It's a .org so it's only $10/yr and for winged-victory I pay $35/yr through Asmallorange. So in total that's approx. $70 a year which for me, now, is easily affordable! But that would have been almost impossible for me to do several years back.

And I can understand Amy's situation. Hospital and doctor bills can be really expensive. :[

[Mikari]

I had thought about getting a domain, but I'm happily hosted and don't have much of a motivation for a domain name alone. A domain + hosting deal would be good if my host is no longer available one day... I don't know I guess I'm so comfortable with what I have and I've had long urls for such a long time I'm used to it... plus I wouldn't know what to get anyway.

[Eden]

I don't see the need to buy hosting if so many nice people give hosting domains for free (especially if it's cpanel hosting) or there are plenty of free cpanel hosting places (which I've been with before I went with a friend) and it's been really great. So I basically just pay for my domains (namecheap ftw! I could not pay more than $10 a year for a domain name!) and that's it. I manage 4 domains right now and that cost is like $30 or something a year for just these domains alone. I save so much money without worrying about paying for hosting.

[Camy]

Simple designs are always welcomed. Thus the term "K.I.S.S - Keep it Simple Stupid". Of course, it doesn't have to be completely bare. Just one lone image that could change/rotate is enough.

And I think everyone needs to remember one thing: People go for the content, the pretty design is just an upside. As long as they can navigate to the pages and read it, it's enough.

So please don't kill all your sites!

[Ava]

Amy Marie, your sites are absolutely worth saving. You've worked very hard on them, and you provide a great service to various fan groups out there. I have more space than I know what to do with, so I would love to host all your sites for however long you need. Please don't let them die!

Tox, I pay about $9 USD a month for unlimited space at Dreamhost with a free domain name, and $20/year for two extra domain names. (If anyone is considering switching to Dreamhost, please contact me so I can give you a discount code!) I've looked around at other options, but I've been with my host for so long, and I really like the overall service quality, so I stick with it.

[Kibumie]

it's definitely worth saving. All the efforts and hard work you have given to the site is definitely worth saving.

[Yuzuki]

I just noticed this thread, Amy. You probably don't know me, I'm new here. But I just visited your site and your shrine are totally worth saving! Currently I have a VPN account which allows me to have unlimited domains on my account. If you need a free host for your collective, I would gladly do it. I can also help you with the renew cost for your domain for the next year (there are many good registars in the 10-15 a year rate). I can promise to host your sites for the as long as I'm able to pay my host (been with the same host since 2006 and I dont see myself moving anytime soon).

I hope you get to see this message, wishing you the best