# How many paying subscribers does this board currently have? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 22, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-paying-subscribers-does-this-board-currently-have/318167 "2005-08-22T20:36:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Alien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/57b2e6/32.png) [@Alien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alien)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-paying-subscribers-does-this-board-currently-have/318167/161 "2005-08-30T21:04:54Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > [http://servers.aplus.net/premium.html](http://servers.aplus.net/premium.html) > > Dual Intel Xeon D 2.8 GHz, 800 MHz FSB with HyperThreading > 1024 MB Dual Channel DDR400 ECC RAM (upgrades up to 4GB available) > 120 GB hard drive (upgrades up to dual 250 GB available) > 1000 GB Bandwidth included (Non-Cogent) > Free Managed Services > > $199 a month > > Would you consider this adequate for the needs of the SDMB? If not, cite why, and what specs would be required. This is too funny. These are just 10 threads (those with descriptive titles) out of the first 25 returned for an APlus search on the WebHostingTalk board. FYI: Webhostingtalk is regarded as _the_ place to check out hosts. [Stay Away from APLUS.net Dedicated Hosting](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=431148&highlight=aplus) [Aplus.net Suck!!!](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=432105&highlight=aplus) [Aplus.net : good price. the catch? Bad service.](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=431775&highlight=aplus) [The truth about aplus.net, Aplus.net is the worse company i’ve ever seen.](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=245379&highlight=aplus) [Yet another aplus.net gripe…](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=399070&highlight=aplus) [aplus.net “cheating” to get high search engine ranking?](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=399797&highlight=aplus) [APLUS.net stink - avoid them](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=388604&highlight=aplus) [APlus.net - HORRIBLE service!](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=382972&highlight=aplus) [aplus.net telephone calls](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=385780&highlight=aplus) [Spam & solicitation - aplus.net](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=371237&highlight=aplus) Further, Aplus is regarded as supercheap, yet you only had one dollar left on your $200 budget. You also fail to make the bandwidth estimate, and you fail to explain ‘Free managed services’. SDMB requires managing, especially monitoring. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-paying-subscribers-does-this-board-currently-have/318167/162 "2005-08-30T21:20:45Z")
> [@Alien](#): > > This is too funny. These are just 10 threads (those with descriptive titles) out of the first 25 returned for an APlus search on the WebHostingTalk board. FYI: Webhostingtalk is regarded as _the_ place to check out hosts. > > [Stay Away from APLUS.net Dedicated Hosting](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=431148&highlight=aplus) > [Aplus.net Suck!!!](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=432105&highlight=aplus) > [Aplus.net : good price. the catch? Bad service.](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=431775&highlight=aplus) > [The truth about aplus.net, Aplus.net is the worse company i’ve ever seen.](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=245379&highlight=aplus) > [Yet another aplus.net gripe…](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=399070&highlight=aplus) > [aplus.net “cheating” to get high search engine ranking?](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=399797&highlight=aplus) > [APLUS.net stink - avoid them](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=388604&highlight=aplus) > [APlus.net - HORRIBLE service!](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=382972&highlight=aplus) > [aplus.net telephone calls](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=385780&highlight=aplus) > [Spam & solicitation - aplus.net](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=371237&highlight=aplus) > > Further, Aplus is regarded as supercheap, yet you only had one dollar left on your $200 budget. > > You also fail to make the bandwidth estimate, and you fail to explain ‘Free managed services’. SDMB requires managing, especially monitoring. And I can find threads on that board praising aplus also. And on both sides about almost any host. And I **did** have a bandwidth estimate in there: “1000 GB Bandwidth included”. As for managing, the SDMB already has a tech to handle those functions. Please state what you would consider the minimum specs to handle the SDMB, and justify them? Personally I suspect the aplus package I cited was far more than adequate. ---
**Author:** ![Alien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/57b2e6/32.png) [@Alien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alien)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-paying-subscribers-does-this-board-currently-have/318167/163 "2005-08-30T21:21:20Z")
Oh, what the heck. Let’s throw in the last 9 threads (yet again, only the descriptive titles) out of the 16 threads found on page two of the search results: [aplus.net should we start something?](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=373895&highlight=aplus) [aplus.net needs to burn](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=373802&highlight=aplus) [what a night, waiting 72 hrs for aplus and nothing](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=359106&highlight=aplus) [Poll: I got suckered by APLUS.NET - I’m such a LOSER!](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=272613&highlight=aplus) [Aplus.net horror stories - Please share your experience !!](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=335388&highlight=aplus) [aPlus.net is sleezy–stay away!](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=330572&highlight=aplus) [Filed a complaint against APlus](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=327388&highlight=aplus) [Why is Aplus.net Screwing me over?](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=327918&highlight=aplus) [Beware, Aplus.net](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=314004&highlight=aplus) And to think that WHT is actually a pretty polite forum! ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-paying-subscribers-does-this-board-currently-have/318167/164 "2005-08-30T21:24:11Z")
> [@Alien](#): > > And to think that WHT is actually a pretty polite forum! I never said it **had** to be aplus! Name your specs and I can check around with other hosts without such negative posts about them. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-paying-subscribers-does-this-board-currently-have/318167/165 "2005-08-30T21:36:53Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > Please state what you would consider the minimum specs to handle the SDMB, and justify them? Personally I suspect the aplus package I cited was far more than adequate. This is like describing the elephant by listening to its bellow as it crashes through the forest in search of a nice peanut curry. However, there are some logical deductions we can make on two portions. The hard drive space you quote (120GB) is far more than adequate, unless backup/archive versions are also stored on the server, or other material. A dual 120GB in RAID1 would be ideal IMO if you’re limited to two drives. IIRC, Jerry said once that he upgraded the old server to 2GB RAM. Given the memory requirements involved, and based on my experience, I think that 2GB-4GB would be needed to accomodate current and future traffic. As to CPU power needed and overall bandwidth, I can only speak for myself and can offer no figures, lest they be complete WAGs. ---
**Author:** ![Alien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/57b2e6/32.png) [@Alien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alien)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-paying-subscribers-does-this-board-currently-have/318167/166 "2005-08-30T21:37:38Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > And I can find threads on that board praising aplus also. And on both sides about almost any host. And I **did** have a bandwidth estimate in there: “1000 GB Bandwidth included”. As for managing, the SDMB already has a tech to handle those functions. > > Please state what you would consider the minimum specs to handle the SDMB, and justify them? Personally I suspect the aplus package I cited was far more than adequate. I can tell you, this is not normal. Particularly not on the WHT boards which I’ve visited since many years ago. And you _don’t_ have a bandwidth estimate. First you find your needs - then you can go shopping. I’ve already said that without more data good estimates cannot be made. So far I’ve pointed to a PDF where CR claims that CRweb and SD had over 100 million pages views in 2003. Alexa portrays SD as three times as popular as CH, indicating 75 million pages views for SD in 2003. The average number of posts per thread is about 20, so it’s only a matter of downloading a statistically sufficient number of threads and finding the average size. A test download of a GD thread indicates 150kb core (1.8terabyte/month), and another 200 Kb of scripts and gifs (2.4 terabyte/month). Of course, the latter is cached objects on a second visit, on the other hand, the 75 million pages views are likely counted as once per user per day so the number does not include refreshing. ---
**Author:** ![Alien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/57b2e6/32.png) [@Alien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alien)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-paying-subscribers-does-this-board-currently-have/318167/167 "2005-08-30T21:44:07Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > And I can find threads on that board praising aplus also. Please do. Find the number the threads (posted by experienced members and not members with a postcount of \>3, preferrably), and list them here. There are only 41 threads with the word Aplus in the title. It’s a quick job. So far I’ve listed 19 of them. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-paying-subscribers-does-this-board-currently-have/318167/168 "2005-08-30T21:48:56Z")
> [@Una Persson](#): > > This is like describing the elephant by listening to its bellow as it crashes through the forest in search of a nice peanut curry. > > However, there are some logical deductions we can make on two portions. > > The hard drive space you quote (120GB) is far more than adequate, unless backup/archive versions are also stored on the server, or other material. A dual 120GB in RAID1 would be ideal IMO if you’re limited to two drives. > > IIRC, Jerry said once that he upgraded the old server to 2GB RAM. Given the memory requirements involved, and based on my experience, I think that 2GB-4GB would be needed to accomodate current and future traffic. > > As to CPU power needed and overall bandwidth, I can only speak for myself and can offer no figures, lest they be complete WAGs. That is a bit more useful. Hard drive size isn’t much of an issue. Unfortunately, the key element here would be knowing the CPU on the current box. Definitely much more CPU power is needed that what we currently have. And probably memory. ---
**Author:** ![Alien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/57b2e6/32.png) [@Alien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alien)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-paying-subscribers-does-this-board-currently-have/318167/169 "2005-08-30T22:40:04Z")
> [@Alien](#): > > A test download of a GD thread indicates 150kb core (1.8terabyte/month), and another 200 Kb of scripts and gifs (2.4 terabyte/month). Of course, the latter is cached objects on a second visit, on the other hand, the 75 million pages views are likely counted as once per user per day so the number does not include refreshing. Damit, the scripts & gifs are only 100 kb, not 200 kb. But this is speculative, we don’t know if CH and SD really had 100 million page views in 2003, but so far it’s the only official number I’ve seen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-paying-subscribers-does-this-board-currently-have/318167.md?page=8)