I might have an individual one to add as well, though it's not fan related. Would than be a hindrance?

On a semi-dedicated server we won't have issues with a limit to the number of connections. The only issue will be if the server has enough horsepower to handle Phoenix while still providing acceptable quality of service to any other customers hosted on that server.

I think the system described can support Buffistas, with proper tuning. I wouldn't want to have to guarantee that it will enough extra horsepower to support anyone else.

For comparison, Dreamhost offers a totally dedicated server for $200 a month, if paid yearly, and no setup fee. They give less memory, a little more disk space and only 3/4 of the monthly bandwidth offered by FanGeek.

Okay, here's how it works. These are our hosting plans. If you get someone to buy an Economy package, I would discount your account by $10 per month and remove 200 MB from your storage allocation. You can sign up as many accounts as you want as long as you keep enough space and bandwidth in your Buffista account to actually run the board. You get to decide what that number is.

Our Terms of Service are the same for all accounts. However, I don't think I'll be agreeing to take on any other message forums, especially ones that run off MySQL databases. Sites that use PHP and MySQL should be fine but we might want to discuss that before we say yes.

As for will this solve our issues, the answer is yes. Right now, you have a piece of the MySQL resource pie. Under this new system, you'd have the whole pie. Monique and I don't run sites that use it. That could change down the road, if we resolve these connection issues in a satisfactory manner, but that would be pretty far down the road. And again, we wouldn't even consider it unless we knew that the connections issue was a thing of the past.

The server we'd running on is not as powerful as the one we're on but more powerful than the one we were on before this. Also, there would fewer sites to deal with. Right now, we manage 9 other sites. You're the most popular, followed by NickBrendon.com.

Servepath is a dedicated server package I've had recommended to me "If you don't need much tech help."

40 GB hard drive, 100 GB bandwidth, if I'm reading the descriptions correctly, and they only do dedicated servers; starting at $89 a month. I don't see anything about MySQL, but I'm at the edge of my knowledge right now, so I'll let y'all discuss specifics.

ETA: also, there is no contract with them. Even on the annual package. 30 days notice to change plans.

I also have a friend who was very happy with Dreamhost as the host of her site, but I do not believe she had a dedicated server as she didn't run a msg board or other resource heavy feature.

As for will this solve our issues, the answer is yes. Right now, you have a piece of the MySQL resource pie. Under this new system, you'd have the whole pie. Monique and I don't run sites that use it.

The reason our previous hosts have given for limiting our MySQL connections is that they are very expensive in terms of memory and CPU usage. Giving us unlimited connections could cause us to use 100% of the CPU and memory available to the server. I can't see how you can offer us that while still giving good quality of service to the rest of the customers on your server.

Fair enough. I've edited my offer.

For a point of reference, FutureQuest sets their master connection limit to 255, which is shared by all users. On your worst day, you guys hit a little over 200 connections. That was a one-time spike. Normally, you were hovering around 100 before you turned off the RQG. As long as you keep it under 255, we won't have any issues.

Also, as I mentioned above, we are willing to try out tweaking server settings to see what happens. We can play around a little and see what works and what doesn't.

Basically, knowing my clients and what their needs are, I'm not concerned. Worse case scenario, your usage spikes, the server slows down, I reboot the server and the connection counter gets set back to zero.

I wonder how much a business DSL connection and a server sitting in a Buffista's home would cost...

I just know that I used to take care of a server in a company that had 100 people using it all day and All I really had to do for maintainence was make sure the backups were performed and reboot it or just SQL on occasion.

I just guess I'm frustrated by the fact we don't seem to need the big honking option so much as simply being able to reboot MySql on occasion until our team gets a chance to figure out why it should go wonky all of a sudden.

Maybe I've not been emotionally involved enough, and don't understand the database issue.

Nothing to see, move it along, never mind, I guess.

I might also have a site or three that could move to Fangeek.

Quick question: The $10/month econony plan would allow me three domains. If I have four domain names that I want to all point to the same place, does that count as four domains or one?

That would count as one domain to us. For example here, Buffistas.org and .com point to the same place and they count as one domain. Buffistas.net points to a different place and counts as a second domain.

I wonder how much a business DSL connection and a server sitting in a Buffista's home would cost...

I'd say it's worth looking into but my company, the one that pays me a salary, runs a server on a T1 and still it's slow as molasses. Also, there's no redundancy in that scenario so you should verify how reliable that connection will be.

That would count as one domain to us.

Rockin'. I don't see a setup fee on your hostplans page. Is there one? Is there a setup charge to point a few domain names to an account?