midnightvamp

Just thought I'd post about some of my experiences with Xisto - Web Hosting. I've been with them for a long time now (I started with the free forum posting service and now have a couple of paid sites with them). Well, even though my original service was free, it was excellent. I had full control over my site and as long as I continued to post on the forums, I could keep my free site up and running without having the normal ads that free sites force on their users. That was the first thing that attracted me to Xisto.com (which was the free hosting part of Xisto - Web Hosting at the time).Well, though I liked the price of free, I sometimes found it hard to keep up with both my website and the forum posting, so I decided to pay a yearly price instead of having to post. It was very affordable and I figured my time was better spent on updating my site. They had no problem with this and I was able to keep my same hosting without posting to their forum. Well, since then, I've had to upgrade my bandwidth so the hosting costs a little more, but with the extra visitors I also make more money from my site. I would be happy to upgrade my services again, if the day comes where I need to (hopefully it does!).Anyway, I'd also like to deeply thank their support staff. Yes, they are based out of India and they work on a different time zone than I'm from, so I know most of my tickets aren't going to be responded to right away, but I typically get a response sometime during the night (most often somewhere around 1am - 8am EST). This is within 24 hours most times, except it can be slower during weekends.Also, there's been some recent changes to my hosting, where I needed to ask a LOT of questions. I felt kind of bad about asking so many questions, but Meredith (the staff member I was in contact with) was more than patient with me and ensured me that she was happy to answer all my questions - and she did just that - took the time to fully answer all my questions and concerns despite this being a busy time for them.It's this level of personalized customer service that keeps me happy to host with Xisto - Web Hosting. (The affordable prices and full site control with cPanel help too ) I don't feel like I'm just some random account number to them. I feel like a person because they treat me like one. Yes, support can be a little slow at times, but for a small company based on the opposite side of the world from me, I think it's to be expected.

Here's some background so you know where I'm coming from:Okay, so my site chromlea.trap17.com was recently moved to chromlea.com because I was told that the Xisto.com subdomain was being discontinued. I was scared to have the move made, because it's my site that makes me the majority of my income and losing it could have some real consequences for me. But since I didn't have a choice, I went with it.I was told that there would be redirects in place so anytime someone clicked on a link and arrived at one of my old pages, they would be automatically taken to my new domain (the file structure was left the same). Well, the site was moved, but the redirects haven't been added, so no one is finding my site. This is going on for a day and a half now and I'm worried that Google is going to deindex my site in the mean time, so even if redirects are eventually put in place, there will be no more of my links left in Google to be redirected.Now, normally I wouldn't be so scared about the site being unavailable for a day and a half, but a week ago, there was a server migration that also took my site down for the better part of two days. With my site being down for so much time this week, it's got me really worried about Google and being deindexed or at least losing my top rankings for my popular keywords.I realize that when you move a site, 301 redirects are the way to go. The problem is, I have no way to add them myself, because I no longer have access to my old Xisto.com subdomain's .htaccess file. I also can't put a redirect through my cPanel, because neither cPanel (chromlea.trap17.com or chromlea.com) shows the old chromlea.trap17.com domain, but rather both of them now show chromlea.com as the main domain.I've sent in a ticket to support reminding them about the redirect that I was told would be added to my old site, but I'm sure they must be swamped with everything they are moving/migrating, so I haven't heard back. Which is why I'm here asking all of you if you know of a way to add a redirect so that Google knows you have moved if you don't have access to the old site? I've searched the Internet and haven't found anything yet

As a girl... I'll try and offer my advice (but since no two girls are completely alike, who knows how useful this will be in other cases).When I'm sad, the number one thing that I want is a hug. Yes, it sounds basic, but it really does make me feel better to have someone hug me.I also want to hear "It's all going to be okay." and "No matter what, I'll always be here for you."Sometimes I want to talk. In those cases, I'm happy to have someone who will listen. It may take a couple of times in asking me what's wrong, but I'll usually walk through the door and speak about my problems if someone gives me the opportunity. (I sometimes need some time to work up the courage to say what's on my mind though, that's why it can take a couple times of gently asking what's wrong.) If I do start talking, then I'm not so much looking for someone to be rational, but more so someone who will listen without judgement so that I can get something that's been bugging me off my chest. Somehow things can get really bottled up inside and simply having someone there who's willing to listen can go a long way towards making me feel better.Other times I might not be ready to talk - chances are, if I've been asked 10 times what is wrong and I haven't yet answered, I'm not going to. In these cases, just a quiet few minutes with someone to lean on can make all the difference. Then I'm hoping for an easy transition into some light chatter about topics that don't really matter. (I don't really like to start the conversation, but I'm happy to answer if someone starts talking about "safe" topics - ie. not topics about me or my problems.) These are the times I just want to forget what's been on my mind and think about something else - anything else. In these situations, I still get to have my moment of sadness, reaffirm that someone cares about me, and then move on with my day.Like I said, no idea how relevant this will be with other girls, but that's pretty much where I'm at when I'm sad. Hopefully I've enlightened someone out there

This answer may be a bit bogus... but the only time I would want to know when I'm going to die, is if the answer was "never".Otherwise, I'd just keep thinking about when it's going to happen and not really enjoy my life. I'd rather not know than be worried about things I can't control.

I did use MyLot for a while, but even after posting and posting and posting and posting (yes, it feels that repetitive!) the money was never really going anywhere fast. I didn't make it to payout and just sort of gave up on the site, because I decided my time was probably better spent doing other things to earn some better money elsewhere.Also, like was mentioned earlier, most of the topics were so far from interesting it was hard to find a topic that I even wanted to reply to. Eventually it got to the point where I was just replying to anything and not really caring. Then I knew it was time to leave lol...

Good thing nanna had some ideas for you about what crows eat, because I didn't have a clue. I just wanted to chime in here quick and say that I saw some YouTube videos a while back where people had pet crows that lived in their home with them. They did indeed seem to make great pets, but I'm not sure if this is something that needs to be started from when a crow is a baby or not, but it seems interesting none the less.I'd be very interested in hearing more about how you and your new crow friend are getting along in the future

Yea, it's really hard to say in these types of situations. She very well could have been busy which is why she said next week and I'm thinking she wouldn't have started messaging you again if she wasn't actually interested in you. After some time passes where people haven't spoken it's easy to just continue the silence and let things end quietly. But since she was asking about you and hoping that you were doing okay, sounds to me like she's interested and maybe even concerned about why she hasn't heard from you in so long.Also, after not hearing from you in a long while (because you stopped texting her back too) she could just as easily be thinking you have lost interest in her. This might all be one big misunderstanding, but you won't really know until you two get together. I do like the idea of meeting somewhere casual and bringing a friend or two or lessen the tension though.Hope things work out for you!

One thing I think I'll mention about freelance work - it can be hard to find, but when you do find some, it can be both good and bad. Here's some of my story... There's been a couple freelance jobs that sort of fell in my lap. Both times I had been doing some work for people on a volunteer basis, which I do sometimes to help out if I come to like/respect people that I meet online. Both eventually turned into a paying jobs, but in the end, both of them stopped paying on time and I lost out on money that should have been paid to me for work that I had done.I hate charging people in advance, because it just feels wrong to me (I'm probably too trusting of people) but people have used me to their advantage and then left me out to dry.So it's just a warning, if you are going to start freelancing for yourself and are handling your own money collection, then be aware that it's not always that easy to get people to pay you what was agreed on, contract or no contract. Even though I have it in writing that these people owe me money, it's not like I can afford to fight them in court when they live on the other side of the world. It's just not worth it, so I have to cut my losses and move on.---As for how to start being a freelance writer, I can also tell you a bit about that, because I've been doing that for years. I've had some success with it. At first I started writing for Constant Content, and sold around $1500 or so from there... but with their cut, you only get to keep 65% of the money, so that's like $975. That's a big loss in my books, so I decided I'd try and go at it myself and see how I do.It's been slow going from my own site, because I've been having to build traffic and clients while writing the articles, but I have made about $150 sales so far (Not a huge amount by no means, but my site is only one year old now) and things are finally starting to pick up. I'm expecting it to get better soon And I only have to give up the 3% or so that PayPal charges, so I'm very happy about that.I think like anything, as long as you stick with something long enough and give it enough effort, that you can make anything work out Some things are just a lot harder to get started than others.Good luck on your freelancing!

I've got my big family, though it isn't really all that big. It's just my Dad and I living at home together. Soon this might be changing though, because he's finally thinking about moving in with his girl friend. So it might be My Dad, his girlfriend, her son, and I living together soon. I'm not sure how that's all going to work out, so I guess I'll just have to play it by ear.As for the rest of my immediate family, we are kind of spread around. My mother lives with my step-father around 40 minutes away or so, and I see her on occasion. I do more talking on the phone or Internet with her though. I used to live with her when I was younger, but I moved in with my Dad when I went to college, because his house is nearby.I also have a sister, but she lives with her boyfriend also about 40 minutes away. She's really busy lately, so I don't get much chance to see or talk with her, but we get together and chat online when we can. She'll be coming over in a couple days to celebrate a late Easter! (Yes, getting our family together for holidays is hard, so lots of times we do things late haha).It's a spread out family, but I've never really known it to be any different. I don't remember us all living together, because my parents split up when I was really young. And they've always lived in different cities, so it's normal to me not to see my family all that often. Though I'd like it to be more, we still do what we can ;)As for my extended family (or Great Family as it's been called above), we are even more spread out so we see each other even less often. But we still get together for the holidays if we can (some live in different countries, or on the other side of the country, so it's hard). Even with my extended family, we are a small bunch, so during the "big" family get-togethers, we are at max usually about 10 people. Most times that number is closer to six. But it's still nice to see everyone :PFor fun, I just counted up my entire family (siblings, parents, step-parents, step-siblings, grand parents, aunts, uncles, cousin's, cousin's children - for both sides of my family) and the grand total is 27 Wow that sounds like a small great family lol! But I like it, because it's mine and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Heh... I agree with you on the "spelling" point. To me, it's gotten to the point where I can't even read some of the stuff that I find on the Internet. Sure, after staring for a while and taking a few guesses I can usually understand the meanings to things (If all else fails, I just check Google ) Mind you, my problem isn't usually so much with the people lacking spelling skills as the people who talk in "chat speak". It's grown into a language all of its own, and unless you really keep up with the times, it can certainly leave you in the virtual dust, so to speak.I really wish I could turn that talent on and off, but I think I was born just a little too early to pick it up. It always makes me laugh to read it, and I envy the people that can write in that style and like flipping a switch go back to regular writing. Perhaps, if I sat down to learn it, I would be able to type like that too, but likely, by the time I had it down pat, the "lingo" would be so old that it still wouldn't sound right lol... I think I'll just stick to typing in my regular way. It's faster for me than trying to figure out a new way of typing.Though I really wonder how many people just can't spell anymore. I'm thinking a lot of it stems from some great fear of using the backspace key... or perhaps a laziness that stops people from going back over their writing and correcting obviously misspelled words. It's not like you need to be a dictionary-level typer, but seriously, some of the things I read makes me wonder. Perhaps I'd get a lot more work done in a day if I did away with the backspace key altogether and refused to review my work before hitting submit. Mind you, that might also lead to less people wanting to do business with me... so maybe that's not the greatest idea after all.Either way, it was an interesting article to read

lol... I think if I knew how to stop internet addiction I wouldn't be here right now.But I can sympathize with you. I spend way too much time on the computer. If it was all - or even mostly productive time, I wouldn't care so much, but I spend so much time doing things that I could probably be better off avoiding. I think my problem is that there's always "something" that I could be doing online. Because the places to visit and things to read are endless... it keeps me going without ever finding a finishing spot. I wish I could meet the day when I can just say, "Wow! I've finished it all! I've made it to the end of the Internet!" But because no matter what I do, there's always more, so I can't feel finished. It's a never ending cycle ;)I think I really need to take some of your advice posted here, and hopefully get a little more of a life haha. But that can wait. I have more things I need to get done online

I know what you mean about people using multiple languages in the same conversation. My family does it all the time going back and forth between german and english. (German is their native language). The only problem is, they never taught us kids any german, so when they are talking, we miss half of what is going on lol... But then they tend to notice and switch back over into english for a while again until they forget ;)But I can see how speaking in both languages can benefit conversation though, because each language has certain words or meanings that can't quite get the same point across when translated into english or whatever language. But it really helps for both parties to understand both languages before you start using both haha

I read three of the books in the series so far... I think there is four total? Anyway, they weren't the greatest books on the planet by any means, but they were definitely entertaining and helped to pass the time. Plus, since I tend to be someone that gets easily bored when reading, and have trouble getting to the end of books... it was nice to actually finish these ones. Mind you, they are "young adult" books or whatever, so they were rather easy reading for me, and not so much of the brain-stimulating making-you-think-about everything books. Which was also nice, cause it's nice to just get lost in the world of a book and not have to over anaylyze everything. Plus, it lets you read the books faster :)I wouldn't mind seeing how the movie does when it comes to theaters too. I'm not sure if the movie is supposed to be about the first book, or about the full series? I guess I'll find that out later. From the previews that I've seen, it seems to be following the books pretty well, because I recognized the scenes right away as I was watching. Mind you, the actors aren't anything like what I'd envisioned in my head, but I think that's just what always happens when books become movies.As for what they are about, basically the books are about this girl that moves to a small town to live with her father, and while she's going to school there, she meets this family of vampires. Fate brings the group together, and it's like the story of how people from such different lives interact, and about the romance and friendships between a human and the vampires.

That's an interesting concept, though I'm not so sure that this type of program exists just yet. Mind you, I haven't been able to try many of the ad companies on the Internet, so it could be out there.One program you might want to look into is Amazon Affiliates (they have different branches for US, UK, Canada... etc. I've made an account with a few of them.) I know that one of their payment options allows you to order things from their site. So, once you've sold enough of their products on your website to have earned at least $10 (they give you a small commission from each sale that you refer to them), then they can give you sort of like an e-giftcard, which you can use to order things from the Amazon website.I'm not sure if this is available to all countries, or exactly how it all works, because I've only accepted checks from them in the past, but it might be something worth looking into a little deeper. Obviously it's harder to have someone click a link and then make a purchase, than it would be to have them simply click on an ad like with Adsense, but it might make a little money if you can't find anything better.I've used Amazon on my websites, with limited success. Though my Adsense outdoes it each month.Anyway, best of luck on your search! If you find something, be sure to let us know

Wow, that was very informative... and makes me want to look back into that area again. I've played around with the ideas before now, but never too seriously, but it would probably pay off bigger down the road for all the efforts put in early into keyword research.

Ooh, I never thought about the smell of the place. That has got to be disgusting. Plus you're right, the bacteria and viruses that have got to be living there, just waiting to infect an unsuspecting victim - yea, not something I'd want to face. But for the right amount of money, plus the proper safety and cleaning gear (no to mention something like a gas mask to stop the smell and other nasties), then I'd probably take it on for a large chunk of money. I seriously feel sorry for the neighbors to this apartment though, because they've got to face the dangers of these people more than others, I would suspect.

Yea, that is kind of funny... I use "Meh" a lot more when writing on the Internet, then I do in actual speech, though I do say it on occasion too. Since it's in the dictionary, can I use it in formal writing now too? I somehow can't see myself doing that lol... But yea, it would be weird if someone asked me what I was talking about when I used the word. I haven't had that happen to me yet :)On another note... I finally found the perfect job for me. Where do I sign up to be the person that chooses the next new word to be added to the dictionary?

Despite how incredibly gross that apartment is, there were a few things that actually impressed me within the images:Picture One: Notice in the first picture how they managed to put at least seven of those plastic drink cups neatly on the table? That's pretty impressive, considering they could have just tossed them all on the ground like everything else happened to be. Makes me wonder why they bothered though. It sort of looks like they are going for an "organized mess" in the room. I mean, look at how those pizza boxes are stacked. Now that's obviously not by accident :)Picture Two:That is actually pretty gross, but since after a close inspection, I noticed that it was in fact their bedroom. The fact that I could recognize those tell tale head/foot boards impressed me. No idea where they sleep though, certainly not on the bed, or even on the couch or chairs in the first picture. I'd say, they could push the crap off their bed, but seeing as what's on there, I wouldn't want to know what is growing between the sheets by now. The mental images are disturbing me, so I'm going to move on to the next picture.Picture Three:Gross, gross, gross, gross, and did I mention gross? Okay, I really don't want to know just what that crap is that I see in the picture. And I'm going to just pretend that I didn't see all those empty toilet paper rolls, because if I see that, it might just tip me off as to what that corner is really used for. Kind of impressed by the high-heeled shoe though. Does that mean that a woman lives here? And actually eats all that junk food? It's almost refreshing to think of a woman that isn't on a strict diet. Not refreshing enough to get past the pure grossness of it all. And I think it hit me. That's the "other" corner of the bathroom shown in the next picture, isn't is? Gross...Picture Four:Come on, say it with me now... You were totally impressed that this house had some kind of cleaning product, weren't you? I certainly was. Even if it's empty, it means that someone thought enough to buy it in the first place. That leaves me with the kind of hope that they might actually want to clean that house. Though, it might actually be too late for that, and the house might be better off abandoned and burned. Though, seeing as it's likely in an apartment building, probably not practical. Picture Five:Hasn't anyone taught this person that a keyboard isn't an ashtray? Besides that point, I was rather impressed to see the random Coke cans and empty bottle of Gatorade or something to that effect. I was starting to worry about this person's diet, but seeing those lets me know that they have more than just take out and delivery food. They also have vending machine drinks! It adds to the wide range of food groups there. Plus, varies the nutrient values a bit. Plus, it might mean that they walked to a vending machine. Though I feel sorry for that vending machine, and any person, animal, or thing that happened to cross their path on the way there.Wow, I didn't expect to write all that much, but whatever, I like to hear myself type. Thanks for the incredibly gross pictures

Yes, that definitely helped, Plenoptic. Thanks for clarifying that for me I still couldn't find that notes section you mentioned, where I'm supposed to add my cPanel information, so I sent a ticket along with the order (and included the order number, plus my cPanel login and password), so hopefully that will make everything work out okay.Thanks again for the information!

Yea, seeing that things like the unlimited databases and email accounts (which were 99 I think before) have been taken away didn't make me too happy either, and sort of worried me into switching to the new system. But since it is a mandatory switch, I've decided to go for it today. I can understand limiting some of the features, but to a single database seems a bit much to me. There are lots of things that are available to use in the cpanel, like forums, guest books, galleries, blogs, and that kind of stuff that each take a new database to use. I had a few of these things used experimentally on my Xisto site (not really fully live, just playing around with them to see what I could do), but when I signed up for the new logic plan, I've had to either delete these or pay up extra dollars for it. Since I wasn't really using them right now anyway, I decided not to pay the extra, but if I did have several of these things on my site it would really hike the cost up for something that I got for free before. That part I didn't like. So, I deleted the few databases that I had been messing around with. I was hoping to implement some of these fully in the future, but for now, I guess they'll remain on hold.Now, it's not something that makes me want to leave Xisto - Web Hosting, because I think they are a great company and offer excellent value and service for my dollar, but it puts a bit of a sad spin on things to see an extra price tag being attached to some things that were not being restricted before. That being said, I'm also really really happy to see the extra features that you can order now to boost your website. Things like extra space and bandwidth that weren't available before now on the free subdomains can be easily purchased for a little extra money. That I think is amazing, and makes me really happy.I can understand the need to limit features like databases, but I also doubt that most people came close to using all of the ones that were available to them. So in the end, it probably evened itself out at a much lower number. But still, if you are going to offer many Fantastico programs inside our cPanel, perhaps the default limit for databases should be raised to 5 or 10 instead of just one, because just the one doesn't allow the average person to get the benefits of trying out the database applications on their website without shelling out the extra cash before hand. It's great to have these Fantastico features, but without a certain number of databases available, you can't really use any of them.Sorry for the rant, I still really like idea of the new system And thanks for constantly trying to make your services better.

I really like both versions a lot, and I tend to go out and buy the manga if I've really enjoyed the anime or vice versa. From my perspective... it's not just about learning the phrases or that... because most of the manga that I read is in English, which I already know. I have tried to work my way through some that were in the original Japanese to help me learn that language, but that's a slow process, but sometimes fun :)I spend a lot of time watching anime or live action Japanese dramas, half because I enjoy them so much, and the other half because I'm learning so much from them. I tend to read my manga just before going to sleep, because it makes my eyes tired, and I fall asleep pretty fast that way. I have a stack of manga right next to my bed XD

Just one other thing I've been wondering... once we have paid for our hosting with our myCents that we've accumulated, will our site go down if our hosting credits go into the negative? I know that hosting credits will become a thing of the past sometime in the future, but until they do, what will happen if our current hosting credits run out?

Oh good. I'm glad that's still there because I've used it in the past and it's been very very helpful to me and solved things very fast. It has kept me a happy customer for those few times that the world just seemed to be turning away from me

Welcome to the forums... I'm glad that you like it here and have posted and read some posts. It's always nice to have another face in the community! Anyway... enjoy your stay here at the trap, and happy hosting! If you have any questions, be sure to ask in the forums, because the people here are great at answering them for you and really nice people that like to help

Yea, I think everyone lies online... and the ones that claim no to, are just lying about it Meaning everyone are liars. I think it's a little like real life, where people will lie about certain things, but I think that people take lies further when it is online because no one can really know who the person is or know if they are lying about things. So, if someone asks me my age or location, I'm generally honest, because it's nothing too personal... but if I really don't want that person to know something, sometimes I'll lie, but most often I just tell them that I'm not going to tell them. If they can't deal with that and bug me, then I can lie and they'll usually shut up, even though they don't know any better about me than they did before I lied to them. On the other note, you also have to remember that if you can lie so easy to other people, they can lie just as easily to you. So if you do have someone tell something to you on the internet, it's probably not best to take it as a perfect truth. I wonder what the percentage of things that are told online in chatrooms or such are actually lies. That would be an interesting statistic, and probably would make less people use them if they knew the truth. Mind you, since people are lying freely about themselves in the chatrooms, it probably wouldn't stop anyone anyway ^_^I don't think I would ever make a second account with something just to mess with people. For one thing, I couldn't really be bothered, and for another, I'd feel too bad about it and probably wouldn't keep a straight face long enough when I saw them for real next time. Plus, I think it might ruin the relationship you have with the other person, because if they lie, then you may feel that they are liars, and even if they don't and you tell them the truth, they probably will have different feelings about you, like that you are being dishonest to them or something. It sounds like too much hassle for the little fun that it might bring me.