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Duke
Guest
What was your worst experience as a webmaster and what did you do to escape hell?
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Pentarix
Guest
I did a poor job of running Fragtard, made it into a smack forum that no one visited, while hosting with Canaca and having problems with thier service. I cancelled my account, they screwed me around my refund, I cut my losses and archived the site until I had half a clue what I was doing. lol not nearly as horrible as yours bud!
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seb_
Guest
As a recent newcomer to the industry I cant say i've had a bad experience although trying to break into the industry and get work, i'm finding very difficult but i'll get there in the end even if its just through sheer determination 
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Duke
Guest
Pentarix said:
Just to let you know Paul, you did a fine job and gave the people what they told you they wanted and it was these people who I believe, ultimately let you down. I guess that's why I'm so hell bent on a new direction for that site because it has great potential. Hell, maybe we could combine the ambtious goals of Fragtard and ServersIndex and come up with one hell of a killer gaming site.
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Pentarix
Guest
Duke said:
Now there's an idea that I'd be interested in, especially with all that hard work you've put into ServersIndex, I'd hate to see that go to waste.
I think it's so important to have a clear goal and a set of rules you will abide by in order to keep a site on track and successful, your accomplishments with Lifesupporters have inspired me and shown me just what can be done with some hard work and perseverance.
What has been your worst experience Duke, what did you do to escape it and most importantly what did you learn from it?
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Duke
Guest
I'll let you know when it's over.
It'll be one hell of a long story.
It'll be one hell of a long story.
I made a monumental mistake of selling a site (it was a portal I had put together for Wales). This was a few years ago, I put the site together, it went like crazy, as it was all over the web at the top spot for all the regional searches. Advertisers were queuing up to join in, and a company asked me to sell it. The offer was way too good, so I took the money and ran.
They didn't have a clue what they were doing, they re-designed to make it more 'professional' did away with 'the clutter', and subsequently fell to nowhere in the search engines thanks to their 'professionalism' with regard SEO.
What has this to do with me your probably asking? Well I felt really bad that my area (Wales) was losing out, that the advertisers who had paid me and trusted me, were now getting zip for their money thanks to these clowns. It was a mistake, and one I will not make again. I have been offered 5 figures for my rugby forum, crazy I know as it only has 300 or so members, but it is the quality of those members that matters to the person who wants me to sell the forum.
You see in rugby we have something called the British Lions as well as our national teams of Wales Scotland Ireland & England. The Lions travel once every 4 years down under, this week they fly off to New Zealand to play them. and around 9000 Brits will fly with them at a package cost of between £4000-12000 each. So as you can see it is big money. The Welsh team also fly out for a tour of North America and Canada, again a few thousand supporters will go with them. Will I sell? will I hell, I don't even run ads on there as it is my baby lol.
So there ya go, bit of a nothing story really, other than a lesson learned with regard what I intend to do with a site concept when I create it. ie, is the business plan to keep or sell it?
They didn't have a clue what they were doing, they re-designed to make it more 'professional' did away with 'the clutter', and subsequently fell to nowhere in the search engines thanks to their 'professionalism' with regard SEO.
What has this to do with me your probably asking? Well I felt really bad that my area (Wales) was losing out, that the advertisers who had paid me and trusted me, were now getting zip for their money thanks to these clowns. It was a mistake, and one I will not make again. I have been offered 5 figures for my rugby forum, crazy I know as it only has 300 or so members, but it is the quality of those members that matters to the person who wants me to sell the forum.
You see in rugby we have something called the British Lions as well as our national teams of Wales Scotland Ireland & England. The Lions travel once every 4 years down under, this week they fly off to New Zealand to play them. and around 9000 Brits will fly with them at a package cost of between £4000-12000 each. So as you can see it is big money. The Welsh team also fly out for a tour of North America and Canada, again a few thousand supporters will go with them. Will I sell? will I hell, I don't even run ads on there as it is my baby lol.
So there ya go, bit of a nothing story really, other than a lesson learned with regard what I intend to do with a site concept when I create it. ie, is the business plan to keep or sell it?
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Pentarix
Guest
Paul_KY said:
lol not quite but I'd definetly be interested in hearing about a "bad" experience you've had. ;-)
I can't really say whether an experience I had was, "bad" or not. I've had things happen that, at the time seemed, "bad" but looking back it was simply a blessing in disguise, or an excellent, self taught lesson, a giant stepping stone, etc.
"Bad" and, "Good" are simply perceptions. What's, "bad" to one is, "good" to another.
I see the glass. I know there is water missing. In fact, 50% of the water is missing. That's great! The Glass is Half Full!
"Bad" and, "Good" are simply perceptions. What's, "bad" to one is, "good" to another.
I see the glass. I know there is water missing. In fact, 50% of the water is missing. That's great! The Glass is Half Full!
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Pentarix
Guest
I can see you're having fun with this! How about posting about an experience then? lol
Well, once I had an advertiser stiff me for a little under 2K. This is back in the day when 2K would make or break the business. Needless to say, I felt devastated. I went on to find another advertiser in the same sector, a public company trading at a little over 50 cents a share, developed an excellent relationship with them, they ended up paying me double the bounty the previous advertiser was paying, and I bought tons of their stock and it rose from 58 cents all the way up to $15 a share, and we're still partners to this very day. That so called, "Bad" experience catapulted my business into another stratosphere. That's why today, I embrace all challenges and try to find the silver lining in all clouds of doubt.
The Glass is Half Full.
The Glass is Half Full.
I have the motto of.
never waste time regretting the past it can not be altered, and no experience in life is wasted, no matter how painful, provided we learn from it.
Helps me to get things straight, evaluate a set back and move on.
never waste time regretting the past it can not be altered, and no experience in life is wasted, no matter how painful, provided we learn from it.
Helps me to get things straight, evaluate a set back and move on.
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Pentarix
Guest
I totally agree with both of you, I think it's essential to have this mindset especially when you are running your own business. Only recently have I started my company and become an online business, this is difficult and trying to say the least but also very rewarding because every accomplishment is my own and therefore is sweeter then had I been doing it for someone else.
I must say, I've been making websites since I was 15, that doesn't mean I'm very good at it but there are times when I feel a little lost as to what I need to do to generate the traffic and the excitement about my product. For the better part of 10 years I've been learning about ecommerce and looking on, wishing I was a part of the game but now that I am, having come here and read valuable information and talked to people like yourselves, I've learnt more in the past month about business online then I did the year before that.
It's very exciting for me and I know I have a viable business because I have been able to sell my product but honestly, I appreciate any advice you guys give me because there is so much I still don't know and I'm eager to learn!
I must say, I've been making websites since I was 15, that doesn't mean I'm very good at it
but there are times when I feel a little lost as to what I need to do to generate the traffic and the excitement about my product. For the better part of 10 years I've been learning about ecommerce and looking on, wishing I was a part of the game but now that I am, having come here and read valuable information and talked to people like yourselves, I've learnt more in the past month about business online then I did the year before that.It's very exciting for me and I know I have a viable business because I have been able to sell my product but honestly, I appreciate any advice you guys give me because there is so much I still don't know and I'm eager to learn!
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ovi
Guest
Temi, thanks for let know this to us. By the way can you tell us a little bit about the nightmare call ThePlanet ?
Ovi
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seb_
Guest
Do alot of ppl have problems with theplanet.com's dedicated servers?
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Duke
Guest
I never even heard of them to be perfectly honest.
I will say, stay away from Cancaca.com no matter how desperate you are. Not only have they been the worst experience I've had online, they've also provided the worst purchasing/customer support experience I've had in my entire lifetime and I'm now 37 years old. Yes they are that bad!
I will say, stay away from Cancaca.com no matter how desperate you are. Not only have they been the worst experience I've had online, they've also provided the worst purchasing/customer support experience I've had in my entire lifetime and I'm now 37 years old. Yes they are that bad!
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seb_
Guest
Oh dear. I'll make sure I avoid them like the plague then...
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Robster
Guest
temi said:
Can you go into more detail? I'm just interested because I've only heard good reviews about them on forums and I know 2 people who host with Server Matrix their "non managed" sister company.
