Hi,
Can anyone recomend a good host (free or v.cheap!) for my Moodle site. My current one has no plans to upgrade their version of mysql.
Thanks
Vinny
This is something that we could usefully talk about.
A search of the forums (as in my other post) will show that this topic has come up quite frequently, and there has been a suggestion that Moodle partners and others are differentiated because the former can use the Moodle brand name in web sites and other advertising. On Moodle.org, where might Moodlers refer to their business interests in Moodle? They could be partners, and be listed on Moodle.org front page (no problems there I think), or they could be non-partners who offer hosting or use Moodle in connection with their business. The three main areas that Moodlers might make reference to business are in their user profile, in discussion postings or in their Blog entries.
What is acceptable in each of these cases? Personally I would be quite happy for Moodlers to link to their business sites and make a brief reference to what their business is in their personal profile, but I guess that some would wish to offer guidance on use of Moodle brand name.
Now how about answering questions in a post such as the one above? Anyone can make contact with the questioner and offer to communicate with them off Moodle.org. Personally, I would prefer it if all Moodlers avoided overt business promotion in forums but others may disagree and anyway that is very much a matter of interpretation. I would certainly be opposed to a situation where that was OK for Moodle partners but not others.
I have not even thought about blogs but what do others think about this?
A search of the forums (as in my other post) will show that this topic has come up quite frequently, and there has been a suggestion that Moodle partners and others are differentiated because the former can use the Moodle brand name in web sites and other advertising. On Moodle.org, where might Moodlers refer to their business interests in Moodle? They could be partners, and be listed on Moodle.org front page (no problems there I think), or they could be non-partners who offer hosting or use Moodle in connection with their business. The three main areas that Moodlers might make reference to business are in their user profile, in discussion postings or in their Blog entries.
What is acceptable in each of these cases? Personally I would be quite happy for Moodlers to link to their business sites and make a brief reference to what their business is in their personal profile, but I guess that some would wish to offer guidance on use of Moodle brand name.
Now how about answering questions in a post such as the one above? Anyone can make contact with the questioner and offer to communicate with them off Moodle.org. Personally, I would prefer it if all Moodlers avoided overt business promotion in forums but others may disagree and anyway that is very much a matter of interpretation. I would certainly be opposed to a situation where that was OK for Moodle partners but not others.
I have not even thought about blogs but what do others think about this?
Personally I have no objection to a regular user mentioning a product that others may find useful as long as they clearly state any links they may have with the company or product involved. It is EXTREMELY annoying to look at something carefully and then find out later it was just a carefully placed plug and that has happened to me on this site on more than one occasion. It is also a bit annoying if somebody only ever makes one post, that just happens to be a plug for their product. Banning the mention of products altogether might not be such a great idea because the products are often of genuine interest. Would a forum for "products moodlers may be interested in" be of any use? Just thinking aloud here. Could be an open invitation to spammers though.
People recommend hosting providers from their personal experience as users all the time. That's fine.
I'm also OK with people linking to their businesses from their profiles - it's part of who they are.
But I don't think it's cool for people to post big adverts for their own business in the main content areas of this site, that's a privilege reserved for those who are paying for the (quite minimal) banner advertising space on this site.
You'll notice not even Moodle Partners post about themselves in the forums (with perhaps one or two isolated incidents). Generally they (and I) tend to briefly point people to http://moodle.com and let people choose for themselves. I think this has worked well so far.
I'm also OK with people linking to their businesses from their profiles - it's part of who they are.
But I don't think it's cool for people to post big adverts for their own business in the main content areas of this site, that's a privilege reserved for those who are paying for the (quite minimal) banner advertising space on this site.
You'll notice not even Moodle Partners post about themselves in the forums (with perhaps one or two isolated incidents). Generally they (and I) tend to briefly point people to http://moodle.com and let people choose for themselves. I think this has worked well so far.
Thank you all for your comments.
Perhaps here was not the most useful place to post my question nor did I intend to provide a way for someone to promote their own business, but interestingly no one has used my post to advertise their own hosting service.
I am sure the Moodle Partners would offer great service but at the moment I can not afford that, so I was hoping for some suggestions for free/ad supported web space that I could upload my moodle install to, or some sort of charity hosting (not sure if something like this exists?) for the promotion of education.
James' suggestion of a general forum for products/services Moodlers might be interested in might be a good idea as well as maybe defining the use of the social forum a little more. While I'm suggesting changes, I also think that the Installation problems forum should be split into two separate forums one for new installs and one for upgrades but I digress....
Moodle on,
Vinny
Hi Martin
Are you saying it's OK to put our hosting information in my profile but not in a Blog entry? Others in this tread suggest they wouldn't mind others stating their services and I noticed a user Blog Tag of "Hosting" was available so, guessing someone else had created and used it, I created my own blog entry outlining our hosting services for those on this site that might be interested.
I have received a message "Please don't use moodle.org to post adverts..." and I notice that nearly all of the 'User defined tags' have been deleted including 'Hosting'. Should I remove my Blog entry?
Teresa
Are you saying it's OK to put our hosting information in my profile but not in a Blog entry? Others in this tread suggest they wouldn't mind others stating their services and I noticed a user Blog Tag of "Hosting" was available so, guessing someone else had created and used it, I created my own blog entry outlining our hosting services for those on this site that might be interested.
I have received a message "Please don't use moodle.org to post adverts..." and I notice that nearly all of the 'User defined tags' have been deleted including 'Hosting'. Should I remove my Blog entry?
Teresa
Moodle partners are here http://moodle.com/hosting/ and there has been discussion from time to time about this (see this search ).