Am I allowed to do this?

[Cynical]

I am nearly completed with a high-quality guestbook script that I will be distributing for free download.

Unfortunately, many people either 1) Don't have PHP-enabled web hosts or 2) Don't have the knowledge to efficiently set up a script such as this, so I thought it would be nice if I could offer to have guestbooks on my site for users like these. However, I am aware that the TOS prohibits sharing of hosting space, which is why I am asking this: Can I allow users of my software to host their guestbooks somewhere on my site if they are incapable of hosting one for themselves?

I figured it might be allowed because:

• I own 100% rights to the software: I wrote every single line of it from scratch.
• No file uploaders would be involved.
• No automated creations would be involved: I would manually install this script for each user.
• The script is very small (only two PHP files: one roughly 28kb and the other roughly 3kb, and messages are on average less than 500 bytes each). I doubt any one user's folder would grow larger than 50kb.
• The users would have no access to my account: only the Admin CP included with my software.

I know I am wise webmaster and I would be capable of monitoring such a service to make sure it did not (somehow, for a reason unknown to me) would cause problems that could affect the server's performance.

Again, I am aware that the TOS does not allow sharing of hosting space, but I could not tell if this would be prohibited as well, so if a staff member could give me permission or explain why I can't do this, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading this monstrous post, :hahano:
--Cynical

 

[Spartan Erik]

lol admins please allow cynical to do so, im one of the many who lack PHP coding skills.
if i knew php i would have set one up a long time ago

but if admins wont allow you cynical, then you should provide a detailed instruction guide on how to install your scripts

 

[TheJeffsta]

Well, if it is only going to be used by people linking to it and having Administrative rights to their own guestbook, then I suppose it should be fine.

By the way, you might want to stay a bit low-profile as when you pick up some popularity, you may stress yourself out about having to set up soo many.

Please not that you will have to have the ads on each and every page that you have in your web hosting account.

Server usage may be an issue with this type of service, do you have any estimates of what its server usage per installed script.

 

[Bryon]

I don't see a problem with this, except for one thing, you have to watch it so you don't go "over" your bandwidth, disk space, etc etc. Also that, like you pointed out, it wouldn't cause a high load on the server (Both CPU usage and the MySQL server.)

You said it's with PHP? If it becomes popular, make sure your PHP scripts are secure from SQL injection and XSS holes. ;-)

 

[Cynical]

I don't think it will be overly stressful on my bandwidth as it is a very efficient script, and it does not connect to any SQL databases. As I said, I will be sure to carefully monitor the users' installations in case anything DOES happen.

Server usage may be an issue with this type of service, do you have any estimates of what its server usage per installed script.

Not much at all. There are no images (only CSS), and the entire size of the script is roughly 35kb, and it does not connect to SQL. I would estimate only a few megabytes per month per installation would be used .

Thanks,
--Cynical

EDIT: If anyone is interested in seeing the script in action for themselves, I have a demo version here: http://www.cynicalgames.com/livedemo/ShoutBOOK (not done yet).