We've all seen them out there for sale. Those cool scripts that do
everything for us. They create avs sites, run our tgp's, authorize our
friends listings to our link lists, and much more. But how good are they
and what should I look for?

The long answer:

Running scripts is how we all make money. Without scripts we would have to
do everything by hand. While these are true statements there is also a
limit to what servers can handle. For the most part scripts like message
boards are cool and should be left to run the way they are. However the tgp
scripts can cause a lot of server slowdowns creating a loss to the
webmaster running them.

Auto tgp and auto avs scripts when left to run on thier own and set to
autoupdate every time the page is refreshed is mainly a waste of resources.
If you have a busy site you should be serving static pages. Most scripts
have you run them from a cron file (run at preset times IE: every hour or
once a day). These are the best scripts. If your recieving 1000 hits an
hour on average and you set your tgp script or your avs script to update
once an hour then it will build it's pages without loading your server up.
However if these scripts load for every visitor then your running the
script 1000 times an hour. For this you will need to have a super server
and a full time tech. It will create many problems for your server and will
result in a loss of visitors.

People using these types of scripts usually find it hard to keep hosting at
one company. I have seen many of these people lose thier hosting and never
be told why. Say your on virtual hosting, that means your sharing the
monthly costs of that server with other users. If your script is
overpowering the resources of that server your host is not only trying to
keep you happy but he has other people complaining to him also. Therefore
the easiest way for most hosts is to simply terminate your account. Is it
right? Well that depends on who you ask. I would never condone it as being
right but I know many people do.

Advice:
* Get feedback on a certain script before you buy it.
* Make sure the server your on meets the requirements of the script.
* Test the script before you put it into production on your site.
* Make sure you know the limitations of your server and script.

Before you put a new script into production check with your host. See if
they have had problems in the past with that particular script. They may be
able to give you helpful hints on how to run that particular script
efficiently. Also if you do any modifications to the script test it first.