Free hosting - legal position

[horney]

Hi, Folks, Just starting in this business and have loads of questions, so I thought I'd ask them one at a time to prevent generating very confusing threads!

So the first question is of a legal nature. I wanted to test the water and see what will work using free hosting. Fine, lots to choose from. So I signed up with parkyourporn.com and can not get a reply out of them. My trading name is the subdomain name and these tw*ts are using it as a so-called 404, even though I have an index page there.

Does anyone know if I have any recourse, and whether sites like Cozy Frog, where I found them, are likely to impose any kind of sanction if I report these activities?

Thanks in anticipation. All observations, but especially helpful ones, welcome.

Mike

[Hammer]

You're complaining about a free host and talking about recourse and sanctions? You're not out any money.

Look, all free hosts fuck you someway or another, that's why they're free. They either add their own advertising to your pages or use your 404 traffic or any myriad of other less honest things.

Get a real hosting account at a host like http://www.atcihosting.com for only $10 a month. I understand not wanting to spend a lot of money while you're testing the waters but if $10 a month for a few months is gonna be a problem then this business isn't for you because you're going to lose a hell of a lot more that $60 at some point testing advertising that doesn't work out the way you planned or something.

[horney]

Thanks for the reply. I understand the point you're making but it's not answering the question. The question is about the hijacking of the name and not actually giving any space at all. I don't expect anything for nothing but these guys are taking the p*ss.

I have found an alternative free host and the situation is entirely different, to the point of tempting me to stay with free! It is a lot better than I ever expected it to be. That doesn't compensate for the other guys abusing my trading name.

In fact, the plan is to learn something about the business, then dedicate a server with its own IP addresses to hosting. I already have servers for vanilla hosting.

I've been reading the threads here before signing up and posting. Great crowd, friendly and helpful. On the hosting accounts, though, I really want to build up a UK/European user base so will keep it here for the IP address, rather than using the hosts mentioned to date.

So, keeping the question strictly to what this supposed free host is doing with my trading name, do I have any recourse?

[odysseus]

I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think there's a damn thing you can do. Read their TOS. It probably has a clause that reads something like:

"We reserve all rights to redirect any and all traffic to wherever the hell we please at any time."

Like Hammer said, it's free. Free hosts do this, and more. I know you want to get your feet wet. Almost everyone wants to start with free hosting. I did. The truth is that you will make no money. Further, you will be limited in the kind of business you can do. Looking for link trades? Good luck on a free host. Gallery Submissions? Sorry. Free sites? Nope. So, you won't even be able to get your feet wet, because you won't be able to engage in the most basic of of business activities. No one's trying to be a dick, but the very best advice you are going to get at this stage of your business endeavor is to pay for some cheap hosting somewhere. Anywhere.

I do have one question though. What do you mean by parkyourporn.com abusing your trading name? Do you mean your trade name? Like a registered trade mark or something? Or just a username that you registered with them? I'm sorry but I don't really get your beef.

Alternatively, they could be the most outstanding and honest business out there and a simple mistake was made in configuration of your account. I know you can't get any reply from them to find out one way or the other, but again, that is the type of customer service you can expect from any free host.

[horney]

As far as I can see, they don't have terms posted. Which is why I raised the query. If they had been UK based, not making their terms of business available would make them very vulnerable when they had an inkling to try it on with their customers.

At the end of the day, you are probably right. But it was worth asking the question because that is very shady practice.

My own early conclusions with regard to free hosting are that it is very similar to vanilla, in that it varies from the abysmal, as quoted already, to the surprisingly good with superb response from the hosts, i.e. my subsequent experience.

Nevertheless, if I do find out enough to feel I can run with it, I'll be far happier once I have my own server set up. That beats any third party control free or otherwise.

[odysseus]

You are right, I don't see any TOS either. That would raise a red flag right there. The FAQ link doesn't help much either, and even seems to contradict some of the claims they make in their flash header.

Good luck getting your hosting worked out. There are a few really good ones out there, and a quick search on any board will give you more than enough to think about. I don't know of any good UK based hosts off the top of my head, though. And honestly, I don't think that it matters so much, so long as your host isn't located in China or something, and the company can serve your pages quickly, and consistently.

[horney]

The IP address matters marginally for SEO. A UK IP doesn't go down well with the SEs if your target market is not UK, and vice-versa. It doesn't make a massive difference but I intend to use every little bit of help I can get.

[Hammer]

I still seem to be missing the point. You're saying they are redirecting a subdomain you created and you somehow think that means they stole your name? You didn't register the name and don't own the rights to it if you didn't register your own .com domain all you did was to tack your name onto their domain as a subdomain.

If you register yourgreatname.com it's yours and you own the rights to that domain but if I stick yourgreatname onto my domain as a subdomain like yourgreatname.pornsitepros.com there's nothing you can do to stop me from using that name unless it's a registered trademark.

[horney]

Thanks, Hammer. That's the bit I was unclear about. I'll forget it and move on, then.

[horney]

Taking all that on board, and reading some of the older threads around here, it seems free hosting is definitely a no-no for the longer term, and may not even help too much in finding out what I need to know beyond some basics.

So, taking it a stage further and configuring a server or VLM for the purpose, what do you guys suggest to be necessary facilities, and what are desirable add-ons?

I'm thinking of running on either Debian Etch or Ubuntu, with Apache2, PHP-5.2, MySQL-5 and using Postfix as the email server. Have I missed any server essentials for this industry?

In setting up a new site or sites, should I include a mailing list manager, blog and bulletin board from day one? Build them in later? Leave them out permanently? I know it's all up to me, but a straw poll would be helpful.

I can do all of that pretty cheaply. I'll be colocating the server in London, England and there will be 3 terrabytes (3,000 gigabytes) per month bandwidth available so if anyone else needs some space, please do get in touch. It'll take me two or three weeks to format the server, load it and get it to the rack in the data centre, due to other commitments. I'm based in the North of England, so a time slot has to be planned in.

But first things first - what's needed?

[CaroMark]

Hello Horney,

First of all welcome!

Secondly I am curious about something you said in regards to the colo hosting. Once you get your business up and running who will be taking care of any issues involved with the server? If it takes you two to three weeks now because of other commitments what will happen to support issues after you have it up and running?

I am not trying to be a pain but while it may be fine for you to experience delays what about those customers who may rent space and service from you (what will be your TOS for hosting)?

Rather than trying to to be too many things all at once, why not start with what you are familiar with and expand from there.

Good luck at figuring it all out and owning your own business is something I think everyone should try out.

[horney]

Hi, CaroMark, thanks for joining in. Good to make the acquaintance of another one from the geek fold.

There are no support issues. The servers we currently have will simply be joined in the same rack by one which will thereafter be dedicated to this business. We will then continue to support that one in the same way we do the others, remotely. With good quality servers in a good location running a reliable operating system, there is rarely need for on site human intervention.

As this departure from what we are doing is my baby, I'll use a spare server I have here - which means I have to move it there. A client request would have been handled entirely differently.

So I am starting with a business I already know and own. That of running and maintaining web servers and supporting client sites and applications. The adult end is being added on and I'm treating it as a separate, new, business.

[CaroMark]

Originally posted by horney
So I am starting with a business I already know and own. That of running and maintaining web servers and supporting client sites and applications. The adult end is being added on and I'm treating it as a separate, new, business.

Very nice. Anyway you should go ahead and plug your hosting company then and will the new shared accounts allow for adult content, it seems that from most hosts over in the UK, that Adult has to be on a dedicated platform?

[horney]

That's about the strength of it. Which is why I'm taking space off free hosts for now, rather than just setting up a subdomain or separate domain on one of our current servers, to test the water and learn a little bit. Don't want any of my existing clients complaining and starting a rush for the exit door!

I'll be plugging for new shared hosting accounts on the new server once it's in place. I can't see my own efforts needing a significant proportion of a full hard drive or 3TB bandwdth. That was part of the reason for asking the question about whether I should be installing anything extra on there.