an idea...

Most of DOGAplex is down...again. by Watcher of the PPC on 2011-04-16 15:44:00 UTC Reply

I can only assume that somebody there reported it to the administrators again or something. Maybe we should consider moving it off of Freewebs to somewhere more tolerant of the material we work with. If I knew the first thing about constructing a website, I'd help. Too bad I don't...

Department of WhatThe (FICLET) by Huinesoron on 2011-04-17 15:05:00 UTC Reply

[Bing!]

Mortic Wentway looked over at the console with a frown. “Ellie? You expecting a message?”

“Not one that doesn’t start with BEEEEEEP,” replied Elanor Laison, frowning at the chessboard. “You get it, I’m busy.”

Mort shook his head slightly and walked to the computer. “Says it’s from... huh. Come and see this.”

With a sigh, Elanor tipped her king over. “You had me anyway,” she said, and joined him. “Legal Department, Arbitrary Censorship Division?” she read. “I’ve never heard of them.”

“I’ve barely heard of Legal at all, but exactly,” Mort agreed. “Shall we see what they’ve got to say to us?” He clicked the message open.

To the Snowthorn, Agent Elanor Laison, and Agent Mortic Wentway,

It has come to our attention that certain authorities are displeased with your Department’s current designation. Specifically, it is alleged that the initialism contained therein is offensive, and may constitute “adult content”.

For this reason, effectively immediately and retroactively, your Department is, and always has been, named the Department of WhatThe. The accepted abbreviation for this is DW, although allowances will be made for DOW and DoW.

All previous references to said Department will be altered to reflect this state of affairs, as will all other uses of the offending initialism. We thank you for your time.

Agent Chiaroscuro, Arbitrary Censorship Division, Legal Department, Protectors of the Plot Continuum

“... well, that was...”

“Arbitrary?” suggested Elanor.

“Pretty much,” Mort agreed. “Do you suppose we’ll ever hear anything more about this?”

“Are you kidding?” Elanor smiled. “This is the PPC. Of course we won’t.”

~~~~~~~

With luck, this will get them to leave me alone long enough to rehost elsewhere.

hS

Re: Department of WhatThe (FICLET) by Watcher of the PPC on 2011-04-18 04:15:00 UTC Reply

I'll get to editing the corresponding Wiki pages right away. If you were being sarcastic and did not actually mean for me to change them, feel free to revert them.

It's a genuine change. by Huinesoron on 2011-04-18 21:18:00 UTC Reply

The website is now back up, and reflects the alteration.

hS

Try Webnode. by Gamma on 2011-04-16 19:51:00 UTC Reply

Webnode.com is ridiculously similar to Webs, just less spazzy. Just throwing that out there.

'cept for... by Huinesoron on 2011-04-17 07:46:00 UTC Reply

... the fact that, like Google sites, they make it apparently impossible to use HTML on their sites.

hS

Looks like Bravenet allows HTML. by Neshomeh on 2011-04-17 08:09:00 UTC Reply

http://www.bravenet.com/webhosting/

Plus they have a ton of other cool free stuff.

Tripod did allow HTML, but it doesn't include the File Manager (what I use) when you look at their plan comparison chart, so I dunno anymore. I guess I got grandfathered in when they switched over to Webon. Bleh.

~Neshomeh

I just don't get... by Huinesoron on 2011-04-17 08:47:00 UTC Reply

... why you would say "Hey guys, let's offer people free websites! But we'd better make sure they don't use them at all creatively!". It just doesn't make sense.

Of course, nor does what I'm getting from webs.com, which is "Yeah, we have no control over it, it's our hosting company, but maybe it might we think possibly be this?". (Their current theory is that "full or abbreviated swear words" [ie, "wtf"] are the cause).

hS

What, really? by Neshomeh on 2011-04-17 18:50:00 UTC Reply

Swear words? That's it? *siiiigh* -_-;

Agreed on the forcing people not to use HTML. It's great to have an option for people who don't want to, but then there are the folks who actually enjoy knowing what they're doing and having the ability to just learn more if they come up against something they can't do.

I guess they figure they'll get more accounts from the non-learners this way. Either that or they're trying to prevent future competition from us weirdo self-taught types...?

I dunno.

~Neshomeh

The problem seems to be... by Huinesoron on 2011-04-17 18:55:00 UTC Reply

... that someone is reporting my sites to the hosting company, who are taking them down and not telling the Webs people what's going on. So they're making up reasons and reactivating the sites in the hope that they won't go down again. Their theory this time was that "WTF" is offensive. See my ficlet above.

hS

I see. by Neshomeh on 2011-04-17 23:08:00 UTC Reply

I guess there's no way for you to file a reverse complaint about the repeated bogus complaints, is there?

Oh, just for general posterity regarding my last post, Phobos pointed out to me that what I said was incredibly condescending toward people who don't know or want to know HTML, which I did not intend, so I apologize for that. I'm just frustrated that the option of choosing to is apparently no longer worth presenting in some places, for some reason.

~Neshomeh

an idea... by Watcher of the PPC on 2011-04-18 04:12:00 UTC Reply

Do you know if the person who's reporting you is the same one each time? If so, maybe we could use something to track their IP address and figure out who it is. From there, we may be able to find that person and ask why he or she wants your site down so badly. At the moment, we can't say if the person responsible is a Suethor with a grudge or a self-appointed moral guardian who simply wants to wipe everything less family friendly than the Teletubbies off the internet (for the good of the children, of course). Hopefully whoever's behind this can be convinced to leave us alone.

Re: an idea... by Miah on 2011-04-23 14:54:00 UTC Reply

Woah! Teletubbies is family friendly?! That's scary, man.

Aww, but I like Freewebs. :( by Huinesoron on 2011-04-16 16:45:00 UTC Reply

Yeah, it is getting a bit silly. I'm going to get it back once more and then look into moving.

hS