Since there don't seem to be any topics covering this (and I checked), I fear I might expose myself as even more clueless than I think. However, I'm getting worried, looking at the terms of service of all these hosting companies, that what is considered "adult" content is at the discretion of the host and that the intentions of my archive--to allow for adult content without harming anyone or selling anything or being solely an erotic fiction archive--might be curtailed by the legal obligations of the hosting site.
How do you deal with this issue? By not allowing such material? Or are there hosts that won't get you in trouble?
I'm asking because unless I'm paranoid, I'm being thwarted in my attempts to create a "warnings" classification on my freehostia site. Looking into its TOS, and now several others (both free and paid), I'm getting suspicious. I'd really like to hear your experiences/advice.
Thanks.
When most hosts say "adult content" they mean straight up porn sites. If you are worried about it, you should ask before you buy since, like you said, it's up to the discretion of hosting companies and the laws in their state.
I do know, however, that Lunarpages allows adult content as long as your site isn't going to break their servers. This is from their FAQs: https://support.lunarpages.com/knowledge_bases/article/41.
Thanks; I'll check them out. The reason I ask is that I'm having a problem setting up a warning table, and now that I know that some of these sites reserve the right to filter what you're putting on them for certain words, it's made me nervous. Perhaps my problem is that I'm using free ones; we'll see.
Thanks again.
http://www.cirtexhosting.com/ also allows adult content, provided it is not in violation of any copyrights or laws.
Been using them for 5-6 months so far. It is a shared host, so it does have issues now and then but support is very responsive and they are constantly improving there service.
http://www.web1host.net (Florida) also allow adult content with only CP and copyright restrictions.
Web1host.net have shared hosting (with cPanel) and dedicated servers.
In Europe, http://www.webair.com/ (NL) is good option.
I have an account with http://www.lightningservers.net they have an explicit freespeech policy-- I've been with them for eight years!
My host ( www.seraphimlabs.net ) is private and allows everything, content-ratingwise, and is also free 🙂
As long as you have a VPS or higher type account at JaguarPC ( http://www.jaguarpc.com/ ), adult content is allowed. Only things banned from those is illegal content (ie. child porn, hacks, warez, etc.). Plus their VPS hosting is priced quite fair, just $19/month without need of a contract. You can even pay via Paypal or credit card! 😀
I'm moving to DigitalOcean ( http://digitalocean.com/), and as long as your content doesn't break any laws, they allow adult content. Setup on their servers is not for the web newbie though.
