07/30/2004: "Taking a Stand / Taking Down a Show"

Well, the saga of my attempt at registering the domain name colorfulnudes.com has taken another turn. First of all, I had to explain to them about the fact that that name would not have any actual content, that it was just going to be pointing to my site elisetomlinson.com and sent them a link to see that my artwork consists of colorful nudes etc.

Next I got a message that said:

Hello ELise,
We will register the domain name colorfulnudes.com. If you could please put a
notice on your site, "Some of the material may not be suitable for people under
the age of 18."

I wrote back again saying that I didn't want to post a disclaimer on my site because as an artist I don't feel that anything on my site is not suitable for people under the age of 18. I said that since there would be nothing actually posted under the domain name colorfulnudes.com it meant that after 5 years of hosting with them with no troubles as to the content of my site, I would now have to post a disclaimer on my personal artist website and I wouldn't do that out of principle.

This morning I got this message:

Hello Elise,
We understand your artistic principles. It's the domain name "colorfulnudes.com"
that conflicts with our terms and policies. The nude portion of the domain name
is what WestHost doesn't want to be associated with, because of it's suggestive
adult content. If the domain is going to be used as part of "elisetomlinson.com"
then we must part ways. We wish you the best in your business.

Here is the link for cancellation:

https://corp.westhost.com/cancel/

Now I feel really conflicted because on one hand I'm really pissed off and want to just cancel for all the sites that I have registered through them...but on the other hand, up until now they've been an excellent hosting company. Plus, it took me a long time to install greymatter for my weblog and I don't want to go through all the hassles of switching to a new service. Particularly since I had registered the colorfulnudes domain as an afterthought and it probably wouldn't be that beneficial for me anyway.
On the other hand, I think it's a sad day when it gets to the point that the word "nude" is automatically considered dirty.

Anyway, depending on how I decide to handle this, my site might be going bye bye temporarily.

In other news, I'm getting ready to go to the gallery and take down the show and drop some paintings off at the printer's for scanning. I forgot to print out my bill of sale contracts again so I have to drive all the way out to the University to pick them up. I'll be releived when this show is behind me and I can get into the groove of working on this new show of tide paintings. So far, the work has been going very slowly (i.e. I haven't really started yet).

Replies: 9 Comments

on Friday, July 30th, elderberrystudio2000@yahoo.com">Jackie said

E: I hope you don't have to take your blog down. Perhaps there's an easier way to make a transition to a new host? I don't know much about blogs - so far I only read them. Perhaps you can transfer your archived material if you go with a new host. But I definitely wouldn't blame you for switching from this conservative outfit - if they won't register a site with the word 'nudes' in it. Just goes to show you how pervasive this moral majority/removal of freedom of speech crap is going!

on Friday, July 30th, support@elisetomlinson.com">Elise said

Yah Jackie, I can transfer the archives and stuff no problem, it's basically installing the opensource code (greymatter) that powers the blog, onto a new server...it's more hassle than you would think.

But I am looking into my options.

on Friday, July 30th, John said

Ok, so what you do is this:
go get real cheap webhosting somewhere else, have colorfulnudes point to that, and all that contains is a re-direct here. Then colorfulnudes isn't directly pointing here.
:)

on Friday, July 30th, support@elisetomlinson.com">Elise said

Hey, I like that idea a lot John! Thanks.

I really wasn't relishing the idea of changing webhosting providers, as Westhost's customer service is top notch...(plus it would be a real pain in the ass)

on Friday, July 30th, John said

I posted that idea slightly tongue-in-cheek,it may still violate your provider's terms of use. But if it doesn't...

on Friday, July 30th, support@elisetomlinson.com">Elise said

Well, they probably aren't going to be checking up on me or anything. They don't want to register a domain name with "nude" in it, so I'll register the name with register.com or where ever. Westhost can't stop me from doing that...right?

on Sunday, August 1st, Dio said

I was going to suggest to register it with another provider. Most domain hosts will allow redirection and I don't think there is anything your wanky current providers can do about it...

Don't get fleeced either - a dot come for two years should cost around $30 I think (it'd be £18 over here)

I use this company: http://www.ukreg.com/ as they are the cheapest in the UK - don't know if the USA ones are cheaper your side though.

on Sunday, August 1st, Dio said

Dot Come? Blimey I hope that wasn't a Freudian slip or summit! Dot Com...

on Sunday, August 1st, support@elisetomlinson.com">Elise said

dirty dirty dio!
:O