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kaos_de_moria
Consistant Poster
Joined: 22 Aug 2003
Posts: 162
Location: Switzerland
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 9:57 am Post subject: do not use 250free.com free web space |
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they restrict use of their system to certain countries:
"Due to an inordinate amount of abuse, visitors to this free account from your region orcountry have been restricted."
the thing is, they restrict about 120 countries... (complete list at the end of the post.) there is countries like libya on the list, where internet use is restricted to the government. i'd be surprised if there was an 'inordinate amount of abuse' from countries like libya (with restricted internet access) or somalia (bad and expensive internet infrastructure) or tuvalu (very small island with just a bunch of people). this listing is not empiric, but racist or bullshit at the best.
the argument is especially clearly bullshit as they offer the following:
"If you are the owner of this site, you may upgrade to Platinum, which will allow all countries to view your site, as well as remove all advertising from your pages and increase your bandwidth."
so basically restricting access for some people is a feature to get people upgrading their accounts.
as i know, some of the people here on the forum use this system, i thaught i'd post this.
the following list of countries is banned...
(be surprised to see croatia or brazil besides bhutan and andorra. i'm pretty sure they just did not know where andorra is.)
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
China
Comoros
Congo
Costa Rica
Cote d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
CzechRepublic
Djibouti
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
French Guyana
French Polynesia
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Ghana
Gibraltar
Guatemala
Guernsey
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
India
Indonesia
East Timor
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
North Korea
South Korea
Turkey
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Lithuania
Macao
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Niue
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Palestinian
Paraguay
Philippines
Poland
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
Western Sahara
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Somalia
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Thailand
Togo
Tonga
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Turks and Caicos
Islands
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Vietnam
Western Sahara
Yemen
Yugoslavia
Zambia
Zimbabwe
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Kris Lachowski
Consistant Poster
Joined: 06 Oct 2003
Posts: 192
Location: Earth
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 10:41 am Post subject: |
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| yeah i have a friend who is in Hungary and she is pretty frustrted because of who i chose to host my site. There are a few other problems such as it being pop-up ad prone and having alot of banner adds. I had no idea so many countries were on the ban list, wow. I'll definately have to shop around for somewhere better. Any suggestions? I doubt there are any other free providers with 250 MB free, but does anyone know of some that are at least like 150. Not that i really need it now, but i have alot of comics to upload and I'd rather get a site that I wouldn't out grow within less than a year. |
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Eric F Myers
Understands reinventing
Joined: 03 Oct 2003
Posts: 342
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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You know, you get what you pay for. And if you're not paying anything don't expect much. That being said, web hosting prices have dropped in the past couple of years. I finally decidded on Go Daddy. You can't beat $3.95 a month.
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Kris Lachowski
Consistant Poster
Joined: 06 Oct 2003
Posts: 192
Location: Earth
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 1:37 pm Post subject: |
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Okay so i did a little research. The head honcho at 250free says that hotlinking is the problem. Supposedly some courtries abuse this option and banning those above listed countries solved the problem. I don't know about that, but whatever, like you said you get what you pay for. On the other hand it seems that in a few months the restricted countries thing will change:
"Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2004 1:52 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am planning to revamp hot-linking and would like to offer all countries access again. Hopefully in the next few months.
Thanks,
Brian "
( http://www.250free.com/help/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4992&highlight=#4992 )
Also as far as can't beat $3.95 a month at go daddy
( https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/hosting/landing.asp?isc=&se=%2B&from%5Fapp= )I'm not so sure:
( http://www.250free.com/platinum.php ) it's quite possible that there are some other hidden problems with the platinum subscription that my unexperienced eye hasn't caught. Anyone have any insights? |
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Greg Stephens
Forum Founder
Joined: 14 Apr 2001
Posts: 3869
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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| efm wrote: | | I finally decidded on Go Daddy. You can't beat $3.95 a month. |
With PHP and a MySQL database? That's a pretty good deal.
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DON the IDEA GUY
Forum Member
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 17
Location: Columbus, OH
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Kris Lachowski
Consistant Poster
Joined: 06 Oct 2003
Posts: 192
Location: Earth
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Greg Stephens wrote: |
With PHP and a MySQL database? That's a pretty good deal. |
Hmmm... what does that mean? |
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Greg Stephens
Forum Founder
Joined: 14 Apr 2001
Posts: 3869
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 7:17 pm Post subject: |
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It's good stuff. PHP is a powerful, open-source scripting language and MySQL is a powerful, open-source database. With those tools, you can make... Well, you can make a site like the very one you're using right now. This forum uses PHP backed by MySQL. It's a bit more difficult than plain old HTML, but the fact that it's part of their basic package says something.
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kaos_de_moria
Consistant Poster
Joined: 22 Aug 2003
Posts: 162
Location: Switzerland
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| Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2004 9:24 am Post subject: hmm |
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| Kris Lachowski wrote: | | Okay so i did a little research. The head honcho at 250free says that hotlinking is the problem. Supposedly some courtries abuse this option and banning those above listed countries solved the problem. |
ok, that sounds a little bit better than i thought. so at least it looks like they thought of something. but i still do not think, that the list is selective in anyway. the system rather looks like throwing everything in the bin, the boss did not know where it is. i really don't believe, that there is a type of abuse, which is not used by any american or western european teenagers, which would be used by some inhabitant of tuvalu or andorra.
if they solve the problem anytime soon, that should be ok.
i just do not agree with the idea of, you get, what you pay for. it is not, that they limit access for the owner of the site. they limit access for eveyone who lives in the named countires. this limits the free flow of information. it remembers me a bit of censoring information as china or the iran do, just the other way around. now the 'free west' (i kknow, i'm over exagerating some little web space company) shut information away to be used only by the free west.
kaos
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Eric F Myers
Understands reinventing
Joined: 03 Oct 2003
Posts: 342
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2004 9:55 am Post subject: Re: hmm |
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It looks like they are treating 250free.com as a freeware company. Offering a limited amount of their product so that you'll bite and buy the platinum version.
| kaos_de_moria wrote: | | i just do not agree with the idea of, you get, what you pay for. it is not, that they limit access for the owner of the site. they limit access for eveyone who lives in the named countires. |
Still, you aren't paying for it. If you pick up some sort of free food sample from the store and you don't like the smell of it, you don't have to eat it.
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kaos_de_moria
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Joined: 22 Aug 2003
Posts: 162
Location: Switzerland
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| Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2004 10:16 am Post subject: Re: hmm |
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| efm wrote: | It looks like they are treating 250free.com as a freeware company. Offering a limited amount of their product so that you'll bite and buy the platinum version.
| kaos_de_moria wrote: | | i just do not agree with the idea of, you get, what you pay for. it is not, that they limit access for the owner of the site. they limit access for eveyone who lives in the named countires. |
Still, you aren't paying for it. If you pick up some sort of free food sample from the store and you don't like the smell of it, you don't have to eat it. |
i don't think it's a good comparison. i mean, let's be honest. how many people will pay, so the inhabitants of bhutan can access their site? basically noone. so what is the result? people from the listed countries do have no access to all websites on the system.
i admit 250 MB is a lot. but i guess there should be better ways to get people pay for the webspace.
besides, i do not say, they should open their webspace for everone. they can basically do what they like. i call on everyone here not to use webspace which is not accessible to 80 per cent of the worlds population. (china + india + all of africa + indonesia is already 50 per cent of worlds population and there is a whole bunch of other countries on the list.) responsibility does not lie with the company which offers something for free, but with the peoplee who use it.
(besides, it is not correct that they offer this for free. as all other free web services they make money by advertisement etc. free webservices are not offered by these companies on altruistic motives. and free web services are also not offered as a mere form of advertisement, where as the free cheese sample in the supermarket is mere advertisement.)
kaos
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losttoy
Understands reinventing
Joined: 02 Apr 2002
Posts: 430
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2004 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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why do you need 250MB for a simple amature artist web site? I am at geocities which gives you about 15MB and over the last 2.5 years I have not filled it up yet. Worst case senario is you get another account to keep files on. Nobody ever said you had to have only ONE geocities site. I have five for different projects. Just downsave those images. You can get the same quality with a 12k file as a 150k file if you know how to downsave properly.
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Tim Mallos
Understands reinventing
Joined: 23 Apr 2001
Posts: 353
Location: Brighton, Michigan
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2004 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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Dave, are you making up the word "downsave" ? That's a new one on me 
Optimize? Down Sample? Hehehehehehehe.
I wasn't going to ask, until it turned up the second time.
Making up words is very cool, by the way, if it is an invention. Mostly I'm harrassing you.
Tim
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shadefell
Regular Poster
Joined: 29 Jul 2001
Posts: 20
Location: chicago, il, usa
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2004 4:32 pm Post subject: heh |
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Nice list.
Yugoslavia isn't even a country any more.
Now it's "Serbia and Montenegro."
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Eric F Myers
Understands reinventing
Joined: 03 Oct 2003
Posts: 342
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2004 5:25 pm Post subject: Re: heh |
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| shadefell wrote: | Nice list.
Yugoslavia isn't even a country any more.
Now it's "Serbia and Montenegro." |
That's why they aren't offering access to them. Maybe they should add Constantinople to the list.
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Tim Mallos
Understands reinventing
Joined: 23 Apr 2001
Posts: 353
Location: Brighton, Michigan
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kaos_de_moria
Consistant Poster
Joined: 22 Aug 2003
Posts: 162
Location: Switzerland
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2004 11:13 am Post subject: east timor |
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now you say it, i just realised that east timor is missing, even though it would fit in well. i guess he used a outdated list of countries...
kaos
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losttoy
Understands reinventing
Joined: 02 Apr 2002
Posts: 430
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2004 2:24 am Post subject: |
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| Tim Mallos wrote: | Dave, are you making up the word "downsave" ? That's a new one on me ;) Optimize? Down Sample? Hehehehehehehe.
I wasn't going to ask, until it turned up the second time. Making up words is very cool, by the way, if it is an invention. Mostly I'm harrassing you. :)
Tim |
Well, I am pretty sure it is not Oxford English or anything, or even sure if it is an industry wide term. I know that I have heard the term being used before among peers.
What does "downsave" mean ...
Optimize? Perhaps, but since there is often an optimize option with saving images in programs, "downsave" does more than that. Down Sample? No, that would imply that quality of the image is lower than the pervious. Saving down a file? No that mean you are saving a file to a previous version (like saving a Illustrator 10 file down so it can be openned in Illustrator 8).
For me, "downsaving" is saving a file in a way that takes up less room on a hard drive. Saving a black and white drawing as a RGB or CMYK is three or four times the channels (and disk space) as Greyscale. Saving an image preview for a file that is going to be used on the web where that preview wil not be used is not nessicary. Taking a simple color illustration and using indexed color and using only 24 web colors instead of saving all 256, would be considered "downsaving". Triming the "white space" around the image is another good way to cut down file space with compermising the image. This can easily take a 150k file and make it around 12k. The file is still 72 and the image quality is the same, but the size is smaller. Get it?
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Tim Mallos
Understands reinventing
Joined: 23 Apr 2001
Posts: 353
Location: Brighton, Michigan
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| Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2004 9:10 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, I understood what you meant. I was just goofing around, didn't mean to make you do all the work of composing the above
I had written a much larger response, but I downsaved it.
Tim
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losttoy
Understands reinventing
Joined: 02 Apr 2002
Posts: 430
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
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| Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2004 4:22 pm Post subject: |
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Here is a quote I found while looking up the word "downsized" and how the word got into the nations vernacular.
| Quote: | | Our Living Language Nothing fails so miserably as a failed euphemismthough there have been plenty of successes. The English language, especially business jargon, is littered with words that now seem ordinary but were once regarded as euphemisms. Consider the terms senior for old person, custodian for janitor, and rest room for toilet (itself a euphemism). These words arise from a natural tendency to ease the pain or embarrassment associated with things such as death or bodily functions, or from a conscious desire to recast something unpleasant in a more dignified light. Downsize is a recent example of a euphemism that found broad acceptance in the language and is not particularly thought of as a deceptive attempt to smooth over the pain of large-scale firings. But the search for less harmful terms goes on and on. The attempt to find even more positive-sounding ways to say ?downsize? has led business executives and people working in human resources and public relations (both euphemisms themselves) to float a number of alternatives. Companies were being ?reengineered? and even ?right-sized? laid-off workers had to be ?separated? or ?unassigned? for being ?nonessential? their jobs were said to be ?no longer going forward.? Most of these terms were met with scorn, being regarded as cynical attempts to sugarcoat an inherently distressing phenomenon, and as failed euphemisms they accomplished the exact opposite of what they were designed to. Why one euphemism should be accepted while another is not remains something of a mystery, but the selection of such terms indicates one way in which social attitudes have a powerful effect on language change. |
Just thought it was a neat little thing to share.
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