Hi guys,

I have been wondering this for quite a moment and never seem to get a satisfactory answer, hope you guys could:

Some clients STRONGLY refute to join a webhost that hosts any form of adult content sites.

Any idea why is that so? :P

#1. Porn sites generate a crapload of traffic and resources, therefore slowing the servers down.

#2. Porn sites are often the target of "hack" attempts to try and gain access to private areas, once again... causing server problems.

#3. Porn sites can lead to legal issues, causing long term stability issues.

#4. Reputation. I'd never want my company site on the same server as a bunch of porn sites.

They may be afraid thier sites will be somehow associated with them, or it might be a moral based objection.

Aaron

Here's what I be thinkin . . .

Some people have morals. And they carry those with them wherever they go. Others don't because they may have heard that those sites get a lot of traffic and aren't well suited for shared environments. But, I'm voting that it's more on the principals things.

Originally posted by Dennis
Here's what I be thinkin . . .

Some people have morals. And they carry those with them wherever they go. Others don't because they may have heard that those sites get a lot of traffic and aren't well suited for shared environments. But, I'm voting that it's more on the principals things.

I thought of that too and that was top on my list.

Doubt traffic or cpu resources would be very much their concern as most of our shared clients are not that knowledgeable.

I would say it is almost completely an issue of principals/morals. I doubt many shared hosting clients actually take into account server resources when choosing a host.

Yeah... I believe it's mostly a matter of principles too... Some might feel almost physically sick just thinking that "such c*ap" is centimeters or milimeters close to their own website on the hard disk.

Some might even frown upon a host that has a division (with totally separate serves) that caters to adult websites. The very though of "adult content" is repelling enough for them. The human psyche and the power of beliefs are nothing to joke about.

I couldn't give a damn to be honest :)

Oh, and how do you measure how far your site is from another on the disk? ;)

Greetings:

Our parent company -- Dynamic Net, Inc. -- has clients which require they are hosted with a company (not just a specific server) that will not host or deal with the adult industry.

Somethings money cannot buy; and there are greater treasures in our life which money cannot purchase.

thank you.

Adult hosting can be extremely profitable. If you are concerned over lost business from conservative and so called "better than thou" people, run a business under two brands.

Just my two cents. ;)

Greetings:

Last I heard there is no one who is holier than though. There is only one who is holy and righteous -- God.

In terms of two brands; a house divided is against itself.

Thank you.

I have always thought it was more of a moral reason.

There are plenty of top quality hosts who have the ability to host resource heavy, bandwidth intensive clients. Whether or not the material is pornographic or just graphic images doesn't matter to the server, it matters to the people who administer the server...

We each have to live with what we feel is right.

It is supply and demand.

People who are opposed to adult/pornographic content will take their business to those hosters who have similar views, thus giving them the demand. If a host realizes that it is more profitiable to not host that kind of content, then it will stop doing so.

I know some families that are opposed to 'R' rated movies, so they refuse to go to the movie theaters, because they show 'R' rated movies.

I know plenty of people who boycott certain things rather than picket them.

Greetings:

We each have the right to live as we feel; and there are consequences to all actions.

In any event, our company has chosen to provide services to all but the adult industry.

Thank you.

Adult content, it's just something else for people to complain about.

The only problem I can really see are the legal implecations involved.

I once heard of a situation where a reseller had a "adult" site in their client list and also on that same server was a Church website. Well, the IP address of the server was being blocked from accessing a site the Church dealt with due to the fact the server had an adult site on it. The reseller was in violation of the TOS and the offending site was removed. It took almost a week for the block on that IP to be removed by the group the church dealt with.

So that can also be another reason to avoid hosts who mix content. Your server could be blacklisted by certain christian related groups.

There are quite a few reasons why people choose to host only with hosts who do not host adult content. And there are about the same amount of reasons why hosts choose not to do so.

For myself, being a college student, living on a tight budget, the attraction of the money to be made by allowing adult content can be strong. Also, being a guy, and having root access to a server hosting adult content can also be a tempting thought. Instead of paying others, others pay you to get porn. So it is very tempting for someone like me to say, "hey, why not?".

But I know the effect that pornography has on people. One classic example is Ted Bundy. The thought comes to my mind that the women involved in the adult industry, they aren't just some "thing" to be used to help men satisfy their desires. They are also someones daughter, someones sister, someones mom even in some cases. That and in the words of our Lord, "If anyone looks at another in lust, they have committed adultury in their heart".

I know that many don't like when others express their views and beliefs. Some say that we Christians "shove our beliefs down your throat". If you feel that way about my post, then I'm sorry for using my right as an American with the freedom of speech, and the freedom of the internet to express my opinions and beliefs. I felt that this is something I should share, as it is something that I have dealt with in the past. I've been addicted to pornography before, I admit it. I'm not perfect (They crucified the last person who was). The thing that bothered me the most was that every single time I would fall and give into temptation, afterwards I would feel like the worst person in the world. I had this feeling like I was covered in filth. No matter how hard I tried, I could not break my addiction. But thankfully, it changed.

Right before new years this last year, I went to a missions conference in Urbana Illinois. While I was there, I lead a small group, and had the blessing of listening to some outstanding speakers. I came back from that with my whole outlook on life changed. There is so much I can say about the experience as a whole that I can't put it all here, but one of the things that I came to realize is that every action of mine is a choice that I make. And that is because of the Free Will that God gave me. However, God is still omnipotent, and I can choose to give over my desires to him, and he will take them from me and give me his desires. The key is, I had to choose that. It is very hard, and very daunting to try to grasp the concept of submitting onesself to another voluntarily, even moreso when the one you submit to is the Almighty God. Well, I gave over my addiction, and at the same time, I moved all of my computers from my house to my office, so that I would no longer have readily available access to the internet at home, let alone in my bedroom.

Since that time, I have no longer struggled with pornography. I'm not saying that I am no longer tempted by it. Temptation will always be there, but I no longer struggle and fall into temptation. Its hard, and I wouldnt be able to do it on my own strength and understanding, thats what I have God for :) When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, he paid the price so that we wouldnt have to in the end; since the wages of sin is death, someone has to die for our sin. Accepting his gift of salvation does not make me perfect, and I need to strive to live life as Jesus would have me. Being a Christian doesn't make me sinless, but it helps me to sin less.

Greetings Aaron:

Well stated.

-- Peter M. Abraham

Aaron:

Very well said. I am glad to know that there are other who have had problems similar to mine who have overcome it with the help of God.

Ignorance has and always will breed contempt. Some people have their panties in bunch and forget the simple reality . . . that which they admonish (porn) is nothing more than the very basic act (sex) they were born from. Oh and here's another bit of truth . . . . hosts of adult content are less likely to oversell crowd and/or run unsecure boxes.

Well I'm glad you have exercised your right to free speech amish_geek, now I'll exercise mine. ;)

Now I'm all for adult content and porn, it is used by couples to improve their sex lives and by some single men (or women) for self pleasure. It is simply none of my business what people do in their own homes.

Now about that adultery in your heart.. When you meet your to be wife one day, do you think you might lust after her a bit? Oh no, you couldn't do that.. that would be a sin. You must never think of such things because you are a good Christian and must marry her because she will raise good Christian children and never think of how good she may be in bed.

I'm sorry amish_geek, I am liberal hear me roar. ;)

It may be off topic but i see that certain hosts using 2checkout for payment processing also do adult sites though do not openly display on their sites. Its just that their TOS does not restrict adult sites. Last time I heard 2CO does not allow selling adult related stuff. Is selling adult hosting legal when it comes to 2CO?

In my case it's more a case of liability within the community I live than any real moral objection.

Where I live nudie bars are closed down using any means possible, even if it means building a school nearby to make it fall within the "no bars within 1000 feet of a school" law (yes this has been done, seriously) churches also build near nudie bars and then open day cares, oops day care? bye bye nudie bar. There was a friend of mine who owned an adult "boutique" and she had to move to Tennessee (yeah Tennessee is seen as "liberal and open minded" when compared to Alabama) because the city here (Huntsville) basically said "go away or go to jail".

If it were to come to light my servers allowed porn on them I could find myself in hot water, and I don't like hot water, so I have a no porn policy. In my case it's more of a community and financial motivation, my community wouldn't accept it, and losing business because people don't want to be hosted alongside a porn site is also not cool :) call it conformist but that's just how it is.

Greetings:

While it is its own topic in terms of reading the Bible; and knowing that lust does not need to be involved in love or making love, there are those hosting providers and resellers who will follow their faith to not allow such content.

There are also providers who will not allow such content for legal risks.

The choice is the provider who has the right to run their business they way they see fit.

Thank you.

We try not to host that kind of thing because we occasionally hire high school students to install racks, do janitorial work, and sometimes work on servers if they are good. There is a legal issue is you expose underage persons to this industry. It might be interesting to see who is liable for the underage teens out there running there own hoting company with porn sites on them.

Interesting to see some of the responses here based on religion, would some of you religious folks object to any of the following types of sites?


Wicca websites
Model websites
Adult toy websites


We generally have a "as long as it's legal" policy but we haven't had any requests for any adult site hosting anyway, a true adult site would be put on a seperate IP if it did come along though.

We have however hosted the above types of sites, I was kinda chuckling at one point since we had Christian, Jew, Muslim and Wicca based sites all on the same server. They all got along fine too, go figure.

Greetings:

For me, faith does not equal religion.

In terms of the following:

* Wicca websites would be ok.

* Model websites would depend on level of adult content.

* Adult toy websites would not be ok.

Thank you.

P.S. Our clients who read our monthly newsletter, who email us, or call us know the founder is a born again Christian who loves Jesus. The founder doesn't push his faith down the throats of others, but does share them. So if those who are not Christian believe in free speach and tolerance, then that's not a problem being our client.

Otherwise, some categories may not host with us even though we would host them because they cannot tolerate our points of view --- faith is lived, not taken off like a jacket on a warm day.

I would just be worried that my website might catch something :-)

People have the right to do what they want with their money, so if they do not want to spend money on a host that also hosts porn that is their right. however, the posts i read where they would purposely build a church near a nudie bar to close it down is just plain wrong.

If you do not like something don't do it and don't spend your money on it, but please do not force your views on me as I will not force my views on you. (this is assuming the views do not directly or forcibly hurt other people)

Another complication I can see for the host would be having to deal with constant legal threats, and requests to shut down sites from community groups, or other types of organizations.
I would imagine that the hosts that allow adult content must deal with these types of occurances on a daily basis. If the host wanted to make sure it stayed out of legal trouble, it would have to investigate everytime they got an e-mail stating that one of their clients was doing something illegal (even though it may be perfectly legal, just morally objectionable). What a waste of man-hours that would be.

It is not the requirement of a host provider to monitor the content of peoples sites. If they see someone has illegal content or someone reports it then as long as they remove it in a reasonable timeframe then they are legally liable. The only way a host can be in trouble is if they know the content exists (which you need to prove in court) and you do nothing about it.

I think the legal argument people are bringing up is a little weak. The reasons I do buy are the ones about those sites being prone to attacks and you could lose business because some business do not want to be with a host that has porn sites.

Greetings:

Read http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/voi042104.cfm

Thank you.

Originally posted by spiderweb
I would say it is almost completely an issue of principals/morals. I doubt many shared hosting clients actually take into account server resources when choosing a host.

I agree, it makes your company look sleazy

Greetings:

Most parents I know teach their children, "you are known by the company you keep."

Thank you.

I find that hard to believe since m3server.com aka simple communications (simplecom.net) is one of the biggest porn hosts around and they are in AL. Their servers are even housed in the state of AL. Thus if the community standards of AL are so prohibitive why would these people be hosting porn by the truckload and housing the servers in AL??.

Originally posted by Dixiesys
In my case it's more a case of liability within the community I live than any real moral objection.

Where I live nudie bars are closed down using any means possible, even if it means building a school nearby to make it fall within the "no bars within 1000 feet of a school" law (yes this has been done, seriously) churches also build near nudie bars and then open day cares, oops day care? bye bye nudie bar. There was a friend of mine who owned an adult "boutique" and she had to move to Tennessee (yeah Tennessee is seen as "liberal and open minded" when compared to Alabama) because the city here (Huntsville) basically said "go away or go to jail".

If it were to come to light my servers allowed porn on them I could find myself in hot water, and I don't like hot water, so I have a no porn policy. In my case it's more of a community and financial motivation, my community wouldn't accept it, and losing business because people don't want to be hosted alongside a porn site is also not cool :) call it conformist but that's just how it is.

Originally posted by kneadingu
I find that hard to believe since m3server.com aka simple communications (simplecom.net) is one of the biggest porn hosts around and they are in AL. Their servers are even housed in the state of AL. Thus if the community standards of AL are so prohibitive why would these people be hosting porn by the truckload and housing the servers in AL??.
I'm not sure where you got the idea that some hosting shop in Birmingham, who isn't even a BGP-speaker, is one of the biggest porn hosts around, but I suggest you do a bit more research before you post that sentiment again.

That said, you are probably still correct that Alabama isn't the most permissive jurisdiction in which to operate an adult business.

Definately an issue of morality/princples. If it weren't, then everyone would be allowing adult content as it DOES bring in a lot of profit for the hosting provider. Security/traffic really isn't that much of an issue, because the income being brought in would either equalize or outweight the cost/time for adjusting to what it requires.

amish_geek...Amen! May your words and example be an inspiration to many. God bless!