Beating the FB blues

**cybrax** · 11-28-2010 05:26 PM

One of the recurring problems found by users of the free servers is that because they have been used in the past to host sub-domains that were responsible for causing trouble across the web such as spamming, several large web companies actively prohibit connections to x10 sites.

This is why email sent using the built in mail() command will bounce from Yahoo and Hotmail recipients but more annoying is the fact that social networking sites such as Facebook prevent links to x10 sub-domains.

For a small web site trying to kickstart some visitor traffic being unable to use the power of social networking is a serious blow, sadly no amount of begging or complaining will lift the ban. However there is a workaround, but it's ugly.

FB will permit links to Google's free web site service, I know they are awful but there is nothing that says you cannot put a redirect widget on a Google site and have it pointing in turn to an X10 sub-domain.

As blocking links to Google service would be like kicking a sleeping bear in the gonads, FB will hopefully not intervene and stop this workaround.

Anybody have a better solution?

**Brandon** · 11-28-2010 05:27 PM

Use tinyurl?

**cybrax** · 11-28-2010 05:39 PM

Thankyou Brandon, (it's wierd your profile pic is the spitting image of me twenty plus years ago)

**Brandon** · 11-28-2010 05:55 PM

Oh, you were a local gangster out of Tewksbury, Mass? :p

**cybrax** · 11-28-2010 06:12 PM

The exploits of my misspent youth have yet to be fully documented. (Hell I can't remember half of what I got up or into after discovering beer)

By the way TinyUrl is not not allowed on facebook as a link

**olliepop** · 12-04-2010 07:18 PM

Just buy a domain name for $9 usd

**mr kennedy** · 12-05-2010 03:46 AM

Originally Posted by olliepop

Just buy a domain name for $9 usd

Well not all of us have the money...

**Sharky** · 12-05-2010 05:12 AM

Or don't use Facebook. Just sayin'.

**captaindata** · 12-06-2010 08:45 AM

Originally Posted by cybrax

One of the recurring problems found by users of the free servers is that because they have been used in the past to host sub-domains that were responsible for causing trouble across the web such as spamming, several large web companies actively prohibit connections to x10 sites.

This is why email sent using the built in mail() command will bounce from Yahoo and Hotmail recipients but more annoying is the fact that social networking sites such as Facebook prevent links to x10 sub-domains.

For a small web site trying to kickstart some visitor traffic being unable to use the power of social networking is a serious blow, sadly no amount of begging or complaining will lift the ban. However there is a workaround, but it's ugly.

FB will permit links to Google's free web site service, I know they are awful but there is nothing that says you cannot put a redirect widget on a Google site and have it pointing in turn to an X10 sub-domain.

As blocking links to Google service would be like kicking a sleeping bear in the gonads, FB will hopefully not intervene and stop this workaround.

Anybody have a better solution?

Can you host the website locally on your own server? No-ip.com will give you up to 5 free hostnames you can point to your local machine. Hopefully none of them are blocked by FB. You just have to set up a dynamic update client if it's not a static IP address. I use no-ip.com for remote access to my server. I still need a webhosting provider like x10hosting.com, since my isp blocks port 80 and 25, although no-ip.com allows you to redirect port 80 to one that is not being blocked (like 8080).