SOPA blackout option

If you want to participate in the SOPA/PIPA blackout, we’ve got your back. We’ve added a UI option on the site info panel for each site that, if enabled, will make your site look like this. If you select this, it’ll last until about Thursday at 7am UTC. Then, we’ll switch it off and convert it for people who want to be able to switch it on and off over the next week.

We set all the appropriate status and caching headers so that this shouldn’t have any long-term consequences or impact on search engine rankings. (But of course we can’t guarantee that since search engines are notoriously tight-lipped about how such things are determined.) We will return status 503 (Server temporarily unavailable) which should convince the automated world that we’re simply down. Not so good for us, but worth it for the cause. We’re also telling the world not to cache the results, to keep trying hourly, and that the content expires Thursday at 7am UTC.

That’s it!

18 Comments

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1. Thanks! I’m glad, but not surprised (that’s a good thing) that NFS is doing this. Good on ya!

   If my site had any appreciable traffic, I’d participate. 😀

   Comment by Bob C — January 18, 2012 #

2. Don’t sell yourself short. This is about all of us little guys standing together.

   Comment by jdw — January 18, 2012 #

3. Love it! I just happened to see this info via @EFF’s tweet or I would have missed it. My site: adam.reineke.me is offline! 🙂 Thanks!

   Comment by Adam Reineke — January 18, 2012 #

4. why

   Comment by brian y — January 18, 2012 #

5. Because free speech isn’t.

   Comment by jdw — January 18, 2012 #

6. This is why you guys are the greatest web host ever. Thanks for fighting the good fight against ridiculous censorship bills (and returning 503!).

   Comment by David — January 18, 2012 #

7. […] NearlyFreeSpeech […]

   Pingback by Internet Blackout #SOPAStrike « an unassuming girl — January 18, 2012 #

8. I am so glad I picked this web host.

   Comment by Matt — January 18, 2012 #

9. All 3 visitors to my site today will see it. Thanks!

   Comment by Ryan — January 18, 2012 #

10. Thank you, that’s a great option for people who want it!

    Comment by KP — January 18, 2012 #

11. Awesome. Thanks for providing such an option.

    Comment by Pete — January 18, 2012 #

12. This is great…but I don’t understand how to enable this…Can someone enlighten me?

    Comment by Paula — January 18, 2012 #

13. Paula, take a look here for an example.

    Comment by jdw — January 18, 2012 #

14. Thanks, JDW!

    Comment by Paula — January 18, 2012 #

15. Thanks for doing this (and making it simple for us to, as well). Yet another reason I like it here.

    Comment by DEW — January 18, 2012 #

16. good work, I love you guys!

    I am considering my options, may enable today :-S

    Comment by Rory — January 24, 2012 #

17. Not that I have anything high-profile enough to justify it, but awesome that you provided the option to do it for us. Thanks!

    Comment by Aaron Mason — January 26, 2012 #

18. Listen, we’re here day in and day out because we believe you don’t have to be high-profile to be important. And we’re right. So if there’s something going on that affects you, please don’t use “I’m too small” or “My site doesn’t matter” as an excuse to leave the heavy lifting to others. You matter, and what you do (or don’t do) matters too.

    Comment by jdw — January 26, 2012 #

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