What is your Web presence?

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WEB DEVELOPMENT By Will Fastie Nearly everyone who spends time on the Internet has some sort of Web presence. What do we mean by “presence?” Google yo
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Norio, Elly, woody, Myst

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A bit disappointed Mr. Fastie did not mention the DIY hosting option. Several sources, most notably Synology, provide a one-stop NAS solution. Most allow many services including site hosting, email, cloud, backup, surveillance and others. Setup is simple. RAID is built in. Start-up costs can be as low as a few hundred dollars.

The NAS can be DNS linked through a static IP or dynamic service depending on the user’s ISP and tolerance for a monthly static surcharge. With upload link speeds in the 10Mbs range, moderate web traffic is easily accommodated. Many add-on packages exist for site development and maintenance, security, store front, streaming and others. Most permit virtual site hosting allowing dozens of sites on the same single IP feed.

Granted, there are still fees. Besides URL registration there is the pesky SSL certification. However, there are free alternatives which give the green lock sign in the browser bar. If you are balancing ROI vs. service fees and are moderately competent at understanding the basics of Internet operation, an ‘appliance’ in the closet may be for you.

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Lots of people with my name, but nothing about me. Just how I like it.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/16GB & GTX1660ti, KDE Neon

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I hope the series will cover using an email service with an existing email address. My web host has fine service for the website, but their IP range constantly gets blocked for spam. So my emails bounce. I would like a strong email provider, but I want to continue to use my domain name email address. I’ve heard this can be done – how?

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I was amazed to read this:  “I maintain four websites and pay a total of just $6 per month for hosting — including SSL certificates!”

I find this a bit unbelievable. Can you explain how you do this? What host do you use? Is this one hosting account hosting 4 domains? Seems like that is the only possible way for it to be done. I can see how you might get an intro rate for 3 years, then change providers and do another 3 years at an intro rate. Thank you.

 

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Just google your name (or use whatever search engine you like), plus some key words that can focus the search on you. I add my last name with initials, as they appear in my publications in the author’s names’ line (or lines!) and in other people’s publications in the ‘references’ section.

But don’t be fooled when you are told that there are ‘millions’ of ‘hits’ with your name on them. Scan the first ten pages and, unless your last name is something like “Kardashian”, or “Winfrey”, or (particularly these days) “Trump”, you’ll probably find out that, by the tenth page, or even before that, the references to really you start to get mixed with things that are completely unrelated to your very person and that their numbers then start to increase faster and faster from page to page.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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anonymous wrote:

A bit disappointed Mr. Fastie did not mention the DIY hosting option

This article is the first of a series. More information about hosting solutions is coming.

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SueW

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Chris wrote:

I hope the series will cover using an email service with an existing email address.

More information about email solutions is coming.

Having email blocked in shared hosting environments is less common than it used to be but it still happens. The culprit is another Web site on your same, shared server that runs afoul of email rules. Unfortunately, the blacklisters usually do so via IP address, not domain name, so one bad egg rubs off on everyone else.

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Oh, it definitely still happens. Client set up a forwarder to his account @live.com then marked a bunch of messages as spam. MS relied on the forwarding IP rather than the originating IP and blocked the IP of our server impacting many sites. Same c*** AOL used to do years ago. What a [pain]!

Never Say Never

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Will Fastie

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Going on day 2 of trying to get the block removed after deleting the offending forwarder. The automated emails say all is OK but it is NOT. My JMRP account shows no issues – and we haven’t received any notices of issues. This is ridiculous! MS is the new AOHell!

 

Never Say Never

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[Will Fastie]

saturn2233 wrote:

What host do you use?

Pair Networks, Pittsburgh, PA. See for yourself.

But in answer to the question, yes, $6/mo covers it all. Including SSL. It’s not an intro price and in keeping with my general policy, I no longer recommend multi-year contracts even if there is a loss-leader deal on the front end.

I’ll give you a tiny preview from a future article in this series, reprising my theme “no matter what they say, it’s not unlimited.” The plan has a 15GB total storage limitation and a limit of 15 databases. My sites have one database each, which means 15 is the effective limit of the number of sites. I’m not Amazon, so the bandwidth limit of 75GB per month is fine; I’m nowhere near it.

More details to come!

 

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by Will Fastie.

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SueW, Myst

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I initially started out with Google’s Blogger for free back in 2010, but wanted a private domain name so I bought into Enom web hosting for 10 bucks a year, still connected to Google. That included the SSL certificate and I was still a part of Google’s system and had 50 GB storage. I pulled my site from Google/Enom and now thinking about starting over but this time going directly into a web hosting service to have more personal control. I do like what G Suite has to offer for admin purposes when/if I decide to put up another website. Great info here on web services.

MacOS, iOS, iPadOS, and SOS at times.

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Will Fastie

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Been in this racket for quite some time. Although I’ve never used them, Pair has always, in my opinion, had a good reputation.

Never Say Never

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Myst wrote:

Great info here on web services.

Thanks. Stay tuned; more to come.

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Myst

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OscarCP wrote:

But don’t be fooled

In these times of I.T. faith and unbelief it may be allowed to make a note; not directly a quote from George Orwell’s “1984”, but unfortunately originating from today’s reality.
Being “untraceable” and (thus) not leaving any digital markings or trails is an illusion. View publications by renowned IT security companies on metadata analysis by the major data collection technology companies and their manipulative algorithm applications (eg Cambridge Analytica and others); Or as a test: do not intentionally close the microphone of your smartfone for a while and you will be amazed at what pops up in the Google or Bing search engines, for example. Albert Einstein once described ‘coincidence’ as “a way of God to remain undetectable”, so reading Edward Snowden’s book ‘Permanent Record’ will give you a total disillusion of digital sincereness.

* _ the metaverse is poisonous _ *

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Fred, You are right: one is no longer able to fly totally under the radar of prying entities eager to get to know one even if one has no interest in being known by them. However, one can minimize one’s footprint (at least so I hope, as this is what I do) by taking the following precautions, as I do:

(1) Use “do not track” in my preferred and so most often used browsers.

(2) Do not belong to any social network, and only  a few(in my case three) discussion forums, one being “AskWoody”, the other an old professional one run by a Canadian University for those actively working on applications of GPS and similar satellite positioning systems from outside the USA. The third is one run by a German organization, where one can exchange information and share publications with people doing the same kind of research around the world. And it is widely used in this way.

(3) Do not open accounts in more than a few online sites. Unfortunately, given the present need to do most of my shopping online, because of the pandemic, I have had to subscribe to (for me) a lot of those. Now I’ll have the job ahead of me to start cancelling my accounts in as many as possible, starting soon (I hope.) But there is no guarantee that the information that I had to provide when opening those accounts won’t be kept at those sites until the next clever black hat breaks into them and steals my information along with that of many more. As it is usually the case, these days.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Fred

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OscarCP wrote:
(1) Use “do not track” in my preferred and so most often used browsers.

Strongly recommend you do NOT rely on Do Not Track…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Track

Hope this helps.

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Fred, OscarCP

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Anonymous ( #2274806 ) “Strongly recommend you do NOT rely on Do Not Track…”

I know that is not 100% effective, but what else is there that one can use without first getting a PhD on “how not to get tracked” and another on “how to write scripts to block tracking or do some other complicated thing most people won’t be able to do, or won’t be willing to go through the hassle required to make use of it”? There is a limit to everything, even to useful paranoia.

That said, I am open to practical suggestions.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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OscarCP wrote:

Fred, You are right: one is no longer able to fly totally under the radar of prying entities eager to get to know one even if one has no interest in being known by them. However, one can minimize one’s footprint (at least so I hope, as this is what I do) by taking the following precautions, as I do:

(1) Use “do not track” in my preferred and so most often used browsers.

(2) Do not belong to any social network, and only  a few(in my case three) discussion forums, one being “AskWoody”, the other an old professional one run by a Canadian University for those actively working on applications of GPS and similar satellite positioning systems from outside the USA. The third is one run by a German organization, where one can exchange information and share publications with people doing the same kind of research around the world. And it is widely used in this way.

(3) Do not open accounts in more than a few online sites. Unfortunately, given the present need to do most of my shopping online, because of the pandemic, I have had to subscribe to (for me) a lot of those. Now I’ll have the job ahead of me to start cancelling my accounts in as many as possible, starting soon (I hope.) But there is no guarantee that the information that I had to provide when opening those accounts won’t be kept at those sites until the next clever black hat breaks into them and steals my information along with that of many more. As it is usually the case, these days.

Thank you for your explication,
I do hope you (and others) will try to read and know some more how dangerous these data analysis is these days, and how to achieve some more privacy on the internet.
See for instance the TorProject, EFF, BitsOfFreedom.
Take care

* _ the metaverse is poisonous _ *

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OscarCP

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Thanks, Will. I had no idea what to expect from the title and was pleasantly surprised to see all the detail you included. Helpful reminders for technical newbies such as I and written in an easy to understand way. I’m looking forward to your next article.

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Elly, Will Fastie

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IreneLinda wrote:

I’m looking forward to your next article.

You’re very kind. I hope the remaining articles in the series live up to your expectations.

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