Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Well, I certainly am glad that I used ipowerweb to register my domain name.  They`re currently charging $2.95 for a year...just for the name and privacy of your info, but for the moment that`s all I needed.  Figured I`d let the masses know...

That aside, I decided, just for kicks, I would enter my future website`s address into internet explorer just for the sheer joy of going to "my website" (not that there`s anything to see).  Okay, I admit, it`s a little lame, but forgive me...I`m a wee bit excited about all of this (you should have seen me when I got my business license - you`d have thought I had just gotten engaged or something!).

Here`s the problem - my company`s web filtering software came up and said that winsomeevents.com was restricted based upon the fact that it has something to do with "sex."  So now, I am very concerned about this website address.  If I were a bride or a 6-year-old`s mom and received such a message, I would throw any materials I had received from that company away.  I`d never even give it a second look.

My question is - what on earth should I do now?  Should I totally scrap this website name?  Should I come up with a new business name?  What are the other alternatives?  I want to shield my prospective clients from embarassment....

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MeLissa
Independent Chocolatier for Dove Chocolate Discoveries http://www.ChocoRocco.com Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/ChocoRocco

I am betting that the error that you recieved is based soley on your current security settings for you personal computer. I checked out the website my self and it just showed that it was not yet uploaded or that it was under construction. So I think that your problem is a local problem only to your PC not a global problem with your domain name. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Thanks, Ken.  It comes up okay at my home, too, but my concern is that if my current employer`s filtering software is blocking it (and this is somewhat signficant since they are a large employer in my current location), how many other large companies` systems will block it?  I know that I tend to do a lot of my web surfing on my lunch hour or when I need a quick break and since I am a match for many aspects of my target market, it concerns me that their companies` filtering software will also block the site. 

Are there ways to convince these filters that your site is safe?  I`m just concerned since I know if I reach a website that is filtered here at work, I typically just let it go...and find something else that meets my needs.

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MeLissa
Independent Chocolatier for Dove Chocolate Discoveries http://www.ChocoRocco.com Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/ChocoRocco

I think that you will find that your works filters are catching you site on content filters not domain name filters. Once you have content relevent to your business this should no longer be an issue for you. Since your site currently has nothing but an advertisement for ipowerweb and then if you click on that you get a 404 error page it will look to your companies filters that it could possibly be a malicous site. I really think that once you get your content on your site you won`t have any more problems. If you have any other questions please feel free to contact me through email. Best Wishes.

That makes me feel much better. 

Thank you!

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MeLissa
Independent Chocolatier for Dove Chocolate Discoveries http://www.ChocoRocco.com Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/ChocoRocco

I think the issue here is the ipowerweb is virtually hosting a lot of sites which use the same IP as your domain.

A lot of content filtering and just filtering software in general is mismanaged and people typically block the IP address rather than the domain name. They do this because one day the site owner could have badgirls.com and the next it`s reallybadgirls.com but your filter is only blocking badgirls.com.

I know this is a common practice in the military networks (i have a few years experience dealing with that red tape!). and most corporations or larger ISP`s who offer the service.

If they are blocking by domain name then you should be able to get it cleared out, but if it`s by IP address then you are out of luck for your corporation.

It`s sad when legitimate people pay the price because of some moron on the web.

You might want to check with ipowerweb to see if they know about the offending site, and see if theyhave taken steps to remove it. Many of these "cheap" domain sellers won`t do much but you don`t know till you ask.