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It was the Devil.

 

i paid Godaddy for a two/year SSL certificate. Which basically says your website’s traffic is encrypted (https), which is a requirement on the web today 

 

 Apparently, the SSL certificate i had expired after year. So my site was no longer secure (http) so every browser throws out that message and may even prevent you from visiting the site.

 

 Now I’ve had an SSL Certificate since Google made it a tracking signal — years ago and Godaddy always handled it without a hitch. 
 

Godaddy let my site go down without warning! I checked my certificate and it did not show as expired because i prepaid for two years.

 

 So I call tech support after waiting on hold an hour and some guy in Bangalore did a few things and “assured” me the site is up. As he can bring it up. I believed him, because I brought up the site  in Firefox but forgot i  bypassed the warning just to make sure the site was actually working and it was only a certificate problem — it was after midnight and i was tired.

 

@richardmurray reached out to warn me and i assured him the site was up. The next day @Mel Hopkins  reached out to report the same problem. i figured it was a caching issue (Computers store old versions of website files to make breeding faster ) or something. So i double checked and realized the site has now been down 12 hours. I checked my google analytics and see the only visitors on my site are foreign — no one from the western world is on the site, which explains why the guy in India could see my site, but not why he did not know WTF he was doing. 
 

i called Godaddy again and the guy i spoke to this time explained the problem and told me it would be $39.99 to fix it! My site was held hostage i had to pay.
 

The site up less than an hour later. 
 

i hope to be off Godaddy servers before of the year they suck. 
 

these companies will nickel and dime you for a few extra bucks customer loyalty means nothing — i’n just a number.
 

My first web hosting company was run by a Brother out of Brooklyn (an exgirlfriend’s husband). We did business over drinks and it was all good.

 

I like doing business with real people. The best business relationships I’ve had have been with people i can talk to and get to know. 
 

companys nowadays rely on chat bots to diagnose problems i moved my email server from GoDaddy to Microsoft and it was hellacious. my email was down for 4 full days. Even Microsoft will misinform you and sell you stuff you don’t need.

 

 You’d think after running a website for more than a quarter of a century that this stuff would get easier,  but it is harder and i understand why fewer people operate their own sites today.

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9 hours ago, Troy said:

 You’d think after running a website for more than a quarter of a century that this stuff would get easier,  but it is harder and i understand why fewer people operate their own sites today.

Hang in there brotha Troy.   I know it's not easy.   Thank you for providing this space for us.  Much appreciated.👍🏿😎

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I'm not sure I ever thought everyone would have their own website any more than I think everyone should have a social media presence.

 

What I did not expect to happen was that a handful of companies would so completely dominate and control the world wide web.

 

The web did not start out that way and today's web is a far less rich space as a result.  Those inclined to run a website and contribute something unique to the web are prevented from doing so for a variety of reasons including the one I detailed above.  

 

The site has reached a point that I can't continue to grow it without more committed humans. I've recruited a couple of retirees, and I'm hoping that will allow AALBC to continue to expand 🙂

 

Ultimately it needs to be handed off to the next generation... but I a few years before that is necessary 😉

 

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@Troy right, but between the people who thought the internet would become the great individual liberty place side the firms who through the structure of the usa based internet easily took over operations, it was bound to happen.

 

I hope so to , for me this website is a rare black owned example online. And I know I have made this speech before but so many black people online talk about black empowerment everywhere else in humanity except online. Why is most black people online who daily rant to what they feel black people need to do to positively support black like: all black people voting, all black people buy from a black shop, all black people marry black, don't seem willing to join a black owned website online and make that the primary location of their activities? 

That is my only true online peeve. Black people online complain about some negativity among black people and yet, said black people are unwilling to join a black owned website and make it a major online destination. 

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I'm glad it wasn't just me.
I looked on and notice there was very little activity Saturday or Sunday and figured something must have happened.

I'm no computer wiz so I don't understand exactly how the servers and domains work, however what I DO know is.....we/AfroAmericans need to CONTROL IT whatever they are.
If we need it in any way shape or form, we need to be seizing COMPLETE CONTROL over it so that we don't have to rely on racists to maintain our methods of communication and connecting with eachother.

Back in the 80s and 90s a lot of Black folks were silly enough to believe they could cuss White folks out on their on television stations and radio stations and get away with it.  
You up there cussing out White folks on THEIR telephone and wonder why you end up with a $700 phone bill and often times your phone is just CUT OFF period.......lol

The site, the domain, the server, the this, the that....ALL of it should be Black owned and operated through and through from the top to the bottom.

 

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@Pioneer1 Well, this is where the details is key. You speak of control  or ownership, but the question is, what is a website. At its core, it is a set of data on a machine that has access to other machines which allow people using other machines to interface it. 

What is the primary issue to the control you seek? 

Even if a black person owns land and places their servers on said land and has satellites around earth to provide connection to their servers. Black people themselves live all over the planet and unless black people will own the land everywhere, no one black person or group of black people can control access to the black owned website first mentioned. 

This is why the CHina/USA internet battle has happened. The chinese constitution says in china the chinese governments rule is law, not international organizations or other governments. So in china, the chinese government demands control so that the chinese government can rule things. In the internet's case this is why china has a grand internal internet in its country that they connect to the outside internets. BEcause of the structure, the rules which some call protocols of the internet, this is not dysfunctional. BUT, to ownership, this is why the usa has such problems with china. Most governments ceded their relationship to the internet to the usa, some like the european union are trying to reclaim it, ala the facebook ruling recently. But the point is, you can only control in your own bounds. If you want to reach the world, deals have to be made. ala Tiktok a privately owned firm in china not straight from the chinese government, using servers in the usa.

 

Now to be helpful... ala my point elsewhere. Let's take AALBC. It is black owned but it is in the USA. 

To do what you want, the first question has to be answered is, do you want AALBC in the USA?

Why move AALBC outside the USA? The USA is either a white country or a multiracial country but the USA isn't and will never be a  black country, sequentially, USA law, is not naturally geared to black people and that includes how websites are treated. 

So, if AALBC stays in the USA, AALBC will eventually be influenced by factors beyond black people's control. 

But if AALBC leaves the USA , into a black country , meaning government, then at the least black people can control the life of the website completely, which is what you stated you wanted for any black websites. 

Now financially, it is cheaper for AALBC to remain in the USA and not move. Comprehend, many countries don't have a strong satellite network and have many blockades on their networks by more powerful countries. And many black people live in countries that at the least are not black or specifically, not controlled by the black people in them, and control matters in these intergovernmental affairs. 

So

I know you don't own AALBC, @Troy does, but 

Pioneer , do you want AALBC to remain in the USA or be under a black government? 

Either answer will still demand some things the same.. 

AALBC will need to own the land its servers are on. 

AALBC will need to own the energy systems for the servers. 

AALBC will need to have its own satellite network. 

Said three things to get what you stated will be needed no matter where AALBC goes in the future. 

all three are expensive. 

But there is a beginning. And comprehend, even achieving this doesn't mean all black people in humanity have to become members and use as a primary online existence  the "new aalbc".  A Black website being more black owned doesn't mean any body black online must utilize it more. Getting more engagement is the responsibility of AALBC or the members in AALBC, not the black people who are members of white owned websites. 

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On 5/23/2023 at 8:11 PM, richardmurray said:

That is my only true online peeve. Black people online complain about some negativity among black people and yet, said black people are unwilling to join a black owned website and make it a major online destination. 


Richard don’t under estimate the power of the algorithm. Think of it like a very addictive drug like crack.  People can’t help themselves.  
 

Still it is a pet peeve of mine too. People all on “Black Twitter” talking about Black empowerment — it is ludicrous. 
 

@Pioneer1 the other day a buddy of mine who runs a website knows the site was no longer coming up in google search. The problem was an important file on his server was modified to tell Google Not to index his site. No one knows how happened.  The guy is a former Panther and when stuff like that happened back in the day they would just chalk it up to “the man.” Most of the time they would be right…

 


 

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richardmurray

 

 

Even if a black person owns land and places their servers on said land and has satellites around earth to provide connection to their servers. Black people themselves live all over the planet and unless black people will own the land everywhere, no one black person or group of black people can control access to the black owned website first mentioned. 

 

My question would be, how do nations like China and North Korea control THEIR internet and what is allowed to be accessed by their citizens if people can't control access to websites?

 

This has to be said, a person can OWN something without necessarily MANAGING/CONTROLING it.  
Most businesses are operated by management hire to run it, not the owners themselves.

So to be clear, when I say OWN it I mean MANAGE it too.

 

 


The USA is either a white country or a multiracial country but the USA isn't and will never be a  black country

 

Lol..."never" is a loooooong time brutha!

But what is YOUR definition of a "Black country"?

 

Do you define a Black country as one where the majority of the population is Black?
Do you define a Black country as one where Black people rule the nation, whether we're a minority or majority?

Or must we be both the majority AND in power?

 

 

 


Pioneer , do you want AALBC to remain in the USA or be under a black government? 

 

As of right now.....
I'd rather AALBC remain in the USA.

If it were to open up under the rules and restrictions of a lot of "Black countries" that exist in the world right now, the government might actually shut it down.

They'd be trying to get Troy to promote a certain religion or political affiliation in line with whatever government he's operating under.

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@Pioneer1

 you asked

Quote

My question would be, how do nations like China and North Korea control THEIR internet and what is allowed to be accessed by their citizens if people can't control access to websites?

 

The answer is China + North Korea are technically governments, more specific than nations <the word nations is poor in this case>, and the commonly used internet aside the global legal system , both created by the usa, provided two pathways.

1) Intergovernmental law allows a government the ability to blockade what media comes in or out, the usa does it all the time, all governments do. The internet is media.

2) the protocols or rules that make up the internet allow for regional or specifically geographic control through the geocodes in the protocol addressess. Yes, people can tunnel or worm through, this happens in the usa or china or north korea or many other governments every day . 

 

You use the words people + nations, which suggest the black community in the usa or the ugyars in china are equivalent to governments, like the usa or china. They are not. The ugyars mostly  live in china in the same way most Black DOSers live in the USA. So to be functional, DOSers need their own government. Now, if Black DOSers had their own state in the union, which is legally plausible in the USA, then it is possible, that a state in the usa, under state law, which can override federal law in situations, can make a blockade of internet access. Yes, people can argue freedom of speech but only if an internet service provider is of the government not a private institution or publicly traded firm does freedom of speech have no bounds. but again this wouldn't stop every scenario but will reflect the scenario you speak of with China + North Korea+ as well as the USA+Russia + et cetera. 

 

Quote

But what is YOUR definition of a "Black country"?

 

Do you define a Black country as one where the majority of the population is Black?
Do you define a Black country as one where Black people rule the nation, whether we're a minority or majority?

Or must we be both the majority AND in power?

 

Correct, never say never. I don't know the future, the probability is low but probability has to be zero to equal impossibility.

 

I respect populace when i define populace under any government. The Republic of South Africa isn't governed by Black people , it is governed at the moment by a mix of its white populace and a minority of blacks. The USA , in the future if the same population percentages exist then as today, if ruled by its black minority populace is not a black country, in my view. 

Why? at the end of the day and this is human history, no matter the time or place. Sooner or later the majority rules. The majority doesn't have to rule all the time, and the majority can be disempowered for a very long time by a minority, but eventually the majority does rule. Easy historical examples, the graeco bactrian kingdom/korea under the chrysanthemum throne/Kemet commonly called Egypt under a long line of non-nilotics from ayysria and the macedonians to now in parts. That is the genius of Temujin. He comprehended that even though the mongols military might allowed them to dominate many others, sooner or later, those others in parts will takeover, they will be changed because of mongol influence, but they will take over. Eastern Europe to Korea were influenced by the mongols but eventually... If you want a european example, the napoleonic empire. All of europe except Britain and Russia were part of napoleons empire and were changed because of it, but eventually... So, Germany was german not french under the napoleon empire, china was chinese not mongolian under the mongol empire, south africa under the dutch+british was black <mix of zulus/xhosa+others> not white. 

 

If native Americans were to rule the USA, at the moment, it is still a white country. Not white ancestrally, or indigenously, but in terms of the people who live at the moment.

 

Quote

If it were to open up under the rules and restrictions of a lot of "Black countries" that exist in the world right now, the government might actually shut it down.

They'd be trying to get Troy to promote a certain religion or political affiliation in line with whatever government he's operating under.

 

possible, but not inevitable. The question is, to pick the black country whose government will favor or support. And this is where life comes in. One can not know the future. So you gamble. You take precautions, you plan. Need of certainty is the enemy to the disempowered. If you want certainty be empowered, but of course, the disempowered isn't thus risk or gambles. If it doesn't work out, unlike all plans from High John, then try again. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

richardmurray

 

 

You use the words people + nations, which suggest the black community in the usa or the ugyars in china are equivalent to governments, like the usa or china. They are not. The ugyars mostly  live in china in the same way most Black DOSers live in the USA. So to be functional, DOSers need their own government. Now, if Black DOSers had their own state in the union, which is legally plausible in the USA, then it is possible, that a state in the usa, under state law, which can override federal law in situations, can make a blockade of internet access. Yes, people can argue freedom of speech but only if an internet service provider is of the government not a private institution or publicly traded firm does freedom of speech have no bounds. but again this wouldn't stop every scenario but will reflect the scenario you speak of with China + North Korea+ as well as the USA+Russia + et cetera. 

 

Some would claim that Black America is actually a potential nation within itself.
However I understand your point.

 

I would say this....
Although Black Americans aren't a nation, we are PART of the nation and occupy nearly all of the positions available IN this nation...including the "Supreme Court" and Presidency.  So if we were united in ideology we could change the national laws to reflect OUR wishes.
We don't have to wait until the U.S. is a "Black Nation" to do this...we can do it in 5 years if our collective minds were right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you want certainty be empowered

 

👏    POWERFUL statement!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

If it doesn't work out, unlike all plans from High John, then try again. 

 

????
What do you mean?

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@Pioneer1 When you ask what do I mean, you didn't grow up with stories about High John?  

Well, High John is what I will label a Black DOS myth. He was a black character in the same vein as Anansi or Brer Rabbit. But Brer Rabbit/Anansi/High John are not the same. High John's nemesis was literally Massah. Growing up as a kid my parents read some of his tales and I would read them. The book is on the shelf.  

Most of the High John stories have one common theme, he always succeeds in outwitting massah. His plans always work out. 

I am a huge High John fan from my youth. 

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