5 Ways to Get Your Hosting Account Terminated

Sometimes we take risks with hosting accounts without even realising.

Many hosts will tolerate mistakes; some will eventually run out of patience.

Break any of these rules and you’ll most likely be looking for new hosting in no time at all.

1. Illegal Content

Illegal pornography, illegal gambling, stolen content: no host will tolerate them.

Not only will your host give you the boot, you’ll almost certainly get a visit from law enforcement.

Make sure that your content is legal both in your jurisdiction and where the host is located. And keep a close eye on what your users are doing.

2. Spam

If you send out junk, expect your account to be terminated without an argument.

Spam is often reported and monitored by third parties, so your host will know about it sooner than you have chance to react.

3. Copyright

Hosts generally must close any account that’s found to break copyright law.

That means hosting warez, illegal movies, sharing mp3s and other content is really not a good idea.

Copyright-infringing domains are a nightmare for hosts. They tend to generate a great deal of paperwork while also consuming tons of bandwidth and storage space: it’s a lose-lose situation.

4. Scripts

Most hosts have rules about scripts that they’ll allow. Shared hosting accounts are always locked down because the host needs to avoid upsetting other users.

Prohibited scripts usually include chatroom scripts, IRC bots and other CPU-intensive scripts that can cause your site to overload the server.

5. Hacking

Never, ever try to hack something. Particularly something on your own server.

If you attempt to gain elevated access to the machine you are on, you can expect to get the boot almost immediately.

Keeping Your Nose Clean

If you’e done any of the things we’ve advised you not to do, having your hosting account terminated is probably the least of your worries. You’re probably already in trouble with the law.

If you’re not sure if something is allowed, ask your host before you do it – not after.Keep up with posts like this by subscribing to our RSS feed, or following @WhoIsHosting on Twitter.