The FACES Blog was inspired by the blog hosting services Posterous and Tumblr, which allow instant post-by-email. We figured that could be a ludicrously easy, appealing way for the FACES family to share. Unfortunately, the services are blocked in China–so no-starters for the Beijing conference. As you can see (or cannot see), even sites that have a custom domain (example) are blocked blocked if Posterous or Tumblr shows up as the underlying IP address. A few people have asked me how I was still able to set up the blog. Unfortunately, I have no magic or hacker skills and no guanxi. Fortunately, there are still some idiot-proof, even idiot-friendly solutions out there:
First, I purchased a hosting service, which is not the easiest decision in China. None that I’m aware of will guarantee that your site will stay accessible, because if it’s on the same shared server as sites with objectionable content, a range of IP addresses for that server may be blocked. In the end, I settled upon Bluehost because of their low prices (4.95/month with the web coupons you can find online), good customer service, and the fact that they don’t tolerate porn, which is often the reason why a whole server becomes blocked in China.
Second, WordPress, following in the footsteps of Posterous and Tumblr, has recently added full blog-by-email capability. Installing WordPress via Bluehost’s cPanel is a breeze. For blog-by-email the plugin Postie is functional, though sometimes still rough around the edges. And voilà! since the Postie plugin has been installed here, the FACES family have been flooding the website with innovative content and comments BECAUSE BLOGGING BY EMAIL IS SO LUDICROUSLY EASY. (ok, so this is still on the way… email it in to post(*at*)thefacesblog.com)
Further Reading
The Atlantic Monthly’s James Fallows writes an informative piece about the Great Firewall and a followup piece.
there's no notification in China if a site is blocked (...or whether it's really just experiencing server troubles)
Oi! You can say that again! I would have SOOOO much new content on my blog or especially my Tumblr blog (ericaswallow.tumblr.com) if it weren’t blocked. China is only hurting itself by limiting people from speaking from within the country. It’s inevitable that when I get home, I’ll have to catch up on my blogging, but I’ll feel less compelled, b/c it’s not live, so who cares? Ugh. I’m hoping China can stop being the pesty little sister and come around to the 21st century soon. Censorship is such an unattractive action.