Many of you have sent me the news that the Conservative Treehouse (aka The Last Refuge) has been notified by WordPress.com that they are being given the heave-ho and now must find a new host for their popular site.
When I saw the news of course I felt bad for them because I have been there.
Longtime readers here and at my blog, Refugee Resettlement Watch, which was birthed and began being hosted by WordPress in 2007 (and into early 2019), know that the same thing happened to me.
But, at least the Treehouse was given notice and time to remove their material. I was shut down without notice and had to hire a professional webmaster to help me get my material, but even with that, all of my photos/graphs/charts and all of my thousands of subscribers did not make it to the new RRW.
Search engines (Google at least) still directs people to the old closed site.
(In the meantime, I had started Frauds & Crooks and got it removed from WordPress before they could do a job on it too. I am at a hopefully safe host for now!)
By the way, I was not alone. Creeping Sharia and Bare Naked Islam got the WordPress ax before I did. I should have known it was coming.
I discuss all of that here in a panel discussion on Censorship at the Social Contract gathering in the fall of 2019.
So when I saw the news about the Conservative Treehouse, my first thought was why hadn’t the blogger(s) there made the move sooner.
You can read all about my communication with WordPress.com over their censorship by going here. They said I had violated their “terms of service” after I contacted them to ask where was my site?
Upon review of your WordPress.com site we have determined that your content does not align with our Terms of Service or User Guidelines.
Signed by the Aline, the Community Guardian (that is not a joke!)
So, on July 2nd (this is all happening in 2019) I went back to the “community guardian” and asked these questions:
Can you tell me exactly what caused your concern about Refugee Resettlement Watch. This month marks the 12th anniversary of the launch of that blog with you. And, in recent months there has been little new activity there. So just wondering why it is now, after all this time, [it’s] not aligned with your terms of service.
Is there a particular post(s) that concerned you and if so could you direct me to them?
Have you had recent complaints about the blog even as it hasn’t been active for many months?
Were references to certain organizations a concern?
Would really love to know as I find another host for the nearly 9,000 posts archived at RRW.
Greatly appreciate any feedback you can give me!
Thank you!
Ann Corcoran
The Community Guardian responded. She says flat-out they don’t have to give me any reasons!
Here is what I received in response on July 3rd. We can call it the ‘go pound sand’ brush-off e-mail:
Upon review of your WordPress.com site we have determined that your content does not align with our Terms of Service or User Guidelines. As stated in our Terms, we may choose to stop providing service to an account at any time, for any reason, or none at all. We aren’t able to offer any further specifics.
We’ve canceled your WordPress.com subscription and refunded the purchase….
[….]
To download your content and take it elsewhere, the export tool below will be available for the next two weeks…
[….]
If you would like to continue using WordPress software for your site, you can import this file into a self-hosted WordPress installation with a different host.
Notice the threat!
Please keep in mind that other hosts may have similarly restrictive policies regarding this type of content.
[Signed] Community Guardian
But, they never admit what exactly is the “type of content” they are censoring!
All of that was to preface my comments on this story at The Lid:
TECH TYRANNY: Silencing Conservative News With A Sick New Tactic — This Is Big
Go read it. But, The Lid beware! This form of censorship is NOT NEW! You are nuts to stay on WordPress.com. They will find you as soon as you become a threat to some group or individuals on the Commie Left.
If Biden and his comrades have their way we will be communicating by quietly traveling around the country and meeting in peoples’ basements!
Endnote: Story for another day! Someone should investigate WordPress.com and the company that owns it Automatic!