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I'd like to find a hosting solution for my personal, fairly low-traffic, web site. I think Google Sites would suit me perfectly, but I've heard horror stories about Google's algorithms shutting down all your accounts on a whim, with no right of appeal, so I'm naturally worried, because I don't want to lose my Gmail.

Edit I'm talking about cases like this one:

I tried contacting somebody at Google support ("Surely they should have a support department, right?" Nope, wrong!)

(The victim managed to regain access to his Gmail account when his case went "viral", but he never got an explanation as to why he had been locked out in the first place)

Are there good, preferably free, alternatives to Google Sites and what are their PROs and CONs? One requirement is that I should be able to point the DNS (foobar.com) to it.

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    @Anagio Blogger is also part of Google's empire, isn't it?
    – Oleg2718281828
    Jul 29, 2012 at 22:42
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    Well if you're hosting questionable content then you should just host it yourself so you don't have to worry about your account being shutdown. If you plan to host content which Google would close your site for. I'm sure the same will happen at any free host.
    – Anagio
    Jul 29, 2012 at 22:44
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    False positives for a website? Ok so now you're talking about AdSense invalid clicks not website content. That's completely different if Google feels someone was clicking on Ads they'll close your AdSense account. And with hundreds of millions of dollars they are pretty damn smart at catching people doing it. Yes they have very clearly outlined guides for placing Ads and what you can and cannot place near the ads. Yes humans review your AdSense cases. I know for a fact that even when an AdSense account is closed and reviewed they can be re-instated.
    – Anagio
    Jul 29, 2012 at 23:20
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    Yes you can appeal you can actually email and call Google and speak with humans. They are pretty friendly when no sketchy activity was going on they'll see that an open your account back up. I'm not going to start pasting email conversations with proof accounts are opened again. I hope you'd trust what i'm saying. If you are so worried about your account closing from what you read on hacker news I get the feeling you have some questionable ideas when it comes to AdSense and your website. Again if you're worried about your accounts closing host your own website yourself and don't use AdSense.
    – Anagio
    Jul 29, 2012 at 23:25
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    @Anagio do you work for Google or something? I asked a question, and your reaction was to accuse me of cheating and other wrong-doing. Seriously?
    – Oleg2718281828
    Jul 30, 2012 at 0:07

2 Answers 2

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You could host it through your dropbox! Site44 or droppages are two good options for this. Super simple and easy to maintain and upgrade. Handy to be able through a simple text editor on the iPhone to update your website by a simple dropbox upload.

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In no particular order:

A recent roundup of free options (some of which I've mentioned): http://sixrevisions.com/tools/top-free-online-blogging/

As for the DNS issue, many domain name registration services provide domain name forwarding. I use Namesecure for that: https://www.namesecure.com/

Personally, hosting is so cheap these days, I'd recommend finding the most affordable hosting account you can and hosting your own Wordpress site. It's easy, flexible, and gives you the full power of that tool and any other you might choose to run, as well as some free FTP space and other perks.

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