re: Websites for NSFW content creators
Easiest is to use another service:
Squarespace, Wix, and Wordpress.com are usually the most common ones. These services provide the ability to create a site yourself with little technical knowledge.
Squarespace makes this clear, NSFW content is a complete no go and grounds for cancellation of your account.
Wix doesn't appear to mention content exceptions in their Terms of Use, but their tooling is clumsy and can be frustrating to use.
Wordpress.com's TOS likely also does not mention NSFW content. An [old support forum thread)(https://wordpress.org/support/topic/adult/) suggests that it is allowed. This service also is the most portable, as you can export your content and self-host in the future if that changes. Wordpress.com also tends to be more reasonable when it comes to legal threats from the MPAA and RIAA and other copyright mongers.
re: Websites for NSFW content creators
The downside is that all of those are, you guessed it, a very common legal target. Company lawyers love to target other companies to bully them to remove content. And sometimes, that means you're out of luck when they decide it'll cost them more to defend you, rather than cancel your account.
This means you need to be defensive. You need to either get help from someone technically adept, or develop some technical chops yourself to keep your site and your income up and running.
The more defensive you can be, the harder it'll be for corporate lawyers to silence you. It's a *cost* game; you're little, they're big. So, you need to be fast and flexible so that it costs them more than it's worth.
re: Websites for NSFW content creators
To be fast and flexible that means you need to set up your site yourself without using social networking, or site-building services. It means you need to build it yourself.
First thing: Domain names. That URL you type into your browser? That's a domain name. You can actually buy a domain without buying into a service or a hosting company by going to a Domain Registrar. There's a lot of these, such as GoDaddy, Network Solutions, and even Google. May favorite is Hover.com -- they cost more, but the advantage is *privacy*.
When you register a domain, you need to do so with your business or house address. This is *publicly* available and can be easily searched from tools such as Whois.com. This is why I like Hover, as the additional cost points that address at themselves, rather than you. This makes it more difficult for company lawyers to target you directly without an expensive process of serving the registrar first.
Domain names typically cost $10 a year, although some can be cheaper or much, much more expensive. When you do find a domain name you like, you can sign up at your registrar of choice.
A backup domain name on a second registrar may be a good idea, if you believe you're likely to be targeted.
re: Websites for NSFW content creators
Another thing, you do *not* need to stay in your nation of origin to host your site. If you live in the US, there's nothing preventing you from buying hosting in Canada, Europe, or other nations with stronger privacy laws. In fact, I recommend you do so, as it makes it even harder for corporate lawyers to kill your site by requiring them to tangle with international law. Remember, the game is to make it cost them more to go after you. The more you cost them, the more they're likely to not want to bother.
re: Websites for NSFW content creators
So that's everything general I can dump. It's a lot of stuff, but remember these key points:
* Make it more costly for them to take your stuff down.
* You will need to invest time and energy for this.
* You need to be in multiple places at once. Don't close your social media accounts, just *link* to your site.
* Backup, backup, backup! Backups aren't just for technical failures, but for defense.
* Be fast, be flexible!
re: Websites for NSFW content creators
@socketwench Your IP address will usually change, so it's good to use a dynamic DNS service that will switch to the new IP fast. Also, when self hosting check out yunohost.
re: Websites for NSFW content creators
Finally, the hardest mode of web hosting:
Self-hosting.
Self-hosting is when you literally buy hardware to run your site and host it over your own internet connection. For sites which don't require a large amount of traffic, this may be a good option as the initial cost is high -- you have to buy a physical thing, after all -- but you only pay for energy and an internet connection thereafter.
The trick here is to see if your ISP allows it. Comcast typically does *not*, although you can get away with it. A smaller ISP with stronger privacy policies is preferred here.
Also, pipe size. Ever have a web site load slowly because you're also watching Netflix? This is because your internet connection is only so "wide". Video takes up a lot of that "width", leaving you with less for other things. Running a web server in your house will constantly take up some of that width. If you have a high speed connection, particularly a fiber optic connection, you should have enough for any sort of website save for one which is very video or download intensive.
The trick with self-hosting is to find your external address on the internet. Your cable modem or fiber optic modem must be assigned an address to function, and IP addresses are inherently two-way on the internet. You can find your IP by using sites like https://whatismyipaddress.com/ or even searching for "What is my IP address" in Google, Duck Duck Go, or your favorite web search provider. Once you have your IP, you need to configure your registrar to point your domain name at it. That's all a domain name is, really, a human name for an IP address (yes, it's more complicated, but that's the key function).
For hardware, you can use an old desktop machine you have kicking around, or even a Raspberry Pi. The latter can be slower, but it's small, doesn't require a lot of power, doesn't create a lot of noise, and easily replaced if it fails utterly. Remember though, it has to be on all the time. If your house has a power outage, your site has an outage.
The key advantage of self-hosting is that a lawyer would have to serve a physical search and seizure warrant to take down your site. Yes, they can go after your ISP, but this also presents problems for them. If you live in an area where the policing system is particularly authoritarian, this may not be a good choice for you.