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Why didn't boards move offshore?

  • 13-07-2025 08:01PM
    #1
    Ubbquittious
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,340 ✭✭✭


    IMHO having the site hosted in Ireland, on .IE domain with an Irish company behind it left it uniquely vulnerable to things like the MCD debacle, political pressure and Ireland's notoriously strict libel laws. This is in turn to blame for a lot of the fussy moderation it was criticised for. Reddit is USA based and a bit more of a behemoth so less likely to get in a tizzy if someone like Big of the clan Inns starts threatening to sue.

    I know a lot of hassle to move a whole company abroad but if they done this in 2008 or there about it would have possibly saved them



Comments

  • #2
    SupaCat95
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,641 ✭✭✭SupaCat95


    Ask Sealand if they would host it. Prince Michael might entertain it.



  • #3
    Dravokivich
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Music Moderators, Politics Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 22,384 CMod ✭✭✭✭Dravokivich


    the .ie domain doesn’t tell you where it’s hosted. It’s just a registrar.



  • #4
    Ubbquittious
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,340 ✭✭✭Ubbquittious


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123631307#Comment_123631307

    I realise that. I believe they were hosted on blacknight, at least until they started to hide behind cloudflare to fend off DDoS

    Anyway point being to run an effective Ireland forum with dissent and free from censorship and eggshell walking you probably need to cut off all legal and physical ties to Ireland



  • #5
    Deja Boo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,278 ✭✭✭✭Deja Boo


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058419514/why-didnt-boards-move-offshore

    But it did move off-shore when it originally switched to Vanilla, based in (supposedly) canada at the time - but as soon as they acquired the big Boards account, Vanilla merged with its american father company, "Higher Logic - the human focused engagement platform" (lol, the name is laughable given the limitations of vanilla.)

    👉️ Boards Deadline, 7 November 👈️



  • #6
    Dravokivich
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Music Moderators, Politics Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 22,384 CMod ✭✭✭✭Dravokivich


    that doesn’t work either on the basis of it being European user data. There are requirements regarding the regions the data can be hosted in and the regions anyone can access that data from. It was a big concern during the initial migration to Vanilla as the data was being stored and accessed in Canada.



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  • #7
    28064212
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,079 ✭✭✭✭28064212


    Practically every assertion in the OP is incorrect. Reddit aren't protected from Irish defamation laws because they're USA-based. They're protected by virtue of being a multi-billion dollar company who have massive lawyer firms on retainer.

    Defamation cases typically have massive bills attached before even reaching a courtroom - Boards didn't ban MCD discussion because they believed they'd lose, they banned it because they couldn't afford to defend it. If Boards had been hosted in a different country under a .com name, it would have made virtually no difference to the circumstances

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  • #8
    Ubbquittious
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,340 ✭✭✭Ubbquittious


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123631384#Comment_123631384

    Suing a company in different country is significantly harder though. Particularly if the thing you are suing for is legal in said country



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