Frequently Asked Questions

The NearlyFreeSpeech.NET FAQ (*)

Getting Started (*)

What is the difference between Domain Registration, DNS Service, and a web site?

Why does my domain not point to my site yet? (Or: What is an alias and why do I need one?)

What's the recommended way to install WordPress on NearlyFreeSpeech.NET?

Should I make my own backups?

How do I create a site on your system?

I uploaded a new page, but my browser still shows the old one. What should I do?

This is caused by browser caching and/or the mechanism we use to distribute your content within our network efficiently. If you wait a few minutes, the files should resynchronize automatically.

If you prefer not to wait, you can also help the process by visiting the modified page yourself and doing a forced reload. For Internet Explorer and Chrome (Windows), this is done with CTRL-Refresh (or CTRL-F5). With Firefox, Safari, and Chrome (macOS), this is Shift-Reload (Ctrl-Shift-R on Windows, Command-Shift-R on Mac). This will force that page and all related content (e.g., images, scripts, and CSS) to be resynchronized immediately. Since we have a lot of caches and requests are load-balanced among them, you may need to do this a few times to get every cache that might answer for your site.

If you wish to do this from the command line, you can use curl to force the refresh:

YourPrompt$ curl -H 'Cache-Control: no-cache' -i https://www.example.com/stale/content/url

Again, do this several times for each affected URL to make sure you get all the caches.

There is a case where if you access the site before the IP addresses are assigned (within the first minute after it's created), you'll get a DNS error. Once that happens, some Internet Explorer versions will keep returning errors long after the site is created, even if you use a forced refresh. Waiting a few minutes, restarting IE, and sometimes rebooting have all appeared to help this under various circumstances.

If you have uploaded content, but your site still displays the new-site "Not Available" message, you should be able to use this same technique to get rid of it.

Is adding an alias to my site or creating DNS for a domain the same as registering it?

What's the easiest way to register a domain and set up a web site on your service?

After I set up, how long does it take for things to start working?

Where can I find more information about whether or not your service supports the software I want to use on my site?

How do I make a deposit?

Does it matter if filenames are uppercase or lowercase?

How do I remove a domain that is listed on my membership?

How do I delete a web site?