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Springshare does not support SOPA or PIPA

As we were wrapping up some fixes regarding the LibGuides connectivity issues today, we noticed some tweets alluding that we somehow support SOPA/PIPA because the attack on GoDaddy coincided with the LibGuides server connectivity issues. Let me be clear in no uncertain terms – we do not support SOPA or PIPA, and LibGuides issues  today were not due to the attack on GoDaddy. To wit, we have a couple of other domains registered with GoDaddy, like libanswers.com – and that service was fine today.

Let’s set the record straight:

  • When I started Springshare in 2006, before SOPA and PIPA existed even in theory, I registered bunch of domains with GoDaddy (including springshare.com & libguides.com – the two original domains) because GoDaddy was among the most affordable and most reliable registrars back in the day.
  • We have never used GoDaddy for anything other than a domain registrar (for about $12 per year) – i.e. we haven’t used them for DNS, hosting, or anything else. Our DNS is hosted by Amazon Web Services; server hosting is with multiple providers, but it was never with GoDaddy.
  • Springshare owns almost 100 domains, all of them related to libraries and library software – we have big plans for the future and will be releasing a slew of exciting new software and services for libraries, so we wanted to reserve these domains ahead of time. As soon as the SOPA/PIPA debacle happened and GoDaddy stood on the wrong side, we moved 95% of our domains to another registrar, EXCEPT these 4  domains: springshare.com, libguides.com, libanswers.com, libanalytics.com.

    We decided to move these by the end of 2012 because we wanted to plan this move very carefully, without causing any downtime to these services. When a service is used by millions of people every day, one can’t just move domains on a whim, regardless of politics. Our users are more important than politics. So any transfer of critically important domains must be planned and executed carefully.

    These are the only reasons we still have (less than 5%) of our domains registered with GoDaddy – legacy reasons (from 2006/2007) and because we want to plan the move carefully. The move will happen before end of this year.

  • Last but not least, I’ve spent my entire professional career in and around libraries, the majority of our company consists of librarians (yes it’s true – that’s why we’re so awesome ;), not to mention the little-known fact that my mother is a librarian in my native country of Bosnia. Hence, both personally and professionally our ties to libraries run deep and everybody at Springshare stands with libraries and librarians on the issue of SOPA and PIPA.

Thank you, and let me know if I can provide any further clarification regarding this, I can be reached at slaven@springshare.com. In the meantime, we’re continuing to take steps to diagnose and resolve any issues regarding the LibGuides connectivity some clients experienced today. We’ll post an update here to ensure everybody knows what went on.

Best,
-Slaven Zivkovic
Chief Springy
Not a supporter of SOPA/PIPA

4 thoughts on “Springshare does not support SOPA or PIPA”

  1. Slaven,Thanks for the clarification. One of our librarians was preparing instruction for her management class yesterday and couldn’t get her LibGuide to work and was extremely frustrated. It’s helpful to hear that you acknowledge the connectivity issues and are working on them.

    Best, Mary Ryan

    ________________________________

  2. Pingback: Monday’s LibGuides Server Issues Post-Mortem « Springshare Support Blog

  3. C’mon librarians- coming to the conclusion that Slaven supports PIPA because some mouth-breathing Anonymous basement-dweller messed with GoDaddy’s servers is the kind of thinking that we would roll our eyes at if it came across the reference desk. Evidence-based thinking and rationality shouldn’t just be for work when you’re in this profession.

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