Banned From Ex-c At Work

[Wade]

So I have internet access at work....I can use it on "my own time". No problem, I come to this site on my breaks and on my lunch. So I try to log on today and BAM...a restriction has been put on EX-C.net.... the people in charge have deemed it "pornography"...and a block has been put on this site specifically. (www.ex-christian.net)

 

I know for a fact that the head of HR is a raging hypocritical Xian. And he makes the decision on what is to be banned.

 

 

So..I am PISSED.... I realize that there is probably nothing I can do about it and keep my job, but this is BS. I KNOW why I was blocked and it has nothing to do with pornography. I only read text at work, no pics, and no vids.

 

I can't believe it. I just had to vent. I don't come here on company time. I don't want to say anything and risk my job, but this is BULLSHIT!!!

 

[Amethyst]

Sorry to hear that. I had an experience once at my old job where they installed a new filter and the Ex-C blog was on it, but not the forums or something like that. Live Journal was also blocked, which I use frequently for stress relief.

 

I was paranoid for a bit, but then the block was gone in a week or two.

[All Gods Fail]

Yeah, it may not be a conscious attempt to target Ex-C. It might just be the filtering software - they are notoriously flaky about banning sites with 'pornographic content'.

[Antlerman]

Do we have pornographic content here? I can guaren-damn-tee you that no one where I work will ever not be able to access ExC! I control the access to the Internet. In fact, I think I'm might push it out to everyone's desktop as their new home page!!

 

(hmmm... let me see... should I block www.christianforums.com? )

[Renfield]

It might be interesting to see if any Xian sites are banned.

[leftofpunk]

A lot of filters only have a couple "reasons" they block sites. It all depends on the admin. but I know generally it's chat, porn and games that usually get blocked.

[Vixentrox]

There have been some iffy things around the Ex C site before. I used to work in place before where you could only reach .gov and .mil sites. Now that was restrictive.

[Jeydid]

Perhaps you could protest it politely? If this site is blocked but not other religious sites it seems like discrimination to me.

[Thurisaz]

I can't believe it. I just had to vent. I don't come here on company time. I don't want to say anything and risk my job, but this is BULLSHIT!!!

 

Sadly, to a certain degree this site could in fact be called pornographic. Of course you need to define the term quite inclusive, but some threads in the sex forum will, I'm sure, make a number of people get red ears when they read them.

 

But honestly, yes, it sucks. And I don't buy the justification "porn site". Not coming from a morontheist.

[Mr. Neil]

Do we have pornographic content here? I can guaren-damn-tee you that no one where I work will ever not be able to access ExC! I control the access to the Internet. In fact, I think I'm might push it out to everyone's desktop as their new home page!!

 

(hmmm... let me see... should I block www.christianforums.com? )

I say ban a whole shit load of Christian websites, and if anyone asks why, just say that it must be the filtering software. Say that it's set to automatically block any site that advocates violence against homosexuals, children, and women.

[Beowulf]

Like Antlerman, I'm in the fortunate position of being in control of the blocking. Occasionally I have to monitor our employee's Internet usage if there's been a problem. Most of the time it's not so much WHAT they are viewing, as WHEN and HOW LONG.

 

I did have a case of one user who spent too much time surfing Christian sites. You can imagine the cries of persecution when this was brought to her attention by her supervisor.

[Amethyst]

You know, my former fundie cube mate used to surf Bible sites a lot on company time. This was the same guy who obsessed about the number of calories and trans fat grams in the machine coffee, and actually called the coffee company to ask on company time, not to mention the same guy who thought that spontaneous combustion proved that god existed and that dinosaurs were aliens or something.

 

[Markkasan]

You know, there is a forum section called "Sex and Christianity." Maybe the filter saw that and freaked out.

[Lizard]

I can't reach the site from work either..then again, I work in a public school, so that's understandable. But..even World Gym is blocked..

 

There's only one message board I can reach, and it is a christian board, but..even they use words that will kick it up to my bosses, so its not worth it.

 

I also don't have the time. My entire time at work is paid..no breaks, no lunch "hour". Can't justify surfing the web on their dollar.

[webmdave]

The "Sex and Christianity" section is only visible to logged-on, established members. Even "New Members" cannot view that section of the site.

[Guest JP]

I'm all for taking a stand, but don't risk your job over it. Just brush it under the proverbial "unfair shit that happens at work" rug.

[webmdave]

When I go to Panera Bread, I can't log onto my personal site. There's not much on my personal site. In fact, if anything, it's a boring site -- intended as a personal scrapbook, at best.

 

So it's banned on their network. Who knows why.

 

Sometimes there's no real explaining the banned site policies.

 

Then, at work, my personal site was blacklisted, but Ex-C, in all it's versions, was fully accesible. That eventually changed, and now all my sites are fully accesible, but there was no explaining why it was banned for a time. I couldn't even get an explanation from the IT guys. They didn't know either.

 

I agree with JP. Just accept that work can do what they like with their Internet connectivity. There's not much to say about it, and depending on the security software being used, it might not even make sense.

[Lizard]

Ours filters language. One of my coworkers got written up for forwarding an email that had the word "bitch" in one of the email addy's. She didn't even notice it, nor did she know who it was.

 

Ah well..they pay me to work, not surf. I can do that all I want at home.

[scitsofreaky]

The filter at my work (Orifce Despot) seems to be random. Somedays I can view the forum home, but none of the icons load, and other days I can't view it at all.

[mintpoppet]

I used to work for the second biggest financial company in the UK and they had a policy of no access to any religious sites at all to avoid any problems. Was kind of annoying, especially as they would give us these stupid quiz things to pass time on quiet days and they'd usually be themed around religious holidays (hence work being quiet) but because we couldn't google the answers we were all screwed. But i see their point, we had people of all faiths working together and it would have unfair to block some and not others.

[Thurisaz]

Sometimes there's no real explaining the banned site policies.

 

Dave, did you ever wonder how many weird blocking policies are just typos? You know, some admin wanting to block 145.x.y.z and accidentally entering 154.x.y.z or similar? Would explain at least some of this stuff I trust

 

 

Ah well..they pay me to work, not surf. I can do that all I want at home.

 

That makes me wonder... all of you who surf from their workplace, what policy is in effect there?

 

As for us at the Volkswagen bank, as the boss of the IT department openly confirmed recently, "moderate internet usage" is okay as long as work performance doesn't suffer.

(Some weeks back about 5 people tried to download M$ Vista beta... the Volkswagen backbone is quite fast but this made the performance go down big time, so The Boss raised his voice...)