Just as you are homing in to the difficult to find answer for a programming problem, you are advised that your "attempt is recorded" and you see a firewall blocking message. How wide-spread is this and how can it be avoided, if at all?
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378answers:
10
+4
Q:
Are your attempts to get Answers from Stackoverflow, Google etc. Hampered by your company's firewall
+13
A:
No -- but I do wish Google would ban Experts Exchange from their search results by default.
Ian P
2008-09-29 13:12:49
I agree, but I'm assuming you know about the "scroll to the bottom" trick for all Experts Exchange posts.
Ben Hoffstein
2008-09-29 13:14:11
What is this trick of which you speak? What does it accomplish?
KevDog
2008-09-29 13:18:12
all answers are there, scroll to the bottom and you will see them. basically it shows first the fake answers, then the footer and lastly the real answers. what a piece of carp!
Sklivvz
2008-09-29 13:20:55
I'd rather that Google not abuse its near-monopoly position by tweaking their search results in such a specific manner -- even if I think this particular outcome would be good.
Curt Hagenlocher
2008-09-29 13:29:34
Per Joel, we should all explicitly pronounce it Expert Sexchange.
spoulson
2008-09-29 13:31:22
Just use -site:http://www.experts-exchange.com in your Google search. Problem solved
pr0nin
2008-09-29 13:34:31
+7
A:
This sounds like a problem with your employer.
My personal advice would be seek a new employer, I would never work for a place that censors my activity like this.
Geoffrey Chetwood
2008-09-29 13:12:56
That plan works great, until the new employer implements a Nazi filter. It's all too commonplace anymore.Besides, is it really acceptable during an interview to ask how strict the web filter is? You'll make the resume dumpster for sure.
spoulson
2008-09-29 13:28:08
@Spoulson: I didn't recommend asking during an interview. However, when you work for an employer who doesn't even trust you to use a basic tool like the internet during works hours, there is something wrong. If you bring it up to your boss and the boss doesn't immediately help you, it is time to go.
Geoffrey Chetwood
2008-09-29 13:31:14
+1 if your boss doesn't realize that having to work around a filter is a net loss
David Schmitt
2008-09-29 13:50:10
I can't believe such a non-constructive answer was selected as the one answer. Seriously, quit over internet being censored? What a primadonna.
Ed Griebel
2009-01-19 15:14:59
@Ed: The issue is much deeper than you seem to want to believe. If your employer does not have the faith in you to do your work then there is a serious underlying issue.
Geoffrey Chetwood
2009-01-19 16:58:06
+4
A:
It depends on what "web blocker" your firm is using. If it is impacting your ability to do your job (i.e. find an answer to a question), my suggestion is to contact whoever is in charge of administering the tool and ask that an exception be added for StackOverflow for this reason.
Ben Hoffstein
2008-09-29 13:13:28
This will only work for stackoverflow then, but there are many useful answers at other places and I would be all over them all the time. My previous attempts to do this has largely been ignored.
mm2010
2008-09-29 13:16:22
You could try using an anonymous proxy like http://www.youhide.com/, but they may block those as well. Plus it's a little shady. I would keep going up the food chain until someone realizes you have a business need.
Ben Hoffstein
2008-09-29 13:34:34
+1
A:
Yes, I always face this problem in my work place. Actually, it is the Websense who blocks the forums by using some stupid categories.
coder
2008-09-29 13:15:33
+1
A:
I get this problem occasionally, some code samples are hosted on sites that also host various hacking tools, or social sites, or etc, and the stupid webtrends blocker blocks them. Fortunately it doesn't block the google cache so I can always get the results I want.
Mind you, the webtrends blocker does block youtube and myspace, so its probably a blessing all in all.
gbjbaanb
2008-09-29 13:19:58
+5
A:
Try using Google translate, and translate a Web Page from Russian to English (which should have no effect on an article which is already in English) - this trick has been incredibly useful to me several times when the solution to my problems have been blocked.
However, if it's a website that updates the page frequently (i.e. StackOverflow), Google will cache the translation and you won't get the updated version.
Disclaimer: Only do this if you know you won't get fired for it! :-)
HoboBen
2008-09-29 13:32:32
+1
A:
It seems to me that it would be in the company's interest to all access to programming related forums to programmers. Perhaps you could seek an exception from the "security" people?
craigmoliver
2008-09-29 14:01:19
A:
My employer has a pretty poor web filtering system. I wrote a greasemonkey script to detect the blocking page, and replace it with an IFRAME going to the Google Cache version of the page (or optionally archive.org if there's no Google Cache copy). It also emails them the URL to take off the bad list. Works a treat. There's little point posting the script here as the majority of the script is to detect the blocking page.
Mat
2009-01-11 22:26:51
A:
The only times I've ever hit a company block have been news articles, not things directly programming-related. No logging and the blocks aren't even aimed at it, it's just the guy who handles that tends to take out a range of IP's when he wants to block a major site and sometimes he gets more than he intended to. All the blocks are really aimed at is stuff like myspace, you-tube etc.
Loren Pechtel
2009-01-11 22:36:39