# Arg! You both suck, G-mail and my local school division! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 18, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arg-you-both-suck-g-mail-and-my-local-school-division/345092 "2006-02-18T14:52:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arg-you-both-suck-g-mail-and-my-local-school-division/345092/1 "2006-02-18T14:52:53Z")
Grr, way to go, G-mail. “Let’s introduce a useless chat feature. Everyone loves useless features!” That’s fine, though. I can handle useless features, except… “Alert the Internet!” goes the school division. “There’s chat on G-mail! Block it, block it! Don’t let them be productive by, oh, letting them e-mail themselves files!” How frustrating. Now I can’t work on what I’d hoped to, because I can’t get into G-mail to get the document I need. To boot, I was hoping to reply to a professor’s e-mail, but… I can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arg-you-both-suck-g-mail-and-my-local-school-division/345092/2 "2006-02-18T14:58:12Z")
This is from the same people who don’t block countless webcomics or deviantART. Talk about misplaced priorities. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arg-you-both-suck-g-mail-and-my-local-school-division/345092/3 "2006-02-18T19:03:52Z")
i wonder about schools that block those things…they say their internet (or their connection to it) is only for “educational pruposes”, yet they don’t enforce it until something really skeevy goes down. shouldn’t they pick one way or another? ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arg-you-both-suck-g-mail-and-my-local-school-division/345092/4 "2006-02-18T19:06:59Z")
> [@Least Original User Name Ever](#): > > i wonder about schools that block those things…they say their internet (or their connection to it) is only for “educational pruposes”, yet they don’t enforce it until something really skeevy goes down. > shouldn’t they pick one way or another? “purposes” too i just woke up…stop throwing things at me ---
**Author:** ![jakeline](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@jakeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakeline)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arg-you-both-suck-g-mail-and-my-local-school-division/345092/5 "2006-02-19T05:17:22Z")
My workplace blocked gmail too, but I’m more obnoxious than my sysadmin, so I found a few ways around it: 1. Access it via pop instead of http 2. Try accessing via https instead of http 3. If they blocked the “gmail” domain, try just [mail.google.com](http://mail.google.com) 4. If you need to jot yourself a little note, try [m.gmail.com](http://m.gmail.com). It’s for mobile phones, but it work in your normal browser too. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arg-you-both-suck-g-mail-and-my-local-school-division/345092/6 "2006-02-19T06:31:47Z")
> [@Speaker for the Dead](#): > > Grr, way to go, G-mail. “Let’s introduce a useless chat feature. Everyone loves useless features!” That’s fine, though. I can handle useless features, except… > > “Alert the Internet!” goes the school division. “There’s chat on G-mail! Block it, block it! Don’t let them be productive by, oh, letting them e-mail themselves files!” > > How frustrating. Now I can’t work on what I’d hoped to, because I can’t get into G-mail to get the document I need. To boot, I was hoping to reply to a professor’s e-mail, but… I can’t. I’m confused, your use of professor implies that you are on the college level, but I can’t believe that a college would block any sites. Am I mistaken? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arg-you-both-suck-g-mail-and-my-local-school-division/345092/7 "2006-02-19T13:58:54Z")
> [@treis](#): > > I’m confused, your use of professor implies that you are on the college level, but I can’t believe that a college would block any sites. Am I mistaken? Ah, yes. The fact is that I’m a university student who works as a rental caretaker at a public school on weekends. I work about fifteen hours a weekend (five on Saturday, ten on Sunday), but most of my time is simply spent sitting around while the rental groups do whatever they came to do (play soccer and twirl batons, mostly). With all that free time, I tend to go to the library and do homework, but I was prevented from doing so yesterday by the silly blocking of G-mail. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arg-you-both-suck-g-mail-and-my-local-school-division/345092/8 "2006-02-19T14:22:20Z")
Have you tried complaining and pointing out that chat is not **Gmail’s** main purpose and that people like you need to get to it? Also, you might want to complain to Gmail - that’s what I’m going to do. I hate the clutter it adds, too. GT ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arg-you-both-suck-g-mail-and-my-local-school-division/345092/9 "2006-02-19T15:01:33Z")
I’m planning on complaining. I just found out that it had been blocked yesterday, though, so I won’t be able to whine until tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arg-you-both-suck-g-mail-and-my-local-school-division/345092/10 "2006-02-19T15:09:28Z")
> [@Speaker for the Dead](#): > > I’m planning on complaining. I just found out that it had been blocked yesterday, though, so I won’t be able to whine until tomorrow. Glad to hear it. Occasionally, if you make a good argument, you actually win. GT