# SDMB = porn? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 5, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145 "2003-03-05T02:11:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/1 "2003-03-05T02:11:22Z")
At work (a large municipal government), the IT department has implemented WebSense, a Web content filtering package. If you visit a site that isn’t considered work-related, you’re greeted with a page from the employer’s acceptable Internet use policy. You have three options; note the page in a log and visit later, surf on to the site despite the policy (if it’s lunch, after-hours or it really is work-related), or go back to the last page. Porn and hate sites only permit two options; note the page in a log, or go back; you can’t go forward. Oh … there’s one other site that’s completely blocked, too. The Straight Dope. Computer related Web sites? Not filtered. Sites of interest to IT professionals, like Slashdot, Ars Technica, or any anime or Star Trek-related site? Not filtered. Sports Illustrated? Well, kinda’ blocked, but you can surf on through if you _really_ want. Straight Dope? BZZT! BZZT! BZZT! BZZT! Anyone else work someplace where the SDMB is filtered, while other time-wasters are unfiltered? ---
**Author:** ![viking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@viking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/viking)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/2 "2003-03-05T02:18:00Z")
Well, I have been accused of `intellectual masturbation’ before in trying to fight ignorance in real life… I s’pose by that standard the smdb is porn 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/3 "2003-03-05T02:19:04Z")
My guess is it’s dope = drugs. And I have problem accessing from the Federal Government. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/4 "2003-03-05T02:20:11Z")
Fortunately not yet but Websense is a thorn in my side too. I cannot order gunsmithing supplies because Brownell’s is a “weapons” site as it a safes. Aside from the obvious categories “political activism” is also prohibited. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/5 "2003-03-05T02:24:32Z")
My colleagues brows webwsites that border on porn all the time, some go to warez sites. I don’t go near the stuff. [sub]I have the sense to search for porn at home, where I can do it alone \[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/6 "2003-03-05T02:29:10Z")
I’ve heard of one blocker that filters [www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) but _not_ [boards.straightdope.com](http://boards.straightdope.com). I don’t know which product it is. They’re just not paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/7 "2003-03-05T03:11:01Z")
The blocker at my old job filtered all kinds of sites. It did not, however, filter Wikipedia - a collaborative encyclopedia-writing site - which I consequently spent hours on. ---
**Author:** ![scott\_evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/8 "2003-03-05T04:06:29Z")
While I can read the boards at work, I can no longer post. ---
**Author:** ![Lynne\_kilii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lynne\_kilii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynne_kilii)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/9 "2003-03-05T04:30:05Z")
I can go the the main site, but the boards are WebSensed. This is at my High School. We have a lot of stupid stuff WebSensed. Oh well. I’m free in May! ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/10 "2003-03-05T09:19:01Z")
WebSense also filters the Church of the SubGenius’ wonderful [site](http://www.subgenius.com), much to my dismay when I was in high school. Somebody try [www.chick.com](http://www.chick.com) to see whether they treat all religions equally. (They very well could filter that too; I dunno) ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/11 "2003-03-05T11:44:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjk \* > \*\*I’ve heard of one blocker that filters [www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) but _not_ [boards.straightdope.com](http://boards.straightdope.com). I don’t know which product it is. > > They’re just not paying attention. \*\* Whatever it is that’s what the Irish Civil Service run. A friend of mine has exactly the same problem. I mail him a good article every now adn then just to keep him going. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/12 "2003-03-05T13:54:29Z")
We have WebSense at my Federal government office. Obviously it can be tweaked to be sensitive to different things, because here it doesn’t block the boards, or anything else I feel I ought to be able to get to. I can’t get to sites with high sexual content, but OTOH, I can access sites with tasteful partial nudity. (IIRC, hate sites and the like are also blocked, but I don’t tend to go thataway.) I think they’ve done a good job. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/13 "2003-03-05T14:01:05Z")
I’m government as well, but I’ve only ever had a problem with the boards once. Just one day it wouldn’t let me on with the little “WARNING!” and I almost shit, but it let me on the next day. I’m carefull with what I look at at work, but we have fairly free reign because we often have to look up some unusual stuff. ---
**Author:** ![UnwrittenNocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@UnwrittenNocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwrittenNocturne)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/14 "2003-03-05T14:03:50Z")
I can get here from work OK, but a lot of strange things are blocked. Just standard sites. I never try for porn from work though, Ms UnwrittenNocturne and I d/load that from home ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/15 "2003-03-05T14:10:46Z")
Content filtering packages are usually tweaked. For those of you who’ve had access blocked, isn’t it more likely that your employers want to restrict _all_ potentially non-work-related surfing, rather than just porn and other “obviously bad” websites? I would certainly understand if employers wanted to crack down on the SDMB; for the vast majority of us, how is it contributing to our work? Maybe there’s a debate somewhere on the degree to which internet access for non-work reasons is a privilege or a right. I’d probably lean towards the former (with the odd reasonable exception like occasional email checking, online banking and so on). ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/16 "2003-03-05T14:29:55Z")
My School uses Websense. The Straight Dope is blocked because it is a message board, and we think all such boards mean the pupils will a) waste a lot of time chatting and b) possibly give out personal details they shouldn’t. Incidentally, because the Randi Foundation has a front page of news, Websense allows access to the board there. Our Websense also blocks all chess sites, because they are ‘games’. ---
**Author:** ![Cyrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Cyrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyrin)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/17 "2003-03-05T14:45:31Z")
I am the IT department, and we don’t block SDMB here… we use common sense and block things like: Hotmail :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/18 "2003-03-05T14:46:33Z")
The SDMB is not blocked, but Yahoo! gets it sometimes. Personals sites get blocked. I can do a Google image search on people and end up with porn thumbnails (unintentionally–I do the occasional search on celebrities mentioned here to see what all the ruckus is about), but I haven’t tried clicking on them to go to the actual page… A lot of web pages for the Society for Creative Anachronism get blocked because they either list contacts for people named Master or Mistress, or because they have images for the date of the society in roman numbers; given that we’re in our fourth decade, they all start with XXX… ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/19 "2003-03-05T14:51:34Z")
Etisalat/Emirates Internet shite national telco here fortunately doesn’t block SDMB (if it did, I could access it from the Free Zones anyway, where there’s no proxy) but it does do keyword blocking in the URL. This is only a problem if you do a search, eg for +breast +cancer, when your results will contain something like +higlight=breast,+highlight=cancer in the URL, and it will be blocked. I found that modifying the URL (by deleting all the highlight and other info after the actual thread number) did the trick. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145/20 "2003-03-06T07:21:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crusoe \* > **For those of you who’ve had access blocked, isn’t it more likely that your employers want to restrict _all_ potentially non-work-related surfing, rather than just porn and other “obviously bad” websites?** Why is it, then, that non-work related anime, computer modding, Monty Python, gaming,and SF related Web sites aren’t blocked? It’s interesting that those categories are interests that have a disproportionately large following among IT professionals. Hmmmmm … [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-porn/159145.md?page=2)