Can you help us identify which photosharing sites are being blocked?

Marcus

Hi all,

We learned today that another gov department is blocking Pixie and we would really appreciate if you could help us identify the extent of companies blocking access to photo sharing sites.

We have a short 2 question survey here to help us collect stats here:http://short.ie/pdezsm

Really appreciate if you could fill it in! Thanks!!!
Marcus

Morrisseeee

The company I work for blocks different sites, but not pix.ie phew!, but.....I'm thinking that there isn't much you can do about it, the company is entitled to block what they want, eg. all gambling sites are blocked (could paddypower et al claim they are loosing revenue ?) :eek:

jaqian

Flickr is the only one not blocked, which is why I hardly ever use Pix.ie

Marcus

jaqian wrote: »

Flickr is the only one not blocked, which is why I hardly ever use Pix.ie

Which is why we are trying to establish why...

Stupid_Private

iampixie wrote: »

Which is why we are trying to establish why...

It could be something really simple like the IT crowd spotted that one person was frequenting your site for long periods of time every day.

Marcus

Stupid_Private wrote: »

It could be something really simple like the IT crowd spotted that one person was frequenting your site for long periods of time every day.

Sure... or it could be that we've been incorrectly categorised by one of the web filtering companies. We need to find out - hence the survey to get an idea of which companies are blocking us so that we try to find out why.

Ricky91t

My schools site blocker,called net guard i think,Blocks everything,Only approved sites are allowed,So pix.ie wasn't put forward to be added to the list last time i checked but it would just fall under the "personal file sharing" catergory.

AnCatDubh

Ricky91t wrote: »

My schools site blocker,called net guard i think,Blocks everything,Only approved sites are allowed,So pix.ie wasn't put forward to be added to the list last time i checked but it would just fall under the "personal file sharing" catergory.

An enterprising young fella (which no longer includes you as you've been there and done that ) could get their art teacher to make reps on their behalf to have it enabled for "arty" project purposes. Worth a shot if anyone's in that situation.

Fajitas!

iampixie wrote: »

Sure... or it could be that we've been incorrectly categorised by one of the web filtering companies. We need to find out - hence the survey to get an idea of which companies are blocking us so that we try to find out why.

Do you host NSFW content Marcus?

All it would take is one out of place titty, and you're blocked from schools all over

Fwiw, not blocked from the NCAD campus on any network

kippy

Fajitas! wrote: »

Do you host NSFW content Marcus?

All it would take is one out of place titty, and you're blocked from schools all over

Fwiw, not blocked from the NCAD campus on any network

There are about three reasons why sites get blocked.
1. The amount of data uploads/downloads from the site is excessive and interferes with "work" related traffic. Usually the admin will manually add these sites to filters.
2. A specific request has come in via HR to block a site. This could be because people are spending excessive amounts of time on it. Usually manually added to filters.
3. The site hosts "NSFW" content. Generally, these types are automatically updated daily by the software vendor but obviously can be amended depending on the "strictness" of the policies of the companies.

A site such as yours could in theory be blocked because of any reason above, a company using particular filtering software may have it blocked whereas another one using other software may not.
It seems you are trying to see what your site is categorised as by the vendors, as this is the only one which I believe you may be able to do something about.
You should contact the biggest vendors of this software (Webmarshal and Surfcontrol are two of the biggest I am aware of which are in use centrally by many organisations.
Every organisation has different needs/policies and an organisation which is having bandwidth issues will block almost everything which is not work related and generates a lot of traffic.

CabanSail

At Tallaght Hospital we have Websense. It blocks lots of stuff we actually need for work but lets other stuff through.

All the sites on the list are not available.

jaqian

iampixie wrote: »

Which is why we are trying to establish why...

Which is why I answered your survey Marcus

jaqian

iampixie wrote: »

Sure... or it could be that we've been incorrectly categorised by one of the web filtering companies. We need to find out - hence the survey to get an idea of which companies are blocking us so that we try to find out why.

But then Flickr should be banned as well as a few of us are on it at work.

Blazer

can get into all of them from work.
Which is why I use flickr at work to upload my pics.
Only problem is their uploader doesn't connect through the proxy so I have to do it through the web gui

DaireQuinlan

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

can get into all of them from work.
Which is why I use flickr at work to upload my pics.
Only problem is their uploader doesn't connect through the proxy so I have to do it through the web gui

did they -still- not fix that
JUploader is better anyway ... http://juploadr.org/

actually, just downloaded the latest version of the uploadr, they do have a configuration page now for setting the proxy. You used to be able to do it manually by putting it into some configuration file. I can understand how that wouldn't be comprehensible to a lot of people though.

Now if only pixie would release that long promised API so that in the absence of an official uploader at least juploader could be used instead

Marcus

All a bit off topic.... but very quickly and not wanting to pull this thread off course.

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

did they -still- not fix that
JUploader is better anyway ... http://juploadr.org/

We have spent literally months trying to establish why some users (less than 0.05%) have trouble with the uploader and have never been able to isolate a single reason... We are completely out of ideas.

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

actually, just downloaded the latest version of the uploadr, they do have a configuration page now for setting the proxy. You used to be able to do it manually by putting it into some configuration file. I can understand how that wouldn't be comprehensible to a lot of people though.

The Pixie upload protocol is not currently compatible with JUploader...

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

Now if only pixie would release that long promised API so that in the absence of an official uploader at least juploader could be used instead

API was released privately a year and a half ago;) We are going to open it up to the public shortly...

Blazer

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

did they -still- not fix that
JUploader is better anyway ... http://juploadr.org/

actually, just downloaded the latest version of the uploadr, they do have a configuration page now for setting the proxy. You used to be able to do it manually by putting it into some configuration file. I can understand how that wouldn't be comprehensible to a lot of people though.

yep...used the proxy settings but still doesn't allow it through..

BeQuiet

jaqian wrote: »

Flickr is the only one not blocked, which is why I hardly ever use Pix.ie

If there is anyone from public service IT policy reading this post - please note the above comment .
My tuppence worth : FLICKR should be blocked for public service workplaces in line with standard web filtering policy as the site hosts "NSFW" (Not Suitable for Work) content.

This thread is very interesting after reading public service staff claims in other threads that they work as hard as people in the private sector .
Somehow I doubt it !

kippy

BeQuiet wrote: »

If there is anyone from public service IT policy reading this post - please note the above comment .
My tuppence worth : FLICKR should be blocked for public service workplaces in line with standard web filtering policy as the site hosts "NSFW" (Not Suitable for Work) content.

This thread is very interesting after reading public service staff claims in other threads that they work as hard as people in the private sector .
Somehow I doubt it !

Come on, using this thread to beat public sector workers with? Thats a bit juvenile, isnt it?

There is no one standard web filter or policy in place across the various organisations within the public service (there should be in my opinion for multiple reasons) which is why some sites are blocked and some are not.
As I said before there are multiple reasons for sites being blocked in one place but not another.

Dublin_Gunner

I cannot access ANY phot/file sharing/hosting sites in work. So anyone posting with embeded links from photobucket/pixie/imageshack etc etc I cannot see

Its up to the company, as owners of the computer equipment and network to block/allow what they see fit.

Marcus

iampixie wrote: »

We have a short 2 question survey here to help us collect stats here:http://short.ie/pdezsm

Don't forget to fill in the survey: http://short.ie/pdezsm

Dublin_Gunner

iampixie wrote: »

Don't forget to fill in the survey: http://short.ie/pdezsm

I can't access that site

















j/k

completed

BeQuiet

kippy wrote: »

Come on, using this thread to beat public sector workers with? Thats a bit juvenile, isnt it?

There is no one standard web filter or policy in place across the various organisations within the public service (there should be in my opinion for multiple reasons) which is why some sites are blocked and some are not.
As I said before there are multiple reasons for sites being blocked in one place but not another.

Juvenile -- dont see that ... but off-topic maybe - yes.

Anyway - agree with u re one standard web filter or policy in place across the various organisations within the public service ... that would make sense.... wont be holding my breath for it to happen though!

kippy

BeQuiet wrote: »

Juvenile -- dont see that ... but off-topic maybe - yes.

Anyway - agree with u re one standard web filter or policy in place across the various organisations within the public service ... that would make sense.... wont be holding my breath for it to happen though!

Its as off topic as bringing up students spending their grant money on alcohol and equally as juvenile to bring it up.

It'd have to be a fairly massive filter/hardware setup. Even to get a policy in place would be a pain in the hole.
I wouldnt hold my breath either but I dont generally hold my breath unless under water.


OP, I really think the survey does not ask for enough information for you to garner anything useful from it. Have you contacted the vendors yet?

Ricky91t

AnCatDubh wrote: »

An enterprising young fella (which no longer includes you as you've been there and done that ) could get their art teacher to make reps on their behalf to have it enabled for "arty" project purposes. Worth a shot if anyone's in that situation.

Didn't have art in my school!