GolfHos

Well, we installed a new firewall to facilitate linking in two foreign offices remotely.  Party line is to protect the IT resources from live/streaming video (bandwidth-consuming youtube) and prevent machine downtime from unauthorized and inappropriate downloads (happens infrequently and to the same pool of repeat offenders in our small company).

I should mention here that the senior management has many times emphasized to its employees how well we come together as a team, how we get the job done, and not least of all how hard we work.

As of 5:15 PM, a "new service level" was announced that "may affect such tools as" Not Work Safe web surfing, which turns out to be formally defined as anything deemed "not work related".  Literally, you call up a website that the firewall says you can't have, you get a screen that tells you "This website has been blocked.  It is not related to work."

I won't bore you with more rant, and I will say that I fully agree with pouncing on offenders.  However, I will remark that it directly impacts my ability to perform my job, which routinely has me web-searching for products of customers, competitors, and so on, very frequently on shopping sites.  Shopping sites are banned.  It also banninated two work-related discussion boards, my participation on which has benefited the company countless times.  IT dude was showing it off to me and pointed out the banned category "Intimate Apparel and Lingerie".  I mentioned that our own Apparel Business Unit was PRIMARILY focused on intimate apparel and lingerie; might want to re-think that check-box.

FGI, Golfhos and Golfdope were banned from my work right out of the gate, and they ain't coming back this time.  The amount of time I have access to a personal computer is very, very limited -- I'm at work a LOT.  So now you know why you won't see me here much.

In other news, www.myemail.com also has been blacklisted, so I can't check my personal email remotely.  Don't try to contact me via that channel or PMs if you need a timely reply.

Peace out.

PS -- For the company suggestion box, I need help.  Suppose an employee is talking about his kid's soccer game to a coworker.  When the klaxon sounds and the intercom blares "Personal conversation detected, Detention Area E5!  Personal conversation detected, Detention Area E5!", what countermeasures would be effective?  I'm thinking an animatronic CEO might enter the hallway and slowly walk toward the offender.  Maybe speakers installed behind panels in the hallway could broadcast the Vice-President's voice with volume rising to simulate his imminent emergence from his office.  Perhaps the server could access Microsoft Project, select an undertaking for which the employee is responsible and which has some dust on it, then spawn an email or phone call to pull him back to work.  What uniform would you suggest for the guards who respond if those prove unsuccessful?

Sounds like they better ban monster.com and hotjobs.com real fast.

 :sad3: :sad3:

I'm so sorry Clive.  I suppose we are all not far behind. I can see it coming where I work.

Any chance on a wireless card for your laptop, sitting open on your desk?

I'll always have fond memories of you in assless chaps, at your desk at 2 am, eating M & Ms after cleaning up from the Coffee-O-Tron 2000!!  (runs to bedroom and flops face down sobbing) :crying: :crying:

That sucks.  >:(

Seriously, that is too bad. How does he have that much control? Doesn't senior management use teh internets?? Keep fighting the good fight.



Oh yeah, and when you do get a chance could you forward some good intimate apparel websites our way?

Maybe you should have taken the food services job with the "brokeback trailer" as the perk? [sm_devil]

Ted

Do you feel like it's worth the fight?

Fight them on the beaches, fight them in the fields, fight them in the streets, , never surrender.

We are less by your absence.

Monster was another delightful demonstration site.  My in-house counsel and intellectual property discussion boards (whew!  I get hot just typing that!) got banned because they're in larger site that's known for providing information on legal jobs and employment profiles of law firms.

Can someone explain to Stroh how the Internet works?


 [sm_devil]

I suspect some of us (them) will be "employees with privileges".

www.triumph.com.  I found it when looking for the Triumph motorcycle website.  Turns out they're among the world's top lingerie manufacturers.  Good thing our Apparel sales staff won't know about them.

We've tried. :sad3:


:D

Really sorry to hear that, Clive. 

Sometimes, you really have to wonder about decisions that are being made.  That they are concerned that there is too much leisure time on the net is obvious, but that they decided to go so far that it impacts the quality of their employees work is sad.  There has to be a better medium than that.

That's too bad Clive. :sad3:

  [sm_laughing] 

Sorry.  I meant wireless mobile (Cingular, T-Mobile, etc.....)  You pay for it, but they can't touch it.

That's crazy.  Productivity and morale is going to plummet.



I think stroh might be referring to something like those Wireless PC Card plans from Verizon like these:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=planFirst&action=viewPlanList&sortOption=priceSort&typeId=5&subTypeId=13&catId=409
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=planFirst&action=viewPlanList&sortOption=priceSort&typeId=5&subTypeId=13&catId=408

[d'oh!  too slow with my post]

(http://www5.letstalk.com/img/prod/100/506/29047_pdi.gif)

Ghey.

Twice.

LOL!!!


My school district has tightened the reigns considerably this year as well. No more checking personal email and a whole host of site categories have been filtered. Sucks for me but I never had much surf time except over my quick lunch break anyway. Oddly Golfhos is not blocked! I know a bunch of teachers are hacked that they can't check their eBAY accounts anymore.  ::)

Clive I'd bet your IT people could unfilter the discussion boards for you if they really wanted to.

Yep...aircard and a laptop is the answer.  It's not on their network so what can they say.

stupid.  people who trust  blackbox implemented categorical blacklist type rules  are the same type who got the country into the problem its in.   complex problems don't have easy solutions.

That sucks.  I hope my work doesn't do that but I would not be surprised if they did.  Many people at my work don't have access to the internets at all other than an online phone and address directory.  My department has access and not too many sites are blocked.  Of course we can't do streaming video or get on myspace, youtube, ebay, netflix (can't understand this one).  During my breaks I get on the forums all the time.  I've never been reprimanded for it and don't see that happening.  Basically if you get your job done my boss doesn't care.  Companies should realize how much it hurts morale to ban the internets and promote responsible personal surfing.

Here they have started to ban certain sites but nothing major. I have the potty mouth filter on for Golfhos just in case.

I don't know about getting to other sites, but you might be able to try a workaround for golfhos.  If they haven't blocked www.google.com, then you can use their rss reader to read the posts here.


1) Go to http://www.google.com/reader/
(create a google account if you don't already have one)

2) Click "Add subscription" and add the url for the golfhos rss feed:
http://www.golfhos.com/feed.rss

(the posts won't be grouped in threads, and you won't be able to post, but it's a start, and I have some ideas to fix that if this works.)

ssh tunnels  ftw!
(disclaimer, your employer will probably fire you for using them)

I'd hazard a guess that a company which plonks an uber-nanny down on web access disallows outbound port 22 traffic and probably a whole lot more.  Especially since Clive and crew are a bunch of wiley lawyers.   [sm_shock]

Believe it or not, I did know that's what you're talking about. [sm_shock] ;)
But I don't see that working either.  If he uses a laptop provided by the company he works for, they could require that he use only an internet connection that they provide.  If he were to use his own laptop and a wireless pc card, they could mandate that employees use only the the computers that they supply.  And considering that they went so far as to block so much of the net (even to the point that it could/will hinder the quality of their employees work), I can't see them even hesitating to make that decision.  Not to mention that there could be other consequences - stricter regulations, etc, or worse - for trying to get around the rules and etc that they have made and established.   :(

I must be the only person in the world who uses the net at home!!! :o
No internet access at work for me!!!!

Clive you will just have to quit work, become a house-husband, and devote more time to  "Golfhos"!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D

Nope, me too. :D

If I didn't use teh internets from home, I wouldn't be here.  (Some of you might actually prefer that.... ;) )

More ideas until they figure out the error of their ways:

1) I can fax you the posts from golfhos as they get posted.  Better stock up on paper.

2) If you want, I can write a CliveBot that will post on here periodically by generating random posts using some of your more frequent words, Madlib-style (assless chaps, intellectual property, Rule ##-##, etc...)  No one will even notice you're gone.

3) I can make a GolfHos daily podcast that you could download to your iPod every morning featuring the posts from the previous day.  I can read each thread into a microphone and reconstruct conversations posted here using the accents that I imagine for each member.

Off the top of my head, I'm picturing the following voice impressions:

Padraig Harrington => Uisce Beatha
Sean Connery => TFT
Russell Crowe => 2iron
Mike Myers => stroh
Olivia Newton John/Nicole Kidman => wishicouldhit
Ben Stiller => spaceage
Brangelina => Askelander
Dakota Fanning => Torpedo

rofl @ dystopia!  Hilarious! [sm_rolling]

 ::) ::) ::)

Awesome!!!  [sm_thumbsup]

Oh, dystopia baby.  That last one one is a bit of all right!  Groovy, baby, Yeah!

lol ;D Except I'm not a girl. :P

Dystopia must picture you as a child. :P

I gave up trying to figure him out. :P










;) ;D

Quitters never win. :D

And what's so hard to figure out?  He enjoys teasing you. :P  I enjoy his teasing of you, too, for that matter. :P :D

If you do the podcast, dystopia, can I get a copy of it? :D

When I try to picture Torpedo, the image I have is of you forcing him to eat minestrone and him not wanting to eat it:

http://www.golfhos.com/forum/index.php/topic,1800.msg24251.html#msg24251

Smite. ;)

lol

I never force him.  He likes eating too much.  He'll eat almost anything that's put in front of him - even most things he doesn't like. 

FWIW, I've only made it once since knowing that it's one of his least liked meals. 

[sm_thankyou] ;D

Then there are time that you're picky. ;) :D

Look who's talking. ::) now stop with the thread jacking. :P

Sorry, Clive.  :sad3:

I trust Clive's responses will be voiced over by Jack McFarland.

But less assertive.

Actually, I think Clive's going to have his way on this one before all is said and done.  He just needs to go to HR and raise a fuss:

"How the hell am I supposed to assure my testicular well-being without teh interweb access?"

Probably get a raise and a private bathroom.

No...but you're getting warm.  ;)

I spend too much time here?  I'm too much of a pest?

BTW, and completely OT, did you like the pic of the grouse?

:o


Are you calling Seammie a grouse?   :nono:

Nooooooooo...colder...brrrrrrrr

Yes I did, thank you.  :)

I've been called worse by...how does that go?

Sorry for the TJ Clive  :sad3:

Correct. :D

Well, that's what Kev would and did say.


No!  I wouldn't do that. *shaking head no*


I don't spend enough time here?

[sm_thumbsup2]  I'm glad.  It's one of my favorites from times spent in Hinckley.


Now back on topic, have you thought of any ideas, Clive?  Were the IT guys more reasonable today?

There is but one IT guy.  He took Friday off.

They racheted back the level of nannyism.  It seems VP-O had difficulty accessing sites HE wanted, so he called IT dude at home and had him uncheck some of the boxes.

 [sm_rolling] [sm_rolling] [sm_rolling]

Stegerman is crying. This is just like grade school when I got left off the kick ball team because I was sick that day. :crying:

So...........Does this mean your back on?

I feel your pain Clive... I've been banished from Golfhos at work for... what seems like eons.

I requested out IT guys 'unblock' it.... they did... but that lasted all of 5 minutes..

I have since come to the conclusion that out IT people/guys are halfwits and that's being really generous...

So I'm still working on a solution....argghhh

Cheers

i thought it was because you were the pimply faced nerd who whiffs and falls on his butt on every other attempt to kick it   ???   ;)

he need dystopia to register a seemingly harmless domain name that mirrors the content
 [sm_devil]

LOL thats actually quite funny   ;D

yeah that would work???.... kinda like activegolf.... without the geighness....

Well, the site is unblocked right now.  But ... since I'm pretty darn sure they were/are monitoring web usage, I pretty much have to lay off.  Going on as soon as it's unblocked would just reaffirm to them that we're all a bunch of time-wasting slackers.

Plus, it'll likely get banned ad hoc (they're doing that, too), which would piss me off anew.

if:

you get the work you need to done (especially if you put in more than 40 hours a week with no overtime!!!)

you don't use it for theft

you don't download/upload  illegal material or malware

you don't waste overall bandwidth with excessive media  downloads

...

who cares whether you read news, do banking/billpay    post away during lunchtime, etc




i really just don't get it

We have 1-2 employees who spend a LOT of time on myspace, and one guy who spends a good deal of time on a local gay board.  Other than that, I'm not aware of any serious violations or the web usage getting in the way of anyone's job performance.

At work, I download nothing, I don't click on any video links (esp. youtube), I don't go to naughty sites.  Just simple, safe things like here, Amazon, Lands End, CNN -- that sort of thing.  I very much that most employees use the web as I do.

Still, it's coming down from the guy who runs this location.  It's not like it's the brainchild of some toady and we can go over his head.

they shouldn't hold that against you.

I'll throw up a mirror site this weekend.  If the firewall blocks by domain name, it should work.  I only have one IP address, though, so if it blocks by IP address, we're screwed.

I'm having trouble figuring out why either of our sites would be blocked.  Are they blocked because of the "hos" and "dope", or is it because of content?  If you figure out a work-around for Clive,  I might be able to implement something similar.

I'm guessing that they just blocked everything initially except certain approved sites since fgi, golfdope, and golfhos were all blocked.

You're among the many that I didn't list because I didn't really have a good reason for choosing that particular voice.  Probably from one random post on FIGs that seemed to strike a chord in my head.

I recall you saying on FIGs that you work in a hospital, so in my head I tend to imagine your posts as delivered by John C. McGinley, as a hybrid of his Dr. Cox character on Scrubs and his Bob Slydell portrayal in Office Space.


Here are a few others that just came to mind:
Lou Reed=> Seamus McDuff
Scott Baio => Clive
Kathleen Turner => E-A-G-L-E!
Bronson Pinchot => Blader
Carl Sagan => Dunk
Elvis Presley => Fuzzmental
The Rock => JDerion
Jean Chrétien => Zoot
Alf => MP

Dystopia => 'Twiggy'

 ;D

Dude - you are right on the money. He is absolutely my favorite current sitcom character.

Lol. Excellent.  ;D

I was trying to decide between Corey Haim, Ookla the Mok, Gilbert Gottfried, and Teller.

It's possible, of course, but hard to believe that relatively new and little golfhos and golfdope have already made the list of the service our firewall subscribes to.  For that reason, I tend to think IT reviewed server logs and added them ad hoc.

The profile for other categories is that the more established sites or those with obvious content in the domain name are blocked, whereas more obscure sites are accessible.  Myostrich, for example, loads, while Golfsmith, Golfworks, TGW and *8==>*'s do not.  (Well, *8==>*'s might be blocked because of its name, too.  [sm_shock])

I just threw up a quick mirror site at http://dystopia.com/

Let me know how it appears at work.  If things go well, I'll work out the kinks and then get the chat working, too.

Well, I for one am glad Clive's gone. He wasn't contributing anything here so it's about time he shut up and went away.

But you'll still have to deal with that insufferable prick, ButBackstageThingsWereFal.


Dystopia, the faux site loads just fine.  But I'm loath to log in, as I'm pretty sure work is monitoring web usage and they'd just block it and possibly smack me around a little.

Yeah, I saw you had said something about not trying to push things at work.  That's cool, it makes sense.  The faux version was mainly for twoiron to see if a mirror site on a different domain would work. (or others if they eventually get blocked in the future.)

Not to feel left out but I kind of see me as Flounder.

Is gay chat still an option on the mirror site?

The \'mirror\' site looks like it works ok....

Damn, feel the love, Clive.  Look at all of those responses.  Freakin' corporate 'merka getting in the way!!!

Flounder?  This dude?
(http://www.e-soft.8m.com/littlemermaid/flounder5.gif)


If so, I was way off.  I had always pictured you sounding like Tony Meola. (I don't know many goalkeepers  :sad3:)

not yet.  I wanted to make sure it worked before I put too much into it.  Will do it now.

pwn3d JDerion stylie.  ;D

LOL, I've been JDerioned!  The image was cached on my browser, so I didn't notice it.

Here's another one:

(http://www.treasurekingdom.com/miva/graphics/00000001/flounderA.jpg)

OK, I just added chat to the mirror site.  Seems to work from my initial testing.

That's it. I think Aeriel is hot.

Yum.

Haha. :D