Users workplaces blocking my forum..

[zzlpolitics]

I saw at least one thread on this but it was about a decade ago so I wanted to see if there were any workarounds or in my specific case, if users might be getting blocked due to the sites "newness."

I know it's not possible to know why workplaces block whatever but I was wondering if "security" reasons with the site being so new might come into play and I could change something or figure out a solution. More than one user notes they can access every other forum but just not mine. One said he could access it for a few days then can't now. Suspect that one is a legit block that his workplace figured out or something.

Anyway, just wanted to ask if there was an update on this kind of thing or a workaround.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mr Lucky]

More than one user notes they can access every other forum but just not mine. One said he could access it for a few days then can't now. Suspect that one is a legit block that his workplace figured out or something

I would get those users to ask their employer what the blocking criteria are. There's no reason for them to be secretive about it. Obviously they may block porn, gaming, gambling etc at work. but otherwise I would think any legit company should be open with their employees.

 

[zzlpolitics]

I would get those users to ask their employer what the blocking criteria are. There's no reason for them to be secretive about it. Obviously they may block porn, gaming, gambling etc at work. but otherwise I would think any legit company should be open with their employees.

That's fair. But do you think there are any considerations on my side/XF that could play a part? I've asked users to post pictures and what not and all I've gotten so far is a user who said he's gotten this after initially being able to use the site: "ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT" or "DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN"

Again, I know troubleshooting random people and their workplaces is nuts but, just trying to not lose good posters if I can.

Thank you very much.

 

[StarArmy]

Workplaces block sites because they don't want their users using their company computers for doing personal/non-work stuff. They typically use Software-as-a-service filtering services such as Fortiguard, Litespeed, etc that categorize sites into categories like:

• forums
• games
• explicit
• social media
• news

Then the workplace chooses what categories they want to block (for example, forums, games, and explicit) and can whitelist/blacklist individual sites as they prefer. My site has been blocked by some web filters for being in the "games" category because it's based on a roleplaying game, for example.

There's no straightforward way to get around these blocks. You could:

• Figure out what category your site is in, in X filtering service and request a change in category (especially if it's wrong)
• Change your site's domain or provide some alternate URL that's not covered by the filter
• Provide a way to talk to your site in some capacity through email or a bot on a messaging service that's not blocked (e.g. allowing them to read posts and make posts via Discord somehow).
• Get the user to use a VPN to hide their traffic
• Use their own internet like 5G phone or something

I wouldn't recommend even asking about unblocking a site. The workplace's answer to your concerns is probably going to be unsympathetic at best and something like:

• Do you need to access this site for job reasons?
• Why are you visiting this site during work hours?

And if you don't have good answers for that they're going to tell you to pound sand and get back to work, and possibly write you up for "abuse/misuse of company/government resources" for using work time, a work network, or a work computer to internet surf a web forum.

 

[zzlpolitics]

Workplaces block sites because they don't want their users using their company computers for doing personal/non-work stuff. They typically use Software-as-a-service filtering services such as Fortiguard, Litespeed, etc that categorize sites into categories like:

• forums
• games
• explicit
• social media
• news

Then the workplace chooses what categories they want to block (for example, forums, games, and explicit) and can whitelist/blacklist individual sites as they prefer. My site has been blocked by some web filters for being in the "games" category because it's based on a roleplaying game, for example.

There's no straightforward way to get around these blocks. You could:

• Figure out what category your site is in, in X filtering service and request a change in category (especially if it's wrong)
• Change your site's domain or provide some alternate URL that's not covered by the filter
• Provide a way to talk to your site in some capacity through email or a bot on a messaging service that's not blocked (e.g. allowing them to read posts and make posts via Discord somehow).
• Get the user to use a VPN to hide their traffic
• Use their own internet like 5G phone or something

I wouldn't recommend even asking about unblocking a site. The workplace's answer to your concerns is probably going to be unsympathetic at best and something like:

• Do you need to access this site for job reasons?
• Why are you visiting this site during work hours?

And if you don't have good answers for that they're going to tell you to pound sand and get back to work, and possibly write you up for "abuse/misuse of company/government resources" for using work time, a work network, or a work computer to internet surf a web forum.

Thanks for the detailed reply. I think the big thing was that.. a number of users made comments like this:




I know he's saying he doesn't know crap about this but a lot of users can access forums on their work computer, even around the topics we discuss, etc. And people saying they can sometimes see parts of the site and blah blah. It just seems... odd to me. We're going to try a different URL as the site will expand so maybe that will work.

I will work through your other suggestions. Thanks for the help!

 

[StarArmy]

If the site is using TLS (https) and it's blocked, they're going to see a certificate error because the browser isn't getting the certificate it expects for your site (instead it's seeing one from the user's workplace which is in the middle between them and your site). Your site uses encryption to prevent man in the middle attacks and this is just it doing its job.

If the user tries your site with http:// instead of https:// at work, they will likely see a block page like, "This page has been blocked your organization because it's in the category: forums" or similar.

 

[zzlpolitics]

Since you clearly know what you're talking about and I have you, I stumbled upon this when I was registering new domains for future use and trying to point them toward my current forum:



That's from PorkBun where I bought my domain. Do I need to download that and install/transfer or something or are we good to go?

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[StarArmy]

It looks like they've already set things up for you, according to the second paragraph.

 

[zzlpolitics]

It looks like they've already set things up for you, according to the second paragraph.

Sorry, I am not using their hosting services, I'm using XenForo cloud for my subscription to this forum software. I did initially use their website builder to have a landing page.

Perhaps this is a source of my problem?

 

[StarArmy]

Xenforo Cloud already provides the needed SSL/TLS certificates for HTTPS, so you don't need to use that certificate offered by your host.

Source: https://xenforo.com/cloud/start?tier=standard-e22&price=std

 

[zzlpolitics]

Awesome! Thank you so much for holding my hand through all of this.

 

[zzlpolitics]

Workplaces block sites because they don't want their users using their company computers for doing personal/non-work stuff. They typically use Software-as-a-service filtering services such as Fortiguard, Litespeed, etc that categorize sites into categories like:

• forums
• games
• explicit
• social media
• news

Then the workplace chooses what categories they want to block (for example, forums, games, and explicit) and can whitelist/blacklist individual sites as they prefer. My site has been blocked by some web filters for being in the "games" category because it's based on a roleplaying game, for example.

There's no straightforward way to get around these blocks. You could:

• Figure out what category your site is in, in X filtering service and request a change in category (especially if it's wrong)
• Change your site's domain or provide some alternate URL that's not covered by the filter
• Provide a way to talk to your site in some capacity through email or a bot on a messaging service that's not blocked (e.g. allowing them to read posts and make posts via Discord somehow).
• Get the user to use a VPN to hide their traffic
• Use their own internet like 5G phone or something

I wouldn't recommend even asking about unblocking a site. The workplace's answer to your concerns is probably going to be unsympathetic at best and something like:

• Do you need to access this site for job reasons?
• Why are you visiting this site during work hours?

And if you don't have good answers for that they're going to tell you to pound sand and get back to work, and possibly write you up for "abuse/misuse of company/government resources" for using work time, a work network, or a work computer to internet surf a web forum.

So I purchased two domains for future use but thought they could also test out this not covered by filter alternative.. but... it's probably not going to work if it's just a redirect that takes you to the same site, right? I can't connect more than one domain to XF as far as I know.

 

[Suzanne O]

Are you sure it's not your ip address they've blocked @zzlpolitics

 

[Mr Lucky]

I can't connect more than one domain to XF as far as I know

Correct: Each License may run one instance of the Software, accessible via one URL;

Even if you did and paid for two licences, Google would view the identical pages as duplicates unless you used cross domain rel=canonical or noindexed one of the URLs (which may not be very easy or even possible as they are the same pages on two domains.

I think you may just need moo accept that some companies like their employees to do some work when they are being paid to

 

[Opus X]

Anyway, just wanted to ask if there was an update on this kind of thing or a workaround.

my site gets blocked at a lot of businesses that are on pc train.
because it deals with tobacco and we all know that is not good for you.
many businesses using a blocking/filter rule list in their internet access.
p0rn, tobacco, gambling and guns are the big ones that get blocked regularly.
i know a few that also have shopping blocked except for specific workstations.
At the call center I used to work as manager of a help desk several other call desk employees got caught shopping while at work.
tracy implemented a mandatory proxy that blocked it at the call center based upon system assignment.

 

[zzlpolitics]

Are you sure it's not your ip address they've blocked @zzlpolitics

This site is brand new so it just doesn't seem likely they are onto it that quick, in your specific suggestion I mean. A handful of users said they couldn't connect from the get go.

 

[zzlpolitics]

Correct: Each License may run one instance of the Software, accessible via one URL;

Even if you did and paid for two licences, Google would view the identical pages as duplicates unless you used cross domain rel=canonical or noindexed one of the URLs (which may not be very easy or even possible as they are the same pages on two domains.

I think you may just need moo accept that some companies like their employees to do some work when they are being paid to

I know I know. It's just.. it seems so odd to me that I think it was 3 people saying they couldn't access the site but they can also access a forum with the very same content, same URL words even, no problem. Like, why me? Why is the internet picking on my site? Joking aside, it just seemed odd to me and I feel terrible for the users who can't access it or have to do something that makes it almost a hassle to access our board.

 

[Suzanne O]

This site is brand new so it just doesn't seem likely they are onto it that quick, in your specific suggestion I mean. A handful of users said they couldn't connect from the get go.

Sounds like you need to fix up the ssl on your site or get in contact with xf cloud staff and ask them to do it for you.