: Blocked???
I recently tried to visit my site convexer.name from a public library and got an HTTPS security error; reconnecting with HTTP, I was notified that my site is blocked per the city IT policy! I guess they have flagged it as adult content or whatever? Cuz, you know, it acknowledges the existence of sex? It’s still accessible from the Neocities mirror (over HTTPS) but that’s just because I go through the trouble of double hosting it.
This has me thinking about just how fragile all this indie web stuff is. The library wouldn’t dream of banning, you know, Twitter—a site that “acknowledges the existence of” far more than sex—but for tiny indie websites like convexer’s dumpster, I guess it makes sense for the admin to err on the side of blocking. The block is probably not personal, more likely a combination of keyword matching and weird TLD and hosted by Hetzner.
What is a common man to do in this situation? The “site blocked” page gives a
contact email, so if I could get a list of similarly blocked websites (e.g. a
bunch of *.names?) that are blocked by the library’s policy then that might be
enough to convince them, but then that’s just one library system in one city…
I am fully aware that my site is just a dumpster and isn’t going to save the world or anything, BUT, there are lots of pages on the indie web that deal with Real Shit™ such as community organizing and childhood trauma. Lots of folks use library wifi to escape the surveillance of their abusive family or because it’s simply their only reliable internet connection. Something is not right with the indie web if it is only accessible to people who can maintain their own broadband network.
Above was originally posted on
32-bit Cafe Discourse.
I think the issue might just be that my domain registration is still young,
because I was able to access other .name sites.