The place of my employment uses Websense to make sure all its’ worker bees stay on track and don’t look at naughty pictures while they are working. Understandable, let me assure you. I’m in no way saying I should be able to look at adult material while at work. What I am saying, is that I should be able to properly research and understand the topics about which I’m trying to learn.
As anyone who programs will tell you, Google is probably the best thing since sliced bread. Many of your issues can be resolved by searching for what you’re trying to accomplish, in most cases someone has probably already done it and written up a nice forum post about how they’ve succeeded where you’re obviously filled with fail. Guess what? Half those sites, which are filled with golden goodness, are blocked by Websense. I know we could probably just have exclusion lists or something set up for those of us with special needs, but we don’t have the rights to do anything like that. We’d have to get approval from 100 different people to get us the stuff we need. I understand that there are spies everywhere trying to steal the secrets of your mothers pancake recipe. (OK, seriously, i do understand.) But come on, let me get to forums. Please? With sugar on top?
I understand there are some sites which should be banned but some sites are more useful than they appear (like forums). I code books (and soon, DVDs) and surf the web to find ways other people have done it. I also look for info about the books, codes, and Wiki and online encyclopedias have been useful to verify locations and terms.