Closing technical threads a mod doesn't "approve" of.

[Lifted]

This thread

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2224811

was closed because a mod decided he knew best how the OP should be using his computer, even though the OP could be working in a tiny office with no IT staff to help him, and could even own the company. The mod has no idea what security policies may be in place at the posters company, if any at all.

I'm not here to call out a mod for a particular action, I'm here asking if anyone here thinks it's appropriate to close technical discussions that are of a 100% legal nature? What if the OP is the sysadmin, fresh out of school, and wants to VPN into his home computer for work related issues? There are a million reasons somebody could be looking to do this, and IMO it's not the role of the moderation staff to decide to close legitimate threads based on assumptions that a poster might be trying to circumvent a policy in place at their job.

If the question clearly relates to something illegal, close it up, but don't play mommy and daddy and tell us what legal tech were allowed to play with based on who we are and where we work.

 

[Rifter]

This thread

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=32969595#post32969595

was closed because a mod decided he knew best how the OP should be using his computer, even though the OP could be working in a tiny office with no IT staff to help him, and could even own the company. The mod has no idea what security policies may be in place at the posters company, if any at all.

I'm not here to call out a mod for a particular action, I'm here asking if anyone here thinks it's appropriate to close technical discussions that are of a 100% legal nature? What if the OP is the sysadmin, fresh out of school, and wants to VPN into his home computer for work related issues? There are a million reasons somebody could be looking to do this, and IMO it's not the role of the moderation staff to decide to close legitimate threads based on assumptions that a poster might be trying to circumvent a policy in place at their job.

If the question clearly relates to something illegal, close it up, but don't play mommy and daddy and tell us what legal tech were allowed to play with based on who we are and where we work.

I agree, while im fairly sure that the posters in the thread that said it was to get around a work madated filter there are lots of other possible reasons why he would want to do this.

I agree mods should not have locked. Setting up a proxy is not illegal. And even if he is trying to get around a work firewall let him do it and possibly get canned, its not on us it was his idea.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Info concerning Bypassing Business security is not a bona fide topic on our Forums.

If this issue is approved by your business's IT management, please ask them to Help, they know better than any of us how to deal with their systems work.

You guys are missing the point. This is a private forum and there are rules that are expected to be obeyed.

There are also rules at ones work place that are expected to be obeyed.

The forums here are not going to encourage you to break/bypass those rules. The forums are also not going to tolerate others from assisting you in such.

EK
Ex-Admin

 

[Rifter]

You guys are missing the point. This is a private forum and there are rules that are expected to be obeyed.

There are also rules at ones work place that are expected to be obeyed.

The forums here are not going to encourage you to break/bypass those rules. The forums are also not going to tolerate others from assisting you in such.

EK
Ex-Admin

I agree, just in this case it was never proved/admitted that this was the case for setting up a proxy.

There are lots of "i need to get by my work firewall" posts that should be locked, where the OP clearly states his intentions.

This post was not one of those(i think anyways, hard to understand the point of the proxy from the OP).

And since it was locked prior to the OP responding he has no way to inform us what his intentions were, all we have to go on is

"I need to turn my home PC into a proxy server to where i can plug an IP and port into software i use at work so the software can send "talk" to things from an ip other than our office IP"

Which doesnt really sound like hes looking to surf the web from work.

 

[Lifted]

And since it was locked prior to the OP responding he has no way to inform us what his intentions were, all we have to go on is

"I need to turn my home PC into a proxy server to where i can plug an IP and port into software i use at work so the software can send "talk" to things from an ip other than our office IP"

Which doesnt really sound like hes looking to surf the web from work.

This is exactly what I was going to post in response. Unless a mod has pm'd OP and received confirmation regarding his intentions to bypass an employers filters, I don't see how that can be assumed from the quoted text.

When I initially read it, it seemed to me he was looking for a way to post to forums/sites without giving away the company he works for, and those sites had also blocked known proxy servers for obvious reasons. I did not take his post as saying he was attempting to bypass filters in place at his office, but that very well could have been the case as the post wasn't particularly clear either way.

 

[esquared]

OK, I am looking and your link is fubared so I checked and found this.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2224811

Is this what you're referring to?

 

[allisolm]

I can't find the thread in question, but we don't allow trying to circumvent security of businesses, schools or someone else. If you see such posts, let us know.

 

[esquared]

This thread

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=32969595#post32969595

was closed because a mod decided he knew best how the OP should be using his computer, even though the OP could be working in a tiny office with no IT staff to help him, and could even own the company. The mod has no idea what security policies may be in place at the posters company, if any at all.

I'm not here to call out a mod for a particular action, I'm here asking if anyone here thinks it's appropriate to close technical discussions that are of a 100% legal nature? What if the OP is the sysadmin, fresh out of school, and wants to VPN into his home computer for work related issues? There are a million reasons somebody could be looking to do this, and IMO it's not the role of the moderation staff to decide to close legitimate threads based on assumptions that a poster might be trying to circumvent a policy in place at their job.

If the question clearly relates to something illegal, close it up, but don't play mommy and daddy and tell us what legal tech were allowed to play with based on who we are and where we work.

We have every right to determine what is allowed to be posted here.

If there is any sniff of possibility for illegal activity, then the topic on how to do this bypassing will not be discussed on this forum.

This is being discussed right now in the mod area and if this is the thread in question, we may or may not lock it up.

 

[Lifted]

OK, I am looking and your link is fubared so I checked and found this.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2224811

Is this what you're referring to?

Yes, that is it.

OP also contacted my via PM and clarified things.

my business is my brother and i working from a home office, some things we use will only let one computer per home IP access it.

Glad the thread was unlocked, and perhaps in the future a bit more effort will be put in (sending a PM) before locking a thread on assumptions.

 

[Lifted]

We have every right to determine what is allowed to be posted here.

If there is any sniff of possibility for illegal activity, then the topic on how to do this bypassing will not be discussed on this forum.

This is being discussed right now in the mod area and if this is the thread in question, we may or may not lock it up.

Please see my post above. OP clarified the reasoning for his use of a proxy at work.

While I agree that helping people circumvent the policy of their employer is not ideal, and it's certainly up to you all to end such discussions if you choose to, it's a leap to assume it's illegal.

 

[esquared]

Yes, that is it.

OP also contacted my via PM and clarified things.

Glad the thread was unlocked, and perhaps in the future a bit more effort will be put in (sending a PM) before locking a thread on assumptions.

It wasn't unlocked. My look at the logs states it was locked and that was it. Mostly likely it will be locked , I just need to have the other mods look at it.

As I said, if there a possibility that it can be used for illegal purposes, we will lock it.
Doesn't matter if its legitimate request or not.

You could have locked yourself out of you computer and want to know how to bypass the admin password so you can get back in. Completely legitimate but you won't be allowed to discuss how to do it here.

 

[esquared]

Please see my post above. OP clarified the reasoning for his use of a proxy at work.

While I agree that helping people circumvent the policy of their employer is not ideal, and it's certainly up to you all to end such discussions if you choose to, it's a leap to assume it's illegal.

Again, I am not saying what he was trying to do was illegal but the next person who searches how to do this might be, and we won't allow it.

 

[allisolm]

It's locked again and I included a comment.