Saturday, December 02, 2006

Is this blog 'pornography'?

I'm usually a big fan of the UK flag-carrier British Airways. But using their computers in their business class lounge, waiting for the flight to meet up with boyfriend number 2, I go to refer to my blog and I'm greeted by:
Internet Access to this site has been BLOCKED

Date/Time: 2006-12-02 - 19:31:17
Website:http://gaybanker.blogspot.com/
Category: "Pornography"
I'd admit that this is an adult-themed blog, but I contest a pornography classification! Coincidentally, only an hour previously while in the taxi on the way to the airport, I had e-mailed the author of the new gay sex oriented blog In The Hundreds saying that I deliberately avoid explicit details of sex because I don't want this blog to be pornographic.

Maybe I should treat this as a compliment. At least it means that someone, somewhere, has noticed my blog, even if they've reached the wrong conclusion!

10 comments:

Bill said...

Good for you ;) I came acroos a listing in one of those American right-wing religious portals a couple of years or so back which had my little blog listed as not exactly pornographic (which it certainly isn't), but as a source of 'dangerous' views; I was quite touched and amused ...

Have a gr8 holiday btw!

JC said...

Do you think you have been blocked due to the fact that you have "gay" in your url?

-eve- said...

LOL! Pornographic?? Not as such, not really. But not exactly suitable for kids either... ;-) So perhaps yes, verging on the brink (anything that concerns sex is classified as such, I'd think.. and then again, I wouldn't classify your writings as soft porn, even.... heheh. So yeah, at least someone noticed your blog :-)....

Anonymous said...

British Airways have set a very high filter in their computer access lounges. My organization works in sexual health and the Chief Executive lobbied BA for months for them to lift the filter on the work e-mail as the very word sex was too much for them to handle. Bless them...so innocent

Anonymous said...

Oh, dear. I tried to read your blog once, recently, from my workplace (I also work for an investment bank), and it blocked me ! No idea why. Possibly because I should have been doing some work at the time...

Anonymous said...

I'd say that it's more than likely just the fact that you've got "gay" in your url. From my personal experience, your chances of getting that classification lifted areapproximately equal to that of a snowball's chance in hell. I used to run a members-only site off a subdomain on my old url, and even years after I'd closed it down my site was still blocked as porn on most filters. Eventually I just changed my domain name.

Anonymous said...

I regularly read your blog but have never posted a comment. I know you don't take notice of anonymous comments but felt too lazy to create a profile for what would probably be my only comment. Just wanted to let you know that BA is not the only one. Your blog is in some sort of list of 'sites to be banned'. Its banned at several workplaces, including mine.

Moonfish said...

I think it's “gaydar” that turn them off...

Unknown said...

Not porn, just social commentary, and as such should be regarded as quite high-brow! In the same way that you can call looking at fashion photography with naked guys art! B x

Anonymous said...

Dear GB: Am in the Air France lounge right now and have faced no such problem. Oviously your blog does not qualify as pornography from a French point of view ;-)
Reading you from time to time is a highly enjoyable break from my investment banking routine, thanks for this!