Who's blocking my Web site, and why?

September 25, 2006 10:26 AM

Is there any way I can figure out how a Web site is classified by different Web filtering services and systems? If they classify it incorrectly, is it difficult to make my case and get the classification changed?

I found a Web filtering service, SmartFilter, that classifies a site that I run, dealing with a niche professional subject, as "Chat". (It's not a general interest site or something dealing with celebrities, games, partisan politics, adult subject matter, dating, or the like.) However, it classifies a very similar site, dealing with the same niche professional subject, as "General News." Unfortunately, it means that site may have an unfair advantage over my site, because it will be less likely that site will be blocked by employers.

posted by elmwood to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

Contact the software vendor. I have worked with Surfcontrol in the past to have sites recategorized (both positive and negative) and they are always looking to have more accurate categories for sites.
posted by SirStan at 10:33 AM on September 25, 2006

Do you have any discussion boards, etc., on the site? If so, I suspect you'd have to get rid of it to change this.

These filters often block any site that allows user-generated content -- that is, where a user can post something that will become publicly readable without the editor of the site checking it first.
posted by winston at 10:59 AM on September 25, 2006

oops, "get rid of them"
posted by winston at 10:59 AM on September 25, 2006

You might also setup a seperate subdomain for any of the above content that can be categorized differently.

www.site.com -> politics
forum.site.com -> chat
posted by SirStan at 11:08 AM on September 25, 2006

Response by poster: The separate subdomain thing might be a possibility.

The other site that gets classified as "General News" also has a message board, and a Slashdot-like comment system for their articles -- user-generated content -- yet they're not blocked or considered "chat" or a "message board."
posted by elmwood at 11:31 AM on September 25, 2006

I may be confusing it with another, but isn't SmartFilter *notorious* about misclassifying sites, and not being particularly helpful in fixing their misclassifications?

A quick google shows that it is the one I was thinking about. They classify BoingBoing as an "adult" site. :)

Having said that - I think you'll have more luck getting the *other* site blocked on SmartFilter as well, rather than getting your own site unblocked. Not an ideal situation, but better than nothing?
posted by antifuse at 2:34 PM on September 25, 2006

I may be confusing it with another, but isn't SmartFilter *notorious* about misclassifying sites, and not being particularly helpful in fixing their misclassifications?

ISTM that every such filter has this reputation among web site owners.
posted by winston at 8:00 PM on September 26, 2006