blocked at a big box store?

[franchesca]

Recently I dropped into the Home Depot in lake forest ca. To pick up some supplies... as I was waiting in line at the checkout I decided to look at this site. Well guess what??? Home depot has determined that if you connect to their WiFi you are not allowed to look at crossdressers.com! Omg!!! I was shocked and appalled needless to say and will be avoiding all HD's in the future!!! :po:

[Jorja]

Well, we are a perverted lot you know ;).

It is nothing against Home Depot. They have software to block unwanted sites just like any other place of business. Unless the person adjusting the settings on said software is a crossdresser and frequents this site, they have no way of knowing what this site is all about. Go to your search engine of choice and type in crossdresser and see what type of site you get the most. Not surprising at all.

[Amanda M]

Is it worthwhile taking this up with Corporate and asking them why. Besides, it would be interesting to know what the anti-discrimination situation in your State is.

[JessicaFoxx]

Its nothing on the Home Depot, its the software that they use, they don't want people to go to "bad sites". I've had that happened a few times accessing a wifi.

[franchesca]

Honestly it probably wouldn't have gotten under my skin if the given reason for it being blocked was adult content, pornography! Yes I'm sure if I said something to corporate it might get somewhere... actually just might today!

[Christie ann]

It's all about key words. And we must have some on their list.

[AlanaG]

Same thing where I work and at McDonalds.

[paddy]

If they were passing out free coffee and it tasted like dirt would you complain to corporate or just toss it and go on?

It's free and they probably use off the shelf software to block websites. I am sure it's nothing personal.

[Kate Simmons]

That's Home Dopeo for you. Always trying to save humanity, right? :battingeyelashes::)

[Petra1]

Do what I do. Hop off the WiFi and use your cellular data. Not worth the hassle.

[sherib]

I don't understand why your were you standing in line waiting to check out and then try to go on line. Huh, please tell me your not one of those people that are on the phone holding up the check out line.

[Maggie O'neal]

The WiFi that is in a Home Depot is primarily for the business and or references associated to the business. The blocks are in place to prevent employees from wasteing time surfing the net. I have done the same in my business. It has nothing to do with the customers use. If HD was a place to gather and use the wifi ,surf the net but it is not as far as I know.

[Jason+]

A boycott of all Home Depot seems a little extreme over filtering their "free" wireless access. If they treated you poorly in person whether it was related to how you present or not that would be a different matter entirely and worth bringing to customer service or management's attention.

[Eringirl]

Given the recent scandal and hack of Home Depots data storage, intranet and servers, I am surprised they actually allow customers to logon to the WIFI at all in their stores?!?

[MelanieAnne]

Although I can access Crossdressers.com at my local library on wifi, I could not access the local beekeepers association website, which was blocked. When I asked the librarian, she said it was an advocacy site. Go figure.

[ReineD]

I suspect this is due to the sexual content. Not on this specific site, but if you click on the links that are at the bottom of each page here (the Browse CDrs by State), on each page there are links to "sex dating", "sex chat", together with links to similar pages for each town and county in each state. Maybe this is why this site is not getting past HD's filters?

[Trish]

One more,you can not connect at Pinera Bread,.

[Pumped]

Given the recent scandal and hack of Home Depots data storage, intranet and servers, I am surprised they actually allow customers to logon to the WIFI at all in their stores?!?

Home Depot's public WiFi has nothing to with with the business side on their computer system. The Wifi is there for customer convenience and certainly not connected to the store's network.

[Persephone]

I've had this happen at some hotels and other places and agree with several of the posters here that these place s merely buy service from some third party who makes up the rules. I agree with Maggie, it is probably done to keep employees from surfing the web on company time.

Hugs,
Persephone.

[grace7777]

In July of 2014, this site was blocked on a United Airlines flight that I was on. This is WiFi I paid for and is for passenger use. So just this December I was on another United Airlines flight and I was able to access this site with no problem on the WiFi. I am thinking maybe they changed the criteria they used to block websites.

[free2bejamie]

Ease up on home depot. They are pro transgender and willing to hire us. So it must just be a software issue.

[DanaR]

I had something similar happen at my doctors office. When I saw my doctor, I told her and she was surprised that they were blocking it.

[jaye_cd]

I'd cut some slack on Home Depot, they don't have to offer you free wi-fi access, you just need to accept their terms of what you can and can't get to on their network. We used to not be able to get to a site called www.experts-exchange.com where I worked for the longest time because the web filtering software parsed out the "sexchange" in the URL and just insta-banned it. (And my company covers pretty much all transgender health needs on their insurance!) Web filtering software is there to protect the majority, and not necessarily reflect on a company's position on a certain topic. They probably also just run with the filters that are most likely to indemnify them in case some 8 year old is watching you over your shoulder from the cart behind you. Sure, this site is mostly harmless, but what of the other crossdresser sites? Some of those get way explicit into the fetish side of this lifestyle and I certainly would not want my kids to see it. It's a lot easier for them to blacklist an entire topic then go through and whitelist the safer sites.

[Judith96a]

I actually run web filtering for a large-ish organisation so I have reasonable experience of this as a 'service provider'.

The 'out of the box' criteria supplied with most web filtering software are VERY generic and VERY conservative. They are designed so that the manufacturer is unlikely to be sued because you bought their product and your 3yr old was still able to browse some website of which you do not approve.
<rant>The corporate suits who run most organisations (including mine) don't get this! They think that the software will automagically read their minds and filter out the 'bad'.</rant>

The reality is that the criteria need to be customised and then continuously reviewed. This takes effort, effort that a company that is providing WiFi as a convenience to its patrons has very little motivation to expend. The real reason that they're bothering to provide WiFi at all is so that you can refer to their web site to find the product that you want to purchase. Anything else is a bonus.
Frankly, I'm not surprised that this site is blocked in Home Depot. They probably haven't customised their software and they probably aren't much bothered. They may not even know HOW to customise the rules! Actually, I'm generally pleasantly surprised when I can access this site via 'public' WiFi.

Bottom line? I doubt that this is a conspiracy or conscious decision. It's mostly likely the other alternative!
I suspect that if you contact corporate your request to have this site unblocked will cause some mild amusement before being granted.

[Krisi]

I used to be in IT so I'll tell you this:

When a company pays for a service (like Internet access), they have a right to do whatever they want with it and that includes blocking, filtering, etc. It's just like if you come into my home. I get to control how you act and what you say because it's my home. It's really surprising to me that they would even allow non-employees access to their wi fi in the first place.

I would say you should be thankful that they allow you on their network in the first place and quit complaining about their blocking possible sex sites. As several people mentioned, there isn't a Home Depot person choosing what sites to block, they subscribe to a service.

When I go to Home Depot, it to get what I need and get out, not to surf the Internet.

[Heather_Shirly]

Most store management has no idea what the proxy is blocking.

I think that this site would fall under a forum category and by default most of those sites are blocked

Then again Home Depot is owned by certain groups wacky religious groups that find us "sinful".

Try your local true value store. More knowledgeable people and usually run and owned by local people.

[NicoleScott]

Maybe some employees are crossdressers who have been spending time on this site instead of working. haha

[Lacyfem]

Wow, how important can it be that you have to get on this site at Home Depot. They have their reasons I'm sure which most likely have nothing to do with the fact we are cross dressers. Will still go there to get my plumbing supplies.

[MsVal]

1) Rather than devote the time and exposure to liability, some companies subscribe to a black-list service.
2) If a web site is hosted on a server that hosts other sites that are black-listed, the server itself can be black-listed.

Best wishes
MsVal

[franchesca]

When I originally posted this I had no idea it would be such a touchy subject! Reading the responses this morning all I can do is laugh and shake my head... seriously the focus here shouldn't be the toenail, so to speak, but instead the whole foot! Which in imho should acceptance and change. If I shop somewhere that gives out free coffee that is bad, I do say something because to me it is a reflection of that company. I was raised if you're not part of the solution, you are the problem! So after a quick call and a couple of emails, a very apologetic and great full store gm said she would do everything possible to bring more awareness to this issue. So here's some advice... instead of telling someone to just get over it, be supportive and encourage them to stand up for what they believe in!

[NicoleScott]

I was raised if you're not part of the solution, you are the problem!

You'll get a lot of agreement with that statement, but there also seems to be a lot of agreement that the inability to access this site from Home Depot hardly qualifies as a problem.

[franchesca]

You'll get a lot of agreement with that statement, but there also seems to be a lot of agreement that the inability to access this site from Home Depot hardly qualifies as a problem.
You're absolutely right! This is a very trivial and easily rectified issue... however this thread has been a definite eye opener for me.

[~Joanne~]

Its nothing on the Home Depot, its the software that they use, they don't want people to go to "bad sites".

Just for the record, you counter dicted yourself here. HD knows what their software does and doesn't do so yes, it's on HD. Even though they reserve the right to block whatever while your on their service.

Personally, I wouldn't want to connected to any of these wifi hotspots because while your connected they are collecting your personal data, your shopping trends and god only knows what else. Seems like an easy way to get outed if you didn't intend to.

[Cassie.]

We don't have those stores here but I think most places have some kind of wifi security and secondly I would not want to use any of my passwords on a open wifi too much risk I think. But I'm sure there are a lot of stores that block a lot of sites due to the nature of them.

[sometimes_miss]

Crossdressing has nothing to do with what Home Depot sells, so why would they need to offer access? I've accessed lots of HD's competitors websites to compare prices while in their store, and occasionally have come up with an example to get the manager to at least come close to the price, adding that I could get it there right then, or take a chance on ordering it and it not being available. Next visit, they still hadn't blocked their competitors sites. That's all I really care about when I'm at home depot.

[Diana1517]

That's suck because is the same for me at work, but I'm feeling more comfortable at home....relax girls, just go to the flow :battingeyelashes: :battingeyelashes: