Why you can't visit that website

My general IT philosophy is that IT should be as unobtrusive as possible. Who am I to restrict what someone is and isn't allowed to do or go on a work computer? My job, as I see it, is to protect the computer infrastructure that I manage; I let the individual managers in my company decide a user's job roles and what they should and shouldn't access on the internet.

I don't actively block YouTube, or Facebook, or Twitter, or Hulu, or (insert time consuming website here). There are some employees at my company that benefit from accessing these websites on a regular basis through research, customer outreach, or training. When a manager approaches me about blocking a website for an employee I first explain to them my philosophy and stress the need for them to approach the user. If the issue is addressed and the problem still exists I will then actively block a website for a user. I have never had to block a website due to a request of this nature.

We subscribe to a content filtering service through our hardware firewall. It is set to only block a website if it is pornographic, hateful, or containing questionable content in regards to viruses/malware. However, I will occasionally get an email or phone call from a user asking why the web page they want to download wallpapers from or view motorcycles for sale is blocked. I tell them that despite the fact they think the website is harmless to them our firewall has detected viruses or malware and won't render the site. I then have to reinforce the fact that viruses and malware don't lurk in 'dark' places on the internet anymore. (As an aside, I'm always amazed that people still think viruses can only be found on pornographic web pages. Viruses are everywhere people… you have got to be careful where you're clicking).

I do have colleagues that believe the opposite approach is the best; which is to restrict all internet traffic except that deemed acceptable by themselves or a higher authority. I understand why this is necessary for certain environments but mostly feel this inhibits creativity, is a case of someone desiring too much control, or that a company doesn't trust its users.

The thing about my job is that I work only with adults. Think about that; everyone I work with is responsible for their own actions. I (and my company) allow mostly uninhibited access to the positive things the internet has to offer. If they abuse this privilege, they are held accountable by their superior.

I don't feel it's up to me to control the productivity of a user. That is their supervisor's job. I am responsible for keeping the integrity of our network and computer systems operational. And if that means you can't look up kitty-cat wallpapers then so be it.

Why we're a bunch of jerks

It's not uncommon for me to fix the same problem several times in a given time frame. For example, I might have several engineers install a software patch that requires a video driver update before it will work properly. Or I might be asked to fix the computers of several family members that all received the same virus through their email.

It's easy to see that my job can be repetitive by nature and I don't enjoy repeating myself if I don't have to. So when one of my users asks me a question that I've answered before, or submits an issue to me that I've already fixed I can get frustrated. I know what you're thinking… 'well maybe THEY have never had that problem before; you shouldn't be upset with them.'  I'll give you that one but it's not uncommon for a user to come to me with the same problem several times. Sometimes they cause the problem and they seem to forget how to prevent it. Sometimes I tell them how to fix the problem when it arises but they will often can't remember what I told them.  One of the most frustrating situations is when I take the time to explain an issue and how to fix it in an email and send it out but the users don't read the email. One such example happened to me after a system upgrade…

I upgraded a system one Friday evening so I wouldn't disrupt everyone during normal working hours. I documented in an email the details of how the users need to access the system (the email was a bulleted list of what needed to be done). Monday morning, an engineer calls me with an issue… you know, the one I emailed everyone about and told them how to fix. When I asked him if he read my email he told me "Two things… One, email isn't an effective form of communication. Two, I rarely read your emails anyway. Why would I take the time to read them when I can just call you?"

That is why we are a bunch of jerks.

We often forget that we are providing a service and we should do so with patience and a smile. But you also need to realize that we deal with a lot of things on a daily basis. When we take the time to 'teach you how to fish' it's frustrating when you keep asking us for food. But IT guys should always remember to' teach people how to fish' with a smile.