Katie...

Could you post other tranny sites that we might reference? Only other one I know if Transglobal.

Thnx...

Traci xxxxx

No worries, will pop into my local library tomorrow [wednesday] and check out TW access and, if banned, get more info. If banned will also approach local County Council.

As already asked, what other sites should I check for?

Anything else I could do? More than happy with a mission

Much love

Rae xx

Hi Katie-

Wasn't this or a very similar topic posted perhaps a month or so ago? Perhaps it was a bit further back. Anyway, fwiw, I did go by the Seattle library and was able to log on with no problem at all. That was the municipal library, I'll also check at the King County library, the county Seattle is in, but a different system and see if there are any problems there.

I belong to a group called Gender Association of the South Sound and I'll ask members to check in their various cities and counties though I have no idea what the response might be.

Take care, Katie. As always, thanks for all you do.

Hugs...Joni Mari

I’m thinking out loud here…
I wouldn’t have thought that specific sites are individually banned from public libraries; I can’t imagine someone trawling through all the sites in the world and deciding that “This one’s not suitable for our library…”
Rather, I expect keywords are selected to block sites which contain them in their name, you know where this is going…
So “Transwhatever” might not be blocked, but “Trannyanything” will be.
Now obviously trannies are generally pretty harmless and are not going to instigate the destruction of society as we know it, so blocking the word tranny from site names allowed in your local library is fairly ridiculous, but I don’t think we are proactively being “ethnically cleansed”. As has often been noted here, other sites beginning with the word tranny often ARE wholly inappropriate for the public library, being of a more sexual nature.
Please don’t misconstrue this as being ts snobbery, but I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable complaining to my friendly librarian about the unavailability of a certain “tranny” site. I suspect many closet trannies would feel the same, perhaps for different reasons.
I know Katie doesn’t agree with this, and I understand her reasons, but I’ve always wished we could lose the word tranny from our community name. Maybe it would allow us immediate entry into public libraries and stop us being pariahs in the Google/Paypal virtual world.
xx

I agree with Lucy comments and Google is a good example on searches that are banned. If you search anything to do with TW and sex pictures comes up under images, the site will be banned on MANY public networks and I can really understand this because I hate it myself. Even though I can set the filer but I don’t like to use it in Google as it also filters out things I search on so I get less relevant results.

So words like “tranny” and transsexuals gives all sex images which then will be banned in the HOSTS file in the computer or the IP to TW will be banned on the server in the same way as forum web sites are banning some members that they don’t want to visit or sign up.

Web sites like Roses and Angel Forum is examples that will be shown, maybe also because of they name choice where TW has a disadvantage.

PayPal has its own rules so I guess they don’t ban sites for fun but have a reason to do so.

xxx Natalie

I have to agree too, it is because of having 'tranny' in our name, and unfortunately that word is too closely linked to so many porn sites. If revenue, potential or otherwise, is being lost then perhaps a name change needs reviewing? Of course, I know the arguments against that as well, I can see both sides but I think it will ultimately come down to what we need to do in order to keep the site afloat.

Nikki

All UK public libraries seem to subscribe to a Filter Servic e that cuts out all sites with 'trans' in them
I have complained repeatedly to mine in two different towns and council areas but to no avail...trans things is disgusting/perverted etc...
rose

Well, on the 'hot' topic of filtering against 'tranny' and it's assumed derivatives, I can't really add much as I'm not that up to date on modern computing. But reading the comments here they lead me to assume that the filter would work on site title alone and not content. That can't be right can it? But if not, and it works on content - as I'd assume it did - it would also cut out any medical, psychological, or educational site relating to tranny issues... would'nt it? I'm confused! :/

But back to checking things out on terra firma, I do slope back into this thread with some advice: If you want to research at your local library, first of all research your local library. Or more specifically, it's ^&*(&%^% opening times. How was I to know it STILL operates a half-day closing policy on a wednesday? Doh! Oh well, that'll be deepest darkest Dorset for you. Not to worry, I'll don my trusty pith helmet once more on the morrow and sally forth...

Much love

rae x

Hi Katie-

I had reason to go into the city (Seattle) this morning and swung by the Beacon Ave branch and was early enough that there were carrels open and got some computer time. Once again, no problem at all logging on to TW. However by the time I got back to the little burb I live in and got to the local branch of the King County library every computer had someone on it with a minimum 45 min wait time. I'll try again tomorrow, though, and report back.

FWIW, if it is the site name (like Rae I'm not informed enough to know how the various filter system work), then even though there's a tremendous amt of "brand name recognition" built up, perhaps it's time to seriously consider some sort of change.

This just ocurred to me, I do belong to another TG site (Yes, <sob> I haven't been completely faithful, I've been with other sites. But they don't mean anything to me, nothing at all. It was just, you know, to see what it was like. Honest, I only really love TW.) I'll check and see if I can log onto them as well. I guess I'll also try search terms like "tranny, transgendered, crossdress, crossdresser, etc".

I so hope this can be resolved and TW can be solvent again, or at least more solvent than it currently is. Katie, I know I always say this, but thank you for all you do and all you have poured into this site.

Hugs...Joni Mari

its blocked here as well in oxfordshire , the staff were helpfull and have said and shown that its not just you its all sites in the area with tranny in them , also the have trans-mission site blocked but roses and angels works hope this helps

Are they using a filter like our own TW filter which baulks at subjects like Joe C***er,S***thorpe etc etc? It might be interesting to enter 'transport' and see what happens.............


Lynn

Perhaps that's because 'transgendered' is a medical condition, while 'tranny' is just seen by the uneducated masses as something weird?

Nikki

Many countries have site-blocking systems and they can block any site they want and they have many options to do so. One is a URL blocker so if the URL has the word "sex" or likes in this case, "tranny" in it, it will be blocked. They are also blocking web sites based on IP address or even keyword search but in this case I’m sure it’s blocked because of the word “tranny” in your URL and that's why Roses and Angels will never be blocked no matter how much sex or what ever they have because as said by lovely Cristine, they just don't have the time and money to do all research of each site.

One solution for Katie is to register another URL and just do a mirror of the system with web forwarding and you will see you can have both PayPal and Google ads and both sites will run parallel without much extra work at all.

In fact it does not cost you more then a domain registration with web forwarding and then you will see it works, as all pages would be loaded under both trannyweb.com and like katiesite.com. When people comes to trannyweb.com and want to pay with PayPal, you just redirect to katiesite.com and your problem is solved forever but ad clicks made from Trannyweb would not count so you would need to make an ad blocker so ads are only shown in katiesite.com

Another thing is that you use very few meta tags and only on your main page but don’t forget that search engines are looking at most of your pages, not only the main page. So it can help to at least add the <meta name="RATING" content="General"> meta tag to every page you got because have it on only one or two does not help much.

xxx Natalie

They think thier protecting children from porn. Thier not going to change it.

Here in Suffolk, i've always been able to log into TW in our local library without any fuss. It kinda helps if you know some of the people that work there. Before i got my first PCback in 2005, i used the library to access TW & it truly was a life-saver.


Hope this helps in some way


Lol xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Anna-Marie

when my librariess computers flag up the page unavailable due to restricted etc...there is a box to click to send a message to head librarian asking that any particular site can be allowed through the filter but of all the many times i asked for my few favourites medical/legals/updates on transthings I never found one had the restriction lifted...and even a letter request to head librarian merely got the 'its the software filter' crap answer.

I volunteered for a library users forum and raised the matter there but of course no-one took the matter further...we are queeers/freaks etc..and thats how we will stay in the public's eye...

I have access to TW at the public library in Troy, MI

Hi Rose,

Perhaps the librarian is lazy? I can imagine that it might be a real pain in the butt for the librarian to deal with these keyword filter issues, especially if she not technically savvy. I think a good litmus test would be for you to find a few other flagged sites (non-trans related) and see if the librarian can clear those, and even perhaps go so far as to get somebody else to ask in your place?

Just a suggestion,

Alhana