TheChrisD - Rant Central

A poxy proxy

First off, I have no idea if the word "poxy" even exists. It was just used in front of me as a child - plus it rhymes with the real subject matter: proxies.

The DCU proxy has always been a matter that I have never liked. Sure, it’s necessary given the amount of traffic that goes in and out of the college every day, but it leaves a mark on it’s users. And that mark does hurt quite badly at certain times and in certain places.

Let’s start with the problem about actually getting traffic through it. The proxy has the annoying attribute of blocking every single possible online game from getting through. The only game I can play online is Counter-Strike: Source. Everything else - Generals… Medal of Honor… and stuff… - isn’t allowed through. It’s probably the major factor in me not bothering with PC gaming Clans anymore, since I can’t actually play the games we’re supposed to play!
Also, it normally blocks other gaming traffic, such as Xbox Live traffic, but I fired off a nice e-mail and got that unblocked. At least in this room for this academic year…

Another annoying factor is the fact that you need to physically change your computer’s settings to work behind the proxy. So, every time I move outside of DCU - say to go home, or to see someone - I have to set my computer and Firefox to not use a proxy to connect. When I get back, I have to reset it so that they do use the proxy. It’s not as bad right now considering I’m in college almost all week, but if I had have been commuting to and from college this year, it would have been very annoying, switching back and forth every day just to use my computer in college. Not helpful.

And the most poxy bit of all is when the proxy server crashes. Yes, the proxy server crashed Wednesday afternoon sometime. Which meant that ALL traffic that normally gets routed through it had nowhere to go. So there was no Internet, or Internet-related activities from circa 5pm on Wednesday until sometime before I woke up today (circa 2pm). Hence the lack of any Twitter updates, forum posting, browser-based game playing etc. from me for that period. You’d think that if the proxy server failed, the firewall would set itself so that it would bypass the server and just connect directly to the Internet. Epic fail, CSD. Epic fail.

PS: Oh yes - the proxy DID definitely cause me to leave the world of PC gaming Clans behind. When several former members of The Xiled Ones left EVO to form Novus Vitae, I was probably going to join back up with them - yet their webmaster decided to block proxies from accessing the site, meaning I am unable to access in college. Needless to say, I don’t think they’re right for me anymore.