Hi, I just learned that my website is being blocked by some web filtering software; most notably at big companies. It returns a message saying that it was due to having "Category: None".

Now, I understand the importance of having web filters, especially at workplaces. And if a company says that community websites are off-limits for viewing, then I can abide by that.

But from what I've been able to determine some companies are only doing rudimentary blocking. Only disallowing "blank" or "null" category sites, for example. They don't care too much what your site is about, as long as it's classified correctly and doesn't match some criteria that's blacklisted.

And that's what's getting me here. I'm not being blocked because I have "bad" content. After all, it's a clean and benign community home owner association website. I think the most offensive words on it are "crime" and "payable to"...

On the other hand, for example, the CoffeeCup website, including the forum area, is NOT blocked. Nor are the major news outlets, such as CNN, ABC, Fox News, etc.

So, I'm pretty sure I'm being blocked because I have "no" category classification; or a "blank" classification.

So my question for all of you: How do I go about getting my site classified/categorized? Is there a tag I can insert on my pages? Is there some sort of registry that I can visit / sign up at?

Google search is not helpful in this area.

Thanks in advance!

Hi,

What type of location is the web filtering software blocking your site? Maybe their database needs to be updated. Have you thought about contacting them or checking their criteria for blocking the site. If after this, it is still blocked and the location is relevant, I might try changing some of the wording. Another thought is that the old domain owner may have used it for some type of site that was "filtered out" and again their database needs to be updated. Just a few ideas and I hope it helps.

Hi again!

No, my domain has always been used for this homeowner association. The old site used a CMS called "TYP03". It was too visually busy, very cluttered with unrelated information (but not inappropriate material), and was very difficult to maintain. I couldn't even figure out how to simply change the ugly grey backround color.

But the content then was just as benign as my content is today.

Anyway, when I went live with my VSD-created site, I moved the whole site (everything that was in public_html, including downlevel folders) into an alternate folder. That stuff is still there, but it's non-functional, even by accessing its direct URL, probably due to TYP03's database and scripting requirements.

Your question made me think though. My site is a ".INFO" (as opposed to .com, .org, etc.). So I wonder if it may have something to do with that?

My goal here is to change my website so that all major filtering companies/organizations/software will see that I'm no longer classified as "null" or "blank." I don't want to "apply to" filtering organizations; I simply don't have time for that kind of administration time commitment.

If there's no tag I can put on my pages, then I wonder if maybe some of these filtering companies have "bots", similar to the google indexing bots. I think they must. After all, how do sites like CoffeeCup or Craigslist or Sam's Club or any banking site get through those filters? I doubt they "submit themselves"; who would have the time, especially if it were a small company? There might be hundreds of companies they would have to communicate with, a highly unlikely prospect.

If there are "bots", then maybe I just need to wait. Or maybe there's a ROBOTS.TXT file that I could include?

Just to re-iterate...my site has never contained any inappropriate content, and does not store or manipulate shopping carts, personal data, memberships, accounts, or anything like that.

It's just a "read-only" type of site, except for the page that allows people to send an email to the webmaster. Gives them a chance to tell me about burned out streetlights, broken water pipes, the barking dog that kept them awake last Tuesday...

If I can self-classify my site as a "community, Home Owner Association, Civic organization," something along those lines, then just wait for the major filtering companies to get caught up, that would be the best solution.

I still don't know enough about all this.

Sounds like a pain for you. Where I work, they do filtering and I can still see my domains:

.biz
.info
.org
and .com

I dont always use robots.txt,(but good habit to follow) and also is the does the location group that is being filtered large enough to matter? Where I work, I wouldnt like being filtered, but to be honest for the group I focus on, it doesn't matter.

Wish you luck with this.

Rod, I will follow up on this. I suppose it's possible that all ".INFO" is being blocked.

Thanks.