TECH CHECK – GEOGRAPHIC
We have heard from a regular reader unable to reach the site, even under different browsers or different forms of the address.
On the off chance that it depends on geography, or network provider, could we ask for confirmation from any reader IN CANADA who is able to read this entry?
Thanks!
Comics I Don't Understand 
I’m currently in Halifax, NS. Obviously I’m seeing the site.
Thanks, Bobbi!
i also am in Halifax, and seeing it just fine
Thanks, rod!
So two from (or in) Halifax! But why is Last Tango in Halifax not about your same city?
A little checking turns up that people are getting this warning:
Malicious Website Detected!
The website you are attempting to visit ( cidu.info/ ) has been reported by Palo Alto Networks to contain malware or other malicious content in the category phishing.
So maybe the thing to do is contact Palo Alto Networks and find out why CIDU is on the Naughty List.
Thanks, MARN!
British Columbia here.
Viewing on Brave mobile.
Several months ago, when I wanted to show a comic that had appeared at CIDU to a work colleague, I discovered that the CIDU site was not reachable from my office’s VPN. It was not an addressing problem, but rather that the site had been classified as “off limits”, specifically because of content (meaning “p0rn”). I was amused, and fetched the image from GoComics instead (no problems there).
You may not believe this, but I’m from Halifax too. I’m in Thailand at the moment, so it’s not really relevant to the discussion but, I don’t know, that’s weird, isn’t it?
The reader who originally reported being blocked is, I think, in Alberta. (BTW, they were able to connect to the site over their cellular network.) So I spent a good part of the day indulging nostalgia with different versions of “Four Strong Winds”.
The warnings may just be a “baby with the bath water” problem. Although we (now) have a wonderfully concise “display” address for this website (“ cidu.info”), the URL it stands for is still CIDU Bill’s post-meltdown replacement: “godaddyandthesquirrelmustbothdie.wordpress.com”. It is quite possible that the entire wordpress domain has been red-flagged for the immoral behavior of a completely unrelated blog page.
P.S. I had a similar experience with my very first e-mail address after I moved to Germany. The provider had a different “official” name, but for advertising purposes their addresses were marketed under the domain name “snafu.de”. I was perfectly happy with them, but at some point one of the big American providers decided to “clean up the Internet”, and instituted moral standards for e-mail content. Because of the “F” in “snafu”, the term was placed on their morality blacklist, which triggered not just for content, but also when it appeared in the e-mail’s header. This meant that I could not send any e-mails to several of my relatives in the US. To bypass this idiocy, I was forced to change my “reply-to” address to the provider’s “official” domain, and then everything worked (proving that it was indeed the prudish filter that was causing the problem).
My office (a very large tech company in Silicon valley) just blocked the site (like in the last 10 minutes). I can’t tell what tech or list they use, but it was reported as in the category of “Phishing”. Will have to see if this is temporary.
I’m the reader who reported that couldn’t access the site. It appears that if I am on my own wifi, and not on my work wifi, it’s fine, so I guess no more reading CIDU while on lunch!
@ Arthur (12) – Does the block only apply to CIDU, or are other wordpress blog pages also affected?
I dont see other blocks. I found a list of 36 best WordPress blogs and all of the 8-10 or so that I checked loaded.
I found a couple of blacklist checkers and none of them seemed to show anything suspicious for this site. So I’m stumped. But my work is still blocking the site today. (Although instead of a “this site is blocked” message, I’m just getting a “the connection was reset” error.) Only works on my phone when I’m on mobile service, not on any of the company networks.
A little late for reply – but have had no problem getting on the strip or site about a week later.
@ Arthur (15) – I think the “work” related blocks (like my own employer’s) may be because the company subscribes to a “security service”, so that the internal DNS simply doesn’t let employees get to “dangerous” locations.