Here are two options our new filtering system currently gives when you try to access a blocked site1.
Option One
Misspelling aside, this warning is not pleasant. It assumes what I’m doing is bad and that I am acting with bad intent. Apparently I need a scary warning. I am being treated like a deviant. This does not please me.
Option Two
Well, am I blocked? Is the site down? I don’t know. This message does nothing for me and leads to frustration and irritation. I suspect the filter but have no obvious way to confirm it2. Super.
The message I want is simple. Let’s choose something with a blue or green background. It can be unique looking so teachers can spot it easily but it can also be calm and polite. Maybe something like . . .
There’s nothing wrong with treating people with respect and politeness. The scary page isn’t going to deter people who are interested in bypassing the filter and it only insults those who are going about their business with legitimate intent.
Looks like ya’ll are using Lightspeed, which is what we have in our district. Rather than going to the trouble to override it, why doesn’t your network manager allow differentiated filtering based on login? We’re doing that quite successfully in our district using Lightspeed. Teachers have access to almost everything, kids don’t.
Are you all on PCs with network authenticated logins? In MS and ES were all on Macs so things may not work quite the same way. I will ask them about that at the HS level though. We were 8e6 until just a few weeks ago so this filtering system is new to me.