Pls Hndle Thx: World Wide Web of Addiction
[Ed Note: Do you have a question for next week? Send it in to advice@abovethelaw.com]
Dear ATL, I have a soft addiction to Facebook, Gmail and online dating sites. My firm doesn’t block the sites and I can’t help spending hours a day procrastinating on them. I wanted to ask the IT department to block these sites, but I’m afraid of being the girl who blocked J-date. Do you think I should do it?Unplugged
Dear Unplugged,
We all learned about the “tragedy of the commons” in property class: the phenomenon whereby people acting selfishly destroys a common resource, like a public park or the ATL comment threads.
In asking IT to block Facebook, Gmail and Jdate, you’re inherently being selfish. In doing so, you alert IT and ultimately the partnership to the notion that other associates may also be wasting time on the internet. The firm may then block these sites on a firm-wide basis, essentially punishing those associates who check their online dating profile no more than twice an hour and who dutifully set their Gchat status to “busy/you may be interrupting.” The catastrophe that would ensue from complete blockage would likely be on par with the cursed day that Friendster accidentally revealed whose profiles people had been checking. Not pretty.
Firms may not realize until it’s too late that they’re cutting too wide a swath by getting rid of social networking sites. Take away Facebook, and how will people know if someone from middle school is now In a Relationship or ate Thai food for lunch? We won’t. Without this critical information, lawyers simply cannot do their jobs effectively. Might as well cancel Lexis and look for the latest legal developments in the crusty Pacific Reporter 2d. In fact, while we’re at it, why not toss computers altogether and go back to drafting motions through cave paintings.
So before you run down to IT and tell them to shut off the internet, why don’t you stop thinking about yourself for once and consider your co-workers. They use the internet too.
Your friend,
Marin
What kind of petty, addled, William Hawthorne-esque, freedom hating world do you live in, Unplugged? Just because you can’t handle something, you want to prevent others from having it? Marin is absolutely right about this - you can’t hide in a cave because you are afraid of the bright, shining sun.If you insist on acting like a caveman, be prepared to be treated like one should you go through with your Luddite plan. I’m talking clubs and large rocks from your fellow associates.
You’ve been warned,
Guurk
Well folks, it appears that Elie is flagrantly flouting the AGREED UPON Pls Hndle Thx format. But two can play at this game, and as such I refuse to tender my usual insult/wry retort. Now who’s suffering.
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Comments
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FIRSTIES!!!
First! and yeah, don't shut down the internet for others because you have no self control (says the person who's currently using the internet for non work purposes)
LOL HILARIOUS I LOVE THESE SOOOO MUCH PLEASE KEEP POSTING!!!
Seriously, these are always terrible and never funny, even when you get the tone right. Kudos for attempting to fill the ATL void, but this is now offically a failed experiment.
http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock.html
Dear Rick's Cabaret
Please shut down, I am spending far too much money there and because I can't handle my own addiction, I want to make the whole world pay.
Heart
John Doe
K&S likes midget porn
JDate ... too Jewey, noses too big .. did not read
MLK = CATFISH
BITCH SPREAD DEM BUTTCHEEKS SO I CAN GET A GOOD WHIFF OF THOSE JEWCEY INSIDES!
First to point out that Marin's analogy to the tragedy of the commons is simply not apt.
Are Jewish chicks really that good in the sack?
i use leechblock on firefox. you can set it up to block specified websites after a certain number of minutes a day, or during particular hours of the day, etc.
I actually laughed a little at 9's comment. Good Lord, what's happening to my sense of decency and professionalism?? Next thing you know, I'll be prowling for a nice sheep . . .
@11 -- Not AT ALL.
How dare you call me crusty!
Check out:
http://www.k9webprotection.com
You can install your own filter (assuming the IT people haven't locked your PC down so tightly that you can't add or remove programs).
It will take you 5 minutes to download and install the filter software and another 5 minutes to configure the list of excluded sites. When you install the software it will prompt you for an administrator password, which is needed to change or unlock the filter settings. Pick a random string of 10-15 characters, WRITE IT DOWN ON A PIECE OF PAPER, and keep the paper at home or in your car. BAM! Now Facebook and whatever other sites you want blocked are inaccessible from your PC, and you can change or remove the filter only by going through the trouble of digging the password out of its hiding spot and bringing it to work. Productivity success!
Who's still on Friendster?
i spend all day looking at the live feed from a webcam pointed at the live lobster tank in the local supermarket. IT dept doesn't realize the effect it has on me...
@11 and 14 - I've had great sex with jewish girls. I think it's because they're more experienced, not having that whole "fear of going to hell for pre-marital sex" thing all of us uppity Christian's deal with.
@11 and 14 - I've had great sex with jewish girls. I think it's because they're more experienced, not having that whole "fear of going to hell for pre-marital sex" thing all of us uppity Christians deal with.
Who's still on Friendster?
I faail to see what this has to do with the rumored Cahill layoffs.
Anybody know if there are privacy/ownership issues involved with using social networking sites (like Facebook and dating sites) while at work?
11, 14, and 20,
My experience with Jewish chicks is that they are a little lazy in bed, expecting you to do all the work. Plus you have to cut a hole in a sheet ahead of time.
Anybody know if there are privacy/ownership issues involved with using social networking sites (like Facebook and dating sites) while at work?
24 -- I don't get it. Only KKK members have sex with Jewish chicks?
I would rather NAIL a SHEEP with a LOBSTER in its ASS than have sex with some whiny jewish chick with a huge merkin.
I had amazing sex with this jewish chick with giant tits. oh wait, sorry, she was actually greek.
Try this Firefox extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4476
Jewish chicks all have HUGE PUBES!
I typically don't flame stories on ATL, but I believe we have reached a new low.
Can't most people do all of these things on their mobile phones anyway?
30 plus comments and no one has yet complained about the bizarre reference to the tragedy of the commons? What are ATL commenters coming to?
Unplugged is talking about building a wall around the commons to block everyone out, including herself. That is not at all like the tragedy of the commons. Its the opposite -- the tragedy of over-regulation of the commons.
Self censor
http://www.wikihow.com/Block-a-Website-in-Internet-Explorer-7
33- a) commenter 10 did complain about the bizarre reference to the tragedy of the commons.
2) The commons analogy here is that using the internet is the commons, and unplugged wants to pollute (build a wall, block it, whatever, the commons is ruined for everyone). The analogy requires the assumption that there will be someone who doesn't know how to block themselves and has IT do it, but its still a valid commons tragedy.
D) An over-regulation of the commons usually is considered lots of small regulation, not a single block. Read Columbia Prof. Heller's book. Because apparently he really needs to sell some copies, judging from his pushing it on CLS students.
If you're looking for love online, you've got bigger problems than whether or not they shut off your internet.
http://secretgeek.net/block_sites.asp
35. That's cute. I can picture you at columbia law thinking you're learning economics.
I have sad news for you. Law professors, who desparately need to add legitimacy to their "scholarship", are constantly abusing the tragedy of the commons (the prisoners dilemma, etc.), and law students are an easy target. Though they don't want you to know it, not every coordination problem is usefully seen as a tragedy of the commons. What makes the tragedy of the commons a tragedy is that the fact that it is a commons, on very basic psychological assumptions, drives the destruction of the commons. What you have described is quite plainly not a problem driven by common ownership; it is a problem of over-regulation when a simple technological fix would do. By your standard banning all noise in a room when a few pairs of earplugs would solve the problem is a "tragedy of the commons." That use of the concept deprives it of its meaning and value.
Here's what I don't get. How have you gotten through even a semester with your outlining skills: a, 2, D? Seriously??
Seconding 29's suggestion for LeechBlock. I have it configured to block google reader and ATL (so I can only check those after I'm home).
My productivity has soared.
We're also fans of leechblock -- here's an article explaining how to use it:
http://corporette.com/2008/06/24/tool-of-the-trade-leechblock/