blocked from site.

[WEPIV]

It is a wonder you aren't still in some Chinese prison

Well, we were in the Republic of China (Taiwan) as opposed to the People's Republic and my step-father was working with the ROC navy through Honeywell and we were just kids. However, as just about any US person can say after having lived somewhere overseas while a minor, the caning punishment that Singapore (as I recall) did decades ago to the bratty US kid who had done some car vandalism could pretty much be said to be deserved for a lot of other US overseas dependents.
Besides, we didn't like the fact that we were being listened in on if indeed we were.

[gschaut]

Is it possible that the blocking is happening on the local ISP side? Doesn't China block (censor) some stuff specifically?

It's nick named "The Great Firewall of China". The Chinese government blocks millions of web addresses that they consider "pornographic" or "defamatory" to the Glorious People's Republic.

[crawford]

Don't tell them about the guns and moonshine on this site, or they'll block CDF, too.

[sskasser]

LOL, growing up in rural Mississippi with a party line, we pretty much assumed everything we said was being heard by someone other than the person with whom we were talking. Between modern technology and old fashioned gossip, I still pretty much assume that anything that leaves my brain (via mouth or hands) is going to eventually get to someone other than its intended target, and filter accordingly

[MORGAN]

LOL, growing up in rural Mississippi with a party line, we pretty much assumed everything we said was being heard by someone other than the person with whom we were talking. Between modern technology and old fashioned gossip, I still pretty much assume that anything that leaves my brain (via mouth or hands) is going to eventually get to someone other than its intended target, and filter accordingly

There were 5 families on our party line when I was a kid - all but one related. You could usually tell when somebody was listening in as you'd hear a click when they picked up and the volume would drop a little. It was handy before answering machines and voicemail. If the phone rang enough times without being answered my grandmother would pick it up and say, "You're calling Shirley? (Yup - one of my aunts was a Shirley!) She's gone down to the village, but I'll see her later and tell her you called." The old ladies' communications network, at least in Chelsea, Vermont, remains highly effective in 2011. The accuracy could use a little help, though - sometimes the data seems to get corrupted in transmission.

[TJDiver]

Yeah, I remember the party line at my grandparents' place when we visited. Some of those old gossiping biddies would be on the line for what seemed like hours. I have to confess to eavesdropping on some of those conversations when I was a kid, and boy did they like to churn the rumor mill. My grandmother developed health problems, and I can remember several times my grandfather having to run them off the line so he could call the doctor.

[sskasser]

LOL, those were the good old days, for sure! My kids couldn't comprehend the idea that once, phone communications meant:

*Being home to receive a call
*No one else being ON the phone for you to receive a call
*Not knowing who was calling until you answered
*Getting tangled up in the long kitchen phone cord
*Actual "dialing", as in a rotary

[FW]

I hate to admit this, but when I was a kid, my uncles in rural Arkansas, and Washington state, still had hand crank phones. You turned the crank to get the operators attention, and she connected you with a flexible phone cord at the central office. When the phone rang, you had to wait to see what the ring pattern was, so you would know who the call was for.