Sourceforge.net was blocked in China

Wow that sucks. According to this blog it was because Notepad++ is boycotting the Olympics. Why the developers felt compelled to get political on their project page is beyond me.

renqilin do you at least have a working copy of your project?

I see mixed reports of this dating back to last month from wikipedia, slashdot to blog postings. Some people posting say there is no problem whilst other are blaming notepad++ as mentioned. Some people are reporting that SVN access is still working so you may still be able to get your files, if not just post the details here and I or someone else will help you by maybe uploading to google hosting or similar.

Thanks for Simian Man and dmail. I have a local copy in my disk.

The problem is not about my code but information. I was a little bit crazy when I first found it is blocked at 19:00. Now I feel better but I still do not understand this policy.

Quote:

Original post by Simian Man Wow that sucks. According to this blog it was because Notepad++ is boycotting the Olympics. Why the developers felt compelled to get political on their project page is beyond me. renqilin do you at least have a working copy of your project?

I can't see how anyone would care if an OS project boycotts the olympics. They have no power. And would they really block the entire of SourceForge? Surely professional developers in China use it?

Quote:

Original post by renqilin This bad news is not only for me, but for all software developers in China. I cannot visit my Game project anymore. Perhaps hopeless, depressed and helpless is what I feel now. There is nothing I can do in this country.

I feel your pain. That's a real shame!

Quote:

Original post by Simian Man Wow that sucks. According to this blog it was because Notepad++ is boycotting the Olympics. Why the developers felt compelled to get political on their project page is beyond me.

Copy.

Obvious flaws in this aside, how do you boycott the olympics if you're not a country, athlete, or supplier/purchaser of olympic gear? Does this mean they aren't going to watch the olympics? Some boycott.......

Unless Michael Phelps keeps his training schedule on Notepad++, I don't see why China or anyone else should care.

Quote:

Original post by ChurchSkiz Obvious flaws in this aside, how do you boycott the olympics if you're not a country, athlete, or supplier/purchaser of olympic gear? Does this mean they aren't going to watch the olympics? Some boycott.......

In that case, I've been boycotting the Olympics for the past 10 years, and I never even knew I was!

Quote:

Original post by renqilin Now I feel better but I still do not understand this policy.

Maybe your government sucks.

Quote:

Original post by d000hg Quote: Original post by Simian Man Wow that sucks. According to this blog it was because Notepad++ is boycotting the Olympics. Why the developers felt compelled to get political on their project page is beyond me. renqilin do you at least have a working copy of your project? I can't see how anyone would care if an OS project boycotts the olympics. They have no power. And would they really block the entire of SourceForge? Surely professional developers in China use it?

Because the Chinese government don't want it's own people to know all the bad stuff they are doing...so they want to keep as much information out of their citizen's minds as possible. So they block websites so people don't know whats going on.

On the plus side, it'll probably be reinstated after the Olympics end (just like all sorts of relatively normal life in China).

And there are a lot of things that China really shouldn't care about, but does anyway.

Supposedly, you can use Ultrasurf to get around the Great Firewall of China. If you can try it I would be interested to know if it works.

It rendered my work's Surf Control useless.

@renqilin
I'm very interested, in this kind of situation is it possible to establish a dialog or even get an explanation from someone ? Can you for instance contact someone and ask for an explanation, and possibly even try to discuss the issue with someone who made the decision in the first place (for eg. blocking only certain SF projects).

Quote:

Originally posted by Moe Maybe your government sucks.

Why do you feel that you get to judge his government ? If anything, this kind of smug and judgmental behavior can only get a ban on GD.net. I'm not trying to say you don't have the freedom of speech, but please restrain your self from such pointless and possibly harmful comments - consider the consequences of your actions and the fact that your comment has no constructive input whatsoever. If notepad++ team went trough the same process he would probably have access to SF.net now. There are plenty of other places to express this kind of opinions, so take them there.

Quote:

Original post by RedDrake Quote: Originally posted by Moe Maybe your government sucks. Why do you feel that you get to judge his government ? If anything, this kind of smug and judgmental behavior can only get a ban on GD.net. I'm not trying to say you don't have the freedom of speech, but please restrain your self from such pointless and possibly harmful comments - consider the consequences of your actions and the fact that your comment has no constructive input whatsoever. If notepad++ team went trough the same process he would probably have access to SF.net now. There are plenty of other places to express this kind of opinions, so take them there.

So it doesn't bother you that the Chinese government blatantly suppresses freedom of speech?

Quote:

Original post by RedDrake ...

I think you need to spend more time in China. Also, all governments and policies are not equally acceptable.

Quote:

Original post by DirectXFreak So it doesn't bother you that the Chinese government blatantly suppresses freedom of speech?

It bothers everyone. But RedDrake is saying that you might limit the OP's access to this site if this turns into a bashing thread. The fact that the government does this is kept a secret from the average guy on the street. SF.net was blocked because of the reason that the Olympics are being protested. Because of the events that they are covering up. Blocking SF.net prevents the random citizen from stumbling upon this information and wanting to know more about it.

The country controls all the media and does not want people knowing about any of that stuff. So if you say the wrong thing in this thread, which is going through their filters as the OP reads it, you risk having GDnet cut off for the OP, and he might lose a valuable resource for his game programming job or hobby, along with all other users from that region.

No good can come from talking about that stuff here. Only bad. Bad for the users who may not be able to access this site, and bad for GD net losing out all the potential revenue from the hits that come from that country.

Quote:

Original post by RedDrake Quote: Originally posted by Moe Maybe your government sucks. Why do you feel that you get to judge his government ?

Well, probably because it's true.
But lets be fair here; all goverments suck to varying degrees of suckitude.

On the upside at least the OPs didn't go and blow up half the middle east in the name of 'freedom' or declare the job done when the country in question was still a clusterfuck of death and destruction (US and UK goverments I'm looking at you..)

@phantom I agree, all governments have pros and cons and they depend on perspective...

But don't get me wrong, I'm not supporting China or attacking it. I'm just saying that retarded comments can only do harm to the people of China and change nothing. As i said this is NOT the place to discuss these issues. Do you want to take away GD.net to OP and other Chinese people just because you want to be cool and liberal and show your how your views are right ? Stop being egoistical teens expressing your lowly informed opinions in places where nobody asked one, it can only harm him. Take responsibility for your actions and realize that what you say can cost him his rights and will get you or him nothing positive.

EDIT: Read what Daaark said

Why not just walk away like i will do now.

Quote:

Original post by RedDrake But don't get me wrong, I'm not supporting China or attacking it. I'm just saying that retarded comments can only do harm to the people of China and change nothing. As i said this is NOT the place to discuss these issues. Do you want to take away GD.net to OP and other Chinese people just because you want to be cool and liberal and show your how your views are right ? Stop being egoistical teens expressing your lowly informed opinions in places where nobody asked one, it can only harm him. Take responsibility for your actions and realize that what you say can cost him his rights and will get you or him nothing positive. Why not just walk away like i will do now.

Fuck the Chinese government. What? Do we all have to dress up like sheep anywhere we go on the Internet so Big Bad China won't block the entire site? I have to conduct myself in a certain way so that a malfunctioning government won't find out about it?

How the hell could you possibly know, especially you, what the Chinese government will or will not block. They could block GD.Net because they don't like the color.

Quote:

Original post by RedDrake Why not just walk away like i will do now.

That's the kind of mindset that made the Third Reich and the Holocaust possible, amongst many other warcrimes in human history. Just looking away out of fear instead of speaking up against something that is most definitely wrong is the worst that one can do.

Fact is, that the current Chinese government is a oppressive dictatorship, who violate human rights and censor information, generally oppressing the freedom of their population. They have to be removed from power as soon as possible, and put on an international trial for crimes against humanity. Period.

Quote:

I'm very interested, in this kind of situation is it possible to establish a dialog or even get an explanation from someone ? Can you for instance contact someone and ask for an explanation, and possibly even try to discuss the issue with someone who made the decision in the first place (for eg. blocking only certain SF projects).

Are you living in the real world?
Lets just think for a minute... they blocked google, youtube, bbc, jailed a blogger yet you think they are going to explain there actions to someone who asks questions?

Quote:

But don't get me wrong, I'm not supporting China or attacking it.

Personally I think everyone should be attacking it.

Quote:

I'm not trying to say you don't have the freedom of speech...

Cool so I will just ignore the rest of that stupid sentence then :)