Hmmm...

...it seems that maybe the trend against library-filter overblocking is catching on around here.

I stopped in at KCMO's Southeast branch today and tried the most problematic of my overblocking test URLs, and it came right up. Granted, KCMO's Bess installation never went to the ridiculous extremes Johnson County did with their DansGuardian, but the fewer overblocks that get in your way, the better as far as I'm concerned.

One sad note, though. There's a lady here who's perhaps my age, equipped with a fairly nice Toshiba of recent vintage, who's deathly afraid of putting it out onto the 'Net. Nothing I can say will convince her that not only will she get more out of her laptop and whatever she's trying to do on it by going online, but it'll be better able to protect itself from malware and other threats if she'll just give it access to what it needs to do that.

I don't know which is more disheartening-her or another laptop user who's just arrived and gone through the ritual of pulling out her trusty old HP and plugging in (we're at the table near the back with the four power outlets in the floor next to it), only to announce that she needs to go across the street to vote, and ask me if I'll stand guard over her rig while she does!

At any rate, it's really nice to know that this long-awaited hotspot is starting to draw a crowd.