Well, I made it...

...out to the Cedar Roe library, and you'll all be pleased to hear that JCL's Wi-Fi is still just as bad as it was a couple of years back-in other words, just as useless as it's ever been. You can't read Usenet, you can't securely access your e-mail-and you can't chat at bipolarworld.net, because just like KCMO, they're also blocking port 7000.

Of course, given this network's infamy, I'd expect that out here. Perhaps KCMO is aiming to cut its Wi-Fi usage down to JCL's levels (I'm the only laptop user here at just after 7 p. m.). Well, they've made a good start.

And now for what I REALLY wanted to talk about this evening...

...which, of course, is the issue of the hour, namely whether the KCMO library's IT department is being prudent and cautious or suffering from an advanced case of pointy-haired bossism, as evidenced by its rationale for blocking port 7000 on the Wi-Fi for patron-owned computers when they don't do so for the connection their own computers use.

My vote is for the latter, given that I'm posting this using the Wi-Fi in the Riverside branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library, and I'm happy to report that the chats on www.bipolarworld.net work just fine up here. Since Riverside was hardly a den of cyber-iniquity the last I heard, I'm of the opinion that KCMO is full of it. If they're truly concerned that leaving 7000 open will make them susceptible to spreading denial-of-service attacks, why isn't Mid-Continent-and more to the point, why isn't it happening now on MCPL's network? For that matter, why isn't it happening on the thousands of free and open networks across the country? I think we'd have heard about it if it were, don't you?

I had planned to run the same test at NKC, but since they've apparently gone members-only, we'll have to settle for you-know-where...Johnson County. Don't know if I'll make one of their locations from up here tonight, but when I do make one, you'll find out right here.

Does anyone have any idea...

...when and why the North Kansas City Public Library closed its network? Nothing on their website about their having done it.

Well, too bad. I doubt many users will bother with jumping through those hoops to keep using it. Didn't see any earlier this afternoon, at least.

Anyone with any info, fill us in.

From dumber to Dilbert

The other shoe has dropped in the saga of the KCMO Public Library and the patron who wants to access an IRC chatroom over the public wireless connection but can't because port 7000 on that connection is blocked.

I wonder if the responder actually bothered reading back his reply to himself before posting it. I mean, esentially he seems to be saying, "It's the patron's fault he or she can't do what he or she is trying to do even though the reason he or she can't do it is indeed due to something we're doing."

Furthermore, the fact that they are not blocking port 7000 on the connections for their computers makes the responder's rationalization for blocking it only on the connection for patron-owned equipment ludicrous. Since when have they been responsible for my computer?

If I'm stupid enough to want to get on a motorcycle without a helmet, you can reasonably argue that I should be prohibited from doing that since the rest of society may ultimately have to help foot the bill for the consequences. If that same stupidity, however, keeps me from protecting my own computer against malware (or-sorry, but I am going to go there-from buying one less susceptible to malware to start with) and as a result my laptop melts down and runs all over the floor, the library's only insistence should be that I bring a mop with me to clean up the mess.

You know, this is really sad. KCMO up until now had been doing the best job with public library Wi-Fi. This kind of cluelessness is what we had come to expect from Johnson County and their woeful effort before we gave up on it.

One hopes that this really is just the result an ego-fueled Dilbert moment, and that cooler heads and common sense will prevail before it goes any further.

Four more years! Four more years!

My goodness, is it the fourth anniversary of this blog's founding already? Where does the time go?

Here's hoping it's been as useful to you as it's been fun for us.

There's dumb, and then there's dumber.

Remember my post from a couple of months ago calling out the KCMO Public Library's IT department for their response to someone experiencing issues with joining a chatroom over their wireless connection? Well, the library has finally gotten around to posting some newer entries on its "comments and suggestions" board (something, by the way, that it really needs to do more often than every other month or so) and it seems that I wasn't alone in my disdain for their answer. You'd think that would have inspired them to rise to the occasion and come through for the patron with the issue, wouldn't you? Well, think again.

And how do I know they actually haven't resolved the patron's issue, you ask? Simple-I sojourned down to the Central Library myself last evening and attempted to hit the chatroom. While there really is a problem with the Java applet's certificate-to wit, that it's expired-that's not why the chat isn't coming through. (In Firefox, you can get around this by deciding not to trust the certificate; the applet will still run, but in an enhanced security mode.) No, the reason you can't get in is that port 7000 is blocked on the Wi-Fi.

Which raises its own questions, not the least of which is why this should be the case when it isn't on the connection for the library's computers (assuming the IT department is telling the truth about being able to access the chat on its workstations). And if anyone down there would care to explain why none of you could come up with a straight answer for this patron after nearly three months, we're all ears.

The really sad thing about all this is that the patron-whom I don't know from Adam or Eve-appears to be someone who really needs the support he or she is trying to obtain, and the library has let him or her down at every turn. At the very least, the decency of a personal apology would be expected.

And take it from someone who's worked in end-user support for a good number of years now: The "Gee, it works when I try it" defense is a good way to put yourself on the fast track to the unemployment line in the private sector. The person on the other end of the conversation-who is your customer, remember-could care less if it works for you. The conversation is taking place because it isn't working for them.

The library has been apprised of the situation. Updates forthcoming if and when they respond. And if anyone who stops by a library branch in the meantime should discover the problem has been resolved, let us know.

"He that soweth the wind..."

Remember back in June when I told you about a couple of new locations that claimed to offer free Wi-Fi but didn't have an open router showing when I visited? Well, the one downtown-in the Power and Light District, to be exact-has apparently reaped the whirlwind, according to the Kansas City Star's Joyce Smith.

While we generally don't call out an establishment by name in such cases unless we're doing a return visit (which is why I didn't identify it in my original post), the situation with this one really got to Mac and me, what with all the anticipation of Latte Land moving into that space instead. I'm loath to crow that it serves them right, but I haven't heard of any locations offering free and open access biting the dust lately, have you?

And, of course, there's always the outside chance that having this space sit empty again will knock some sense into the apparently thick-skulled heads in the executive suite at Cordish and the Latte Land deal will end up getting done.