It seems that when I am supposed to be working I am lured by this forum........

I can't seem to get enough of what everyone has to say.

I just joined on Friday and I have spent everyday on the forum at least an hour or two a day.

Now I am at work and what am I doing? I am on the Forum. It is amazing that you can look so busy typing..........

Welcome to my life!

I know one of these days im going to recive an Invoice from one of the members employers for lost work... and its going to be in the thousands

Welcome to the forums Redhed! I sent you a PM about the error you are reciving.

Me too. Greetings from the armpit of the IT industry.

I think most everybody in here can relate...I'm constantly checking around me making sure no one sneaks up behind me while I'm in here.

Okay MBC, R.H....get back to work...
Meanwhile I'll read a few more posts...

Luckily, my boss doesn't care too much, as long as I get my work done. I used to get chastised for having such a high monthly internet usage, but since the month when he sent the entire contents of a hard drive (4 gigs!) over the firewall, he hasn't said a word. He does, however, believe that no bike is worth more than $250.

You guys should know that your employers can monitor exactly what you do online (do I detect some cold sweat on your forehead). This is even perfectly legal. It may be illegal to check emails although this has been argued both ways in courts but it is not illegal to monitor other internet traffic or computer use.

Welcome to this new cheerful e-world.

I don't care I am self-employed. When I spend hours on this forum like anybody else it only harms myself.

A tongue-in-cheek article, "The 19 kinds of friends" in the October 2001 Utne Reader has the following description:

"The E-mail friend: If the medium is the message, as Marhsall McLuhan claimed, then the message of most e-mail friendships is goofing off at work."

(Incidentally, this issue has articles that people in this forum might like. Article titles such as "Land of the Free... Parking" and "Why Johnny and Jana Can't Walk to School.")

And people wonder why the economy ran out of steam. The few folks who actually worked got tired.

Where I work it's either this, Quake, or a two hour lunch. God forbid you actually get your work done and go home early because everyone thinks if you leave before 7pm you are lazy.

WELL FOLKS, PLAYING QUAKE UNTIL 7pm ISN'T THE SAME THING AS WORKING A 12 HOUR DAY.

Just blowing off some steam, and getting pissed off becuase my options are about worthless and the company blows money like it's going out of style. I am getting layed off and don't like it. So after this I am checking out Monster.

Unless you work for a big corp. you probably don't need to worry. The expense of keeping track of employee Internet use is prohibitive to most companies. But, most companies run their own email servers, like MS Exchange. Usually your System Administrator will have access to your account, or should. Your email can easily be accessed on the server without your knowledge. So, don't use your work email to set up your next drug deal.

AND REMEMBER: AFTER YOU ARE GONE YOUR EMAIL IS STILL ON THE SERVER.

[QUOTE


Unless you work for a big corp. you probably don't need to worry. The expense of keeping track of employee Internet use is prohibitive to most companies. [/QUOTE]

Actually some monitoring programs are very cheap and can keep track of every one of your keystrokes but companies (esp. small companies) have generally better use of their resource than to process the huge pile of data they generate. If your company was savy enough though, it would not take any time to set up a program to flag every time you type certain keywords (say "bike") on your computer and to email your boss of the content of your typing. Seriously it takes an hour or so to do. Just most companies (at least small ones) do not generally do that... For now. Many large companies on the other hand do keep track fo internet use because they are afraid that granting access to the internet may reduce productivity (go figure).


Yes, and it is not so uncommon for companies (large ones) to do it. There are been legal debate because your boss can check your mail but may not listen to your phone calls. The issue therefore was to know whether an email would be considered a letter or a phone call. I don't know the outcome.

All companies with a network and an email server need to keep user account info on file. If you aren't then you are not protecting your network. I don't know how many people I have seen actually open a virus infected email after they had been warned about it. I need to know who the risk people are and be able to see there inbox. So if I can do it so can the boss. Plus, when people get layed off or leave their email is still on the server and I continue to back it up in case it is ever needed for legal purposes.

So let's keep our internet surfing a secret. I know that each and every single person in our entire office has browsed the web. So as long as I am not sending out dirty email, I surf. Besides, I am now an IT person and before I did that I found that fresh home baked chocolate chip cookies was great bribing material on the IT guys. :angel:

Sorry, I'm a geek

Oh I am not disputing the fact that IT person need to have that kind of access (although more regulations about how they can use it would not hurt).

BTW I am a geek myself.

Redhead,

You will have 1000 posts soon young poster.

I'm an IT person. I'm an administrator for our network and as people say, have god given access. But my belief is... the less I know about peoples email, passwords ect. the better. As long as my users aren't abusing their privilages, then I don't care if they surf. Heck , we all do !!!! But we can monitor sites that users have gone to if asked to by supervisors. We just don't make a habit of it, not enough time in the day to do that.

I think this is pretty standard. My position is that much of this is acceptable as long as there are clear rules within the company. I find sometimes that employees look totally puzzled if told that it is easy for their employer to find out what they are watching online. I know that everybody is thinking porn when I said that but actually I was refering to a friend who is diabetic but hasn't told his workplace and got worried about that or people looking for anohter job at work etc.. I don't see much justification for a company to look into private emails though. I don't think it happen too often it is of course inherently possible in the technology. Clarity always help

Actually, the bigger the company, the less time they have to worry about ONE PERSON! I've seen the reports and MY GOD - you'd have to be crazy to sift through them - unless someone has complained about you and someone may have REASON to check what you are doing!

Hi everyone!

My name is "Pete," and I'm a BikeForums-a-holic.

I used to spend hours and hours per day on the computer. Before my first weekend was over, I was a "Senior Member!"

But soon, my posting wasn't limited to the weekend spree, staying up until 2 or 3 a.m. Before long, I was posting at work more than I was working (not too hard to do, unfortunately, given that my job is sort of, well, "inactive.") It finally caught up with me.

My boss fingered me for violating a professional code of conduct (which still urks me, since everyone else still surfs until their wrists ache.) I had to face my addiction.

It's a good thing, too, since my computer addiction was eating into my sleep, therefore hurting my bike time!

Now, I only post after work, at home, and I go to bed at nighty-nite time. I am back on the wagon! <applause>

I used to be ashamed of my addiction, but everyone who knows me at BikeForums is supportive. I only hope my experience benefits someone else who may be "surfing too close to sharks."

Im allowed to play games / be on the internet between support calls... I just got an email telling me we cant watch movies anymore, kinda bummed about that one, i just downloaded Tarzan

Pete,

I know what you mean. At work my desk sits right next to the wench of a boss. She hounds me like dog. You would think that I do nothing and the other 10 people in my department are angels.

Here is how her game works. There are 3 people in the dept who are in her clique. When one of those people are doing something, she says nothing. But, as soon as they stop, and someone else is doing the same thing, she then brings them out on it. This happens all day long, and is so annoying, but what can you do?

I am working on it....at work and at home....


I used to work at a huge company (General Electric) they own more businesses than you would ever imagine. They had actually went through and picked the sites that people looked at the most and you would come in the next day and the site that you were able to see now had "You are trying to access a forbidden web site". Eventually they closed down our local office and I found a better job, where my boss is in another city. There are still plenty of people interested in watching what I am doing. (You all know about those NOSY people in every office) But I am CRAFTY and I have it down to a science.

What is with the people that never do anything, they are blatant about it, and they never get fired? Then the one moment that you are screwing around, the boss catches you!!! I knew a gal that used to sleep:sleep: at her desk and they never did anything!!!!:irritated

This thing is addictive! I am on the verge of becoming pathetically addicted myself. Perhaps something to do with having to do boring hours until late these days.

So many reasons to be self-employed! This is one I hadn't even considered.