Only on chinesepod with a proxy?
blox
December 12, 2009, 08:36 AM posted in General DiscussionThe last couple days, I haven't been able to get on Chinesepod. I just now discovered that I could get on with a proxy-stite. Does anybody have similar problems? I know this is a technical question, but I couldn't send a question trough with this proxy.
Tal
December 15, 2009, 05:02 AMSeems as if the problem has suddenly gone away, not sure why. Anyway I too hope access will continue to be straightforward!
chanelle77
December 12, 2009, 11:07 AMHi guys, Nanjing is fine, hope there is a server down somewhere and is quickly fixed!
Tal
December 12, 2009, 11:17 AMThe internet censors in China block all kinds of sites. There is often no clear logical reason why.
This year the problem seems to be worse. The Great Firewall has been upgraded and there seems to be tightening up all round. And "sensitive" anniversaries are marked in China by fresh bouts of censorship.
Anyway let's sincerely hope it's not that reason, that the unaffected areas will not also go down in the next day or two.
Personally I'm a VPN convert. Maybe it is annoying to have to organise, but it's becoming the only way to go. There used to be a few (passably) good free ones, but they've gone the way of the proxies. You have to part with a few dollars now if you want any kind of unrestricted internet use. 一分钱一分货。
I won't openly mention the name of the one I use, PM me if you need to know.
changye
December 12, 2009, 12:08 PM"Great firewall and censorship" is a big issue mainly for us foreign guys in the PRC, but on the other hand, most Chinese guys don't care much about that. After all, they are very happy with Chinese Internet as long as they can see movies/animes at illegal download sites, hehe. I don't know if they have enough "bread", but they seem to have enough "circus" provided by their beloved Communist Party.
blox
December 12, 2009, 03:10 PMNo Chinese learner wants a learning-site that is blocked in China, even if there are methods to go around it. So I hope that this is just temporary. It might be a reason for me to go look for other learning resources. (I already use different ones, but chinesepod has been a big part of my learning progress).
Tal
December 13, 2009, 01:16 AMCPod is just too good to do without (for anyone seriously trying to learn Chinese), so I'm prepared to part with a few dollars for a VPN. It's vexing of course, but the alternative is to be denied a great learning resource, access to news and entertainment, and having to accept that working in and for China means accepting repression.
changye
December 13, 2009, 02:52 AMHi tal
Just wait and see. I hope everything will be OK tomorrow.
blox
December 12, 2009, 10:50 AMI'm in 山西, so it's not only your area. I'm not a VPN subscriber, so for it is quite a problem. Proxies are indeed hard to find and downloading through a proxy is not possible or super slow. Why would a chinese learing site like Chinesepod be blocked?
changye
December 13, 2009, 05:54 AMHi tal
From my experience, this kind of trouble tends to happen on weekends and disappear on Monday. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
blox
December 13, 2009, 11:44 AMStill blocked. I know what you mean, Tal. You know the value of Chinesepod, and so do I. But very often when I speak chinese in front of other foreigners who don't speak chinese, I get the question: what is a good method to learn chinese? I always answer go to an internetsite called chinesepod and start from there. Now I have to answer: a site called chinesepod, but it's blocked here now. That's what I meant with: nobody wants a Chinese learning site, that is blocked in China. It's just bad for business.
Tal
December 13, 2009, 12:30 PMMaybe so. But we can't blame CPod. It may well just be a temporary thing. I think this may have happened before in the past. And we foreigners in China have to get used to this kind of thing, (unfortunately.)
JasonSch
December 13, 2009, 12:45 PMStrange, I've been accessing the site all day without a proxy. (I'm in Shanghai)
I wonder what the deal is...
Hopefully we can get it sorted out soon.
orangina
December 13, 2009, 12:47 PMYeah, I have been fine in Guangzhou as well. Weird.
luobinzhenmei
December 14, 2009, 03:16 AMSometimes the problem is caused by individual internet service providers limiting traffic by diddling their Domain Name Servers (which convert web site names into numeric ip addresses). Try changing your computer's settings to use one of the free DNSs around the world. Using one provided by OpenDNS solved our problem in Shanghai recently.
blox
December 15, 2009, 01:25 AMYes! I can get on again. Hopefully it stays that way.
Tal
December 13, 2009, 04:43 AM咱们走着瞧吧！
Tal
December 12, 2009, 10:23 AMI have had exactly the same problem. At first I thought that CPod must have fallen foul of the internet censors in China and was now blocked to China based poddies, but today poddies in other parts of China report that they have no problem connecting.
I can only conclude that it is only the area of China that I am in that is affected, (I am in eastern Guangdong.) I don't know the reason, (maybe it is nothing more than some vital connecting server somewhere being out of order.)
Anyway fortunately I subscribe to a VPN service, otherwise I'd have no way to use CPod now. Proxies are now just a waste of time for Chinese internet users (imo), seems like 99% of them are ineffective since last October 1st.