Beating the Ban
Access to this blog is still blocked on Maynooth University campus. I was told that this was because of phishing activity, but IT Services are not replying to my requests for information about this alleged misconduct. If it were true I would have been subject to disciplinary action, and I haven’t because it is not true. I can only assume that it is a half-witted attempt at censorship.
I did originally think that the entire WordPress.com domain was blocked but I found that I could access the excellent blog by mathematician Terry Tao so it does appear I have been singled out for banning.
You can still read this blog off campus, but if you want to read it on Maynooth University campus, my posts are available in full federated form on Mastodon by following In the Dark on mastodon.social here.
That means you can read whole posts there rather than having to follow a link as on other social media (Threads, BlueSky, LinkedIn and Facebook).
Alternatively, you can receive posts via email here:
In the past I have used this blog, along with my other social media, to promote activities, courses, and job opportunities at Maynooth University. I will not be doing that until the ban is lifted. I have of course also posted items critical of the University management and will continue doing that.
UPDATE: By sheer coincidence (?), just a couple of hours after posting this item (from home), IT services contacted me and told me that this page has now been “reclassified as a blog” and is now accessible from campus (which is where I am writing this update). What it was classified as before is anyone’s guess, but access from campus has now been restored.
In the Dark 
September 18, 2024 at 11:05 am
Phishing activity by impersonators?
You are a full professor and former department head, not a research student. That should give you some clout. Raise it with the VC (or equivalent). Consider going into a senior administrator’s office and refusing to leave until you have been given a verifiable reason.
September 18, 2024 at 11:56 am
Maynooth University IT services just contacted me to tell me that access has been restored (after about 3 weeks being blocked). I’m posting this reply from campus. It’s amazing what a bit of public shaming can do!
September 18, 2024 at 12:07 pm
Great. Make sure you check the restoration at random times of day.
September 18, 2024 at 12:22 pm
I just checked and the monarchy is still in place.
September 18, 2024 at 3:33 pm
Presumably IT is based on campus, so wouldn’t have been able to see this post until they unblocked it?
September 18, 2024 at 3:36 pm
I suspect someone off campus told IT Services to sort it out. The management of the campus network is outsourced.
September 18, 2024 at 12:18 pm
My daughter’s tutor had little time for the college administrators. One day she was discovered in a high dudgeon waving around a letter she had received about something or other. “Look,” she raged, “”Dear Colleague”, “Dear Colleague”! Who is this person? She is not a colleague. Heifetz was a colleague. I do not know this person!”
On hearing about this our son, who has no respect, promptly devised the Heifetz number which works a bit like the Erdős number except that you have to have performed on stage with someone with a lower number.