Some days it's hard to tell if the back-room folks at NMCI are doing something intentionally or if they are just bumbling around and do something by accident. Let's just say the latest networking oddity wasn't preannounced, unless we missed that memo.
It appears that they are blocking Google cache. Again, this "blocking" appears to the user as simply a network error. There is no announcement screen stating that the requested Google cache pages are blocked by policy. This effect also appears to come and go. Some days the cached information is available, some days it isn't.
The purpose for such a Big Brother Block is obvious. The cached pages on Google (other than imagery) allow users to circumvent any site-specific blocking done by NMCI administrators. Our site, for example, is very much available in Google cache, even to an otherwise blocked NMCI host.
Of course the legitimate uses for Google cache make this latest draconian restriction more than just a little annoying. Some sites are extremely slow or have recently gone down for some reason. Or some times all you need is the text from a site and don't want to wait for pictures to load -- the "cached text only" option on Google cache is great for this. Of course none of these things are available if the cache is blocked.
What's the solution? Simple. Find a different way to skin that cat! Use another search engine and access the cache information there. A great example is
MyWay.com which provides a front-end to Google, Yahoo, Ask.com and others without annoying banner ads and pop-ups. Simply enter your search terms and let it do a default search (currently defaults to ask.com). When it pulls up the information, choose "Google" from the tabs at the top. This is the same information available at the regular Google.com page. Now all your cache information is available. Or at least the text is.
You could be reading this page right now from your NMCI seat! Happy Googling!
