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Command line tool for blocking sites to be more productive

github.com

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Re: Command line tool for blocking sites to be more productive

#21

Post by rgbrgb »

valdiorn wrote: post #20

For me, procrastination is a normal part of my routine. I've tried forcing myself not to do it, but you know what happens? Instead of reading hacker news, I just stare out the window for ten minutes, or think about what exercises I'm going to do at the gym. Your mind is not willing to do the task you need it to do and there is nothing you can do about it. (that's my experience)

I think that time staring out the window is more important than the time you're reading HN. That gap time when I'm just letting your mind work on stuff "in the background" is when a lot of my best ideas bubble up. I think I saw a talk about this or something but that's why they say you always get new ideas in the shower.

Re: Command line tool for blocking sites to be more productive

#22

Post by timothya »

Jonovono wrote: post #10

Sweet. I am going to try this out! Has anyone here used Self Control? ( http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/ ). Sometimes when I block websites, like Reddit.com and this one and few others it makes other websites look weird. Like the page will still load but be broken. I think Self Control is blocking sites the same way this does. Any idea why this happens?

I've used Self Control, and I like it in principle (it makes it difficult to disable it after it's been turned on, which I like).

However, in practice it doesn't work too well for me. If you block youtube.com or plus.google.com it tends to block other parts of Google (including Search and Docs), which is a big dealbreaker. There's an Issue on Github for the bug, but it's really old and there hasn't been any progress on it. If it worked as it should, then I'd actually consider using Self Control.

Re: Command line tool for blocking sites to be more productive

#23

Post by Jonovono »

timothya wrote: post #22
Jonovono wrote: post #10

Sweet. I am going to try this out! Has anyone here used Self Control? ( http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/ ). Sometimes when I block websites, like Reddit.com and this one and few others it makes other websites look weird. Like the page will still load but be broken. I think Self Control is blocking sites the same way this does. Any idea why this happens?

I've used Self Control, and I like it in principle (it makes it difficult to disable it after it's been turned on, which I like). However, in practice it doesn't work too well for me. If you block youtube.com or plus.google.com it tends to block other parts of Google (including Search and Docs), which is a big dealbreaker. There's an Issue on Github for the bug, but it's really old and there hasn't been any progress…

Yeah, exactly. That's what I like about it too. Have you tried this one out? If it solves those problems, it wouldn't be too hard to make it work like Self Control. Maybe a GUI could be made for it. I am more familiar working in Node.

Re: Command line tool for blocking sites to be more productive

#24

Post by timothya »

Jonovono wrote: post #23
timothya wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used Self Control, and I like it in principle (it makes it difficult to disable it after it's been turned on, which I like). However, in practice it doesn't work too well for me. If you block youtube.com or plus.google.com it tends to block other parts of Google (including Search and Docs), which is a big dealbreaker. There's an Issue on Github for the bug, but it's really old and there hasn't been any progress…

Yeah, exactly. That's what I like about it too. Have you tried this one out? If it solves those problems, it wouldn't be too hard to make it work like Self Control. Maybe a GUI could be made for it. I am more familiar working in Node.

Well, this one doesn't seem to be working at the moment, it's giving me errors, though I haven't spent much time trying to figure out what's going on.

I'd like to add preset block time to this one though, and / or make it harder to disable.

Re: Command line tool for blocking sites to be more productive

#26

Post by galenward »

Here's the thing with this: It's easy to find new unproductive sites and an outright ban from distractions is difficult to live with - humans crave distraction.

What if instead of blocking sites, the nonproductive internet slowed down a lot? Then in the 10 seconds you waited for Hacker News to load, you might think to yourself that this is a bad idea and give up.

Re: Command line tool for blocking sites to be more productive

#27

Post by arbeitandy »

the proxy/pac file version of self-control:

  https://gist.github.com/3907633
[pac file in this gist is merely a demo, please clone it and add your sites-to-blackhole-during-work]

the advantages of using a pac file over /etc/hosts are

* you can safely version control it

* you dont need to install extra software (at least on mac/windows)

* you can gist your determination

for more details of pac file, please dig into the reference link of pacfile:

  http://findproxyforurl.com/pac-functions/
there could be fun to use weekdayRange/timeRange to specify exact hours you want to be away from any self-distraction.
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