Sometimes it is possible to circumvent filtering by using a site's IP address instead of its domain name. A site's IP address is not hard to get and not so for a reason, there's nothing secret or harmful about it. Go to
http://www.zoneedit.com/lookup.html?ad=goto&kw=dns+lookup
and you can type in a domain name such as bladeforums.com and it will give you the IP address. Bladeforums current IP address is 216.26.139.58.
So, you can access bladeforums by simply using
http://216.26.139.58
When I was a boy, we had English Springer Spaniels. With the exception of the last, all of our Spaniels were washed up show dogs. One of my dad's lab techs bred them with considerable success including many national grand champions. When one of them washed out, about one year old, we got the call. These dogs always had two names: a registered name and a calling name. For example, the dog we knew as Pickles was registered as Welcome Ramblewood Jane Soliloquy. Heck, we couldn't remember that... much less her. Pickles she was.
Websites are like show dogs. They have two names. One is hard to remember. It's just a meaningless number. The other is their calling name. The reason for this structure is that the number is actually an address that specifies where, on the network, that website is. But, where a website is hosted can change. That's the reason for calling names, known as "domain names" on the Internet. These don't change. Everyday, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers publishes a list that matches the names to the numbers. When you type "http://www.bladeforums.com," the computer at your service provider consults that list and translates it into the address which it then looks up.
If using the address directly gets you by the content filtering software at your work, then that's fine. Just be aware that IP addresses can be re-assigned. So, someday you may find that
http://216.26.139.58 doesn't get you bladeforums anymore. In that case, just go to zoneedit.com and get the new IP address.
Be aware that many companies have a policy that reads something like, "Acme Company reserves the right to use technical means such as content filtering software to restrict access to objectionable sites or information on the internet. Any attempt to circumvent or defeat those means by any method is punishable by disciplinary action upto and including termination."
