Hey guys,

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I've been encountering something strange lately.
As I'm sure you all do (if not, nothing meant by it), I sometimes go on porn sites. However, I recently noticed that I could not access 2 particular websites: xnxx.com and xvideos.com
I found it strange since no other pornographic website seems to be blocked. What's even weirder, is that I can access those 2 websites just fine on my phone's LTE network.

Any of you experiencing anything similar?
And sorry if this post violates any of the rules. If it does, please let me know I will remove it asap.
Maybe you have some parental DNS block? Or someone just disabled them off your router?
@Johnaudi,
I don't think so. I reset my router, so that wasn't the problem. And I checked the Ogero configuration on their website, I don't have parental block set up.

@Karimo,
What do you mean yes? :)
Yeh Same here, if it's ogero I won't be surprised. it's not like they are doing anything good lately
Michael961 wrote @Karimo,
What do you mean yes? :)
iam with ogero and these 2 websites dont work
I'm with Ogero as well and both sites won't open
I am outside Lebanon and the sites open.
Here are their IPs, try accessing them directly:

http://141.0.174.38
http://141.0.174.35

(the two sites are closely related it seems). Try accessing the IPs directly above. It will not open the site but you should see some sort of page. If not then we know that the IPs are blocked, not only the DNS missing.
rolf wroteI am outside Lebanon and the sites open.
Here are their IPs, try accessing them directly:

http://141.0.174.38
http://141.0.174.35

(the two sites are closely related it seems). Try accessing the IPs directly above. It will not open the site but you should see some sort of page. If not then we know that the IPs are blocked, not only the DNS missing.
They both open but tells me the page has been moved, in which they want you to open xnxx

it's weird, you can open gambling sites by using https instead of http on Ogero but both don't work in this case, just times out
Same thing here (but the site opens), so it's a DNS problem.
Try using 8.8.8.8 (google's DNS) as your DNS server in Network Settings.

Or even better, before changing your settings you can test it first to see if it works:
C:\Users\Rolf>nslookup xnxx.com 8.8.8.8
Server:  google-public-dns-a.google.com
Address:  8.8.8.8

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    xnxx.com
Addresses:  141.0.174.41
          141.0.174.34
          141.0.174.35
          141.0.174.36
          141.0.174.37
          141.0.174.38
          141.0.174.39
          141.0.174.40


C:\Users\Rolf>
If you don't get a list of IPs as result as above, but get a timeout or something else instead (make sure you try at least twice), then Ogero is not allowing you to use other DNS servers and forcing you to use theirs, in which case you're slightly screwed (but not hopeless).
I am with sodetel, and those sites won't open with me either.
Edit your hosts file and add the following entries 
141.0.174.41 xnxx.com www.xnxx.com xvideos.com www.xvideos.com
The file should be somewhere like c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts if I remember correctly.

If windows doesn't like multiple domains per entry, just create 4 entries in the hosts file.
So something like: 
141.0.174.38 xnxx.com 
141.0.174.39 www.xnxx.com
141.0.174.40 xvideos.com 
141.0.174.41 www.xvideos.com
So this appears to be a Lebanon wide issue. Odd. I wonder why it works on LTE though?

@Rolf, thank you for the suggestion. I tried going through the IPs, it will tell me that the website has moved.
As for the DNS change suggestion, I'm not home right now, but will definitely give it a try once I am.
@Hussam, if Rolf's suggestion doesn't work, I will try yours see if it works.

Thank you for your help guys.

And if it turns out that Lebanon is actually attempting to censure part of the web, you think maybe we should contact someone? Media perhaps?
Michael961 wroteSo this appears to be a Lebanon wide issue. Odd. I wonder why it works on LTE though?

@Rolf, thank you for the suggestion. I tried going through the IPs, it will tell me that the website has moved.
As for the DNS change suggestion, I'm not home right now, but will definitely give it a try once I am.
@Hussam, if Rolf's suggestion doesn't work, I will try yours see if it works.

Thank you for your help guys.

And if it turns out that Lebanon is actually attempting to censure part of the web, you think maybe we should contact someone? Media perhaps?
If they censor anything else than porn, maybe you can talk to the media but not porn!
the public won't treat porn censorship as a bad thing but if now they censor porn then maybe later they will censor more crucial stuff and bye bye freedom.
Michael961 wroteAnd if it turns out that Lebanon is actually attempting to censure part of the web, you think maybe we should contact someone? Media perhaps?
That is a difficult question since words can be easily twisted to get the kind of response and reaction the media wants from people.
You can get the answer you want by how you phrase the question.
For instance, if you ask people if censorship is bad, everyone will say yes.
But if you ask people if it is Ok for 13 year old kids to be looking at porn, they will say no.
I tried changing the DNS to Google's public ones, everything worked normally except those 2 websites. Not working.
Changing the host file didn't help either. I could always use a VPN, but not willing to go through that just for those 2 websites.

I just don't understand why they would block them though.
Please try running the nslookup command that I pasted in my previous post, and post the results here. I'd like to see them.

There should also be a way of sending the domain in the HTTP header - the IPs above are valid but when you open the IP your browser it does not send the domain name in the request, and the server seems to be configured to serve that blue redirect page in these situations. Basically if the IP is accessible directly then we should have everything needed to open the site, if we could only change some parameters in the browser request.

Another thing which nobody mentioned, and which should be mentioned, is that it's possible for you to be blocked from the porn site . They may be doing some kind of geographical filtering. If that's the case then there's not much which can be done except going through a proxy.

That would explain things a little, because it's just strange how you can access the IP but not the website.
So this is the result of the nslookup command: 
C:\>nslookup xnxx.com 8.8.8.8          
Server:  google-public-dns-a.google.com 
Address:  8.8.8.8                                 

Non-authoritative answer:                     
Name:    xnxx.com                               
Addresses:  141.0.174.34                     
141.0.174.35                            
141.0.174.36                              
141.0.174.37                             
141.0.174.38                            
141.0.174.39                            
141.0.174.40                         
141.0.174.41
mmmmm if a post is deleted, shouldn't I receive some sort of a message about that and explaining why?
wassaaap mod?
regarding the blockage of some porn websites, on friday night xnxx was blocked, with a message stating that it is blocked after a request from a court order or something. Yet xvideos was working flawlessly.

yesterday after seeing your post and also today both websites are working 100%

I'm with Wise.