You believe their explanation?
Perhaps MOE wants to use NP to test the water, and failed.
NP's tweet: "Ask your parents to vote out PAP in coming GE or else we'll lose our jobs to foreigners"
Singapore
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Nov 9, 2010
Ngee Ann Poly Twitter blackout causes a stir
By Eisen Teo
FOR at least seven hours yesterday, Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) students were unable to access the popular social networking tool Twitter, and this led to conspiracy theories about how the school had banned the site.
Students who tried to use the school's wireless network to log on to Twitter using their laptops or mobile phones were faced with blank screens and error messages instead.
They were able to tweet using other networks, such as mobile broadband access on smartphones.
The problem with the school's wireless network started at around 9.30am and, by noon, a first-year mass communication student, Alex Lee, 17, had set up a page on another social networking site, Facebook, calling on fellow students to 'catch the attention of some lecturers'. As of 8pm yesterday, almost 1,000 people had done so.
Many posted messages of outrage and protest against what they believed was a ban, and wondered whether Facebook would be 'banned' next.
It turned out to be a technical glitch.
By 4.30pm, students were able to access Twitter again - after the school worked with its Internet service provider, SingTel, to resolve the problem.
'We do not block any social networking sites like Twitter, Microsoft Messenger and Facebook, and have no plans to do so,' said a polytechnic spokesman. 'We advise our students to contact our IT helpdesks should they continue to encounter the problem.'
Even though the school posted clarifications on its official Facebook page from as early as 3.30pm yesterday, that did not stop students from griping.
Some said on Alex's Facebook page that the school might have been 'testing the waters' to see if a ban on social networking tools would go down well with students.
The school has also denied this.
Alex said he was surprised by how many people his Facebook page had attracted.
'It was supposed to be a joke,' he said. 'Anyway, it's pointless to block these sites. We can always find ways around the bans by searching on Google.'
Others were just happy to tweet again.
Third-year mass communication student Bryan Toh, 18, said Twitter was a big part of his life and those of his friends.
He said: 'We use it to update friends on what's going on in our minds, or to keep up with celebrities. When we went to class today and couldn't log on to Twitter, we were upset.'
Perhaps MOE wants to use NP to test the water, and failed.
NP's tweet: "Ask your parents to vote out PAP in coming GE or else we'll lose our jobs to foreigners"
Singapore
HOME > SINGAPORE > STORY
Nov 9, 2010
Ngee Ann Poly Twitter blackout causes a stir
By Eisen Teo
FOR at least seven hours yesterday, Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) students were unable to access the popular social networking tool Twitter, and this led to conspiracy theories about how the school had banned the site.
Students who tried to use the school's wireless network to log on to Twitter using their laptops or mobile phones were faced with blank screens and error messages instead.
They were able to tweet using other networks, such as mobile broadband access on smartphones.
The problem with the school's wireless network started at around 9.30am and, by noon, a first-year mass communication student, Alex Lee, 17, had set up a page on another social networking site, Facebook, calling on fellow students to 'catch the attention of some lecturers'. As of 8pm yesterday, almost 1,000 people had done so.
Many posted messages of outrage and protest against what they believed was a ban, and wondered whether Facebook would be 'banned' next.
It turned out to be a technical glitch.
By 4.30pm, students were able to access Twitter again - after the school worked with its Internet service provider, SingTel, to resolve the problem.
'We do not block any social networking sites like Twitter, Microsoft Messenger and Facebook, and have no plans to do so,' said a polytechnic spokesman. 'We advise our students to contact our IT helpdesks should they continue to encounter the problem.'
Even though the school posted clarifications on its official Facebook page from as early as 3.30pm yesterday, that did not stop students from griping.
Some said on Alex's Facebook page that the school might have been 'testing the waters' to see if a ban on social networking tools would go down well with students.
The school has also denied this.
Alex said he was surprised by how many people his Facebook page had attracted.
'It was supposed to be a joke,' he said. 'Anyway, it's pointless to block these sites. We can always find ways around the bans by searching on Google.'
Others were just happy to tweet again.
Third-year mass communication student Bryan Toh, 18, said Twitter was a big part of his life and those of his friends.
He said: 'We use it to update friends on what's going on in our minds, or to keep up with celebrities. When we went to class today and couldn't log on to Twitter, we were upset.'
