4 Ways to Avoid Accidental NSFW Incidents at the Office
Raise your hand if this has happened to you: A co-worker sends you a link with the message, "You gotta check this out!" You click it, only to experience the horror of a seriously not-safe-for-work image, video, sound file, or the like. Right when your boss just happens to be walking by.
You could, of course, avoid clicking any such unknown links. But if you're the curious sort or you think the link might actually be something important, there are ways to avoid the potential embarrassment (or worse) of inappropriate content.
Digital Inspiration outlines four such ways in How to Safely Open Unknown Web Pages at Work. First up: a site that exposes what's hidden behind those "shortened" URLs.
If that link is a short URL (like bit.ly/FJKw), you can go to longurl.org to know the actual web page where that link will take you to upon clicking. LongURL supports nearly every popular URL shortening service including the recently launched goo.gl.You'll also learn how to turn Web pages into PDFs (without opening them first), and even take a screenshot of that PDF just in case your files are being indexed. Finally, there's Variably Safe For Work, where you can paste in a URL and use a slider to gradually reveal the contents of the site (see below). Interesting solutions, all.LongURL won't just expand the short URLs but it will also show a small thumbnail preview of the web page so you know what to expect after landing on the site that your friend has shared with you.
Now fess up: Have you ever gotten busted viewing NSFW content? It's okay, tell us allll about it. Image by Doug Savage.