Is #networking becoming #police ? Why Network Admins behave like this when pushed out of their comfort zone?

Hi there,

So I am a regular in IRC libera, in many channels actually , I find it such a good place to get help and also pop by for a little human interaction everyday.

One of the channels I am in is #networking , which is great, with people with professional experience in the field there is always expertise to be pulled from there.

I'm a freelancer developer, and I quite have an understanding of the different networking layers and their technologies , but lastly most of the questions I do are related to troubleshooting some connectivity issues in my co-working space, to say an example the last issue I had was when trying to connect multiple computers on the same LAN via SSH so I can use them as multi-monitors with tmux , it seems that this LAN have implemented a quite restrictive polic y which is difficult to cirmcumvent. I'm not even able to connect to my VPN on ports 80 or 443 easily (the connection get's established but it tends to drop out for some reason) .

So it is coming to the point again where my working environment is yet again blocking my workflow. And I am trying to get around this problem asking in this Channel, and I always receive the sort of answer of "Do you own that LAN?" "Ask the Network Admin" , "Sorry that may be a firewall policy and you shouldn't be doing that" . While other people bring up some creative workarounds (which are actually the sort of answer I'm looking for) such as "try udp port 993 is normally opened" or the like ...

I have learned and try to omit the comments of the first kind, but sometimes is just impossible to get by this, and I end up having to ask this sort of things in #hacking , channels and subreddits. The other day one of the moderators of the channel silenced me for no reason because I was trying to explain myself , so I completely left #networking

My point is, providing that I go to work with my back-pack loaded with 2 laptops and 1 tablet , I don't want to have to carry a switch with me, nor ethernet cables (I would look weird) plus I want to use this Wifi AP I am paying for so I don't use my Mobile phone WAN data and battery.

I am changing my mind to see Network Admins as having a guild mentallity where either : - They know about the problem you are asking but they don't want to give you information about it (which only expertise will give you) - They don't know about the problem and they are trying to block anyone's request trying to get deeper into the matter.

I use to see networking Professionals as magicians on the Networking Stack, been able to fully understand the technologies and giving you ideas about how to do this and that, instead some people tend to be ignorant about certain top ics , and they stay in their comfort zone of daily tasks of checking equipment , buying X-Cisco Switches , change the RJ-45 cable, "have you seen the new ubiquity equipment?"

I am starting to see this behaviour in Network Admins as toxic, that if widespread will just lead them to Understand about L1 , L2, L3 and maybe L4 , been ignorant about the rest , making them unable to effectively provide a good se rvice to the Companies they are working for.

And just saying that #networking , shouldn't only be a place for Network Admins, but for everyone (developers and sysadmins included) to exchange ideas, plus IRC libera be a place where noone gets silented. I also see a big chunk of people trying to get initiated in the Computing field, and they sort of like Cyber Security, and they all enroll on this udemy courses to prepare for the CCNA , see people like "Network Chuck" on youtube wh ich mostly provide of Click-bait sort of videos with really brief explanations of the technologies lying behind that. This newbies genuinely think that after finnishing those videos they will be able to become the Guards of a corpor ate Network while there are people out there that out-smart them in many ways.

Is it #networking becoming #police or is just me that I am becoming a hacker ?

I am a developer, I am using legit services for legit purposes, SSH'ing into your own computer should not be restricted and I shoulnd't have to end up asking on #hacking . Not everyone has the same Workflow and works from home with a Apple MAC multi-monitor station, technology is out there to help people. By limiting this services you are encouraging people to find their way around been able to discover vulnerabilities of some sort that will be "tempting" to be attacked otherwise