```json
{
    "title": "Sears Shuts Me Down",
    "url": "https://performancezen.com/2004/12/15/sears-shuts-me-down/",
    "datePublished": "2004-12-15",
    "dateModified": "2004-12-15",
    "language": "en-US",
    "description": "Starting at approximately 18:00 EST on December 14, 2004, Sears began blocking all incoming requests from my public IP address, most likely due to the GrabPERF testing I do from…",
    "author": "spierzchala",
    "publisher": "Performance Zen"
}
```

# Sears Shuts Me Down

Starting at approximately 18:00 EST on December 14, 2004, Sears began blocking all incoming requests from my public IP address, most likely due to the GrabPERF testing I do from here.

How do I know it's a filter and not a performance issue? Well, when I re-route traffic through one of the many thousands of open proxy servers available, the page comes up instantly. Also, they are doing a smart thing, and not sending an explicit TCP Reset; they are simply routing the TCP SYN requests into the "bit bucket" -- a DROP rule for firewall wonks out there.

I have terminated testing of this site. Guess this means my wife can't access her order information for the oven part -- my bad.