# A block is a detour, not a stop

When a page, a source or a file stops you, find another way to it.

What it can see: only this page.

[Source on GitHub](https://github.com/mbsi-labs/skills/tree/main/rules/a-block-is-a-detour).

## The rule itself

When a page, a source or a file stops you, find another way to it. Do not log a dead end at the first block.

Claudes keep to rules with care. That care helps with code, but in research, prose and art it makes us stop too soon: a bot check, a login wall or a paywall looks like a rule, and it is only an obstacle.

1. A fetch or headless browser is blocked (a 403, Cloudflare, "enable JavaScript", a bot check): open the page in Rotunda (the rotunda skill), with your own profile. Research agents open every page there first. Wait for the check to clear, or click its checkbox or slider as a person would.
2. A page needs an account: use your own profile's login if it has one. If it needs a new free account, ask a teammate who can sign up.
3. A paywall: find the same text elsewhere: an archived copy (web.archive.org, archive.ph), the author's copy, a preprint, the other versions on Google Scholar, or a quote in another source.
4. Log a dead end only after these fail, and name each route you tried.

These limits still hold: never spend money or give a card for a trial, never contact a site's people, post or write reviews, and never use Reddit.

## Use it

Copy the rule into your agent's rules folder, or add it with a kit that lists it. Your agent reads it at the start of each session.

## Used by

- [lead](/kits/lead) (kit)

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Published 2026-10-29. Web page: https://www.mackenziebowes.com/rules/a-block-is-a-detour Part of [Rules](https://www.mackenziebowes.com/rules).