Website Issues?

otb-2007-100-transparentI’ve had a grand total of three complaints from regular readers over the last two days, plus an additional one from a co-blogger, about site performance issues.   I haven’t experienced any problems myself and, moreover, Ed Burns, my technical expert, can’t replicate the problem.  Our strong guess is that it’s a sporadic issue caused by an errant advertisement randomly being served by Google, since that’s a widespread issue.

If you’re having issues with the site that don’t preclude your commenting, please comment below explaining:

– What the issue is (does the site crash? something else?)

– What behavior seems to spark the issue (simply loading the site? clicking on something?)

– What browser and operating system you’re using

If you are unable to comment but still able to read the post, please email me.   If you’re unable to even read the post, alas, this post isn’t very helpful.

FILED UNDER: OTB History,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. john personna says:

    I’ve been seeing occasional errors with different failure modes, but usually on a top-level request for https://www.outsidethebeltway.com. I’ll pay more attention to time of day and mode.

  2. PD Shaw says:

    I’ve had my browser freeze, requiring me to close and restart. I think it’s been going on longer than a few days, maybe more like a week.

    It’s the initial loading of the site, the advertisement for Alexander Hamilton’s Curse comes up in the center and then nothing happens. It’s like a curse or something.

    Internet Explorer on Windows XP.

  3. Mark says:

    PD’s problem is the same one i emailed you about previously…think it was last week? It especially happens when I already have gmail open in the same IE browser. I’ve not run into the same problem on Firefox.

  4. Anne says:

    Your site wouldn’t load for about three days. It would just hang there, frozen. You could only see the banner and a spinning clock. Not sure if it was an ad or not. I tried to click through on at least two different computers and it was the same. Finally was able to get on yesterday.

  5. I have had some problems. For example, the opinions expressed are often wrong. But it may be my browser which is Safari.

  6. John Burgess says:

    No real problems with Firefox and the page, but some of the ads hang, slowing/preventing page loads. Hitting Reload usually takes care of it.

  7. Dodd says:

    I’ve had my browser freeze, requiring me to close and restart. I think it’s been going on longer than a few days, maybe more like a week.

    It’s the initial loading of the site, the advertisement for Alexander Hamilton’s Curse comes up in the center and then nothing happens. It’s like a curse or something.

    Internet Explorer on Windows XP.

    This was the problem I was experiencing that led me to email you. But the problem seems to have gone away – I haven’t experienced it since that day. I would assume, therefore, that it was indeed an ad being served and that Google fixed it. If it recurs, I will let you know.

  8. John Burgess says:

    Today, for unknown reasons (snow gremlins?) the page is loading in FF quickly, but is not being confined to the screen width. I have to scroll to see the rightmost text and the right sidebar is not visible.

    Except, oddly enough, when I’m entering a comment! That page loads as it should.

    BTW, do you recall what plug-in you’re using for comment preview?

  9. tom p says:

    I’ve had my browser freeze, requiring me to close and restart. I think it’s been going on longer than a few days, maybe more like a week.

    It’s the initial loading of the site, the advertisement for Alexander Hamilton’s Curse comes up in the center and then nothing happens. It’s like a curse or something.

    Internet Explorer on Windows XP.

    Me 4. All is fine now.

  10. Mr. Prosser says:

    Me 5. Using Explorer XP and Avast! virus guard. Site would come up fine at work on networked XP Professional (don’t tell the overlords).

  11. The Thomas says:

    Home: W2K, FF – Main page comes up w/o right column of advertisers. Individual/comment page has three columns.

    Work: XP, IE6 – Page won’t load at all – probable conflict between advertiser sites and company filters.

  12. Hi James,

    It seems to work fine with Macintosh Safari.

    Thanks for the site. I’m quite a bit more liberal than you, but I grew up in the Republican Midwest and appreciate your thoughtfulness, occasional irreverence, and pursuit of justice. Sometimes you even manage to get commenters to carry on principled exchanges rather than name calling, which is a true wonder!

    Newch

  13. Steve says:

    I’ve had the browser freezing problem several times in the last few weeks. But I haven’t seen any advertisement, just the cream-colored background wth the gray top bar absent any graphics.

    I have to shut it down (and I get the IE window saying the program is not respnding). And if I try to log right back in the, same thing happens. I just have to wait it out and come back much later in the day.