Forum dragging its heels?

[crispy]

Hi each,

 

This might be one for Marina, but I'd love to hear all your views on the subject.

 

The forum seems very slow to refresh itself of late, and I wondered if the multitude of wonderful smilies might have something to do with it.

 

Marina, if you know different, I'd like to hear about it.

 

Your new member tags are very smart, you've even upped my star rating.

 

Take care all,

[crispy]

I know it's quiet at the moment but does no-one have a view on this?

 

At least a dozen people have read this, but as yet, no responses. Even if it's just to say "You're imagining it Chris" or "I'm alright Jack", whatever your views, a one line response isn't going to tax anybody too much.

 

How about it?

[Marina]

Oops, sorry Crispy, have been busy with other things...

 

I haven't had any such new problems specific to the forum itself. Having said that, I have been finding that some other sites are taking what seems like 100 yrs to load, almost as if I was back on 56k dial-up instead of broadband... Maybe it's a general UK connection thing at the moment? In that respect, and since it's happening to me generally, I have on occasion found that the forum main page takes a tad longer to load. I don't think it has anything to do with the smilies though...

 

Sorry it's not of much help...

[crispy]

Thanks Marina, your reply is a great help, as always.

 

It's good to talk, so have a good day folks.

[Marina]

Have to add that I'm glad it's not only me... I was beginning to think my computer was playing up more than it already is. I also find this "hanging" problem to be worse at night... (me being a night howl). Normally my ISP is absolutely brilliant, so maybe it's just a general blip after all. I've also noticed other forums doing the same as this one, so it's a relief that it's not just here!

[angela]

Hi Chris and Marina

 

sorry not to reply before but I did think

 

the problems I had viewing new posts was down

 

to me either something I pressed or didn't when

 

pressed! it's fine today I kept being told the page

 

cannot be displayed or something like that, take care

bfn Angela

:angela:

[Lula_lulabel]

Hi Crispy, Marina & Angela,

 

I am floating about. I have been to the movies with my children to see

 

The Magic Round-a-bout!

 

The children loved it, and I fell asleep!!! (god these sleep attacks are unsociable!)

I'm seeing my Pain consultant this afternoon, I will talk it thru with her.

 

I am here tho

 

 

See if that makes it slow!

 

Love Lula xxx

[dawney-t]

Hi Chris and everyone.

 

Sorry also for not replying to this, but I didn't really understand where you were coming from as I can't say I've had any problems with it.

 

Still, I suppose I could have replied to say just that, sorry.

 

Love Dawn

[crispy]

Hi all, and thanks for the replies.

 

I appreciate your posts, even if you hadn't experienced a problem. I probably notice it more becuse I am constantly doing a Refresh, in an attempt to get the indicators to show the true unread posts. They are a bit temperamental and often finish up being cleared by marking all posts read - but I'm sure I miss some posts because of it.

 

It's those indicators and smilies that load last, all the text appears long before the graphics - it's just been more noticeable in the last week or two.

 

Keep smiling,

[Marina]

I'm still having a problem with IE taking ages to load any page at the moment... also IE seems at times to be gobbling up my memory usage (up to 400,000k!) which can make my computer almost grind to a halt. This is very annoying to me at the moment as I'm trying to develop a whole new, database driven website... (actually, I need to do 2 such sites...).

 

I'm also getting another problem (this should go into "Computers" really...), I get "cannot find server" errors for websites I know exist which aren't having any server problems at all. I need to access those sites and I can't!

 

I've tried using Firefox and other browsers, and I get the same thing, so it's not IE per se.

 

I've scanned for spyware, trojans, and allsorts, zilch.

 

I'm stumped!!!

 

Maybe I'll have to try a rollback or something and see if that fixes it. The problem isn't constant but seems to build up, then I have to reboot to fix it again.

 

In my case, it's not the forum, but the internet generally...

 

[ddgorgeous]

Hello all,

 

I use IE and noticed a couple of weeks ago that it seemed to be running very slowly, it could take ages to load webpages and was just frustrating.

 

I have noticed it again over the last couple of days and it does not appear to be any site in particular, but all sites. This morning has been like using a dial up connection and has just frozen a few times now.

 

Take care and best wishes,

 

Ron

[Marina]

I've had the same thing as Ron... At first, I wondered if it was something to do with some new "Windows Update". IE also kept crashing onme as well as using up an enormous amount of memory. I got so fed up that I finally made the switch from IE to Firefox! I will now never use IE again (except if I have to, ie for Win Updates)!

 

Firefox is just brilliant! I've been threatening to switch to it for months, since the summer, but the latest version is much better, plus there are now 100's of nifty extensions (eg: add-ons, plug-ins, extras) that make Firefox a dream to use and great fun. I used to PAY for these sort of add-ons for IE, and they're free in Firefox . Firefox also zaps through webpages much faster than IE. It's nothing as bloated as IE, even with a ton of extensions added. Plus there's the famous Tabbed Browsing, which can be customised in various ways using different extensions. The basic Firefox browser is super fast (and a LOT safer than IE, read the info in the link above).

 

The only thing I'm noticing so far is here, this being my first post since the switch to Firefox... in that the Code Buttons don't work quite the same, and my sig (Geneva font) looks different... The cursor also jitters, not quite sure why that is. Might be that I just need to adjust some settings. There's also an extension for using Code Buttons on Forums, so I might go get it and see if it helps...

 

Can you tell I really love Firefox?

 

That aside, I have also found the Internet to be dreadfully slow, or hangs.... on and off... or I can't connect at all, which is a first for me with the ISP I use. Makes no difference if I use IE or FF... same thing - like Ron says, it feels like I'm back on slow 56k dial-up... (perish the thought!). I'm wondering if it's not the weather... I know of other Brits who are saying the same thing, so I'm glad Ron's confirmed he's having the same thing too! Thing is, it's a PITA for me as I'm right in the middle of developing a large online database driven website, and I keep being cut off!

 

(Gotta go find out why I'm having a problem with the code buttons and jerky cursor, might be some kind of JavaScript setting or something... Hope I don't have to switch to IE to post here, oh yuck! )

[Marina]

Aha! Found the extension for Firefox that help a bit with the formatting codes... I can even make different colours with it

 

Not for the computer-faint-hearted I guess, but for those of us who are more "geeky", this is such fun!

[crispy]

Hi Marina,

 

You were the second person in two days to be seen raving about Firefox, so I checked it out myself a couple of days ago. I've fallen for it already, and will not be switching back. I also notice the jittery cursor, especially on panels like this one, I've also noticed it disappearing from time to time.

 

As you say, there are plenty of extensions offering useful features, I've probably spent more than a day checking them all out. The Firefox support forums are great too, plenty of members offering plenty of advice and support.

 

I have one problem at the moment on my system, and I've yet to prove if it's Firefox behind it - I'll keep checking and report back in the computer section when I find the answer.

 

All the best,

[Marina]

Hey Crispy, that's great!

 

I think I might make a "Firefox" sub forum in the Computer section, for any Firefox related discussions, even if it's only between you and me for now . We can then continue our chats and queries about FF there.

[crispy]

Hi Marina,

 

That's a great idea, I do want to write more on my Ff experiences, so I'll move it to the correct area.

 

I have a few observations about the forum stats and info in general, and that seems to apply whichever browser I'm using.

 

When I connected earlier today, the stats stated 7 posts made today, but I could only find one, made by you at 2340 - perhaps you edited it after midnight, I didn't check.

I made a few notes at the time, but going back to check now, they seem to have changed. The time I first checked was about 0700 today, and at that time one of your messages was marked up on the front page of the Members Area as last post by you Today at 10.51 pm which is quite amazing as it's still well before that now. To add to my confusion the same message when I clicked the link showed a time of Today at 12.13 pm.

 

I guess you would be able to explain these strange happenings, but I'm sure I miss quite a few posts because of the incorrect read/unread tags. I usually get round it by checking the dates and times of the posts, but it looks as though I can't rely on those either.

[Marina]

Well, Crispy, for once you have me stumped! LOL! I've no idea why you should be seeing erratic message times. I posted twice, once here and once to the new "Firefox" forum a bit later, I also included a link to this thread in it plus I copied a "quote" from you. Might that have caused some confusion?

 

The stats tend to work on a 24 hr basis. That's to say that it will show posts from the 24hrs before the time you're actually looking at the stats, not from midnight.

 

The "new messages" link at the top, works on a per browser cookie for your individual computer - and per log-in user name. I've found that if I log in as a guest, the stats will show differently to if I log in as myself. These are technically supposed to be new messages since your last visit.

 

The "View today's active topics", at the bottom, should show you all of the past 24 hrs' topics. These are not based on cookies but on time itself.

 

I have to say that I do sometimes find the read/unread icons on the left don't always refresh themselves, but again that might be due to cache or something. I really don't know why it happens, but I've seen the same thing on other IPB forums. So I tend to ignore them and to go to "View today's active topics", where I can also change it to view topics from the past X days.

 

I don't suppose this either explains anything nor helps...

[crispy]

Thanks for the pointers Marina, I'll have to try using a different way of finding the new posts. Out of interest, I tried using the View New Posts when I first entered the forum, but that told me there were NO new posts since my last visit I must have been reading them in my sleep.

[Alison]

Hi...

 

Just thought I'd let you know that PIPEX have been having trouble so maybe if you use them that is why things have been slow. We have definatley noticed it here, and David has been in touch with them too.

 

Take care

Love Alison x