What's the Point of Donating If We Can't Access This Site at Peak Times?

October 12, 2012 | Self

[PittsburghAfterDark]

I have to ask this very seriously, do you know that this site has been completely unusable to perhaps thousands and thousands of others during either the first Presidential or Vice-Presidential debate and for an hour or so after their respective conclusions?

This has never happened in previous election cycles during debates, election night results or during large breaking news events. Slow? Yes. Unusable, no.

I've had multiple tabs opened for the debates this year and the FR one just wheel spin, wheel spin, wheel spin... blank page, no progress bar moving on the address bar. It's just the internet equivalent of dead air for hours.

If you're getting this during a VP debate I fully expect this site to be dead and inaccessible from 6PM-4AM election night.

Update us would you? What's going on?

[tomkat]

Your post was interesting in that it reminded me of something that's constantly showing up above my status bar (firefox 15) as FR is trying to load or reload a page.

Connected to www.google-analytics.com

Though when that specific addy is manually entered into Firefox, it redirects to http://www.google.com/analytics/

- - -

(preface the following with the fact I'm in central PA, and these anecdotal observations are irrespective of whether or not a HOSTS file is active)

I tried disconnecting that (google analytics) IP with my little CurrPorts app as close to instantaneously as possible, but it didn't seem to make any difference on my end.

Perhaps by the time it shows up in CurrPorts' list, the interference is already in progress ?

Or perhaps if all, or a (geographically ?) significant portion of FR's incoming traffic is being routed thru that Google addy before content can be served, it could be hosing things up ?

I parenthetically mention geographically because, in times past, when FR was glacial, I did some tracerts and found a huge (and consistent) latency bump at the .. wait for it .. CHICAGO hop !

Perhaps mine isn't an isolated incident .. I'm real curious if the slowness symptom might be limited to those of us east of the Mississippi ?

- - -

Obviously, I'm no kinda network guy .. my brief stint as a professional geek was as a (novice) SysAdmin back in the mists of the Y2K era.

And maybe I just wasted a half hour typing up a buncha stuff that has absolutely no bearing on anything at all . . LOL !

But something is vey f*d up here on 'big' nights, and I fear that our beloved FR will be, for all intents and purposes, unserviceable come 6 Nov.

[deport]

Perhaps mine isn’t an isolated incident .. I’m real curious if the slowness symptom might be limited to those of us east of the Mississippi ?

---

I’m west of the Mississippi River by one state and it’s useless to attempt to get on FR when a big event is happening. I have no idea of the causation but it does occur to the West also.

[tomkat]

Could be that, not being THAT far west, you're still being routed thru Chicongo (assuming that my observed latency drag there is an actual problem) ?

My memory benchmark for FR performance hearkens back to 9.11 when this site handled massive traffic for days with nothing like the current speed issues.

But my memory's not what it used to be, so maybe it was more problematic back than recall recalls . . .

[deport]

For information purposes.......

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2943561/posts?page=1169#1169

[advertising guy]

just did......now the ball is in your court

[tomkat]

Yeah, thanks for that .. CedarDave pointed me to it late last night .. I'd already turned this box off and gone to bed .. found/read it this morning.

It's my impression that some of the finest techie minds in the world can be found on the membership rolls of FR.

I really wish John could/would avail himself of some of them, even given the pitfalls inherent with 'committees'.

There IS a workable solution out there somewhere !

- - -

Speaking of membership rolls, and assuming a current membership of, say, 100,000:

$1/month for posting privileges, plus whatever the CC companies charge for a transaction fee .. so say total user cost of $2 per month, yields $1,200,000 per year for FR to become THE fastest site on earth.

And even if only half the membership agreed to that pittance, $600,000/yr is still about double the site's current income, and should keep us cutting edge and vey zippy.

Lurking would, as always, remain free of charge (other than the guilt cost incurred via freeloading   ;-)

[Jim Robinson]

Thanks. Maybe yours will shine through out of all the suggestions he gets.

[brityank]

www.google-analytics.com

Open your "hosts" file and add a redirect to your local port 127.0.0.1 and that stops any transfer between you and Google's Analytics collector. If you want nothing to do with Google, add "google.com" as well. ;^)

[advertising guy]

it will like I shared before with you

just call the number

[tnlibertarian]

Do what quite a few female freepers do....clean house, use the washing machine, take the clothes out of the dryer and fold. If its a real long time, scrub the kitchen floor.....:

And take away all my wife's fun?

[KevinB]

I've been on here since 2000 and only very rarely have I had access trouble.

Ditto. Not more than half a dozen times in twelve years seems pretty good to me.

[brityank]

Are we sure that this is all the fault of FR?

I too am a dummy with most of this stuff, but I do know that whatever the hardware/software FR is running on bears a big portion of the blame.

I'm just up from you outside Philly, on Verizon's DSL, and have no problem or unexplainable slowdowns on other sites. I can see when my line throttles at 3MB download - FR never reaches that level, some of YouTube's frequently do. At link selection it usually takes from 5 - 15 seconds before the window starts to paint the data, and that is if it's held in the cache. If the server has to search out a link from months ago that's gone quiet, it can run 45 - 75 seconds to see a return. That's to be expected, as it's not cached.

Slow as it is, FR is still the best place to grab info on just about anything you desire. Keep it up, Jim and John. And thanks!

[tomkat]

Thanks for that brityank .. already had 'em in there.

Both 'google-analytics.com' and 'www.google-analytics.com'

That's why it's struck me as strange that either of those addies should be flashing (very quickly) in Firefox's site loading info above the status bar.

Presumably the HOSTS file is blocking connections to all the other sites on that list too, but none of them show up in that info area the way g-a does, at least not that I recall noticing.

Almost as tho it's nothing to do with my machine or my connection request to FR, but somehow part of John's coding that routes traffic out of FR's pipe provider ?

Regardless, it's giving me a headache .. I'm a furnituremaker, not a network guru .. LOL

[brityank]

... struck me as strange those addies should be flashing (very quickly) in Firefox's site loading info ...

I don't see that, but it may be the way I have my FF set.

Got AdBlock Plus, NoScript, BetterPrivacy, and Ghostery all active. With those even on sites like Drudge I see very little ads or junk. I know it slows me down slightly, but not to the extent I see on FR.

[tomkat]

I run ABP and Flashblock, along with Malwarebytes and MSE.

Except for the local rag's site, this is about the only news site I frequent .. FR's only lag time competitor I've experienced is Imgur on occasion, which sometimes 'runs around with our hair on fire'.

Speaking of headaches, NoScript often induced them, so it's turned off .. lol

[goat granny]

LOL does your wife read free republic....

[Mountain Bike Vomit Carnage]

It happens during every fundraising. I am used to it.

[lonevoice]

I’m a monthly donor, have been for a very long time, so I hope I’m not too over the line in offering an observation.

There is only one person on the face of the planet who has access to and expertise in FR’s “guts,” most of which I understand is proprietary and custom. Unless a substantial increase in the salary and/or benefits of that one and only person would somehow provide the impetus, time, and expertise required to fix this, more money won’t solve it.