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Original poster

Is it just me or do the ads really slow this site down?

93 replies

WideWebWitch · 24/03/2008 14:42

When I go to click I often get messages like

transferring from ad.adviva.net
and the like

It's REALLY slow, other sites aren't, is it me or mumsnet?

OP posts:
zippitippitoes · 30/03/2008 22:45

cheers mate

i shall post any more

MNHQ
YetMoreTech · 30/03/2008 22:43

Thanks Zippi and PW. The server hasn't been particularly busy at any of the times you've mentioned.

I am pretty sure that you've experienced different problems from one another.

I think in Zippi's case it is one of the ads that caused the stall. Clearly it's not a specific ad, since there aren't that many on rotation and it doesn't happen to you often enough for it to be the same one every time. (Very occasionally it happens that an ad serving company serves up a consistently bad ad - usually it's a Flash ad that doesn't work well in some browsers. In that rare case we'd ask them to stop displaying it.)

Ultimately we can't control if an ad served by a third party does or doesn't download in a clean and timely manner. What we'll look at is ways of changing the way the page is displayed so that a slow ad doesn't slow down the rest of the page. It's not trivial so don't go holding your breath now, y'hear?

zippitippitoes · 30/03/2008 21:23

ok page stall as follows

time 21.17

page loads with ing advert at the top

page is the we should have a topic anput topics thread

loaded up to the top part but ie thread title but not any of the actual thread/posts so half blank page

btm left corner

read spe.atdmt.com

zippitippitoes · 30/03/2008 10:56

right 10.42 today clicked on a weaning thread about people having difficulties at 6 months

only element loaded was tiny ad at the top was anabel karmel ad

at bottom left corner waiting for admedia plex or whatever

so took 5 minutes for page to appear

i have firefox

isp is tiscali

fast broadband

dell latitude d620

windows xp

macafee av

policywonk · 30/03/2008 10:07

Hello

No, in this instance I didn't get any page elements at all - just a blank page for a minute or so, and then everything seemed to load at once (well, in sequence, but not stalling after any particular element had loaded).

IE Version 6.0

Ta and sorry for being a techno numpty

MNHQ
YetMoreTech · 29/03/2008 23:46

Oh and just one more thing, when the page does finally appear it would be helpful to know which ads are being displayed.

MNHQ
YetMoreTech · 29/03/2008 23:44

PW, thanks for that. The server definitely wasn't busy at the times you mention, nor was the network at our end.

I've figured out who your ISP is and made a note. It's unlikely to be a problem with them either but it will be interesting if everyone with a problem is on the same ISP.

When the Active Convo page was loading slowly did any of the page appear and then seem to stall? Or did you just click the link for the page and get nothing for a long time?

In your browser could you click "Help" and then "About Internet Explorer" and make a note of what it says next to "Version" please?

policywonk · 29/03/2008 23:31

OK, it's stopped now!

policywonk · 29/03/2008 23:31

OK, it's happening to me right now - started at 23.20 and is still going. Pages are i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-y slow to load (and refreshing isn't making any difference).

Have been to other sites and they are working - come back to MN and it's loading, but really, really slowly (say a minute or two to load a page). Your 'is it just me' site said that it was just me!

I was trying to load the active conversations page. No error message. Yes, it did come up eventually. ISP - shit, I dunno . Browser - Explorer. Computer - five years old. Anti virus - none. Couldn't get into MN to see whether other bits of MN were being slow as well.

MNHQ
YetMoreTech · 29/03/2008 23:10

No need to apologise!

Answering all those question is dull and tedious, I'm well aware, so please don't feel obliged. But it's the only way we can really figure it out so it would be helpful if possible.

Carmenere · 29/03/2008 23:02

Ok well I will tell you what I will do, the next time it happens I will log all the answers to your questions and post them on here.

Apologies for the lack of science in my approach to technical problem solving.

zippitippitoes · 29/03/2008 23:00

here is one thread i started recently

here

zippitippitoes · 29/03/2008 22:58

ah but you go away try somewhere else and come back and mn is still stalling

what i was trying to say was that the recent problems i have had have been different

MNHQ
YetMoreTech · 29/03/2008 22:55

haha - I didn't think anyone was evaluating my technical ability. After all, I didn't write any of Mumsnet.

I'm not ruling out problems with the site, just saying they're not the most likely explanation for a handful of people finding it slow sometimes. It'd be great if we can get to the bottom of it, but to do so I need quite a lot more detail I'm afraid; anything and everything might be useful (without wishing to sound like Morse).

When did it happen? What page did you ask for it when it froze? Did you get any kind of error? Did it come up eventually? If not, how long did you leave it before you gave up by hit refresh or back? Who is your ISP? What browser are you using? How old is your computer? What anti-virus software do you have on your computer? Is it just on Talk? If you're finding Talk slow and you go to another bit of Mumsnet is that slow too?

The problem with "I tried another site and it was fine" is that it's not very scientific. For one thing, problems with an internet connection can be very transitory and so by the time you've said "hmmm, MN seems slow, I'll try the BBC news page, hey that seems okay" the problem might have gone away.

southeastastra · 29/03/2008 21:57

it's the awful baldy man ad

Carmenere · 29/03/2008 21:50

Hi Yetmoretech, the thing is that this is happening for a lot more people on mn. If it stalls for me as it did about five minutes ago, I go to a few other sites to see if it the problem is mine or not. It is almost always mn. And by that I mean perhaps 20 times in the past 10 days as opposed to perhaps once a month in the past.
It is not a value judgement on your technical ability, but it is a problem that is occurring with mn. Tbh if I was a newbie it would perhaps irritate me sufficiently to give up on the site altogether. And that is why I am bothering to post on this thread.

southeastastra · 29/03/2008 21:44

it's been happening for weeks, i blame that canodelling couple

MNHQ
YetMoreTech · 29/03/2008 21:43

What would be really helpful is if you can make a note of the precise moment you experience it - the more accurate the better ("just after The News at 10" isn't as useful as "22:31:15 on 28/3/08").

zippitippitoes · 29/03/2008 18:24

interesting

i have chatted to people on msn befiore who have had problems at the sme time ie we are on mn and msn and mn is stalling

i do often post after...i have recently started a few site stuff threads on the subject

MNHQ
YetMoreTech · 29/03/2008 16:50

zippitippitoes, sorry you think I'm wrong.

The thing is, multiple postings are a sign that the server is responding. It means that your posting is reaching the server. Then you press the button again and it reaches the server again.

The problem is that you're not receiving the response. That could be a problem at the server end or it could be a problem at yours. But with many many thousands of people not having the problem it does rather suggest that the problem isn't at the server end.

Do keep posting with additional info and symptoms and we'll try to help you figure out what's going on. In particular, next time you can't contact Mumsnet at all, try the site I linked to previously, namely downforeveryoneorjustme.com

zippitippitoes · 29/03/2008 14:05

yeah i dont do it very often but i get bored waiting

it is the same thing as happens when you click on a thread and it gets as far as contacting mumsnet

i did post about the stalling a few weeks back and a mnhq said she was getting the same problem thought it was abbey but might have been someone else

that problem is one which i have only noticed recently

nannynick · 29/03/2008 13:52

If you click Post Message and the browser indicates that it is doing something (spinning icon top right of browser for example), then you should not STOP the browser, until you have got some kind response, such as an error page, or a refresh showing your post. That is how duplicates occur - multiple postings.
What could be happening is your browser sent the message to mumsnet, mumsnet sucessfully posted the message, but the response on it's way back to your browser is getting delayed on it's travel to you.
In my experience it is rare for there to be issues with posting a new message, though I have certainly seen times when there are multiple posts on the board.

zippitippitoes · 29/03/2008 13:35

interesting the user end biut

i dont think that is right

because you get multiple postings when the site is stalling and you will see those happen across the board

and it doesnt explain why mumsnet stalls but no other sites do

so i click on post message and nothing happens

click on stop page

click on post message nothing happens

repeat several times

close down browser

cant get on at all

there is a different problem where stop and refresh does work

nannynick · 29/03/2008 13:29

Thank you YetMoreTech for enlightening us all to the latest tech developments going on, and clarifying that most issues are more likely at the user end.
Agree with you about scripts - When I was doing programming, I had the motto "if it's not broken, don't fix it." After all, changes of any kind, can often create more issues than they solve.

policywonk · 29/03/2008 10:42

Thank you YetMoreTech. I feel chastised... I didn't really think that Nikita didn't know how to post.