When the browser just sits there, does it always stop at the same point in the page?
Yes, usually at a blank screen or with just the banner and tabs at the top.
Consider yourself lucky. This happens to me virtually every time I visit Flyertalk. I've kinda gotten used to it now! (FYI - hitting the back and forth arrows several times will usually take you where you want to go eventually, without dumping you back at the opening home page like refresh does.)
There's a long discussion about this problem in the thread "Huge delays due to tribalfusion" - and some suggestions on how to circumvent it.