It's almost good bye
 

I'm going to try one more time. What if anything is being done to fix FlyerTalk? It is still by far the slowest site I vist on the www.
I don't know if you noticed (or even care for that matter) I'm hardly ever on the forums any more. I just don't have the time or patience to deal with the slowness. For now I'll check back once in a while to see if anything is being done if not I'll just quietly "fade into the sunset". and that's not my desire.

For me, it has not been slow for a few weeks.

I am sure we would have seen many posts if it was slow systemwide.

It has been crawling for the past hour or so. This page took about 10 minutes to load.

FT is loading fine for me, not just now but also in the last couple days/weeks.:)

For the slow system problem, you should check in with the other ongoing thread (as followed). It had been happening every now and then since January this year, but I think IB has been working on it and we did see some improvement in the last 2 weeks or so. (Of course, the IB beta search still have (plenty of) room to be desired. ;))

Timing Out, System Generally Slow

Well, I saw your posts in the above thread as well. As a matter of fact, nobody has any "new" complaint in that thread since 2/22/08. Don't take it personally, it seems you are the only one who has been running into this slowness problem. Could it be something infected in your system that's causing it? I know some viruses will slow down the computers in general.

Is FT the only website you are running into problem?:confused:

Yes -- and it doesn't matter if I use the webflyer2 connection. I get to the problem when I try to access the forums.

No major speed problems for me this morning (some page loads were a little slow from FT and news sites but were similar speeds).

This was using mobile 3G broadband on a train to work into the CBD, so I would have noticed any major problems, but it was fine. :)

I am sorry, Dovster, I don't have the answer for you. I am not techie at all, so I can't even suggest you anything useful. :o

Are you using the freebie version (like me) or the ad-free version? I don't even know if that would make any difference. But I recalled a while back, the way IB was loading the ad/banners had been a problem for us using the freebie version. But it hasn't been an issue for me for a long time.

Are you using IE or Firefox? I switched from IE to Firefox a couple of months ago. I think FT performs much better in Firefox.

The only thing I do know is, if FT is indeed the only site you have this slowness problem, you need to give the tech people as much details/descriptions as possible in terms of the setting of your computers, the OS, browser, firewalls, anti-virus, ad-blocker programs you are using...etc, since something is interfering the normal loading of FT in your computer, (speaking from the experiences that FT is loading fine for me and other FTers).

Coachrowsey and Dovster: I haven't noticed any slowness this morning or tonight, except for an occasional connection problem on the auto-reloaded (by my browser settings) index pages, and some exceptionally long delays from the ad servers (which I can tell by the bottom of my browser, which tells me the URL that is loading when there are delays).

Are you using the paid, ad-free version or the regular, free version (like I'm using)? I know it's frustrating when the pages take a long time to load, but it's important to know if it's FT's servers or the ad servers.

I would include internet connection type and speed to lin821's list, above. I'd also suggest using Firefox over IE, but whatever one being used when there's a problem, opening the other and comparing the performance of the two can also help isolating the problems, as well as all the above listed items.

ed1, that's why I put "...etc" in my post because I know my no-techie list was nowhere near complete. :) (though it's good to know I was thinking at the right direction, i.e. ad-free vs free version; browser;... .)

Correct me if I am wrong, I have the impression that Dovster is using dial-up. ;):p (Or maybe it's during those "special times".)

ps. I have the basic DSL and "ad-ful" version of FT (i.e. the free version) and don't have the slowness problem in the last three weeks or so.

Internet speed was the only major problem area I thought of that you didn't mention, and, since it can be that major, I thought I'd add it. Dial-up is inherently slow, and can slow down even more at times. Also dial-up magnifies any other server problems, such as the ad server slowness. WiFi connections are usually faster than dial-up, but the speed varies immensely because of signal strength and amount of traffic sharing the bandwidth. I've actually had WiFi that was slower at times than dial-up because of both the above issues.

Things like memory, processor type and speed, and OS can be important in diagnosing some problems, but in this case internet connection and the other things you mentioned are more likely, with the problems reported.

The only reason I mentioned the free vs. paid FT, is I always watch the bottom of the Firefox window to see what specific site is taking so long to load, and lately (since the last major sluggishness that everyone experienced) the only times I see a major problem it's always during the loading of the ads, so you may very well be onto something there.

Too much Flash in IE or Firefox is also a major problem, both on loading time and on system resources. If I have too many flash items open (ads and/or real content) my computer slows down to a crawl, although I usually have upwards of 150 tabs total opened, in several browser windows, most of the time (presently I only have 65 tabs in this window and a total of 89 in 4 Ff and 2 IE windows, a very small number for me). That's why I use FlashBlock on Firefox, unfortunately IE7 doesn't have that add-on available.

You just explained some of the "delay" of page loading I ran into occasionally. I used to think it's due to my light or unprecise touch of the mouse clicks while hastily moving between tabs/windows. (Yes, I have a handful of windows open but not as many as yours. I don't think I can handle more than 10. Don't you need at least 20 eyes to handle those 89 windows you open? :D ) I would always re-click the link if the destination page didn't load when I returned to it. (Hope you are following me.)

But I may have spoken too fast in terms of the free vs. paid FT. After reading your post, I tried to think of the recent FT ad/banners I saw. I couldn't think of any. Like I said, I am not techie enough to tweak the host thingy. (Yes, I read it somewhere before. ;)) I double check my Firefox Tools. I have the ....... Plus. (Don't recall if that's an add-on feature or what.) Usually I "implement" the IT tips that's useful to me from the articles/posts I read (from our FT, PC Mag or some lucky sighting :)), then I forget about what/where/how I do (it). (:o)

My point is I am (essentially) using the free version without the ad (thanks to ....... Plus) and I don't have the issue of slow FT. If the ad server, as you had suggested, is one potential problem, we''ll need to know if Dovster and coachrowsey are on the paid FT (or if they use any adblocker). If they are on paid version, then we'll have to rule out this explanation.

ps. Sorry my posts tend to be long because I can only use the layman language to explain myself (and pretend that I think like a potential pro). ;)

I am using a cable connection, have the paid version of FT, and IE. Right now, I have no problem -- and usually do not. Yesterday, when I posted, it was crawling.

For many sites I use, especially FT, I keep several tabs open to make it easier to switch back and forth between different parts of the site. Here on FT I keep MyFT, Tech Index, My Subs page, NW forum index, several community index pages, ORP index, MR disc. index, MR deals index, my NW Aircraft seating table, FT airport look-up page, several http://www.airlinecodes.co.uk pages, and several interesting old forums to be read when time permits, and whatever reference materials I'm using at the time, all open in tabs in the Ff window. Most of the index pages I have set (in Ff) to auto-relaod, anywhere from every 5 to every 30 min. That way I have instant reference to several pages available without opening a new tab.

Other having 20 eyes, don't tell me you now have 40 hands too? :D

Seriously, with Dovster's newly-added input (generally no problem on cable connection using paid FT), it might be safe to assume (for the moment being) the ad server is one obstacle (or "bottleneck", if you will). If coachrowsey is using free version, then we surely will know he either needs the Adblocker to start with, or the paid FT. Correct?

Firefox with ....... or paid FT, if coachrowsey, isn't running the paid version or Firefox with ........ I don't think ....... is available for IE. Personally, I only worry about Flash on my Firefox, ads don't bother me and usually don't hog resources, and, at worst, only delay loading the page a little for me with RoadRunner.