Trouble getting irs.gov

[kaneohe]

For the better part of a wk, I have not been able to access irs.gov. No other problems except an intermittent problem getting google.com to search.
Was not able to get irs.gov using 2 different macs and Chrome and Safari browsers on each. Also cleared the cache for both browsers on one of the macs w/ no success. And rebooted the mac at one point.e

Also used one of those websites to search whether the irs site was down this AM. The site said the irs website was up and the problem was an individual problem with me.

Just before I came here to ask for help, I tried the irs site again and...........
of course.........it is (or at least was) up.

Does this mean the website that tells you whether a website is up or not is not current? Or does it take time for clearing the cache to take effect?
Happy to have access to irs.gov again but a bit mystified.

edit to add: and after I posted this I went back and again couldn't access irs.gov

 

[REWahoo]

Does this mean the website that tells you whether a website is up or not is not current? Or does it take time for clearing the cache to take effect?
Happy to have access to irs.gov again but a bit mystified.

No, the problem was likely caused by the NSA searching your computer to update their files on you. Now that they are done, all will return to normal.

 

[braumeister]

Sometimes this is a DNS issue.

One very simple trick that sometimes works is changing the prefix. If you're used to going to irs.gov, try www.irs.gov and you might get it.

Beyond that, maybe try a different DNS resolver. OpenDNS is a good choice used by many of us.

 

[kaneohe]

Sometimes this is a DNS issue.

One very simple trick that sometimes works is changing the prefix. If you're used to going to irs.gov, try www.irs.gov and you might get it.

Beyond that, maybe try a different DNS resolver. OpenDNS is a good choice used by many of us.

Thanks for your advice, braumeister. I tried your www trick but it did not help. Sounds like I need to learn about DNS. Tried suggesting to our city wifi folks that they might need to fix something. They said I might need to.......both based on using the "is it down (or something like that ) website which said irs.gov was working. I also discovered that medicare.gov has the same problem. A pattern? Everything else seems to be ok(including the state tax board which is ftb.ca.gov ) and the changes seems relatively recent.... everything else seems to connect.

 

[easysurfer]

...

Also used one of those websites to search whether the irs site was down this AM. The site said the irs website was up and the problem was an individual problem with me.

...

I trust the site up or down websites more than myself. Before switching to Comcast, my ATT connection would flake out a lot but prior to using those site, concluding if the source was my connection or the target site was a guessing game.

 

[Car-Guy]

Maybe they are erasing more emails and their servers are to busy.