Why I think this board is so slow.

[mickj]

Originally Posted by Nords

I'm not positive, but I think the job is just being done by the default WinXP firewall. It doesn't acknowledge requests for access to ports, and I think that's what Google's ad server is doing-- trying to open a port and the request just times out.

The HOSTS.txt file is usually a lot faster at killing ads. DNS resolution is set to 127.0.0.1 and the ad is killed almost immediately (sometimes with an IE "cannot display" error). That doesn't seem to be happening with the Google ads.

I think guests can be expected to view ads. I'm not sure that any registered users should have to see ads, especially if the experience is likely to turn them into former registered users. So perhaps there's a way to turn off the ad servers (and thus speed up the user experience) for those who meet the appropriate conditions of registered user or regular contributor or whatever the criteria may be.

Martha, thanks for the Firefox suggestion. I'll add it to the list...

Google doesn't use a different port, it is the same port that all html traffic goes through.

[Billy]

I am not sure if this will help with the loading times, in fact I am not sure if this works. But I found this application for a better way to read forums. We have been traveling so I have not had the chance to check it. Information and link can be found at
Wanda Sloan

Billy
RetireEarlyLifestyle.com

[Gumby]

Having no problems loading with Apple Safari.

[Nords]

Last month John Greaney at RetireEarlyHomePage ran a poll to decide whether to finally banish H0cus. You may recall that H0cus has been banned from every major discussion board on the Web, including TMF & M*, but usually only after all but the most fanatic diehards have tired of his crap and left for other boards. He's even caused a board or two to shut down.

Greaney, OTOH, actually seemed to enjoy taunting H0cus and giving him plenty of rope to wrap around his neck. I hadn't been back there in over two years so it must've taken a while for the novelty to wear thin.

Anyway the poll results caused Greaney to split his forum. One has joined the rest of the Web in pledging to be H0cus-free (Retire Early Home Page Discussion Board :: Index) while the other one still has the archived crap.

Greaney's H0cus-free board runs on PHPBB with, as near as I can tell, no ads. It's fast, too.