Slow page loads: any one else experiencing that?

I cleared my cache, logged out and viewed as a guest. No change for me. The rest of the internet works fine on this device.

 

Thanks to all who are posting here, those not affected, affected and mods (thanks, Andy and 42Blades), the latter who have direct connections to those driving the back end of this forum, down there in the bowels of forum software and IT hell. (Those places make me nervous when I have to troubleshoot or make changes to my own forums; I've used both Simple Machines Forum and vBulletin to run forums in the past for my clients and students.)

While I'm sorry to read of the whoa's of others, I'm sooo glad to know I'm not the only one affected. There's something more general going on, even if it's obviously not affecting everyone, probably not even the majority. And yes, I'm spending less time here in part because of this issue -- it's just too frustrating to deal with. (Of course, there are those who will call that a good thing. <rolls eyes >

Here's a clue. I'm finally getting server based error msgs in some cases, especially when trying to (usually unsuccessfully) edit a post -- it won't open, and the msg is, embedded in deep bright red :

Ok, a little help please. Is that an issue on the server side, on my laptop side (2015 MacBook Pro running Yosemite, Firefox) or both? I've never understood nor fully trusted JAVA; there are reportedly a LOT of security issues with it.

I think a bit of research and trouble shooting is in order. I'll do my share to help. I'm also planning to find some good anti-virus/anti-malware software for Mac; a friend has made one recommendation -- others are welcome. (Except Mac Keeper -- won't touch it.)

 

Update 20 min later.

I went to the official Java site -- it'll be marked "Oracle Corporation, US" in the URL bar. There, one can do a server side test to see if one's Java is current. Mine was not, so I downloaded the new version and installed.

Early results: it helped -- pages are notably faster now (but it is Saturday 11:40 am, so ....) -- but still not as fast as this forum deserves to be for such a fast, raucous crowd as we are. In particular, things like trying to open a link edit or add a smiley just spin for 15 sec or more.

Suggestion: if you're having this trouble, go to the JAVA site, check your version, update if needed. We'll see if that helps.

 

^That last post took over 3 min to load when I clicked "post reply". I actually wrote and posted a comment on another forum while this one here loaded.

 

no probs here. Then again im on a fiber optic hookup.

 

Another update. A while after updating Java, I rebooted. At first, I only reloaded Firefox. But after restarting my Mac Book, so far the speed has returned. So far -- we'll see what the next few days brings. Pages load nearly instantly; even editing is very fast.

Hypothesis: the problems may well be related to out of date Java stuff in browsers. I hope it's that simple.

 

Mine has been working better since last night.

 

Any page errorsnoted in the console will be in your browser. open developer mode, usually F12 and you should see a tab for Console. that will show errors. if you're getting super slow page loads, it could be just an alert saying scripts couldn't be loaded or something similar.

 

Also, do your problems persist using a different browser?

 

Also, I'm curious as to your results if you use https instead of http...

https://www.eseeknives.com/forums/

 

Well, it appears that the issue addressed in this thread is over for me now. Ever since I updated Java and rebooted, it's been normal again. Very fast page loads, editing, etc. Not 24 hours yet, but ...

Now, admittedly, an important principle in statistical analysis is that correlation does not prove causation, especially with a sample size of one. I'll be curious to see if updating Java cures the issue for others experiencing slow loads. It could be that the powers that be made some changes in the forum back end that fixed it. Unknown.

Chorpie, I haven't tried another browser -- I use Firefox pretty much exclusively since I ditched Chrome -- though I should have tried that before it got fixed; moot now, I guess.

I'll try https: later -- I opened it in a tab, but it wants me to log in again, and I'll need to find my password after I get some work done.

I'm also going to explore that console via F12. That's new to me; I like learning about the inside of important software.

On a related note -- I suspect related -- I've had two kernel panics in the last 48 hours. That's a situation where a Mac just automatically reboots on it's own due to some OS error or an aberrant app. I'm going to research it more later today, and find some anti-virus/malware for this box. I have nothing on it right now.

Top choice, recommended by @Wolfman Zack : AVG .

 

I use my phones exclusively to come on the forum. Galaxy S5 and iPhone 6. I wonder if there is something I can update something to help with this issue. It is painfully slow.

 

I have no reason to doubt that ^ at all. And to be clear: I never once proposed -- nor even considered -- that those running the forum somehow "caused" the problem. That's too far fetched. Instead, I considered that there may have been a setting that needed adjustment or a some server software that got updated that solved the issue. I run two WordPress sites, and have run three forums in the past years. I know two high-level IT people who run huge networks. All of that experience has taught me that computer systems -- being complex, nonlinear systems -- sometimes do weird and unexpected things, and that sometimes, merely updating server, site or forum software (from version X.2 to X.4), adding or replacing an app or addon, or even making some minor changes in settings can cause problems downstream -- or just as easily -- fix problems. That's especially true on relatively new forum software like XenForo (vBulletin has been around forever, and most issues are well known and understood; I submit that's not the case with this new forum thing -- and I have no idea who's actually running the back end -- meaning, the nitty gritty, IT, settings stuff that someone's got to do. Is that someone in ESEE, or an outsourced company being paid to run the back end? I don't care, really; not my business. I'm just saying it could make a difference in the way things run.

And until we hear from others who were having slow page problems, and whether their problems ended with or without upgrading their Java stuff, we can't know for sure that the latter is what fixed it for me.

So, we'll just keep collecting 'data' for now, and see what turns up. In any case, it'll be interesting (now that my frustration is over) and we might learn something useful.

 

I strongly doubt that Java would have fixed your issue, unless Firefox is written in Java which I don't believe it is.

Take a look at Malwarebytes for Mac. It's free. That being said, I doubt that malware is screwing with your ability to load the ESEE forums quickly as well, since you said the behavior is not seen on other sites. Debugging traffic to and from these forums may help, but really are outside the scope of end-user

 

It took me 10 tries to get to this point to post that this forum is still broken for me. I've tried everything I could on my end. Something has changed and it wasn't either of my phones.

 

So, Chorpie, you believe it was co-incidence that the problem on my end stopped almost immediately after I updated Java? As I said above, correlation doesn't prove causation, but it is a remarkable coincidence. What other hypotheses do your propose that could be causing problems?

What languages is Firefox written in? Here's a start on a Mozilla forum. There are links to other pages.

Sheep, did that include updating Java?

Just for grins, I did a search on "Xenoforo slow page loads" and came up with some hits. Here are two. Both are mostly beyond my technical knowledge, but IT people and server admins will know what it means.

This one is on XenoForo Forums. I suspect there are other threads on that forum also, but I have not searched yet.

5 Tips to speed up your XenForo forum

Now, admittedly, I'm not convinced either is at the heart of what's going on here, because there are only a few of us who are or were affected. But something is wrong.

 

I don't know how to update Java on my phones. I'm not showing any scheduled updates that need to be done. I tried to turn off Java on the internet app, which changed nothing. I also tried Chrome, but that didn't work either. Same issue on Android and iOS.

 

Sheepdog, I didn't read your earlier post carefully enough. I thought from it that your phones were working but a computer browser wasn't. Your phone issue may be totally different.

Try calling your phone service provider -- Verizon, US Cellular, who ever -- or better yet, go by one of their stores. They should be able to help you solve this on your phones, or at least offer some clues.

 

I have this problem OP. I am just dealing with it on my company PC