# one site's URLs not working in Firefox **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021 "2012-06-23T03:39:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021/1 "2012-06-23T03:39:28Z")
Just today I’ve tried to navigate around the Sky and Telescope site, and Firefox (13.0.1) will not let me. The browser just displays a blank page. It appears they’ve started using some kind of link tracker. I can access the site fine in IE, which must mean that some setting I’m using in Firefox is what’s causing the problem. However, I can’t figure out what that setting might be, and my Googling hasn’t turned up anything. Here’s a link that didn’t work. I’ve disabled it just in case it really is some malware problem on my machine (which I doubt): h ttp://www.skyandtelescope.com/r?19=961&43=225842&44=159744325&32=3186&7=162446&40=http%3A%2F%[2Fwww.skyandtelescope.com](http://2Fwww.skyandtelescope.com)%2Fcommunity%2Fskyblog%2Fnewsblog%2FLittle-Scope-Makes-Big-Finds-159744325.htmlAmong the add-ons I’m using are Adblock Plus, DoNotTrackPlus, Greasemonkey, and Noscript. However, I’ve turned them off and the problem still exists. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Rhaegar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/51bf81/32.png) [@Rhaegar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhaegar)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021/2 "2012-06-23T05:43:42Z")
I’m getting a bit tired of Firefox myself. They seem to have problems opening sites or videoclips which use Adobe Flash. And the problem seems to be getting more prevalent. That could be your problem, I’m not sure. Having to constantly close Firefox constantly and switching to IE all the time has me fed up enough to just screw it and use IE all the time pretty soon. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021/3 "2012-06-23T07:28:20Z")
The link you posted looks like an intermediate step in their link tracking. Is that really the link you clicked? Try this one, which appears to be the intended destination and works fine for me in FF 12: [http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/Little-Scope-Makes-Big-Finds-159744325.html](http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/Little-Scope-Makes-Big-Finds-159744325.html) I see no sign of malware on either link. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021/4 "2012-06-23T08:22:13Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > … > Here’s a link that didn’t work. I’ve disabled it just in case it really is some malware problem on my machine (which I doubt): h ttp://www.skyandtelescope.com/r?19=961&43=225842&44=159744325&32=3186&7=162446&40=http%3A%2F%[2Fwww.skyandtelescope.com](http://2Fwww.skyandtelescope.com)%2Fcommunity%2Fskyblog%2Fnewsblog%2FLittle-Scope-Makes-Big-Finds-159744325.htmlAmong the add-ons I’m using are Adblock Plus, DoNotTrackPlus, Greasemonkey, and Noscript. However, I’ve turned them off and the problem still exists. Any ideas? I’m on FF 13.0.1 and the url worked for me. There has been some recent problems in FF for anyone who’s upgraded to Adobe Flash 11.3.300.257, but it does not appear to be affecting your url. ---
**Author:** ![ptr2void](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ptr2void/32/3406_2.png) [@ptr2void](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ptr2void)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021/5 "2012-06-23T11:29:09Z")
It appears to be Do Not Track+. With DNT+ enabled I got the same behavior. When I disabled it, I got through fine, after the intermediary redirect page to which your link brought me. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021/6 "2012-06-23T15:29:09Z")
> [@ptr2void](#): > > It appears to be Do Not Track+. With DNT+ enabled I got the same behavior. When I disabled it, I got through fine, after the intermediary redirect page to which your link brought me. If so, that’s not a problem with Firefox, but a problem with the site. All DNT+ does is send a note telling the site you don’t want to be tracked. It shouldn’t have any behavioral differences. And the thing with Firefox 13 and Flash is very clearly Flash’s fault. There’s no excuse for them not testing their new sandbox on Firefox 13. The stuff that is Firefox’s fault is usually much worse. ---
**Author:** ![steviep24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@steviep24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steviep24)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021/7 "2012-06-23T15:37:56Z")
I’m using the most recent version of Firefox and your link is working fine for me. The link you posted has a space between the h and t in the http:// part of the link and will work fine once that space is removed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021/8 "2012-06-23T17:31:22Z")
> [@Rhaegar](#): > > I’m getting a bit tired of Firefox myself. They seem to have problems opening sites or videoclips which use Adobe Flash. And the problem seems to be getting more prevalent. Photoplasties from the Cracked site never seem to work for me in Firefox (even when I turn off all of my Flashblocking addons). ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021/9 "2012-06-23T19:08:30Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Photoplasties from the Cracked site never seem to work for me in Firefox (even when I turn off all of my Flashblocking addons). For photoplasties, click the little link that says “article view”: much better in any browser. ---
**Author:** ![ptr2void](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ptr2void/32/3406_2.png) [@ptr2void](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ptr2void)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021/10 "2012-06-23T20:40:19Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > If so, that’s not a problem with Firefox, but a problem with the site. All DNT+ does is send a note telling the site you don’t want to be tracked. It shouldn’t have any behavioral differences. > > And the thing with Firefox 13 and Flash is very clearly Flash’s fault. There’s no excuse for them not testing their new sandbox on Firefox 13. > > The stuff that is Firefox’s fault is usually much worse. I would agree, that SHOULD be the case, but I think it actively BLOCKS requests to tracking sites as well. Here’s the HTTP header trace when trying to access the link in the OP: ```auto http://www.skyandtelescope.com/r?19=961&43=225842&44=159744325&32=3186&7=162446&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.skyandtelescope.com%2Fcommunity%20%2Fskyblog%2Fnewsblog%2FLittle-Scope-Makes-Big-Finds-159744325.html GET /r?19=961&43=225842&44=159744325&32=3186&7=162446&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.skyandtelescope.com%2Fcommunity%20%2Fskyblog%2Fnewsblog%2FLittle-Scope-Makes-Big-Finds-159744325.html HTTP/1.1 Host: www.skyandtelescope.com User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.7; rv:13.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/13.0.1 Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8 Accept-Language: en-us,en;q=0.5 Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate DNT: 1 Cookie: click_mobile=0; cc=t; 8305106666=1 Connection: keep-alive HTTP/1.0 302 Moved Temporarily Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2012 20:34:51 GMT Server: Apache Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache Location: http://s.clickability.com/s?19=961&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.skyandtelescope.com%2Fcommunity+%2Fskyblog%2Fnewsblog%2FLittle-Scope-Makes-Big-Finds-159744325.html&44=159744325&43=225842&32=3186&7=162446&18=0.8546226612369736 Vary: Accept-Encoding Content-Encoding: gzip X-Server-Name: va-c1-r1-u24-b1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Via: 1.0 va-c1-r4-u21-b2:3128 (squid) Connection: close ``` So it’s attempting a redirect to Clickability directly – which is listed in DNT+ as a tracking site – and I suggest is blocking that redirect, eliciting the behavior seen. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021/11 "2012-06-23T22:47:39Z")
Firefox 13.0.1 on my Mac won’t open the page, even with do not track turned off, quitting Firefox then restarting it and the errant space in http deleted. Safari opens it, then is redirected to [skyandtelescope.com](http://skyandtelescope.com). Firefox opens [skyandtelescope.com](http://skyandtelescope.com) when it’s typed into the URL strip, but a warning appears across the top saying “Firefox prevented this site from opening a popup window,” because I disabled popups. (I have popups disabled in Safari, too, but no warning appears with Safari when they’re blocked.) So the problem appears to be cross-platform. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021/12 "2012-06-25T05:09:26Z")
I fixed it. The link I had was from its RSS feed. The trouble was that, on the blank page that displayed, DNT+ showed 0 trackings, and thus did not let me allow [www.skyandtelescope.com](http://www.skyandtelescope.com)! I got around this by going to their home page and allowing tracking there. Thanks for everyone’s help. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021/13 "2012-06-27T17:15:05Z")
> [@ptr2void](#): > > I would agree, that SHOULD be the case, but I think it actively BLOCKS requests to tracking sites as well. Here’s the HTTP header trace when trying to access the link in the OP: > > ```auto > > http://www.skyandtelescope.com/r?19=961&43=225842&44=159744325&32=3186&7=162446&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.skyandtelescope.com%2Fcommunity%20%2Fskyblog%2Fnewsblog%2FLittle-Scope-Makes-Big-Finds-159744325.html > > GET /r?19=961&43=225842&44=159744325&32=3186&7=162446&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.skyandtelescope.com%2Fcommunity%20%2Fskyblog%2Fnewsblog%2FLittle-Scope-Makes-Big-Finds-159744325.html HTTP/1.1 > Host: www.skyandtelescope.com > User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.7; rv:13.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/13.0.1 > Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8 > Accept-Language: en-us,en;q=0.5 > Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate > DNT: 1 > Cookie: click_mobile=0; cc=t; 8305106666=1 > Connection: keep-alive > > HTTP/1.0 302 Moved Temporarily > Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2012 20:34:51 GMT > Server: Apache > Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache > Location: http://s.clickability.com/s?19=961&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.skyandtelescope.com%2Fcommunity+%2Fskyblog%2Fnewsblog%2FLittle-Scope-Makes-Big-Finds-159744325.html&44=159744325&43=225842&32=3186&7=162446&18=0.8546226612369736 > Vary: Accept-Encoding > Content-Encoding: gzip > X-Server-Name: va-c1-r1-u24-b1 > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > Via: 1.0 va-c1-r4-u21-b2:3128 (squid) > Connection: close > > ``` > > So it’s attempting a redirect to Clickability directly – which is listed in DNT+ as a tracking site – and I suggest is blocking that redirect, eliciting the behavior seen. Well, then, they lied about what it’s supposed to do. The entire point of it was supposed to be that it woudln’t block anything. The blocking was supposed to be done server side. Plus, if that’s the case, why in the world would that be the only problematic site? Even the Dope uses link trackers. Unless, of course, your site is using something much worse. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-sites-urls-not-working-in-firefox/626021/14 "2012-06-27T19:27:24Z")
I’ve been having numerous, persistent problems with the new double-digit versions of Firefox. (I don’t know what it’s up to: I’m away from that computer.) Pages show up blank or are created with no URL. Flash has seemingly stopped working entirely on many sites, if not all. I’d say your problems are a general Firefox problem, not a site or computer problem. How does one fix the Flash issue?