# Please help me resolve this strange browser problem, in both IE and Firefox **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 22, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-resolve-this-strange-browser-problem-in-both-ie-and-firefox/536981 "2010-04-22T14:19:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-resolve-this-strange-browser-problem-in-both-ie-and-firefox/536981/1 "2010-04-22T14:19:12Z")
I cannot proceed to any “comments” pages on the [Ottawa Sun](http://www.ottawasun.com/) site other than the first page, using two browsers. This happens at work, but not at home. For example, see [this](http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/04/21/13671886.html) story. Click next on the “[comments](http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/04/21/13671886.html#/news/ottawa/2010/04/21/pf-13671891.html)” tab. When I click on the “Next” button, or on page 2, I get returned to the main story page, and not subsequent comments, even though the URL has changed to what appears to be the correct URL: namely [http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/04/21/13671886.html?comments\_page=2&id=13671891](http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/04/21/13671886.html?comments_page=2&id=13671891). What’s up with that? It’s been like this forever. OK, I’ve only been working here for 6 months, but it’s always been this way, using both IE and Firefox. ---
**Author:** ![Khendrask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@Khendrask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khendrask)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-resolve-this-strange-browser-problem-in-both-ie-and-firefox/536981/2 "2010-04-22T15:42:54Z")
You say that works from home? I can’t get it to work here either… What browser versions are you using? It seems the ‘next’ and ‘pageno’ links are formed very differently from the ‘comments’ link on the main story page. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-resolve-this-strange-browser-problem-in-both-ie-and-firefox/536981/3 "2010-04-22T15:45:35Z")
I don’t know that it’s a browser issue so much as a network issue, since it’s both browsers and only at work. I would suspect the URLs are getting trapped by some network-level URL scanner that doesn’t like the way the site uses anchor tags. If you’re friendly with the IT department at work, you can ask them to check their logs and see what’s up. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-resolve-this-strange-browser-problem-in-both-ie-and-firefox/536981/4 "2010-04-22T15:54:24Z")
Works fine for me. Firefox 3.6.3 ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-resolve-this-strange-browser-problem-in-both-ie-and-firefox/536981/5 "2010-04-22T16:41:48Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Works fine for me. Firefox 3.6.3 Same here, and I’m using IE8. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-resolve-this-strange-browser-problem-in-both-ie-and-firefox/536981/6 "2010-04-22T19:30:36Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I don’t know that it’s a browser issue so much as a network issue, since it’s both browsers and only at work. > > I would suspect the URLs are getting trapped by some network-level URL scanner that doesn’t like the way the site uses anchor tags. > > If you’re friendly with the IT department at work, you can ask them to check their logs and see what’s up. The IT department is in another city. I don’t think I’ll be asking them why I can’t browse news story comments! Thanks for the responses so far. It seems **Khendrask** also has the problem. ETA: Firefox 3.6.3: IE 7.0 blahblahblah ---
**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:** [April 22, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-resolve-this-strange-browser-problem-in-both-ie-and-firefox/536981/7 "2010-04-22T23:34:05Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I cannot proceed to any “comments” pages on the [Ottawa Sun](http://www.ottawasun.com/) site other than the first page, using two browsers. This happens at work, but not at home. > > For example, see [this](http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/04/21/13671886.html) story. Click next on the “[comments](http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/04/21/13671886.html#/news/ottawa/2010/04/21/pf-13671891.html)” tab. When I click on the “Next” button, or on page 2, I get returned to the main story page, and not subsequent comments, even though the URL has changed to what appears to be the correct URL: namely [http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/04/21/13671886.html?comments\_page=2&id=13671891](http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/04/21/13671886.html?comments_page=2&id=13671891). > > What’s up with that? > > It’s been like this forever. OK, I’ve only been working here for 6 months, but it’s always been this way, using both IE and Firefox. The fact that the URL is changing may signal part of the problem. On my Firefox, the URL bar remains the same. This doesn’t surprise me, as I see the same thing on, say, Facebook, where only part of the page updates. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-resolve-this-strange-browser-problem-in-both-ie-and-firefox/536981/8 "2010-04-22T23:46:50Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The fact that the URL is changing may signal part of the problem. On my Firefox, the URL bar remains the same. This doesn’t surprise me, as I see the same thing on, say, Facebook, where only part of the page updates. This suggests the problem is with Flash to me. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-resolve-this-strange-browser-problem-in-both-ie-and-firefox/536981/9 "2010-04-23T01:50:25Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > This suggests the problem is with Flash to me. Tomorrow, I’ll try reinstalling Flash then. Ta.