# Problem accessing straightdope **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 25, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230 "2006-05-25T19:17:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/1 "2006-05-25T19:17:17Z")
Well, I’ve a weird problem : when I try to access the straightdope by just typying "[www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) in the adress bar, I find myself on a page with just an add. I tried several times with an identical result. I tried other sites : no problem. Eventually, I could join by googling “straightdope” and following the link from google. How could such a thing happen. And why would following a link from google give a different result from typying the adress??? ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/2 "2006-05-25T19:37:43Z")
I tried calling up the Straight Dope front page in Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera. In all three cases the advertisement at the top of the page was the first thing to display and then the rest of the page rendered fine. We have no idea what’s going on with your browser, your operating system, your computer. I could not duplicate your results so I cannot tell you what happened over there. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/3 "2006-05-25T20:10:14Z")
Mon ami, vouz avez de malware. Téléchargez-vous AdAware. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/4 "2006-05-25T20:25:51Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Mon ami, vouz avez de malware. Téléchargez-vous AdAware. Man, I’ve _got_ to learn French. Everything sounds so sexy, even technical advice. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Avenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avenger)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/5 "2006-05-25T20:52:25Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Well, I’ve a weird problem : when I try to access the straightdope by just typying "[www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) in the adress bar, I find myself on a page with just an add. I tried several times with an identical result. I tried other sites : no problem. > > Eventually, I could join by googling “straightdope” and following the link from google. How could such a thing happen. And why would following a link from google give a different result from typying the adress??? I’m getting the same thing, using Firefox. The page that I have bookmarked for the SDMB is bringing up a page with a blocked ad and the ‘questions and comments’ email address blurb from the bottom of the page only. The url that I have bookmarked is [http://www.straightdope.com/index.html](http://www.straightdope.com/index.html) and I get the same when typing [www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) in the address bar (only in Firefox, works normally in IE). I’ve changed the bookmark to the Forum menu page ([http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/index.php?)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/index.php?)) and that seems to be fine. ---
**Author:** ![Avenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avenger)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/6 "2006-05-25T20:59:59Z")
**Clairobscur** , are you using the NoScript Java blocker for firefox by any chance? I use this and have [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com) allowed. But I just tried allowing [http://127.0.01:2214](http://127.0.01:2214) as well, and the front page then loaded normally. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/7 "2006-05-25T22:49:09Z")
Thanks for all the info and tips, folks. For obvious reasons I have nothing on these pages blocked. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/8 "2006-05-26T00:52:45Z")
> [@Avenger](#): > > **Clairobscur** , are you using the NoScript Java blocker for firefox by any chance? > . Nope. I have this problem using IE. Apparently not using Firefox, I just tried. And by the way, the add I get when I type [www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) is the straightdope add ( I now know since I just got the same when connecting with firefox). So, the problem seems to be that the rest of the page doesn’t load. Just the add. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/9 "2006-05-26T01:05:49Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Nope. I have this problem using IE. Apparently not using Firefox, I just tried. > > And by the way, the add I get when I type [www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) is the straightdope add ( I now know since I just got the same when connecting with firefox). So, the problem seems to be that the rest of the page doesn’t load. Just the add. Sorry if you already know this, but click your link/shortcut again and when it stops at the Ad hit F5 for refresh. It could be a cache problem. Jim ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/10 "2006-05-26T01:39:18Z")
Glad it’s not just me. I gave up and just changed my shortcut to point to the boards. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/11 "2006-05-26T06:18:18Z")
> [@Avenger](#): > > **Clairobscur** , are you using the NoScript Java blocker for firefox by any chance? Does NoScript block Java or JavaScript? They aren’t at all the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/12 "2006-05-26T07:19:57Z")
I just checked this on my computer. What seems to be happening is that the [www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) page is taking extremely long to load, because the advertisement on the top of the page is not loading correctly. I notice that the advertisement is being served by [www.chicagoreader.com](http://www.chicagoreader.com) , and [www.chicagoreader.com](http://www.chicagoreader.com) does not load at all in any of my browsers (Opera 9 beta and IE 7 beta). So the problem seems to be with [www.chicagoreader.com](http://www.chicagoreader.com) and, by dependance, [www.straigthdope.com](http://www.straigthdope.com) Since the advertisement is not being served correctly, your browsers are probably timing out in attempting to load the ad, and not displaying anything at all as a result. In my case, it took a long time and then finally loaded the [www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) page without the advertisement (all I see is the text “advertisement:” on the top of [www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) page once it loads). Can anyone else confirm whether they can load [www.chicagoreader.com](http://www.chicagoreader.com) at all? Meanwhile, I’ll email this info up the chain. Thanks for bringing it to our notice. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/13 "2006-05-26T07:57:21Z")
This very minute, [http://www.chicagoreader.com/](http://www.chicagoreader.com/) fails to load in either Firefox or IE over Shaw cable, and similarly doesn’t work using Lynx or telnet over what IIRC is a Telus ADSL connection. So there does appear to be some problem! ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/14 "2006-05-26T10:49:13Z")
I also had this problem, I had Straight Board on my favorites, then I got it through Google, and now have it on my favorites and get in with no trouble. ---
**Author:** ![critter42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/15 "2006-05-26T11:13:06Z")
I can’t bring up [chicagoreader.com](http://chicagoreader.com) either. I’m using FF 1.5 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/16 "2006-05-26T12:17:26Z")
I have up to date IE over a T1 and [http://www.chicagoreader.com/](http://www.chicagoreader.com/) will not display. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/17 "2006-05-26T21:13:32Z")
Loads fine for me. But I’m on a 10 megabit link. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-accessing-straightdope/358230/18 "2006-05-27T00:58:30Z")
The issue has been resolved. [chicagoreader.com](http://chicagoreader.com) is back online, and [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com) is loading fine. Thanks again for notifying us. - **xash** General Questions Moderator