# Stuck On A Website **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908 "2012-05-14T17:08:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/1 "2012-05-14T17:08:29Z")
Why won’t some sites let you go? Only way out is the red x sometimes. This includes Google Chrome’s “Oops, we can’t find this page” one. Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/2 "2012-05-14T18:19:49Z")
I assume you mean the Back button doesn’t appear to work and keeps taking you to the same page. This is because the previous page is redirecting you to the page you are stuck on. You click back, it goes back to the page, which then redirects you again to the “stuck” page. In most browsers, the Back button has options to go back more than one step. You can use this to get back to wherever you came from. ---
**Author:** ![iamnotbatman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@iamnotbatman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamnotbatman)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/3 "2012-05-14T18:41:26Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I assume you mean the Back button doesn’t appear to work and keeps taking you to the same page. This is because the previous page is redirecting you to the page you are stuck on. You click back, it goes back to the page, which then redirects you again to the “stuck” page. This pisses me off to no end. > [@TroutMan](#): > > In most browsers, the Back button has options to go back more than one step. You can use this to get back to wherever you came from. I’ve heard this before but always seem to forget to try it! Sometimes if you click ‘back’ fast enough, with enough blood pressure building up in your brain, you can escape before stroking out. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/4 "2012-05-14T19:11:42Z")
😕Yes.🙂 I had to read that through a couple of times. Thanks! Q ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/5 "2012-05-14T19:27:17Z")
> [@iamnotbatman](#): > > This pisses me off to no end. > > I’ve heard this before but always seem to forget to try it! Sometimes if you click ‘back’ fast enough, with enough blood pressure building up in your brain, you can escape before stroking out. Or click the down arrow next to the back button (or just left-click and hold the mouse button down) until a list of recent history shows up–select a page _before_ you ended up in the loop and you’re all set. ---
**Author:** ![Coustralee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Coustralee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coustralee)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/6 "2012-05-15T15:28:22Z")
I found that on a forum recently, i didnt end up hanging around long… seriously felt like emailing them and telling them it wasn’t 1996 anymore. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/7 "2012-05-15T16:59:49Z")
Or click the back button twice or more quickly. Sometimes this works. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/8 "2012-05-16T10:45:04Z")
I especially like the ones that spawn a pop-up window saying something like “Wait! Are you sure you want to leave? You’re our 1 trillionth visitor and you qualify for a free gold-plated iPad and a fortnight on Necker Island with the fit one out of the Saturdays!!” Related question: on those pop-ups, that typically have buttons saying “Stay on this page” and “Leave this page”, presumably there’s nothing to stop the programmers also have the “Leave this page” button download something nefarious? Is it best to close those windows with the “x” in the corner, or just shut down the browser altogether? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/9 "2012-05-16T15:44:03Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Related question: on those pop-ups, that typically have buttons saying “Stay on this page” and “Leave this page”, presumably there’s nothing to stop the programmers also have the “Leave this page” button download something nefarious? Is it best to close those windows with the “x” in the corner, or just shut down the browser altogether? If they want to do something, they can do it from either a button or the “x”. If they’re trying to download something, you _should_ get a warning from your browser or operating system. Still, this is why antivirus software is important even if you’re a “careful” surfer. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/10 "2012-05-16T17:44:44Z")
Oh, the browser goes in circles Round and round the site Don’t know what the matter is But I know that it ain’t right And the refresh makes me crazy It’s some designer’s ghastly jape And deep inside my heart I know I can’t escape Oh, Mama, can this really be the end To be stuck inside a website With the backclick blues again. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/11 "2012-05-16T18:27:14Z")
The back button is disabled by the programmer. Okay technically it’s not disabled, but the programmer has coded the page to intentionally keep you around longer. Not very nice, imo. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/12 "2012-05-16T19:05:34Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > The back button is disabled by the programmer. Okay technically it’s not disabled, but the programmer has coded the page to intentionally keep you around longer. Not very nice, imo. In some cases, it is certainly intentional. But for the majority of sites that do this, it’s an old web coding practice where there’s a page (page A) that is submitting some data to a page for processing (page B), which then redirects to page C for display to the user. The user never sees page B. But if you click Back from page C, it sends you back to B, which then redirects you back to C again. It’s not done to intentionally keep you on the page, it’s just an old way of doing it. Some people never bothered to update their sites, and some never learned better. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/13 "2012-05-16T22:55:49Z")
Those things always confuse me, **Colophon** and **yabob** , you just made my day! Thanks for the laff! Q ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/14 "2012-05-17T02:42:58Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Or click the back button twice or more quickly. Sometimes this works. That usually works for me. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuck-on-a-website/621908/15 "2012-05-17T05:03:28Z")
Sometimes pages DO have to be redirected, often for scenarios involving backwards compatibility for a published address involving an old domain or webpage which should now go somewhere else. More than an “old style”, I would describe it as the result of the webpage designer working strictly in HTML. The offending bit of HTML is the use of so-called “meta refresh”: [http://www.idocs.com/tags/document/index\_tagsupp\_4.html](http://www.idocs.com/tags/document/index_tagsupp_4.html) Note the seconds count in there - it can be given as 0, and often will be. It can lead to the effect being described. The preferable way to do it is through an HTTP response (code 301 or 302) which tells the browser to go instead to a new location also contained in the response. This doesn’t goof up the browser’s back button. However, somebody who is simply writing HTML webpages may not have the ability to specify this in their server environment, or the knowledge of how to do so, since it’s not something that is part of a simple HTML document. Platforms like php, asp, and J2EE give the programmer the ability to produce this kind of response easily. However, that doesn’t help if the original published URL was an .html URL, not a .php, .asp, .jsp or whatever. You can also redirect through javascript, which behaves better, but relies on the user having javascript in their browser and having it enabled.