RIP, FREE REPUBLIC, ANOTHER CONSERVATIVE WEB SITE GETS OVER RUN BY THE RATS!?

Grampa Dave | 29 October 2002 | Grampa Dave

[MEGoody]

They probably don't want us to be able to talk about all the ridiculous things the Dems have done recently, such as turning the Wellstone 'memorial service' into a political rally. (This is just the most recent idiocy from the Dems. There are so many to choose from)

[ThePythonicCow]

peel open your wallet and pay for high-speed Internet access, would ya??

Easy. It is not the bandwidth that's the problem. It's slow on high speed lines as well. I'm on a T-3 right now (45 Mbits/sec) and FreeRepublic is slow. Once the FR server finally responds to a request and starts sending down the new page, all is well.

And as others have noted, it's not the pictures that are causing the load on the FR server. The FR server just sends down a few words of html that address some picture on a site such as Yahoo or whitehouse.gov, and then your PC directly accesses Yahoo or whatever to get the actual picture.

In the middle of the night, it's fine. But otherwise whether at work on this T-3, or at home on my DSL, the FR server is taking many seconds (varys alot) to respond (to even begin sending any data) to each request.

[alley cat]

After being slow as molasses all day, it sudden seems to have come back to life!

Zipping right along... for now...

[TigerTale]

It got like this on the day of Wellstone's death.

I agree. The first time I noticed a problem was when I tried to get on following a radio announcement of the plane crash. I immediately assumed my access issue was due to everyone else trying to get in as well.

[Lancey Howard]

This slowness problem seems to be a lot more extended and is taking a lot longer to "resolve" than similar problems in the past. I don't think that "traffic" is to blame - - as I recall, new threads and posts during the summer of '98 (impeachment summer) had to blow away whatever is coming along now.

On the other hand, when I tried to post to yesterday's FReeper USO Canteen thread (the one about the soldier who was killed during a covert operation in Poland), it took forever for the thread to come up because of all the pictures and graphics. I finally gave up on it.

But would that kind of stuff have anything to do with me clicking on 'Post Reply' in order to bring up this box I am typing into and having to wait forever for it to come up? (That is, if I don't get the "Site Not Responding" pop-up first.)

I think the problem is some kind of virus, security breach, or scumbag Democrat sabotage. That's what I think.

[RightOnline]

With all due respect, I'm quite aware of how "it" works (work in the design engineering group of a Fortune 10 computer company; nearly 20 years in the biz). All I can tell you is that I've seen nothing like this, either at work or at home.

It's entirely possible that if so many are seeing this problem that the ISP deserves some scrutiny.....OR......the server(s) are simply not up to the task with the (I'm guessing) larger hit count (more lurkers / members, increased hits due to the hot topics of the day, etc.).

I'm on two 100 megabit ethernet networks (work and home) and have zero problems.

[Lancey Howard]

This slowness problem seems to be a lot more extended and is taking a lot longer to "resolve" than similar problems in the past. I don't think that "traffic" is to blame - - as I recall, new threads and posts during the summer of '98 (impeachment summer) had to blow away whatever is coming along now.

On the other hand, when I tried to post to yesterday's FReeper USO Canteen thread (the one about the soldier who was killed during a covert operation in Poland), it took forever for the thread to come up because of all the pictures and graphics. I finally gave up on it.

But would that kind of stuff have anything to do with me clicking on 'Post Reply' in order to bring up this box I am typing into and having to wait forever for it to come up? (That is, if I don't get the "Site Not Responding" pop-up first.)

I think the problem is some kind of virus, security breach, or scumbag Democrat sabotage. That's what I think.

[Miss Marple]

Personally, since no one including Jim seems to know, I am voting that the cause is an organized sabotage plan by either DU or the DNC in general. If 50,000 e-mails are sent to Rat volunteers telling them to lurk on FR as often as possible, I think that would pretty much do it.

I am not a computer expert, but when stuff like this happens couldn't we go to an "only registered users" plan?

[Miss Marple]

I forgot to say that my reasoning behind my theory is that we are slow during EAST COAST WORKING HOURS, such as the times Terry McAuliffe is in his office. You will notice the speed has picked up now.

[PJ-Comix]

Grampa Dave aka Chicken Little.

[ThePythonicCow]

I'm on two 100 megabit ethernet networks (work and home) and have zero problems.

Some of us on very fast networks are seeing problems. Indeed, I know of no one else not seeing problems. So I conjecture that it is not having a fast network that matters, but that somehow you are getting lucky and hitting the FR site in good moments. The performance has very high variability, so that is possible.

[ThePythonicCow]

... it took forever for the thread to come up because of all the pictures and graphics.

Each picture and graphics comes from some particular server, as specified in the html for that picture. If someone links to a picture on a slow or easily overloaded server or to an excessivly large picture, then the page with that link will load slowly, while other pages could be fine.

But would that kind of stuff have anything to do with me clicking on 'Post Reply' in order to bring up this box I am typing into and having to wait forever for it to come up? (That is, if I don't get the "Site Not Responding" pop-up first.)

Not likely anything related. Slow replies on posting or on pretty much every FR page, even those without slow loading pictures, are likely due to something on or near the FR server or its internet link. Unless the entire net seems slow to you, in which case the problem is more likely near your end or a massive overload or failure in the main web backbone.

[ThePythonicCow]

I would hope that Jim and John could see what the hit rate was, and know if it was excessive. If someone is lurking, but not posting, us innocent end users won't know. But the wizards ought to know.

If that happened, then I can imagine that them brainstorming ways to throttle it. However, wouldn't "registered users only" tend to (1) chase away future freepers, while (2) forcing intentional disrupters to register, further overloading Jim, John and the servers?

[hellinahandcart]

Not allow new comers to log on until this is resolved.

I would object very much to this, as I am expecting to hear any minute now that an old and dear friend has FINALLY decided to join up.

[hispanarepublicana]

Would it help if people stopped posting idiotic vanity threads

Did I dream this, or was it so? When I joined FR, I seem to recall that newbies had to make x no. of replies to existing threads before they were allowed to post new ones...it seems like it's the newbies who are the most guilty of posting vanity or (even worse) duplicate threads. Duplicate threads are understandable (and seem to be taken care of by Moderators) when a sudden major event happens (Wellstone's plane crash), but lately I've seen the same story posted 3 times in a 12-hour span, and the moderators rarely catch it.

[smith288]

Well, certainly in that respect, but the general performance of Freerepublic for all of us because of your adjustment wont be felt.

[Revolting cat!]

As you get older gramps, things appear to go slower than usual. Why, for the rest of us, FR access has been as fast as always. Swear it's true!

[Lancey Howard]

I am not a computer expert, but when stuff like this happens couldn't we go to an "only registered users" plan?

I am no expert either, but I do know that this site, Free Republic, represents a tremendous problem for the Democrat Party. We know that those scumbags have no shame, honor, or decency - - duplicity, deceit, and sleaze is in their makeup. It is what they are.

These animals will be utterly ruthless in doing anything - - anything - - to advance their selfish agenda of personal political power. This means destroying anybody or anything that gets in their way. (Look at what Scumbag and his mob did to anybody who criticized him or his administration.) Free Republic is a font of raw truth and a continual disseminator of news from myriad worldwide sources. The truth simply cannot hide, and there is no Democrat lie that will not be exposed here on Free Republic.

It is my opinion that some sophisticated scumbag Democrat operatives are behind Free Republic's "technical difficulties". It is a problem that will continue forever. And I believe that it could easily be one guy with a computer. I doubt that the current problems are the result of a whole bunch of Democrat scumbags lurking or logging on or whatever. I also don't believe that the tiny circle-jerking clack over at Scumbag Underground has anything to do with anything. They are barely coherent from what I understand.

Regards,
LH