A problem w/NYTimes

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hawk
  • Start date Start date
H

Hawk

Many articles @nytimes.com are two or more pages. There is always a link at
the bottom of the first page to go to the next page. I cannot get those
links to work. I always get a 'cannot find server' page instead.

I've discussed this w/ the nytimes.com support folks. They suggested I
clear the cache (didn't work), or delete cookies (didn't work). I've shut
down my firewall, pop up ad blocker, and nothing has helped.

Once I have arrived at the 'cannot find server' page, I can copy the address
window, shut down all IE6 windows, re-launch IE6, paste the address into the
window, and it will access the desired page just fine.

This is a problem I have only with the nytimes.com site, so you would think
it was their problem, but since I'm the one experiencing it, it's my
problem.

I'm running Windows XP Home
Compaq Presario 5100 w/ P3 1.7Ghz
512 DRAM

Any help is appreciated.
 
I have the exact same problem. Whoever is in charge of usability there
should be fired; immediately.
 
It may be a HOSTS file problem.
Look for a file named HOSTS (no extension, could be hidden) rename it
OLDHOSTS.

If you did not create the file, then you may have parasites, or you are
using a web accelerator program that would be causing this problem.

This may be caused by a third-party program (adware, spyware, parasite).
Get AdAware and SpyBot and run them both. Keep them up to date.
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search Engines
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
 
H Leboeuf said:
It may be a HOSTS file problem.
Look for a file named HOSTS (no extension, could be hidden) rename it
OLDHOSTS.
Click to expand...

I renamed it; same problem.
If you did not create the file, then you may have parasites, or you are
using a web accelerator program that would be causing this problem.
Click to expand...

I have neither.
This may be caused by a third-party program (adware, spyware, parasite).
Get AdAware and SpyBot and run them both. Keep them up to date.
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search Engines
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
Click to expand...

Nothing turned up.

The funny thing is, why does this only happens for the nytimes.com
site? I am able to access any other site just fine.
 
....
The funny thing is, why does this only happens
for the nytimes.com site?
Click to expand...

Can you access the nytimes.com site otherwise?


Try this test in a command window.

telnet -f nytimes.htm nytimes.com 80

wait for the screen to clear and type (you won't be able to see your typing):

GET /

(That's GET <space> <slash> <Enter>.)

Then enter:

dir nytimes.htm

FWIW when I do that I get 79,043 for a length.
Further, after the connection drops I can see at the top and bottom of the
window suggest that the HTML document is complete:

<top>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html><head><script src="/js/csssniff.js"></script>
</top>

<bottom>
<NYT_TRACKING_CODE SECTION="NYTime
s.com Home"></NYT_TRACKING_CODE></body></html>
</bottom>

Open the captured output in nytimes.htm with Notepad as an alternative
for checking this. The important things to be looking for are that the
document seems complete, e.g. starts and ends properly, has a reasonable
size and doesn't seem to have chunks missing in the middle.

That last check would be harder to ascertain. But what you could do
is set Work Offline and open the nytimes.htm file with IE to see
what the text part looks like. By setting Work Offline you prevent
IE from trying to go any further e.g. with loading scripts and images.


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle
---
 
Robert Aldwinckle said:
Can you access the nytimes.com site otherwise?
Click to expand...

I can access the nytimes.com homepage everytime. I can access the
first page of any article as well. It's only when I click page "2"
link when it hangs. It works maybe 1 out of 30 times however.

Do I still need to do the telnet command you gave previously?
 
Doug said:
I can access the nytimes.com homepage everytime. I can access the
first page of any article as well. It's only when I click page "2"
link when it hangs. It works maybe 1 out of 30 times however.

Do I still need to do the telnet command you gave previously?
Click to expand...

No. I guess I didn't read your original post and was just trying to
supplement Henri's tack (checking connectivity.)

He might have been right though if the second page involves a different
domain, e.g. a caching service such as akamai.

The best aid to analysis would be an HTTP packet trace.
XP users can use netcap to do that. Others may want to try
Ethereal.

Alternatively one trick that often helps is to turn on prompt for
anything which is promptable in the Security tab and then use those
checkpoints to check for intermediate factors that you would otherwise
never see, such as residual connections that netstat -a would show,
temporary files which will be deleted because they are marked as
non-cacheable, etc. Also a prompt itself can provide a workaround
by allowing you to bypass scripts which might be causing the problem.
I.e., instead of allowing the scripts, etc. which normally occur without
a prompt, you would then have the option of disallowing them,
thus changing your symptom.


HTH

Robert
---
 
Robert Aldwinckle said:
Alternatively one trick that often helps is to turn on prompt for
anything which is promptable in the Security tab and then use those
checkpoints to check for intermediate factors that you would otherwise
never see, such as residual connections that netstat -a would show,
temporary files which will be deleted because they are marked as
non-cacheable, etc. Also a prompt itself can provide a workaround
by allowing you to bypass scripts which might be causing the problem.
I.e., instead of allowing the scripts, etc. which normally occur without
a prompt, you would then have the option of disallowing them,
thus changing your symptom.
Click to expand...

Well, your post got me thinking, and it turns out that javascript is
causing the problem. And if you look at the source of any article you
can see several javascript functions being used. When I disable active
scripting and open a new browser session, I am able to access the
articles fine.

As a workaround, I have decided to use Firefox with js disabled. This
will be only used for the nytimes site.

As a shareholder of the ny times, I just want to make known my
embarrassment and anger at whoever is responsible for this over there.
They should be ashamed of themselves. I wonder how many emails they
received about this, only to place the blame back of the user
themselves? Idiots.

Thanks for your detailed help.
 
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