I am not yet having issues with this forum. However, I participate in another forum on GardenWeb, and as of today, there are HUGE problems. One can see all the threads listed, but when one goes to open up a thread, all one gets is a "cannot display" white page. I have no idea why only this forum was affected or when it will be fixed.

Frieda, how did you contact the 'powers that be' ?

I have also gotten the "security alert - do you want to proceed" message. I always say "yes."

I am having similar problems & get so tired of those 'white screens'!
We have the fastest modem available thru Comcast, so I know it isn't my computer but must be this site. I more often than not just quit & move on after waiting....& waiting...!

Pat

I'm almost afraid to say so, but I've had no problems at all other than when the site was down.

No white screen here, nor do I have trouble with the length of time the various threads take to down-load, the long ones only take a couple of seconds more to appear.
I still have trouble 'logging on' and have to remember to go straight down to the 'log-in' thing at the bottom of the 'red' page; previously as soon as I went into glyphs a separate 'log-in' page would appear which no longer happens. Sometimes I'm still asked for name/email address after I have done this and have to click to another thread and back again. The DH says it is partly because this ivillage site is, in computer terms, based somewhere in the last Ice Age. Most the newer sites are far more 'user friendly' . . . putting up pictures, altering texts etc.
Frieda, DH has just added that we use 'Firefox' with a blocking attachment to keep the pop-ups at bay, which may be better than 'Explorer' and wonders if adverts are causing part of your problem? Do you first write your stuff in 'Word' and then paste it here? I don't, though I know it would be sensible.

I've had no trouble (fingers crossed!) but I do have to log in each and every time I visit, even if I check the "remember me" box on the log in page. FWIW, I use Firefox.

I haven't posted on any of the forums for several days because of this problem. I couldn't log in. Certain threads were not pulling up either, even though they were short. It looks like I can log in now. Hopefully there will be no troubles posting this...
CMK

Hmm, maybe I'm noticing a pattern here: American East Coasters/Atlantic-front folk don't seem to have the problems of West Coasters/Pacific posters. Is this likely? I don't know.

Presently I'm in Texas (South Coast) and things are working better for me. Though I can't read all threads, I do seem to be able to sign/log in and post.

Some of the computers I use have Firefox; some do not. There are fewer adverts with Firefox, but it doesn't seem to help with everything.

Woodnymph, I used the contact link provided on the iVillage Garden Web Help page. So far no response. However the Help page does suggest that what I'm experiencing is a "caching problem," evidently something that some Internet providers do to us. I swear Hawai'i has a Flintstones-type provider. I follow their instructions and 'Refresh' the page or empty my browser if that doesn't work. Sometimes it helps, but only sometimes.

Vee, I write most of my longer posts in Word, then copy and paste. I learned the hard way. If my post will be short, I chance it and compose directly in the message box.

Well, at least I'm relieved that I'm not an outcast.

I have problems too. I have now got a wireless connection and I think too many people use the local transmitters in business hours. The spot on the gadget changes and glows through several colours which I believe indicates that a signal is being hunted. I find that an off-peak connection works better. Then I have to get RP! I wait a long time for downloads and used to Refresh but now just use patience. Posts sometimes disappear but if I hit the Back button they usually return for a second try but it is annoying to type a message, which I am slow to do anyway and then it cannot get through. Sighs "Heigh-ho!The wind and the rain" They don't help either when they bring down the power poles!

FWIW, I've had no problems at all.

Frieda, it took three attempts to log in here this morning.
Re the white screen thing. The DH tried another browser called 'Opera' and typed 'Hot Topics' into the search space at the top of the Reader's Paradise page . . . HT is one of the sites people have had difficulty with.
The white screen appeared plus an Error heading 'Connection closed by remote server'. It would seem most of the problems are coming from the techno-nerds that handle the ivillage site.

I too would like the email address of the Web Master just in case we have a serious breakdown problem. Does anyone one who to contact please?

Frieda, I am on the East Coast, so your "pattern" does not apply. Everything seems to be back to normal today (Sunday) and even Hot Topics forum is "fixed." (While it was down, a few of us regular posters found another forum and 'met' in cyberspace there.)

No problems here but I am in TX so perhaps Frieda's theory is true...

I've had occasional problems. I can always view the threads, but posting has been problematic. I have had two long posts disappear into nothing in the last couple of weeks. I should know better and compose them in Word first! I am on the East Coast of the U.S. I don't have problems with any other site, so I figure it is RP.

Hi all,

So far, I can get "in" every time I try, however, I also get the white screen of death for a few seconds before the page finally appears. I use a 6-year-old Sony desktop with a FIOS fiber optic connection which is supposed to be smokin' fast. Did anyone try clearing their cache to see if that worked? I didn't, I am just theorizing whilst typing.
PAM

Since we use a variety of computers, operating systems, browsers, and connection types and there doesn't seem to be a pattern, I'm wondering if it might be the ISP we use, as frieda alluded to before, and how that ISP interacts with RP. I only have to log in about once a month and don't get the white screen except when there is an announcement of a site problem. All the threads load fast and I've noticed no other problems at all. My ISP is Comcast. I don't know that the ISP is making the difference and I also don't know how the log-in would be affected by the ISP but my long experience with computers makes me look for a pattern.

Frances I too have Comcast & only have to log in once per month-but I do have the white screen problem, although it does seem to be not quite as bad a it was.

Pat

I'm on the east coast (MD), have Comcast and use Firefox. I can log in and post without a problem, but generally skip longer threads as they take so long to load completely and do it in a jerky fashion. Once before I had this same problem with GW and then it disappeared... now it is back--and annoying.

Oh, well, so much for that idea. There must be something!

Well, it COULD be a combination of things:

a) the bandwidth allocated/bought by GardenWeb (if there's a ton of people browsing/reading stuff on GardenWeb and the amount of data that their ISP allows them is small, then you can get major slowdowns. Think of it as like a garden hose. If GW buys a garden hose, then not a lot of water can get through quickly. But if GW had bought a FIRE hose, then the volume of water that can get through will be MUCH larger)

b) the speed of your Internet connection -- if we use the idea of the garden hose again, there's usually a LARGE fire hose into your neighborhood that feeds the whole neighborhood (especially if you're on a cable modem). Now, the higher the speed of your connection, then the amount of water you get (the data you get) will be higher (that's what a higher speed connection does -- it gets more data to you faster). So, if you've got a few kids in your neighborhood with 1 GB lines and you've got the bare minimum to pass as broadband, and if the amount of data piped into your neighborhood is limited, then those kids will take a larger proportion of that data. So, your computer sends out packets to GW and GW responds. But, the packets that GW sends out times out (i.e. you never get them within the alloted time) since it keeps getting pushed aside by the packets for those pesky kids playing World Of Warcraft. Your computer, therefore, never gets the packets it should be getting so it gives you what it can -- a white screen with no data in it (the data being in those packets getting pushed aside).

c) the settings on your browser AND/OR the addons that you have installed on your browser. When you compose something on RP, you do it on your computer. There's a program running on your computer that receives your input and shows it to you. Previewing the message also happens on your computer -- the program on your computer fixes/formats/puts together your composition and then shows it to you as it should look once it gets posted. THEN, when you hit OK, it SENDS the formatted/fixed/finalized version of what you composed to RP. The RP computer then receives it and sends an acknowledgement saying "Ok, got it". But, if your packets keep getting pushed aside by the packets for those pesky kids attacking trolls and dragons, then your composition never gets to RP and, hence, never makes it as a posting. Similarly, if your packets get to RP but their acknowledgment never reaches you, your posting may NOT get published either as the RP computer may say "Ok, I said I received it but if it looks like you never sent it, I'm trashing what I've received".

So, one possibility is that the computer/browser you're using COULD have a plug-in that PREVENTS the reception of those acknowledgment packets from RP. If your machine never gets the acknowledgment, then the RP machine can't finalize your composition.

(I had something similar happen to my assistant -- she couldn't attach anything...

Wow, Dyno. I'm impressed!