Speed??

[lonegirl]

ANyone else having issues with the speed of the site since the changeover?  Doesn't matter what computer/internet I use.....it is blasted slow.  This is the only site I have issues with.  I find scrolling down it goes in fits and starts.  I find I am clicking on the threads multiple times as it doesn't seem to be responding. 

Well anyways...just had to vent about it. Thanks!

[georgia]

Hi, no you are not alone. Speeds seem to have been improving, but we know members are still experiencing lags. Here's a previous explanation that I hope helps explain a bit more: http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1284310/so-is-being-this-slow-the-new-normal#post_16105041

Edited by georgia - 12/13/10 at 6:30pm

[Kidzaplenty]

The speed on mine is so slow, too.  So much so that I have hardly been coming here at all, lately.  Too much wait time that I don't like spending staring at an unchanging screen.  I sure hope it changes soon.  At least it is accomplishing one thing, I am gladly spending way less time here than I have in the past.

[lonegirl]

Thanks for the replies and the link!  I am glad I am not alone, I was beginning to worry.

[LynnS6]

Can I just say that I read the title of this thread in new posts and thought "Why are we discussing illegal drugs in this forum?"

So glad to hear that it wasn't that! Clearly that's an indication that I need to go to bed!

[PuppyFluffer]

Slow here too.  Between the slow speed and the limit to 20 replies per page, my MDC time is becoming less and less.  :(

[Kidzaplenty]

I was just wondering if we were looking forward to a real increase in speed?  While I read the link that suggests it is improvements and timing that may be causing the lag, for me, it does not see likely.  The slowness is all the time, every visit, all day long, no matter the time of day.  There has never been a "fast" time or a "slow" time, just always dragging.

It takes 30 seconds to load TAO, EVERY TIME.  At least.  The rest of the site usually takes between 5 and 20 seconds to load each page.  Now, if I were on dial-up, I might understand it.  If I had similar load times for the rest of my internet suring, I might say it was my PC.  But it is exclusively MDC that is lagging.  And I am finding it very frustrating.

I have spent very little time here in the last couple of weeks due to this.  I hate lagging pages.  I have even found myself clicking off MDC as it sits there "loading" but doing nothing to surf other sites. I have given it time, hoping that the new MDC would eventually fix that.  But I can't see any improvement at all in that area.  And I am becoming less and less thrilled with MDC and more inclined to look elsewhere for suport. 

So, I guess my question is, are they actually working on the speed issue?  And if so, could we get some sort of idea of how long it will take?  Or is it just being chalked up to "other improvements" and "timing".  Because if it stays this way, I will not likely be hanging around much anymore.

[Cynthia Mosher]

Sorry for the delayed reply. I wanted to look into the speed issue more closely to see if perhaps we'd missed something.

Lag can be caused by so many things - the traffic of the site at the time you are accessing, your network, our network, your computer's capabilities, software that filters before display, such as child safety/parental control software, ads that take time to load, and probably a number of other things. So it is hard to answer questions about it or pinpoint what is causing it, especially when it is not experienced by everyone. We have had staff say they are seeing a lag although others on staff are not having it occur at all. I know some folks say they have no issues with other sites but have lag here at MDC. Again, with it not being experienced by everyone and server logs that show site wide lag corresponding with complaints, we can't pinpoint it as something that is occurring due to our platform or server. 

Kidzaplenty, I tested TAO loading to see if there is a specific problem with that forum, along with nine other people in different areas of the US and at different times of the day. The timings are from click to initial load of forum list, not waiting for the browser to end loading. Getting the initial forum list is sufficient for TAO thread browsing. The remaining load is for other elements of the page.

 

Tester #1: 6 seconds, 7 seconds, 6 seconds old laptop running Windows Vista and in Firefox

Tester #2: 6 seconds, 8 seconds, Chrome Mac OSX 10.5.8 with ads

Tester #3: 6 seconds Firefox Mac OSX 10.6.5

Tester #4: 5 seconds, 3 seconds, 4 seconds OS 10.6.5, Safari 5.0.3

Tester #5: 6 seconds XP on Chrome. 7 seconds Windows 7 on Chrome

Tester #6: 3 seconds, Firefox (the most recent - it just updated today) - 6 seconds, RockMelt - 5 seconds - Windows 7 64bit laptop

Tester #7: 20 seconds, Firefox, MS XP, Service Pack 2 , then with ads disabled - 6 seconds

Tester #8: 9 seconds on iPad in Safari.

Tester #9:  6 seconds, OS X/10.5.8: Safari 5.0.3 with ads 

With these results it seems there is no slow load issue with TAO specifically, or the forums in general, that is caused by our server or platform. However, there are occasional lags that occur and that is most likely due to upgrades of our platform that slow the database for short periods of time. So persistent slow loading for an individual is likely due to some other element that is specific to their computer, software, or filtering agent. I'm sorry to hear that something is seriously affecting anyone's browsing experience here and would love to help pinpoint what might be causing it. If you want to give me a list of all installations of blocking and filtering software you have installed I could convey that to our technical team and see if there's something they know of that would contribute to the slowness you're experiencing.

[2cutiekitties]

I have the exact same problem as the OP and it is ONLY with this site. My hunch is it is ad related. Some ads kill load times. Happens at a lot of other sites, and the solution is to stop going there. 

I notice when I hit the back button, a google ad gets in the way and I end up hitting the back button 3, 4 times, it doesnt do anything, then I have to do a drop and click specifically the page I want.

Just Jared had the same problem when they went "all ady." They have gotten better though, but now that I think about it, I think it was the google ads that was the problem there too.

I actually came to questions and suggestions for something else, otherwise I never would have said anything. I just wanted to mention it since the moderator is basically saying it is a personal user issue, so I wanted to chime in, because I am sure others are quiet like me.

[lonegirl]

Glad I am not alone....I can't use the back button worth beans on this site....no problems anywhere else.  Kinda sucks

[Kidzaplenty]

I know how you feel.  Gets so I almost never come here lately.