# Unable to view Eastern board



## jmatias (Sep 18, 2006)

Using AOL and unable to open Eastern board.  Keep timing out.

Thanks,
Jen


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## lscott (Sep 18, 2006)

*same problem*

K have about the same problem.  I posted on this board few weeks ago and go no replies.  I keep getting message that website is not available.  I go on to other areas and keep coming back to Eastern and eventually it comes up.  There is some problem here and I hope somebody recognizes it.


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## Makai Guy (Sep 18, 2006)

lscott said:
			
		

> K have about the same problem.  I posted on this board few weeks ago and go no replies.  I keep getting message that website is not available.  I go on to other areas and keep coming back to Eastern and eventually it comes up.  There is some problem here and I hope somebody recognizes it.



Your other post ( http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30721 ) ended as follows: "Anyone else have this trouble?"

The lack of response indicates that it is not a common problem.

The entire board uses the same software, accessing information stored in the same database.  The US-Eastern forum is configured the same as the rest of the public forums here so there is no readily-apparent reason visible at this end for such a problem.  

Since we went to the new server, we HAVE noticed an occasional "403 Forbidden" error that sometimes crops up for no apparent reason on a seemingly random basis.  We have our own custom error page for 403 errors which states "This may be a temporary error, click here to retry".   Any time I've received this error, a click on this link has worked immediately to take me to my desired destination page.


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## Mischelle (Sep 18, 2006)

I am having the same problem as well. I can not get in to certain threads, and I also have AOL. I have been trying for the last half hour and it is getting frustrating.


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## Makai Guy (Sep 18, 2006)

Once again, the common thread here seems to be AOL.  And although you don't say so, my guess is you are also using the web browser provided by AOL.

Numerous web access problems (not just here at TUG) can be solved by the use of an external browser instead of AOL's built-in one:
Connect to AOL, but do NOT go to any websites on the Internet
Minimize that window
Open Firefox, Netscape, Internet Explorer, or other browser
Use the external browser to access the internet


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## jmatias (Sep 18, 2006)

Makai Guy....that is exactly what I have to do whenever I get the error message.  Just a bit annoying though.......seems like for AOL users the old server worked more smoothly.

Thanks for your efforts,
Jen


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## Bruce W (Sep 18, 2006)

My problem is similar. I use the new posts feature, and there are some threads that will not open. I then click on the forum where the thread is domiciled, click on a thread before or after, and do a previous or next post. It works but it is a pain.

Bruce W


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## pedro47 (Sep 18, 2006)

Question:  Prior to the new software conversion this was not a problem.  Why now!


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## TUGBrian (Sep 18, 2006)

can you all minimize aol and use a different browser to eliminate the problem?


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## Makai Guy (Sep 18, 2006)

pedro47 said:
			
		

> Question:  Prior to the new software conversion this was not a problem.  Why now!



I can't answer that question, because a I don't know.   Jelsoft, the producers of vBulletin may be able to solve it someday and include code that compensates for the shortcomings of the AOL browser.  

But there clearly is a problem with the AOL browser, which is known to have problems with sites all over the net.


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## pedro47 (Sep 18, 2006)

Can you ask AOL to check into this problem and why it is only their browser that cause this problem?

At this time I am not having any problems and I am using AOL.


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## Makai Guy (Sep 19, 2006)

pedro47 said:
			
		

> Can you ask AOL to check into this problem and why it is only their browser that cause this problem?
> 
> At this time I am not having any problems and I am using AOL.



AOL has received complaints for years from all over the net without fixing the problem.  Such things are very hard to track down when the problem doesn't affect everybody, and then is intermittent to boot.


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## Don (Sep 19, 2006)

I saw the title of this thread in the "Last Post" section and went to the Eastern board.  It works OK using Netscape.


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## jmatias (Sep 21, 2006)

Works now for me......ran defrag and now no problems.

Jen


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## Makai Guy (Sep 21, 2006)

jmatias said:
			
		

> Works now for me......ran defrag and now no problems.
> 
> Jen



I doubt very much that defragging your hard drive, although a good thing to do, had anything to do with your problem accessing the forum.  It's probably just an intermittent problem that comes from using the AOL browser.  Don't be surprised if it crops up again.


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## jmatias (Sep 21, 2006)

I don't know...but after I defragged my laptop and desktop I could finally get onto the Eastern board....so for now it works 

Jen


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