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#8141 10/22/00 03:04 PM
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I've had to quit netscape a couple of times because I just couldn't get anything to load at all

Though I can't confirm it, Netscape could indeed be the problem. I use Internet Explorer (I just think it's better) and I've never had a this problem. The chances that this is the problem are slim, but you could try switching.


#8142 10/22/00 08:21 PM
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I don't think Netscape is the problem. I have experienced it and I use I.E. also. It only seems to occur on the very long posts though.

lusy...why don't you press on the <end> key (some might have to press <ctrl> then <end>). This will get you straight to the bottom and you can simply scroll up to the last post you read (which shouldn't be too high up). Too easy, very quick and you won't miss a thing



#8143 10/22/00 11:08 PM
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why don't you press on the <end> key

Thanks for that, belM. Trouble is I don't have an <end> key!
No matter, I have other ways of getting there. Thanks.

lusy


#8144 10/26/00 11:46 PM
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Marty, and all,

I was talking to my husband about the errors we've been having with the board. He has a pretty good idea of why it seems to be happening and a possible (minor) solution to the problem. I will let him speak for himself...

The 'Set-Cookie: ' is a HTTP header to ask the browser to maintain a state. The name of the cookie is 'miscellany.read', and the value of the cookie is the rest.

The value of the cookie is url-encoded so that special characters can be used in the cookie. To decode the cookie replace the % (or in this case #) with the ASCII character specified by the two digit hexidecimal number following it, for example is a space and , is a comma. So the first bit of the cookie is ",3067,,3112,,3119,,3128,". Considering the context these are probably the numbers of the articles that have been read in this session (the session being the lifetime of the cookie so that it dies when you close the browser, there are also cookies that live longer than the browser and those are stored in a file). Whenever you look at a new article or comment another number gets appended to the cookie.

The problem seems to be that the cookie is too long for the browser (I believe the official limit is still 1024 characters). So when the browser encounters a cookie that is longer than this limit it gets confused, sometimes the problem is presented in an error dialog box and apparently also just inserted into the page.

The easiest solution is to make the session shorter, close the browser, stop reading for a while to let the cookie expire on its own, etc....


#8145 10/27/00 12:17 AM
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Thanks, xara (and "Mr xara"), for the interesting analysis. Trouble is, my addiction to this site is at odds with your suggested solutions - shorter sessions, closing the browser, or (perish the thought!) stopping reading!


#8146 10/27/00 01:07 AM
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- shorter sessions, closing the browser, or (perish the thought!) stopping reading!

Think of of it as meaning more coffe breaks - turn thr browser off, and have a cuppa!



#8147 10/27/00 01:37 AM
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Thanks, Max, but that is one addiction I am trying to do something about!


#8148 10/27/00 01:41 AM
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I'm with Marty on this one. My family is about to stage an intervention since I try to catch up on posts everyday. Close the computer, well sir, I say HA HA HA HA HA (I can't find the emoticon for maniacal laughter tinged with a fleck of folly) to that suggestion.

Plus, being of the “use but do not understand how it works” persuasion, I have NO clue what Mr. xara is saying. I always thought computers worked by magic, now I see they work by baking.



#8149 10/27/00 01:54 AM
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bel,

I can shed only a dim ray of light on Mr xara's culinary reference. As I understnad it, a "cookie" is a little piece of information that gets tucked away in the bowels of your computer (if cookies-in-bowels is not abhorrent imagery!) so that a web site can keep track of some information about you. Typically - and hopefully - innocuous stuff that lets the website customize its content towards your preferences, based on its knowledge from the cookie of what pages/subjects/links you've clicked on. I'm not sure how AWAD is using its cookies - something to do with page numbers of multi-page threads. The above explanation is all my own. I'm sure that some more Web-literate readers, such as Mr xara himself, will have a better explanation, or links to a site that explains it better.


#8150 10/27/00 02:28 AM
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I can speak from my own knowledge on this, so as not to rely to heavily on 'Mr xara' (we love that by the way)

The cookies are used on this site quite a bit. First of all, they keep up with your login id and password. Otherwise the site wouldn't be able to know anything you did. eg. who makes which posts, the who is online bit, etc.. also, the website keeps up with which posts you have read. The problem with the cookies is just that. It makes a cookie when you open your browser or go to the site for the first time since you last opened your browser. Every time you read a post it takes the little NEW label off. It makes a list in the cookies of the ones you have read. So this list gets longer and longer as you go along. When you exit the site (I don't quite understand this, but mostly) it just remembers what time you were last there and which boards you looked at (q&a, miscellaney) so it only has to remember a time for each one, not each individual post. However, the cookie only resets when you close your browser. If you, like me, never close your browser unless something crashes, the list of numbers gets VERY long until it just can't cope anymore. Does that clarify?


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