Many of us have been experiencing difficulties in accessing TNB. The issues seem to have started sometime yesterday:
Ugh. I always hate seeing these things, because there is never a quick answer as to how to fix it. What makes it worse is when the problem is not consistently replicable by all users. Some users had no problems, some of us could not access the site using Chrome, but could with Firefox, others just the opposite, they could access using Chrome but not Firefox.
Of course, support people had no problems and found no problems on their end, which is always frustrating.
The Fix
Anyway, the fix seems to be in clearing your browser cache, including cookies. That was actually the first thing I tried, but it did not work. But then I realized I was only clearing it with the setting of “24 hours”. When I set it to clear the cache and cookies for “all time”, it did the trick. That setting was in Chrome, so other browsers like Firefox might be slightly different.
My Working Theory On What Happened
I believe what happened was that at some point, we obtained a cookie that the system didn’t like. If you normally use Chrome, the cookie would be in that browser, and if you normally use Firefox, it would be in that one. So, the site did not load for me while I used my regular browser (Chrome) which had the cookie, while it worked fine on Firefox (which I never use) which did not have the cookie. And vice versa if you normally use Firefox, or another browser.
I believe that the cookie was most likely one associated with Disqus. I don’t know that for sure, but it would be the only part of our site that requires a login/authentication, and since I was also having no problem accessing the site on Chrome if I used an Incognito window (which does not automatically use the login/authentication), I’m guessing that was probably the problem.
Please Help Spread This Fix
Obviously, not everyone will see this post if they can’t access the site. If you are a Twitter user, please retweet this message and let our users know how to get back to us.
Moral Of The Story 1
Try not to get too frustrated when dealing with support people. It does get very difficult when going round and round with them for hours does nothing to solve the problem. It’s worse when you believe they are blowing you off. It’s good to take a breath and try not to get too snarky in those situations. For the most part, these people are trying their best and attempting to help you through a difficult problem. Troubleshooting things that have no consistency is very difficult. It seemed to me that they were not understanding the problem but in the end, they were always on the right track…they were just not able to explain how it was a problem for so many of us in so many varying ways.
So, don’t be like me…give them a break. I should know better because I have been in positions of providing support.
Moral Of The Story 2
Not all cookies are good.
