Miriam&#39;s Dreamwidth blog

Has anybody else noticed a recent increase in internet flakiness?

Actually, yes.
I have. Whichever version of Firefox I have at work is *really* crashy (must update) but I've noticed this across the board that some websites (toplessrobot.com is one I can think of) don't quite load. It might take 2-3 refreshes to get there.

If I remember, you're on dial up, so I'm not surprised you're having issues. Most of the web just isn't designed for those slow speeds these days, and I have a sneaking suspicion more and more content is being increasingly designed for considerably faster broadband speeds than ADSL 2+ via Helstra or Optus allow us to have.

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I'm actually on broadband nowadays, but on a very low data limit, after which it gets "shaped" (a curious euphemism). Since I use up all my alloted data in the first day or two, my connection operates at about dialup speeds for the rest of the month. I can't really afford a faster connection, and being a really patient person I'm happy to leave my computer on the net 24/7 downloading stuff (mostly talks) at a constant dribble.

I'm not the only one who is having problems though. A friend near here has problems accessing web pages. At first I thought it might be that he is using MSWindows, and part of the problem clearly is that, but even trying Linux on his connection resulted in stalling webpage loads.

Definitely much content is designed now for lavish speeds. I'm somewhat pissed at Wikipedia lately. Their pages have routinely become some of the slowest to load. They have enormous volumes of data in even the simplest pages. If you look at the source code it is amazing. Not only does each page have heaps of unneeded scripting, but it will pull in reams of other scripting as well. Some of it is to do cute (but unnecessary) tricks like the pop-up list of commonly accessed topics when you start typing in a search term. All this scripting for the sake of look and cute stuff is fine for people with fast connections, but most of the world still has slow connections. Sometimes I find myself waiting quarter of an hour or more for a Wikipedia page to load, and during that time, because it is all in tables, my view of the page is just a blank window. Not good.

Often I wonder if google-analytics is slowing the web too. I know pages have Doubleclick.com track users slow loading terribly. I'll often get fed up and tired of waiting for a page serviced by them before it loads and close it.

I offered my services free of charge to a charity to author their web pages for them, but there is little chance of that offer being taken up. The lady who has the say of yay or nay wants lots of pretty gadgets on the page, because they are fashionable. I pointed out to her that these pages are about delivering information about a charity that helps people in a third world country, not delivering high art. Okay, I didn't say it quite like that; I was a bit more diplomatic. :)

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Since I use up all my alloted data in the first day or two, my connection operates at about dialup speeds for the rest of the month

Not much point having it then, although if I recall shaping is usually at 64k over the theoretical maximum dial-up up of 56k.

If google-analytics, Doubleclick and scripting are annoying you try NoScript. It might speed it up, although how much it stops the scripts from downloading is a mystery to me it stops them running which is great.

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Christ, the net is going to be one of the hardest things about coming back. It just works over here, amazingly well and without limit. It's like some frickin' cyber-uptopia.

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Damn socialists in Europe, spoiling it for everyone.
Come back to Abbottopia. You know you want to.

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Wah.

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We have BILLIONAIRES protesting in the street man, BILLIONAIRES.
You don't see that in Scandanavia because of the crippling 50% tax rate.

I suddenly have the over-whelming desire to see Estonia.

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Hang on, what? Billionaires protesting what? The filter?

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Mining tax. Here in Perth Yesterday.

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LMAO :D
Poor little billionaires.

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There you are. The biggest danger in travelling overseas is not disease or terrorists or planes falling out of the sky, it is learning how backward we are here. Unfortunately the politicians seem intent on making us even more backwarder. :) goshdarnit

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To be honest I don't think we're entirely backward... but some of our practices are really being driven home to me. Little things, like in Helsinki all houses and apartment blocks have ladders built into exterior walls for easy access to the roof. In Australia if someone installed one of those it'd be taken down for health and safety reasons. Over here if someone makes a stupid mistake it's their own fault; it doesn't set a legal precedent that further entrenches a nanny-state mentality. Little things.

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Agreed. :) I actually think we're pretty damn lucky here. I would like some more of the things they have in Europe though, like recycling of batteries and computer parts, rooftop gardens, better insulation in buildings, stronger focus on energy efficiency. But I think we'll get there eventually.

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