Why can't I access craigslist (and only craigslist)?

June 26, 2006 12:43 PM

Why can't I access craigslist (and only craigslist)?

For the past few weeks, I've been just barely able to access craigslist from any computer in my house. Whether using Firefox or IE, no matter what craigslist city or time of day, I almost always get "The connection has timed out": refreshing the page only works occasionally. Clearing all caches or creating a new Firefox profile does nothing. I never noticed this problem until I updated Firefox a few months back (and had a previous random freezing problem resolved by deleting all extensions). I don't have this problem with any other site.

My ISP (Verizon) has no idea, my wireless router company (Linksys) gave MTU altering advice very similar to this and this, which doesn't change a thing.

In addition, search feeds I've added to Bloglines (at work, where I can access craigslist just fine) go bad [!] quickly, if they ever work at all. Am I doomed to spend all my spare time at work searching craigslist?

posted by ellanea to computers & internet (7 comments total)

I read somewhere that some of the QoS Software used by some ISPs have a bug in them that basically block out craigslist (I believe the example was Comcast, but I can't be sure)... The reason it was brought up was that the Provider also owned many Want-Ad types of newspaper publications, so it seemed as if they were blocking CL to make Want-Ads more pallatable.

The Provider claims its a bug, I hadn't hear a definitive answer...

I had verizon until 3 months ago, and never ran into this problem, however...

Try hooking a computer straight up to the DSL Modem, then trying to get to CL... if that works, it's definitely the router... check for blacklisted sites, try updating the firmware
posted by hatsix at 12:49 PM on June 26, 2006

What happens when you do this:

Start> Run > type in "cmd"

Type in "ping newyork.craigslist.com" hit enter.
posted by skallas at 12:58 PM on June 26, 2006

after that do "tracert newyork.craigslist.com"

post the results.
posted by skallas at 12:59 PM on June 26, 2006

Check the posts on Craig Newmarks blog ~ 6/20 http://cnewmark.com/

There is some "internet safety" software from a company called Authentium that has some bug that blocks craigslist. It sounds like Authentium is sometimes distributed as part of the software provided by some ISPs. Could that be your problem?
posted by Good Brain at 1:03 PM on June 26, 2006

check C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts to make sure no one is playing a "joke" on you... I set up a mapping for www.myspace.com to 1.1.1.1 just to make it a real pain to use on my computer to subtly drive people to use other comps in the house
posted by kaytrem at 6:14 PM on June 26, 2006 [1 favorite]

kaytrem: No "jokes,"unfortunately.

Good Brain: thanks for the heads up! (August? Really?) No one I can reach at Verizon knows anything about this, though.

skallas: "ping newyork.craigslist.com" gives "Request timed out." And tracert newyork.craigslist.com gives...

Tracing route to newyork.craigslist.com [66.150.243.20]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 14 ms <1 0 ms 14 ms 10.6.14.1br> 2 <1 0 ms 14 ms 14 ms so-0-1-1-0.core-rtr2.pitt2.verizon-gni.net [130.br> 81.13.69]
3 13 ms 14 ms 14 ms 130.81.18.254
4 13 ms 28 ms 14 ms so-5-0-0-0.BB-RTR1.RES.verizon-gni.net [130.81.2
0.92]
5 13 ms 14 ms 28 ms so-6-0-0-0.ASH-PEER-RTR2.verizon-gni.net [130.81
.17.177]
6 14 ms 27 ms 14 ms 0.so-7-0-0.XL2.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.36.205]
7 83 ms 82 ms 82 ms 0.so-0-1-0.XL2.SFO4.ALTER.NET [152.63.50.162]
8 82 ms 83 ms 96 ms POS4-0.XR2.SFO4.ALTER.NET [152.63.55.70]
9 83 ms 82 ms 83 ms 190.ATM7-0.GW6.SFO4.ALTER.NET [152.63.53.29]
10 96 ms 96 ms 82 ms internap-gw.customer.alter.net [208.214.137.206]

11 151 ms 206 ms 219 ms border1.ge1-1-bbnet1.sfo002.pnap.net [63.251.63.
1]
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 *

After finding a number of other firefox-related "I can't get to this specific site" posts here and there, I'm going to attempt to post to the mozilla forums and see what turns up.

Thanks all!
posted by ellanea at 6:52 PM on June 26, 2006

Hatsix: just tried your suggestion - no problem at all; it's got to be the router. (My problem, however, is that the modem's in my early-to-bed roommate's room, and I usually depend on wireless through the router).

I'm not sure where I can check a list of blacklisted sites (I never added any), and not sure why linksys support didn't just advise me to check this in the first place. However, I'll try them again tomorrow - maybe I'll have more luck. Thanks again.
posted by ellanea at 7:06 PM on June 26, 2006