molasses temple
Out of context: Reply #5
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- chl0
The reference made above involves a link to a statistics package that resides on a server that we do not own, control, or endorse. It operates by having javascript write out a link to a 1x1 pixel clear gif on somebody else's server along with some other variables. This allows the external server to process a bunch of data about the visitor, visitor's web browser, what page was accessed, etc.
The problem happens when that external server is slow, or down. If the external server is actually down, then the page will just hang as it loads until some kind of a timeout is reached, which is often something like 60 or 120 seconds. This makes it look like the site itself is loading very slowly, even though the problem has nothing to do with the actual host provider. It's an unfortunate tradeoff that this stats collection method will always be subject to.
Just for the record, this site itself used to use a stats collector that worked on this principle, and I removed it for this exact reason: the other server would go down, and NT would appear to just hang as it was loading.
Of course, on top of this, there are an enormous other number of factors that can influence a network connection. Every packet that you get from a website goes through a bunch of routers to get to you (a dozen is a perfectly normal number) and if any one of those is congested you will have a perceived slowdown. At this time, all of the hardware in the (mt) network is humming right along and we are not experiencing any bottlenecks, but we can't control all of the routers between ourselves and a person visiting any of our sites. The best we can do is to make sure everything we can touch is running smoothly, and we have a very dedicated staff working 60-80 hour weeks to make sure we can say that with a good consience.