Trouble accessing WOTC boards with Mac?

[Skallgrim]

I've been accessing both EnWorld and the WOTC D&D forums for months now, using Safari on Mac OSX. I've never had a problem on either. Starting three days ago, I've been able to access the WOTC site, but not any of the forums.

To make this problem more frustrating, I also cannot access the Customer Service email system now either. I didn't do anything to update Safari, and I had this problem for days. I updated to the new Safari beta, and I'm still having this problem.

Talking to Customer Service on the phone gets the:

"I'm not having any problem"
"You should see a pop-up there to email us. You don't? Well, you should."

series of unhelpful responses.

I know the standard responses (Use Windows, use another browser). I'm just curious if anyone else using Safari has this problem (which indicates a problem in a particular area) OR if it's just me having the problem (which indicates a specific problem on MY computer). I'd like to know where to start troubleshooting.

 

[malraux]

OS X 10.4.11 (intel) and Safari Version 3.2.1 (4525.27.1) No problems accessing the boards or custserv email.

Any ad blocking software? A long time back, I had to add WotC to my whitelist to get some stuff to work.

 

[jdrakeh]

I received a message earlier today when attempting to log into the WotC forums that they're down for service

[Edit: I'm using Windows and IE7.]

 

[Aeolius]

They seem to be up, now. No issues using OS X 10.5.6 and Safari 4.

 

[Kzach]

A couple of the bugs (WotC calls them features) of the incredibly crappy WotC website include pop-ups for email and feedback and customer service forms. I can't remember but I think Safari has "Block Pop-up Windows" checked by default (Safari>Block Pop-up Windows). Unchecking this and reloading the page will give you the annoying popups.

Also, for a few days I couldn't access the forums in Safari either. This was two or three days ago. Firefox worked so I just used that to get myself banned from the RPGA forum

There's also another option you might like to try in the future which I forgot to do in the above instance. In Safari>Preferences...>Advanced you can select "Show Develop menu in menu bar". Then in Develop>User Agent just select Internet Explorer 7 and reload the page.

WotC use retarded archaic code put together by a bunch of monkeys rejected from the typing pool to randomly cobble together their website. It wouldn't surprise me if, after changing the user agent, it'd load just fine.

 

[Skallgrim]

They seem to be up, now. No issues using OS X 10.5.6 and Safari 4.

I'm using the same build of OSX, and the public beta of Safari 4. I consistently get "connection dropped" messages. Only if I reset Safari will it work, and then only for a brief period of time. I tried the IE trick suggested by Kzach, which didn't work either.

I had no problems with this at all until a few days ago (but before I used the public beta of Safari).

 

[Kzach]

The IE trick simply tells the website it's trying to access that IE is trying to access it, not Safari. Not so much these days but in years past a lot of MS Java was around as well as just plain bad website coding which specifically said, "If it's not IE, don't load."

Personally, I'm betting this is nothing to do with your Mac and everything to do with your ISP and/or connection. Have you got a PC at your place to try and load the website?

 

[SKyOdin]

I am a Mac-user who uses Safari as my only browser, and I have had no problem accessing the Wizards forum or website. Since I access them everyday, I would have noticed a long-term outage. I don't think a Mac computer or Safari are the source of your problem.

EDIT: I am using the same versions of MacOS and Safari as malraux. Maybe its a difference in version?