h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Are you using frames or single pages?

I believe I'm using single pages - the whole page scrolls up and down

Another factor is that this effect (seeing a forum list, not recent postings) is found when I am logged in at work, not on my home computer, which gives the recent posting as expected.

There was someone else who was reporting a problem just from their work computer - not the same thing though. I reckon you should all stop cheating on your employers, if that's what's going on, and stick to logging in at home. Though of course that wouldn't necessarily stop similar problems from existing on home computers for other people.

I'd guess it's a proxy problem. The URL for any particular forum is something like:

/dna/h2g2/F19585?thread=12345

A particularly moronic proxy server might completely ignore the query string (the bit after the ?) and always return just the forum page showing the threads. From what you're describing, I'd suspect this is what's happening. It possibly only happens when posting because you're taken to the page via a redirect, rather than by clicking a link. Your proxy might even be trying to do the redirect itself, and failing.

It's the only explanation I can come up with that would fit the symptoms you've described.

If that were the case, are there any other symptoms which might be seen as confirmation and are there any settings which can be changed locally to fix it?

As you point out, SEF, a company might not be predisposed to change its proxy servers to improve your surfing of h2g2. If you're using a proxy, you usually don't have the option of not using it.

If you know someone friendly in the IT department, perhaps they can do something about it (or more likely tell you it's nothing to do with their setup and it must be your problem )

Thanks for all the thoughts. Now that I've realised it is probably my end I'll put up with it - as you suggest it is unlikely changes would be made at work to enable easier surfing .

I imagined it was the BBC end since it didn't happen at all before Petunia.

Pimms

Which bit of Petunia do you mean? The originally named one where the EG shut down or the more recent SSO change-over and other software upgrades? It is possible that your workplace also changed their software at about the same time. There have probably been a lot of companies doing that after the summer virus and spam problem.