The site loads poorly or not at all
When the site loads poorly, or not at all, the details of what does or doesn't happen can point to possible causes. If you think the site may be completely down, check out status.dailykos.com
You may want to try installing or using a second browser other than your main one if you're confused about how it's looking for you versus everyone else, or if you're in a hurry to make things work right now. You also may want to confirm that the computer you are using meets our minimum system requirements, described in an article linked below.
But please read on if you'd like more information about steps to take to resolve the issue on your own.
Before we go into specifics about common sets of symptoms and the likely solutions for each, we'll suggest three standard steps to try first. The issue may be as simple as your browser running low on memory, and if so there is a good chance that using one or both of these will get the problem to self-correct.
1. Get your browser to reload the page with fresh data. You can do it through a hard refresh or by completely quitting and restarting your browser. To do a hard refresh on a desktop browser, hold "shift" while reloading the home page; make sure the whole page load completes before you take any other actions. (More context provided FYI in this detailed explanation of that process.) Restarting your whole computer is a good idea, too, but it is rarely necessary, and of course it's more trouble.
2. Try clearing your cache and deleting your cookies for the site. This process is device- and browser-specific. When you clear your cookies, remember that the process will log you out of the site. For a detailed explanation of that process, please see the linked resource, "Self Help Step One."
3. Check for browser extension conflicts. See the linked resource, "Self Help Step Two," for more details.
If none of these do the trick for you, then it's time to consider some of the most common symptoms you'll see, along with their likely causes.
I get javascript errors, "Rate All" appears after my comments, and I can't recommend, publish stories, etc.
Have you installed any addons/plugins/extensions recently? The issue could be caused by a new extension or security/privacy setting, or even by a silent update of an extension that did not previously cause any problem.
If you're not sure what you've done recently, try running your browser in Private or Incognito mode, since that will disable most extensions. A successful site load in that mode indicates that you do have an extension that conflicts with our site software. Adblockers are frequent culprits; extensions known to cause problems include: NoScript, AdBlock, and Scorpion Adware. Note that when whitelisting domains that we use the hosted jQuery libraries at googleapis.com Even with ads off, Daily Kos uses some javascript libraries hosted by other domains, most notably Google. If you've blocked their js, you've also blocked ours.
For more details, see "Self Help Step Two," linked below.
Clicking on a petition link displays only part of the site (the header and footer)
Sometimes the link to a petition provided in an email fails to load the petition completely, displaying the site header and footer as expected but only blank space in between.
If this is what is happening for you, an add-on or extension is almost certainly preventing the petition from loading properly--in this case, probably a third-party tracking blocker.
Please try this to troubleshoot: Login to your email in a private or incognito window, which should disable all extensions. Then go to one of our emails and click on a link to a petition. If the petition loads there, then you know that some sort of extension is the source of the problem. Identifying the exact extension is then a matter of trial and error, starting with any ad blockers.
For more details, see "Self Help Step Two," linked below.
Links to Daily Kos stories display oddly, or fail to redirect fully
It may happen that you see a long hyperlink your email in place of a story title, or that when you click on a hyperlink nothing happens.
These problems typically arise from how your email host and/or your browser handles the underlying information in our links.
If you look at a link in one of our emails, it is usually displayed the way you expect a hyperlink to look, with a blue, underlined story headline. The actual URL for the link is contained within a string that allows us to count the clicks and then redirect you back to the site, and sometimes browsers and hosts balk at that string.
If a link doesn’t work for you — either A) it doesn’t display as a story title or as an instruction, in blue, underlined text, or B) it simply fails to redirect as you expect — then the cause is quite likely related to something your email provider or your browser does. Adjusting firewall settings on your browser and/or email provider might be necessary then.
Poor connection (server not found)
If you are having routine problems with your connection, you may find the linked article about "Living with limited bandwidth or an old computer" to be helpful.
Minimum system requirements for Daily Kos
Please consult the linked resource of this name for details.
If none of these suggestions helps you, please feel free to open a Help Desk ticket.
We encourage you to provide the details listed in the resource linked below, "How to help us help you," if you do open one.