Coming back to the subject of mudcat, I have noticed an occasional "hang" during page opening. When this happens, the status bar at the bottom always shows "waiting for AdServe" or something of that sort, indicating that it's a slow response from the Google server that puts the little ads in here.

On at least one occasion, I found the same effect at other sites, including MSNBC's "News of the day" site, where large numbers of ads simply didn't display. (Note that's "large numbers" of the "very large numbers" of ads at MSNBC. Some ads there did still show themselves.)

I haven't seen enough interference to be a real problem, since the ads do contribute to supporting mudcat. I write it off as a slight blot on Google's otherwise sterling reputation.

It does appear that the ad servers occasionally just "drop" the request, since (almost always) the "refresh" button brings the same page up normally - and instantly.

John