For a week or so I've been experiencing uncommonly long load times with FF, NCT and two gun sites that are heavy laden with ads. Resetting my router hasn't helped, and clearing cache & cookies have not helped. AR15.com has gotten so bad I rarely go there because of it. Facebook pops up instantly, even my "ad heavy" weather site only takes 1-2 seconds to load. I have set all the plugins in Firefox to "Ask To Activate" because of all the crap that pops up in the background, even when "pop-up blocker" is activated. It gets quite annoying, and I tend to not go where I get frustrated. I realize sites don't operate for free, and depend on $$$ from ads to cover operational costs. But without viewers & contributors because of extended load times, the hits will diminish. It seems to be a delicate balancing act for survival of forums, and equipment/software glitches don't help the cause. As Internet speeds have increased, so have intrusive background crap. I have no answer other than to spend more time away from the computer, which is probably a good thing.
UPDATE: It took 7 seconds for this post to connect & upload, which is a quick connection lately. Often it takes longer. FWIW, I also get a message at the top of the screen saying "Firefox prevented this page from automatically redirecting to another page." There is a button to "Allow" this to occur, but the page loads even if this is not clicked on.