Delete the Cookies
Oh, am I going to gloat about this? YOU DAMN WELL BET I AM!
And what was this nugget of 24 karat genius that I was able to impart to crusading environmental documentarian George Monbiot that cleared the skies and caused the flowers to blossom and so on and so forth?
The Cookie Dance.
The Cookie Dance is probably the most useful tech trick you’ll ever learn, and definitely if you use Firefox. You can skip to the next post if this is old news for you. I learned it way back in the mists of time from Dr Mike, who had an uncanny ability to suss out the most esoteric of problems. The Cookie Dance, however, does not work on the most esoteric of problems; it works on the commonest. And that is why you will use it so often, if you’re not already doing it.
Basically, whenever you are trying to do something simple that always works and it’s not working and there appears to be no reason why, do the Cookie Dance. Examples of when to Cookie Dance:
- You can’t see the YouTube videos on your page, just space where they should be and they’re all like that.
- You can’t click on the simple buttons like Like, Publish, Save Draft, Preview, etc
- You can’t seem to type anything into the box, whether the box is the Title, the Post, or a custom form box.
So, how to Cookie Dance? Simples.
- Log out of whatever you’re logged in to.
- Clear your browser cache and cookies.
- Restart your computer. Do a full restart. Yes, really.
I bet your problem is gone, isn’t it?
To keep this at a completely un-techie level, I’ll just say that particularly when you’ve been online awhile your computer’s memory gets bogged down with too many things in the Temporary Internet Files. Some of those things interfere with the loading of new things. Clearing them all out is a good idea every time you close your browser, but it’s critical if you’re using Firefox, which seems to need this a lot.
So, George Monbiot couldn’t get the G+ Hangout to work until he complained about it on Twitter (lesson #1 in Social Media Lessons from the Homeless) and I gave him the solution. Now you don’t even need to do that!
raincoaster media 
LostWeeknight
May 1, 2012
Excellent advice. Could this be causing problems in other non-browser but internet-related programs, such as Mail on Mac? My Mail program is one big GLITCH! (or a one gig BITCH!) Aside from emails inexplicably disappearing, appearing where they shouldn’t, Rules not being followed, I’ve just realized I’ve stopped getting ‘New Mail’ alerts on the address linked to your blog, and ONLY that one. IOW, I’ve had no idea you’ve posted anything for 3 weeks now. I finally checked and found hundreds of unread mail. Any suggestions? Not one of the 12+ “Geniuses” I’ve dealt with has been able to help me find the source of any of these glitches. The recent devaluation of Apple stock may very well be linked to their devaluation of the words “Resolution” & “Genius.”
Meanwhile, excuse me while I do the Cookie Dance. And if successful, the Rain Dance…
raincoaster
May 1, 2012
I don’t think so. What’s probably happening is that this blog’s RSS feed and thus email updates are somehow screwed. Dozens of people are reporting this problem at the moment. I’m afraid I’m not familiar with Mail on the Mac, but it could be some system software that updated and screwed up, in which case Apple should release an update to it. If the cookie Dance works, let me know, but it shouldn’t have anything to do with this unless you’re routing your email through gmail.
LostWeeknight
May 3, 2012
I’m getting your emails, I just suddenly stopped getting alerts, thus my mailbox “appears” empty, until I open it. Mail is like Outlook, all my addresses reside there, (my Gmails through IMAP). But for some reason, just this one address has stopped alerting me of new email when I clearly have it. I did the Cookie Dance, but sadly, it didn’t fix. My Safari and Firefox, however, are now on Sa-Fire! I’ve called Apple and complained so many times–this being just one glitch out of many–and no one has the slightest idea what’s wrong, so I’m not holding my breath for an update anytime soon. But many thanks for de-glitching my browsing, how often should one do this Cookie Dance?
raincoaster
May 4, 2012
It’s not a bad idea to do it daily, but once a week wouldn’t hurt.
snowbirdpress
September 1, 2012
Thanks for the info re: the cookie-dance. But I clear my computer often and had just cleared it before my problems with my WordPress blog began. Still, I like your blog… so am following.
syrianfreepress
December 17, 2012
Thanks for the info, now the blog is working well again.
Thanks and good luck
Archibald Butler
October 12, 2017
Will it help if I eat a cookie and dance while my computer restarts?
raincoaster
October 12, 2017
Well, it won’t hurt and it might amuse the NSA.