Secure connection to ATS fails intermittently when using VPN

I think it was the new owner of ATS who implemented https which provides secure connections, making it more difficult for passwords to be stolen etc, so it's a good thing to implement and I was glad to see the new owner of ATS made that improvement.

https works fine when I don't use a VPN.

When I use a top-rated VPN, I get this error roughly half the time, but only on ATS (no other website):

"The connection to www.abovetopsecret.com was interrupted while the page was loading.

The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified.
Please contact the web site owners to inform them of this problem."
Emphasis mine.

Before you say, "so just don't use the VPN", again I say it only happens with one site that I've ever seen on the internet, and that's ATS, so I think it's got something to do with the way ATS in particular implemented https, or possibly something to do with one of the services ATS uses (to prevent denial of service attacks perhaps?).

Here are a couple of observations which might help if ATS wants to fix this:

-the VPN offers great upload and download speeds overall, however I noticed the ping times can be very high. For example ping without VPN might be 150 ms and ping with VPN can vary a lot, from say 300 ms to as high as 1300 ms (when I check the VPN connection with connection testing services). So I'm wondering if ATS or one if its service providers (anti-DOS?) might be doing something odd if too much delay is seen in the handshaking process for the secure connection or something like that.

-If I retry the failed connection immediately after the first failure, without doing anything special, 99% of the time it fails again. I have to wait a minute or three before re-trying, to get back to around the 50% failure rate. However if I retry the failed connection immediately by going to the address bar and change "https" to "http" by removing the "s", the failure rate goes from 99% to 0% (so far), so that might be a clue to what is going on technically. Of course when I do that, it doesn't make an http connection (unsecure), it redirects to the secure connection (with some seconds of delay), so I get a secure https connection, but somehow that "workaround" fixes the problem, whatever it is, but it's a pain to do, so not a good workaround.

It sure would be nice if ATS can fix this problem. If ATS can't or won't fix it, maybe I will have to ask for some kind of expert advice on writing some kind of script to automatically change all requests to abovetopsecret's https... to be changed to send the request to abovetopsecret http... address instead, which seems to fix the problem I'm having with failed connections when using a VPN. (using the script will prevent the need for me to constantly change the URL manually). I'm thinking I might be able to do this with a script in autohotkey or similar in windows, but it's been a while since I used that, and I'm trying to transition to linux so I will need to do that in linux eventually if ATS doesn't fix it.

It works for me using a VPN. Haven't had any issues with ATS. (Not saying it's not a problem for you, just reporting.)

It's the opposite for me.What a pain loading pages has been recently without VPN.Turn on my VPN set to Russia and the the loading problems go away.
Five eyes spying on ATS is my theory.

a reply to: glen200376
It is the same for me but with or without VPN, no difference. If the mainpage loads up and i can see the pics in the forum signs (for example that red dot with the black alien face for Aliens and UFOs) i know that i have to wait a few minutes to load at least one thread. If i can´t see the pics i know i can open two tabs with two different threads. It feels like ATS allows me to load only 1 of 5 minutes. Same for logging in. If logged in i can write in threads but most of the time i can´t star and flag.

But i have to be honest. I have a lot of stuff on my machine that makes it harder for data thieves and dealers/hopefully governments and secret services a bit too, to steal my data and follow my tracks. I have a lot of browser addons for my security on the Brave Browser i use most of the time. All stuff than can cause problems and causes not really problems but i have to load pics manually on ATS, for example.

a reply to: DerBeobachter
I had trouble using ATS via VPN too, pages would not load or come up unavailable. After I switched tunnels, everything worked fine again.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

I have the same problem.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

The website works just fine for me while using a VPN.

a reply to: Arbitrageur
I also use a top rated vpn and it’s hit or miss on here.

originally posted by: Somethingsamiss
a reply to: Arbitrageur
I also use a top rated vpn and it’s hit or miss on here.

I didn't think I was the only one, thanks for the feedback.

Have you seen any improvement lately?

I've had much better luck loading ATS pages recently, and am wondering if ATS did something to fix the problem.
I'm not sure though if the problem was caused by long ping times or "lag" from the VPN if the VPN may be performing better. The ping times when using the VPN varied widely on repeat tests, much more so than without using the VPN.

Whatever the reason, I'm glad to report I'm having much more success in loading ATS pages when using the VPN lately, much better than when I started this thread!

originally posted by: Arbitrageur
Whatever the reason, I'm glad to report I'm having much more success in loading ATS pages when using the VPN lately, much better than when I started this thread!

Update to my Feb 16 post. The problem with ATS pages failing with the "Please contact the web site owners to inform them of this problem" was greatly reduced when I wrote that on Feb 16, but I'm sad to say, the problem is back and almost as bad again as when I wrote the opening post. It might be slightly better, like pages failing to load perhaps about 1/3 of the time instead of 1/2 the time, but 1/3 of pages failing to load is still a lot.

originally posted by: Arbitrageur

originally posted by: Arbitrageur
Whatever the reason, I'm glad to report I'm having much more success in loading ATS pages when using the VPN lately, much better than when I started this thread!

Update to my Feb 16 post. The problem with ATS pages failing with the "Please contact the web site owners to inform them of this problem" was greatly reduced when I wrote that on Feb 16, but I'm sad to say, the problem is back and almost as bad again as when I wrote the opening post. It might be slightly better, like pages failing to load perhaps about 1/3 of the time instead of 1/2 the time, but 1/3 of pages failing to load is still a lot.

I don't have a VPN, and I have had the same problem just as long.

I agree. It has gotten worse.

I don't know guys. Maybe the problem is in VPN? I use only top-rated one

a reply to: Arbitrageur

hell man don't you remember ATS is supposed to be a CIA/NSA front. it's obvious that those that try to hide their connection are targets. if your having trouble cnnecting you've been flagged vpn or not. best strategy is to play dumb and make smart ass comments that only can be understood by other smart asses.

originally posted by: KateReed
I don't know guys. Maybe the problem is in VPN? I use only top-rated one

Try to use these ones maybe vpnxpert.com...

i get some weird stuff happening too.

like just now front page didn't load as soon as it usually does.
a few of my posts just vanish when i press post and the arrow starts spinning for awhile.

i know,
i lose it when i leave the page but sometimes recently they just don't show and i have to write them again after i clean everything up.

lol. j/k.

my VPN is set to the usa btw.

i got it because of the great channels i can get.
i just renewed for 2 more years after the 3 ran out and the servers were shut down. it's been 8 days now.

that sucks for me since my cable doesn't carry what i want.

the picture situation bothers me. it use to be so easy.