Can't load Mousebits (website) or my torrents

I've been a longtime member, and everything's been hunky-dory until now.

Suddenly, the Mousebits webpage doesn't load on either Safari or Firefox at home (I'm on a Mac OS 10). At work the site loads the same as usual (Windows XP running Firefox). Safari and Firefox always give me "server not responding" errors.

My torrents (Mac OS 10, using Azereus, now Vuze), have also stopped for the most part. Sometimes there's a burst of activity, but most of the time it says connection error.

Does anyone else have trouble, or have any idea what could have caused this? Every other website I go to loads ok - just not http://www.mousebits.com.

are you on a campus or otherwise managed line ?

No, I'm at home, like I have been. And on the same computer.

I flushed the DNS, reset the modem (I don't have a router), repaired permissions, etc. I can get on if I go through an anonymous proxy server though, so it seems like my IP address is blocked for some reason. And none of my torrents are seeding now...

Help! I miss my Mousebits!

Umm, this is going to sound paranoid, but is it possible your ISP has blocked your access to MouseBits because of what they may regard as a "high volume of traffic"?  Just guessing here.

Some ISPs block torrent sites and P2P sites due to recent challenges in the courts which can make them responsible if copyright stuff is exchanged.
Try connecting to other P2P sites and torrent sites and see if they get through as a test.
I suspect the ISP is the culprit, not the PC or client.
Which ISP are you with? (if there are others here on the same without problems, they could confirm that all is OK - of course, if it IS the ISP, they won't be able to read this, will they?).
As pixilated says, high volume can cause ISPs to "block" traffic.Darn "fair use" policy again


Try everything then something's bound to work ;D

I have roadrunner (Time Warner Cable). They swear they have not and will not block any website.

Other P2P sites load ok, and their torrents leech and seed fine.

Mine did, too, until a couple of weeks ago.

If I use an anonymous proxy server, I can log on to the site. Otherwise the connection times out. If the ISP blocked mousebits, I shouldn't be able to see do that, right?

If I try and ping mousebits, nothing is returned.

Have you adjusted your firewall or installed anything that may just affect it?
Also check for any "blocked" websites on your system or parental controls that may have sneaked in by accident.
Finally, run all the adware/malware/virus checks you can.
I would also try and download another browser, just in case the problem is there, and see if that's any better.
I don't use a Mac but Firefox 3 had a lot of teething problems so, if you are running that, try IE and, possibly, an earlier compatible version of Firefox or reinstall it (It was updated to iron out the bugs a few weeks ago although it still remains the same version etc so it isn't obvious there has been any changes - but there have been quite a few). I don't know anything about Safari at all.
One thing I would mention is that you often go through a few ISPs to get access to the web (your ISP will use others in the area to patch things through) and, on occasions, (usually due to a lot of spam going through), some of them get blacklisted and won't let some things through. I had this problem with Freeserve (Orange) which "wasn't a recognised" ISP to some others : with emails for a few weeks.
One last suggestion.
Sign up with another ISP on "pay as you go" and see if you can view the site (it'll only cost a few pennies to try and connect).
That should rule out problems with your PC or settings if it connects and confirm where the problem lies.
If it's been blacklisted, it should reset after about a month automatically.
Let us know what you find.