From time to time people have problems with particular ISPs. I know there was a thread a few months ago where a particular area of the country had trouble accessing DU. In it there was a post listing several DU "mirror" or "sync" sites that loaded almost immediately. Unfortunately, I can't find that thread. I'm hoping someone in the forum remembers the thread or knows where to find the list of mirror sites.

When DU is at its worst for me, I see the type of page load you describe. Perhaps bookmarking one of these mirror sites would be of use to you.

Found a few:

http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/

upload.democraticunderground.com (216.158.28.197)

sync.democraticunderground.com (216.158.28.199)

election.democraticunderground.com (216.158.54.195)

betterment.democraticunderground.com (216.158.54.197)

Here is one of the threads: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024943226
Basically go through the list of possible mirrors and find one that loads well. Try using that for a few days and see if you still have the original problem. If you still have the problem it may have a different cause.

Explains why a link in thread shows the thread but clicking the thread title doesn't.