Bugzilla

> A error page appears appears after some period of time

Yes, you are correct. I had to wait about 17 minutes to see the error page with a "retry" button.
Here's what I saw without without my proposed patch applied:

-- I connect to the server but not yet clicked on a message
-- I set iptables to drop incoming data on port 119
-- Now click on a message. See empty screen. 
-- NNTP log shows only "C: ARTICLE 28783" (only this is sent per wireshark)
-- Wireshark shows server responding but responses and retries not seen by TB due to block of port 119
-- After about 12 minutes, server sends first RST and sends more RST about every 2 minutes
-- After about 17 minutes, timeout error reported by mozilla to TB/NNTP code. Message now displays "The connection has timed out"  [Several suggestion to fix the problem] [Retry].
-- The error should invalidate the cache entry (~~TBD~~).
-- Unblocked port 119.
-- Click [Retry] button.
-- Retry has no effect on display, nothing new in log, nothing occurs in wireshark.
-- Click on another message. Comes in OK and log/wireshark show the activity
-- Click back to original message. It comes in too. So cache entry was invalidated.

FWIW, I also tried this with older version 91 before NNTP was moved to JS. If anything, it's worse and the "Retry" button also has no effect and even clicking other messages doesn't cause a re-connect.

I think I can fix some of this except don't know how to cause that retry button to re-do the URL.

> A error page appears appears after some period of time

Yes, you are correct. I had to wait about 17 minutes to see the error page with a "retry" button.
Here's what I saw without my proposed patch applied:

-- I connect to the server but not yet clicked on a message
-- I set iptables to drop incoming data on port 119
-- Now click on a message. See empty screen. 
-- NNTP log shows only "C: ARTICLE 28783" (only this is sent per wireshark)
-- Wireshark shows server responding but responses and retries not seen by TB due to block of port 119
-- After about 12 minutes, server sends first RST and sends more RST about every 2 minutes
-- After about 17 minutes, timeout error reported by mozilla to TB/NNTP code. Message now displays "The connection has timed out"  [Several suggestion to fix the problem] [Retry].
-- The error should invalidate the cache entry (~~TBD~~).
-- Unblocked port 119.
-- Click [Retry] button.
-- Retry has no effect on display, nothing new in log, nothing occurs in wireshark.
-- Click on another message. Comes in OK and log/wireshark show the activity
-- Click back to original message. It comes in too. So cache entry was invalidated.

FWIW, I also tried this with older version 91 before NNTP was moved to JS. If anything, it's worse and the "Retry" button also has no effect and even clicking other messages doesn't cause a re-connect.

I think I can fix some of this except don't know how to cause that retry button to re-do the URL.