Java-based chatters

Eeek!

I've been getting complaints that loading java-based chat clients seems
to be much slower than loading anything else. Accordingly, I looked into
the problem, and this is what I found...

878177377.567 4985 203.4.148.36 TCP_CLIENT_REFRESH/200 827 GET
http://c16296.channels.chatplanet.com/chatplanet-codebase/styles/hitek/CLOSEd.gif
- DEFAULT_PARENT/proxy.brisnet.org.au image/gif
878177390.423 12041 203.4.148.36 TCP_CLIENT_REFRESH/200 3129 GET
http://c16296.channels.chatplanet.com/chatplanet-codebase/styles/hitek/MODERATORsmsplash.gif
- DEFAULT_PARENT/proxy.brisnet.org.au image/gif
878177396.058 5587 203.4.148.36 TCP_CLIENT_REFRESH/200 636 GET
http://c16296.channels.chatplanet.com/chatplanet-codebase/styles/hitek/CHATNEWSu.gif
- DEFAULT_PARENT/proxy.brisnet.org.au image/gif
878177402.008 5897 203.4.148.36 TCP_CLIENT_REFRESH/200 851 GET
http://c16296.channels.chatplanet.com/chatplanet-codebase/styles/hitek/CHATNEWSr.gif
- DEFAULT_PARENT/proxy.brisnet.org.au image/gif
878177408.188 6112 203.4.148.36 TCP_CLIENT_REFRESH/200 876 GET
http://c16296.channels.chatplanet.com/chatplanet-codebase/styles/hitek/CHATNEWSd.gif
- DEFAULT_PARENT/proxy.brisnet.org.au image/gif
878177413.518 5157 203.4.148.36 TCP_CLIENT_REFRESH/200 535 GET
http://c16296.channels.chatplanet.com/chatplanet-codebase/styles/hitek/OKu.gif
- DEFAULT_PARENT/proxy.brisnet.org.au image/gif
878177418.477 4897 203.4.148.36 TCP_CLIENT_REFRESH/200 687 GET
http://c16296.channels.chatplanet.com/chatplanet-codebase/styles/hitek/OKr.gif
- DEFAULT_PARENT/proxy.brisnet.org.au image/gif
878177423.497 4965 203.4.148.36 TCP_CLIENT_REFRESH/200 772 GET
http://c16296.channels.chatplanet.com/chatplanet-codebase/styles/hitek/OKd.gif
- DEFAULT_PARENT/proxy.brisnet.org.au image/gif
878177450.138 16599 203.4.148.36 TCP_CLIENT_REFRESH/200 8424 GET
http://c16296.channels.chatplanet.com/chatplanet-codebase/images/CHATLOGO.gif
- DEFAULT_PARENT/proxy.brisnet.org.au image/gif

Behold, the java clients are _forcing_reloads_ of images
_every_damn_time_ the chat program loads. The above excerpt is only a
fragment of the total load (which for this particular chat session took
12 minutes to load, and a half-meg or so of bandwidth).

What a _waste_!!

Now, I see some options:
1) Copy all their image URL's to a local server, and update the redirect
script to point to it. Users on modems will still have long load times,
but the bandwidth choking and expense will be shifted off the main IP
link.
2) Kick the people who wrote the chat thing until they fix it.
3) Figure some way to tell squid _not_ to allow the object to be
refreshed by the client, so long as there is a copy in the cache.

Comments?

D

--
Note to evil sorcerers and mad scientists: don't ever, ever summon
powerful
demons or rip holes in the fabric of space and time. It's never a good
idea.
ICQ UIN: 3225440