#3902 service unavailable loading comments page

[stewart]

when loading any slashdot comments page i.e. "http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/27/2011206" I get either "503 service unavailable" or a timeout. the rest of slashdot is unafected. its just when loading "article.pl".
This is with IE6 on winxp pro version 2002 SP2 on a P4 2.4GHz dell 512MB RAM.

[stewart]

Logged In: YES
user_id=1689939
Originator: YES

same thing at home. firefox / slackware11

[stewart]

Logged In: YES
user_id=1689939
Originator: YES

problem only exists while logged in.