regarding your suggestion in a previous edit to try running a web server I ran into an issue there superuser.com/questions/1718787/…

@barlop Forget my earlier version, I misunderstood your question earlier... but it might be a clue nonetheless, but try the ping test first and flushing the browsers DNS cache

The ping test does verify that the hosts file has changed. So I think clearing the DNS record the browser has is the thing. But, i'm not sure how to flush/clear the DNS cache in chrome and firefox.. You mention re chrome, going to chrome://net-internals/#dns and there there's a button that says "clear host cache". That button doesn't seem to do anything.

@barlop In FF you can use about:networking#dns you can clear as well as view the cache, not sure about chrome [here might be a hint](chrome://net-internals/#dns). In addition to FF try to use a fresh browser instance version, e.g. via a portable version that hasn't cashed the site yet, see if the problem persists.

@barlop note, that I failed to recreate the problem using current Chrome Version 101.0.4951.41 and FF 99.0.1

the words are cache and cached(not cash and cashed).. If I go to about:networking#dns it shows a list of hostnames, including rice.com , it associates it with 127.0.0.1 even while it goes to the rice.com website. and even if i have a web server running locally. When I click the button to clear DNS cache it doesn't seem to change that list, the list still shows rice.com and associated with 127.0.0.1

When you say you failed to recreate the problem.. Do you get an instant response from adjustments to the hosts file?

when you click "clear DNS cache" in FF, does the table below instantly clear for you?

How much of a delay do you get from chrome, and from FF when a)blocking rice.com or b)unblocking it ?

@barlop it clears instantly

@barlop a) instantly b) instantly up to a few seconds

Try to use the built-in developer tools, what information does the network tab give you?

It's of particular interest to know the remote IP address and to the content is cashed or transferred full stuff.

Just in case: try to clear the browser cache completely not just the DNS cache.

ignore the words "full stuff" above (auto-correction problems, same with cache/cash)