403 Forbidden Error for me

Greg I had the 403 error a week or so ago when I was posting a short worded reply. No links, images, or other codes inserted. Who knows as to why.

Does seem to be inconsistent, Stik. You're probably right.

In fact, not long after I posted the above I was able to post a reply with a quote.

I got my error when I tried to make a new post in the auto forum. No links, no quotes, just a simple post such as this one.

I don't discount the comments from the guys with a developer's experience, who have mentioned the BB code issue.  It may be the root cause, but it's just not at the obvious level of someone pasting a link into a reply, or replying to a thread that has a link, not consistently, in any case.

The current 403 issue is quite unfortunate, we seem to be having an uptick in new member registrations, and infusion of new blood if you will. It would be a shame if that new blood were driven away by the forums current technical issues before even getting a chance to participate on a regular basis.

Modeltruckbuilder

The current 403 issue is quite unfortunate, we seem to be having an uptick in new member registrations, and infusion of new blood if you will. It would be a shame if that new blood were driven away by the forums current technical issues before even getting a chance to participate on a regular basis.

 

Thats a very good point. They have far less time and efforts invested here, so walking away is a lot easier for reasons of technical difficulty.

stikpusher

 

 

Modeltruckbuilder

The current 403 issue is quite unfortunate, we seem to be having an uptick in new member registrations, and infusion of new blood if you will. It would be a shame if that new blood were driven away by the forums current technical issues before even getting a chance to participate on a regular basis.

 

 

 

 

 

Thats a very good point. They have far less time and efforts invested here, so walking away is a lot easier for reasons of technical difficulty.

 

When Scale Auto was still up one of the biggest complaints was photo posting. The question gets brought up here too on occasion, "how do I post photos?" The answer from those of us that know how to post photos is always the same, "you need a photo hosting site like Postimage, Fotki, Imgur" blah blah blah. This is a deal breaker for many new members. New members don't want to hear that, especially when they can post on FB directly without a third party hosting site. Add in the current technical issues that we have now and it paints a very dim picture. I sincerely hope the IT people can get a hold on this issue soon. 

Kit Maker Network and Scalemates also allow you to upload directly from your device onto their site. And those are both free sites. So yes, it would be nice to not have an image hosting site necessary to post photos here. Photobucket was a prime example of why, and the site that Disastermaster uses has just announced its' pending closure. There go more threads destroyed. The days of free image hosting websites may be numbered. And that will kill this place and several others that use such sites.

Modeltruckbuilder

The current 403 issue is quite unfortunate, we seem to be having an uptick in new member registrations, and infusion of new blood if you will. It would be a shame if that new blood were driven away by the forums current technical issues before even getting a chance to participate on a regular basis.

 

I also agree with this observation.

BTW, there may be something thread-specific about the 403 thing. I've been posting mostly successfully the past couple days, but repeated attempts to post in Tojo's thread about the Tamiya Phantom have errored out. I have no idea if this is even relevant.

stikpusher

Kit Maker Network and Scalemates also allow you to upload directly from your device onto their site. And those are both free sites. So yes, it would be nice to not have an image hosting site necessary to post photos here. Photobucket was a prime example of why, and the site that Disastermaster uses has just announced its' pending closure. There go more threads destroyed. The days of free image hosting websites may be numbered. And that will kill this place and several others that use such sites.

 

which free hosting site is closing stick?

How ironic... I go to post a reply with a link and

403 Forbidden

You're killing me FSM. I can't even post a link to a FSM thread. I hope those train guys are happy. This site is turning into a train wreck.

Picturetrail is the name of the image hosting website that is closing.

Tim Kidwell

 Tim,

Can you fix this. I am not automatically logged in when I open up the FSM website on my my MacbookAir. As soon as I log-in I immediatly get a 403 Forbidden error. I then need to remove the FSM cookie and remove FSM from history. Then I can open the FSM website, however I am not logged-in and if I log-in the 403 Forbidden error starts over.  This does not happen on my Windows 10 PC. Think about your members that only have a Mac. They can't report this problem because they can't log in.

You really need to get this 403 Forbidden problem fixed before you lose all of your menmbers. Putting all of your IT resources into Trains.com and ignoring the problems with FSM.com is not fair to your FSM members. It's just not acceptable, sorry.

 

stikpusher

 

 

the Baron

Still happens.  Is anyone looking at this?

 

 

 

 

Dont hold your breath.

 

A message of acknowledgement from the powers that be here would be nice.

 

 

 

 

 

Hi guys,

I've acknowledged that we're aware of this. However, we have only so much developer time to go around. Right now, the company's main priority is our new Trains.com initiative. This is taking all our dev horsepower to get going. Online will get to it as soon as they have the time to spare.

Thanks,

TK 

 

Can you fix this. I am not automatically logged in when I open up the FSM website on my my MacbookAir. As soon as I log-in I immediatly get a 403 Forbidden error. I then need to remove the FSM cookie and remove FSM from history. Then I can open the FSM website, however I am not logged-in and if I log-in the 403 Forbidden error starts over.  This does not happen on my Windows 10 PC. Think about your members that only have a Mac. They can't report this problem because they can't log in.

You really need to get this 403 Forbidden problem fixed before you lose all of your menmbers. Putting all of your IT resources into Trains.com and ignoring the problems with FSM.com is not fair to your FSM members. It's just not acceptable, sorry.

JohnnyK

Can you fix this. I am not automatically logged in when I open up the FSM website on my my MacbookAir. As soon as I log-in I immediatly get a 403 Forbidden error. I then need to remove the FSM cookie and remove FSM from history. Then I can open the FSM website, however I am not logged-in and if I log-in the 403 Forbidden error starts over.  This does not happen on my Windows 10 PC. Think about your members that only have a Mac. They can't report this problem because they can't log in.

You really need to get this 403 Forbidden problem fixed before you lose all of your menmbers. Putting all of your IT resources into Trains.com and ignoring the problems with FSM.com is not fair to your FSM members. It's just not acceptable, sorry.

 

Johnny,

That isn't a decision I get to make. If I could, all of our dev resources would work on FSM first all the time. But with limited resources and time, the company has to rank initiatives and work on those with the highest priorities. As I have said, we are aware of the problem, I have had numerous conversations about the 403 Forbidden errors as well as everything that has shown up in Feedback and Error Reporting. I understand the frustration--it's frustrating for me, too. I will let you know as soon as I have more information on actions we are taking.

Thanks,

TK

Tim,

Thanks for the input. These problems seem to always start when there is a "Forum Outage". There was an Outage in January 2020. Ever since then I no longer get email notifications. These 403 Forbidden errors started after the recent Outage.

I am a retired architect and was a Director of IT for Chicago's largest Architectural/Engineering firm for 18 years. It was a very difficult job because architects are convinced that they know everything about everything, including computer systems, and that they have the God given right to comment on everything that everyone does, including the IT Department.  I was bombarded with questions from the staff such as: "Why are you using that program? This one works better." "Why don't you buy everyone a new computer?" "Why don't you replace all of the software with new software?" "Why can't I draw on Autocad from home?" " I just opened an email that you told ne not to, now my computer won't work". "Why did you report me to HR because of the porn pictures that I downloaded onto my office computer". 

Running an IT Department is a thankless job. I know that your hands are tied regarding a lot of things and I know that you are doing youir best to solve problems.

It's nice to have you here, Tim. Your input is always appreciated.

stikpusher

You're killing me FSM. I can't even post a link to a FSM thread. I hope those train guys are happy. This site is turning into a train wreck.

Picturetrail is the name of the image hosting website that is closing.

 

thanks stik 

Understood, it's a First World Problem, if ever there were one.  But it is inconvenient, when you're cruising along and interacting, to hit the 403 wall every couple of posts.

Tim Kidwell

Quick update: We may have locked down the issue that was throwing the 403 Error. We made the adjustment and we'll see if it comes up for anyone. TK

That saved without error, so, so far, so good.

Let's try pasting in a link to another FSM thread:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/19/p/187771/2151638.aspx#2151638

That worked, too.