403 error: is it just me?

Very strange stuff happening with a script hosting service I use. (It’s a link directory.) The service went down today, and I visited their support forums to see what’s up. No one else had reported any problems. So I posted a “help, where’s my directory?!” message on the board, and five minutes later I started getting a 403 error (“Forbidden”) when surfing to the site. “Okay,” thought I, “I guess the whole server is having issues.”

However, I’ve just received an email notification that a tech guy has replied to my post. So he’s able to visit the forums, but I’m still getting the 403 error. Is it just me? I assumed the whole site was down, presumably related to the original problem, but … apparently not. Is anyone else receiving the same error? If not, any guesses as to what the problem might be on my end?

Nope, not just you. I got it too. Seems to be a server side permission issue.

Something on the ‘403’…

http://www.checkupdown.com/status/E403.html

I’m willing to bet he was on the local server/LAN as an admin of some sort, which enables him all access. He might not realize that others from outside don’t have the proper access.

Thanks, ParentalAdvisory! (How appropriate a name for someone who’s helping me with a permission access problem! :))

Welp, I wrote the tech dude and let him know of the problem. Hopefully he’ll fix things. If this directory is dead, I’m royally sca-rewed – we’ve got 340 listings on there that will be difficult to replace.

The 403 error is kind of a funny coincidence – for a moment there I was thinking, “holy cow, I’ve been banned for asking for help!”

Anyway thanks again, PA. I really appreciate your checking this out for me, and providing me with the link.

Not a problem, good luck with getting your directory! If it’s just an permission problem, there’s a good chance your data should still be there. This you would have to confirm with your support guy though.