# Forbidden, You don't have permission to access /~mathnews on this server. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2002, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-you-dont-have-permission-to-access-mathnews-on-this-server/102311 "2002-04-07T14:31:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Weeks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbce88/32.png) [@Weeks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weeks)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-you-dont-have-permission-to-access-mathnews-on-this-server/102311/1 "2002-04-07T14:31:21Z")
when I tried to go [here](http://www.mathnews.uwaterloo.ca/~mathnews) I got this note: Forbidden You don’t have permission to access /~mathnews on this server. Apache/1.3.14 Server at www.mathnews.uwaterloo.ca Port 80 😕 Wha? Was it something I said? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-you-dont-have-permission-to-access-mathnews-on-this-server/102311/2 "2002-04-07T14:39:13Z")
It’s a problem with the server. It basically means that the web server software cannot access the web page files. Check the address, or complain to the administrator of the web site. The server probably runs some variant of the Unix operating system which is a multi-user operating system; you can specify the “permissions” for each file - i.e. specify which program and which user can access the file. If you set it up so that the web server program cannot access the HTML file, you get that error. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-you-dont-have-permission-to-access-mathnews-on-this-server/102311/3 "2002-04-07T14:42:17Z")
Where did you get the first link? Your second link works fine. Perhaps Mathnews migrated their site to another server and closed public access at the former site. ---
**Author:** ![OneChance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@OneChance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneChance)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-you-dont-have-permission-to-access-mathnews-on-this-server/102311/4 "2002-04-07T15:05:32Z")
Check out [Google’s cache](http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:_B1tgG7K8qQC:www.student.math.uwaterloo.ca/~mathnews/+mathnews&hl=en) of the page you’re trying to get to. ---
**Author:** ![abel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@abel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abel)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-you-dont-have-permission-to-access-mathnews-on-this-server/102311/5 "2002-04-07T15:31:18Z")
\ Argh! I spent 20 minutes writing a little chmod tutorial on here, and then I reread the question and now I realize you probably don’t own the webpage you’re looking at. I do lab supervising at my college, and I’m so used to getting that question I didn’t think twice. Just on the off chance that you DO own the webpage, and want to learn about permissions, [here](http://bruce-hamilton.com/tutorials/chmod.shtml) you go. \ ---
**Author:** ![Weeks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbce88/32.png) [@Weeks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weeks)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-you-dont-have-permission-to-access-mathnews-on-this-server/102311/6 "2002-04-07T15:38:15Z")
I get it, I get it. Thanks folks. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-you-dont-have-permission-to-access-mathnews-on-this-server/102311/7 "2002-04-07T16:22:59Z")
The Apache “Forbidden” page is an http error 403. There’s nothing wrong with the server - someone does not want you accessing that directory or page. To find out why, mail the Admins. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-you-dont-have-permission-to-access-mathnews-on-this-server/102311/8 "2002-04-07T22:55:48Z")
This can also happen if the site was shut down by the ISP.