plugin error

  • Resolved magicpowers

    (@magicpowers)


    3 years, 11 months ago

    I got a message that one link is broken with the status: timeout.
    I checked the link – it is working properly.
    I tried to: Edit URL – Dismiss – Not Broken – Recheck

    at any ettempt to fix this issue I get an error pop up message:

    “You are not allowed to do that!”

    Why?…..

    I manually removed the link from the page, purged the cache – the linked word was still crossed out. I then unlinked the link in your plugin – this time it allowed me.

    The link was working fine all along. Why did your plugin mark it as broken? The linked site is loading fast. Then the plugin did not allow me to do anything with the link, each time giving me this threatening message.

    Is this a known issue?

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 19 total)
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  • Plugin Support Pawel – WPMU DEV Support

    (@wpmudev-support9)

    3 years, 11 months ago

    Hello @magicpowers

    I hope you’re doing well!

    This error means that the process has timed out before the plugin could check the link. Please increase the time out limit. Go to Settings > Link Checker > Advanced, locate Max. execution time field and increase the timeout time.

    Please see this screenshot:
    https://take.ms/5ekP5

    Let us know how it went!

    Kind regards,
    Nastia

    Thread Starter magicpowers

    (@magicpowers)

    3 years, 11 months ago

    Hhi @wpmudev-support9

    thanks for your reply.

    I have increased the Max Execution Time.

    I’m curious though – the issue was shown as “timeout”.
    Why did you ask me to increase Max execution time and not the actual Timeout setting?

    In this instance, ‘timeout’ has changed to ‘unknown error’.

    Upon investigation I concluded that the reason is that the linked page is enforcing a manual security check which your plugin of course was unable to perform. I have now deleted that link.

    thanks 🙂

    Thread Starter magicpowers

    (@magicpowers)

    3 years, 10 months ago

    HI @wpmudev-support9

    The issue continues in a different way.

    The plugin repeatedly reports 4 links to the resources on Amazon as broken, quoting: “No service available” or as “Warnings”.

    Each time I click on Re-check – the problem stays unchanged.
    But when I check those links manually – each time they work fine and load fast.

    I mark the links in the plugin as Not Broken. The next day the plugin marks the same links as broken or warnings.

    What’s the problem here? In the settings, the plugin has 30 seconds timeout and 520 sec Max execution time. Once again, when I re-check it comes back with the same result even though when I do it then manually, the links work fine.

    I can’t be going through this process every day. The links are not broken, they work fine and load fast, and I need them to be where they are.

    These are the same link each time. Also, I inserted them several months ago, yet your plugin started picking them up only recently.

    Can you please advise how to fix this.

    thanks

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by magicpowers. Reason: more info
    Thread Starter magicpowers

    (@magicpowers)

    3 years, 10 months ago

    @wpmudev-support9

    this is not good.

    I keep getting “broken links” errors for the links that are working perfectly.

    Just now, your plugin reported a broken link to an external audio file with my podcast as 403 forbidden error.

    This is nonsense as (1) the link works fine, (2) this file would NEVER return any error let alone 403, and (3) this file URL has not changed for the past two years.

    After I checked the link manually and knew it works and loads fast, I clicked on RECHECK – yet the plugin retained the error so I had to click on Not Broken to clear it.

    There is clearly a glitch in your plugin. Perhps you could release an update with a fix.

    Please advise.

    thanks

    Thread Starter magicpowers

    (@magicpowers)

    3 years, 10 months ago

    @wpmudev-support9

    This issue continues crossing out the links on my pages and posts as broken with 403 error wihich is completely false, as these links work perfectly. The Recheck function makes no difference.

    I can’t be fixing this manually every day.

    I have disabled the plugin pending your advice

    thanks

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by magicpowers.
    Plugin Support Dimitris – WPMU DEV Support

    (@wpmudev-support6)

    3 years, 10 months ago

    Hello there @magicpowers

    Keep in mind that checking URLs isn’t the same as opening them in the browser, as we just ping them and record their response.

    For example, Amazon links can’t be checked like that, cause of a restriction in Amazon’s end. In order to check Amazon products, we’ll need an Amazon integration in the plugin, using their APIs. This is already requested to our devs, who will consider adding such functionality in a future release.

    Now I’m not sure about the other links you’ve mentioned. It could be the same reason, that these links can’t be accessed differently than via the browser directly, thus the 403-forbidden error. In order to better check though, can you please share these URLs here with us?

    Thank you,
    Dimitris

    Thread Starter magicpowers

    (@magicpowers)

    3 years, 10 months ago

    hi @wpmudev-support6

    thanks for your reply.

    I understand that some files can’t be easily accessed (pinged). I have already removed a link to a LInkedIn profile which is password protected.

    However all other links can be accessed.

    The key question is – how come your plugin is unable to ping the files which have been on my website for as long as your plugin, if not longer. It has never reported those links as broken until now. The files haven’t changed, so this means that something has changed in your plugin in one of the recent updates – the way it pings the files?

    here are these links. to find these source pages here
    https://www.quantumliving.com.au/show-notes/

    Link text : “Why Suicide is NOT What You Want”
    Link URL : https://media.whooshkaa.com/show/2664/episode/173624.mp3
    Source : The Power of Blessing with Pierre Pradervand – Part 2 | QL034

    Link text : “Sustainable Recovery” by Keith Key on Amazon
    Link URL : https://www.amazon.com/Sustainable-Recovery-Keith-Kay-ebook/dp/B00PR61…
    Source : Sustainable Recovery with Keith Keller Part 1 | Quantum Living | QL005

    Link text : “Sustainable Recovery” by Keith Key on Amazon
    Link URL : https://www.amazon.com/Sustainable-Recovery-Keith-Kay-ebook/dp/B00PR61…
    Source : Sustainable Recovery with Keith Keller Part 2 | Quantum Living | QL006

    Link text : https://www.amazon.com/365-Blessings-Heal-Myself-World/dp/1785357298
    Link URL : https://www.amazon.com/365-Blessings-Heal-Myself-World/dp/1785357298
    Source : The Power of Blessing with Pierre Pradervand – Part 1 | QL033

    Link text : Schumann Resonance
    Link URL : https://www.sedonanomalies.com/schumann-resonance.html
    Source : Theta Meditations
    https://www.quantumliving.com.au/theta-meditations/

    Link text : (None)
    Link URL : https://media.whooshkaa.com/show/2664/episode/173619.mp3
    Source : Diagnosis to Recovery with Emma vanderHoeven Part 1 | Quantum Living| QL009

    The bottom line is that I need to keep these links on my website. If your plugin out of a sudden can no longer ping them – I have to remove the plugin.

    thanks

    Plugin Support Pawel – WPMU DEV Support

    (@wpmudev-support9)

    3 years, 10 months ago

    Hello @magicpowers

    I hope you’re doing well!

    I’ve checked the links above and could not replicate the 403 error, besides few amazon links that showed 404, and indeed the products are no longer listed.

    Is there a security plugin on your end? The error 403 is a forbidden error, which means the server rejected a ping made from your site’s IP to check these URLs.

    If you have a security plugin, please temporarily deactivate it. Please re-run the Brocken Link Checker. If the 403 status will show up on these links, please locate server error logs and see if there are any records of the 403 errors, that showing a full error message.

    Please advise,

    Kind regards,
    Nastia

    Thread Starter magicpowers

    (@magicpowers)

    3 years, 10 months ago

    hi @wpmudev-support9

    which amazon link shows for you that the product is no longer listed?

    I have checked every link manually and all those products are there.

    Yes, I do have a security plugin (Wordfence Security) and no, I will not deactivate it even for one second.

    My security plugin is not the issue here.

    It appears that you have missed my point that ALL those links have been on my website as long as or longer than your plugin. Same with my security plugin. If there was a plugin conflict, it would have come up much sooner.

    Once again, those issues started after one of the latest plugin updates.

    If you can’t poinpoint the cause, that’s fine, I’ll leave it, and find another broken links plugin or simply do without. It’s not an essential plugin.

    I will never deactivate my security plugin however – that’s the most critical plugin on my website.

    thanks

    Thread Starter magicpowers

    (@magicpowers)

    3 years, 10 months ago

    @wpmudev-support9

    I’m giving your plugin another go. Have reactivated it and rescanned the site.

    I have a question about the settings:

    On the GENERAL tab there is a setting “Check each link” where I can put in the nummber of hours (eg 24 hrs).

    ANd then on the ADVANCED tab there is a setting “Link Monitor” with two options:
    (1) run continously while the dashboard is open
    (2) run hourly in the background

    Could you please explain the difference between these two settings as to me they are for one and the same thing: how often the plugin is checking the site for broken links, so this is confusing. Also, could you please advise the recommended settings for each one.

    thanks

    Thread Starter magicpowers

    (@magicpowers)

    3 years, 10 months ago

    @wpmudev-support9 @wpmudev-support6

    I haven’t had your reply – I find it strange that you can’t replicate the same errors. How exactly do you test these links?

    After reactivating your plugin – here we go again, I got the same links (to Amazon products) reported and crossed out on my pages as broken while they are NOT broken!

    I can’t be fixing them every single day, I’m sorry but that’s insane. There is something wrong in your plugin.

    I have deactivated it for now. Unless you can fix it, I will install it.

    Surely many users have links to products on Amazon and similar marketplaces, I’m not the only one. Have you had similar error reports from other users?

    thanks

    Plugin Support Dimitris – WPMU DEV Support

    (@wpmudev-support6)

    3 years, 10 months ago

    Hello there @magicpowers

    Check each link is pretty explanatory in the settings page:
    Existing links will be checked this often. New links will usually be checked ASAP.

    Link monitor provides options on how to trigger the checks. They can run everytime you’re on the admin pages or via a corn job that gets triggered every one hour.

    About Amazon products, as mentioned in my previous reply, can’t be accessed programmatically unless the Amazon API is used. Opening these products in your browser isn’t not the same thing. This is already reported to our developers who will consider adding this functionality, as we just recently inherited this plugin from GoDaddy.

    As for links on the same site, this is indeed strange and shouldn’t be happening, so there must be some other plugin or server configuration that affects that. As you can’t deactivate plugins to further test, could you create a staging environment that could be used for testing? Please advise!

    Thank you,
    Dimitris

    Thread Starter magicpowers

    (@magicpowers)

    3 years, 10 months ago

    hi @wpmudev-support6 @

    What is “pretty explanatory” to you is not so to the users.

    You have just repeated what’s written on the dashboard instead of explaining it.

    You are STILL not seeing that these two “explanations”are contradictory and as such confusing. You need to you get out of the developer’s mindest who has the inside out knoweldge of the plugin’s functionality and look at the issue through the eyes of the users who do not have this knowledge..

    What is the difference between “checking the links” and “monitoring the links?”

    To the user they mean one and the same thing – how often your plugin monitors/checks the links. The words “monitoring” and “checking” have the same meaning in the English language.

    So – if I set to check the links every 24 hrs and monitor the links every hour – will the links be monitored=checked every 24 hrs or evey hour??

    I wasn’t aware that this plugin was ever owned by GoDaddy.

    You said that this issue (with Amazon links) has been already reported to your developers, which means that MANY other users are experiencing it, not just me.

    What you haven’t addressed is my question I have already asked several times in this thread:

    How come those links to Amazon products on my website were never reported as broken by YOUR PLUGIN until only recently following one of the recent updates?

    This is your clue, which I strongly recommend your developers focus on – not any plugin conflict on my site.

    I do have a staging site, but I won’t do the testing you suggest as I know this is not any plugin conflict issue. The issue is some recent changes in your plugin, or on the Amazon website in terms of how the links can be accessed.

    Secondly, I can’t be spending so much time on fixing this plugin which is of secondary importance.

    I will keep it deactivated until I see your update fixing this issue.

    thanks.

    Plugin Support Dimitris – WPMU DEV Support

    (@wpmudev-support6)

    3 years, 10 months ago

    Hello there @magicpowers

    I hope you’re doing well and I’m sorry for the frustration on this.

    So – if I set to check the links every 24 hrs and monitor the links every hour – will the links be monitored=checked every 24 hrs or evey hour??

    Existing links will be checked every 24hrs based on the Check Each Link option, while new links will be checked automatically. The Check Each Link setting is the time period between checking each individual links. If link A has been checked, it will be only be checked after the defined time period, unless done manually. Link monitor is whether to run the monitoring hourly or not (we’ll be adding more options there as well).

    How come those links to Amazon products on my website were never reported as broken by YOUR PLUGIN until only recently following one of the recent updates?

    I’m not 100% sure what was happening with previous versions that were maintained by GoDaddy, but I can see the same results in my end with Amazon links, so this could be something that changed in Amazon’s end (they block any pings that aren’t normal browser requests).

    I do have a staging site, but I won’t do the testing you suggest as I know this is not any plugin conflict issue. The issue is some recent changes in your plugin, or on the Amazon website in terms of how the links can be accessed.

    I asked about the staging site, not for the Amazon links, but for broken links that are of the same site, which does sound weird and there should be something else affecting this.

    Warm regards,
    Dimitris

    Thread Starter magicpowers

    (@magicpowers)

    3 years, 10 months ago

    hi @wpmudev-support6

    Would you be able to actually explain the difference between Check Each Link and Link Monitoring settings? You keep repeating what each one does which is one and the same.

    Existing links will be checked every 24hrs based on the Check Each Link option, while new links will be checked automatically. The Check Each Link setting is the time period between checking each individual links. If link A has been checked, it will be only be checked after the defined time period, unless done manually.

    I get that.

    Link monitor is whether to run the monitoring hourly or not

    Once again – the words “checking” and “monitoring” have the same meaning. You are repeating the conflicting information about this function.

    CHECKING = MONITORING

    If in your vocabulary these two functions are different and separate from each other – could you please explain what does link monitoring do that is different from link checking?

    So I ask again – does your plugin check/monitor the links every 24 hrs (check links setting) OR every hour (monitor links setting)?

    The plugiun reports the same links as broken on my staging site. If Amazon has recently made some changes and restrictions to accessing its products – fair enough. As plugin developers you should be able to reach out to Amazon tech to find out and develop a patch. After all, it’s in Amazon’s interest to allow full access to its products via links. Have you spoken with them?

    Also, this would mean that ALL your plugin users have the same issue with their links to Amazon. How many users have reported this issue to you?

    I will keep your plugin deactivated until I see an update fixing this issue.

    regards

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 19 total)
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