403 Forbidden - please fix this bug \ VOGONS

403 Forbidden - please fix this bug

Topic actions

First post, by red-ray

Posted on Today, 12:34

red-ray Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1963
Joined: 2019-05-21, 07:08
Location: England

Since at least Monday morning I have been unable to access this site with 403 Forbidden being reported.

Others have reported this to existing threads, but I feel there needs to be a thread dedicated this this issue.

jmarsh wrote on Today, 11:07:
The current version of the default browser in windows (Edge 154.0.4258.37) now seems to be blocked. This is stupid.

Yes, very stupid. It's also blocked on my default system, but I have Version 83.0.478.50 on this system which is OK.

I suspect most who are blocked can't even report the issue

Reply 1 of 6, by The Solutor

Posted on Today, 12:38

The Solutor Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 270
Joined: 2026-09-09, 16:30

Like I said in the other thread, for now, use this and set to chrome 154 (firefox should work as well)

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/user … fbampogmaanbfkg

Reply 2 of 6, by jmarsh

Posted on Today, 12:46

jmarsh Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1957
Joined: 2014-01-04, 09:17

If the user-agent reports both Chrome/154.0.0.0 and Edg/154.0.0.0, it gets blocked. If it doesn't include Edg/154.0.0.0 it passes.

I assume this is an attempt at blocking bots but a bot is more likely to know to switch its user-agent when confronted with a random "forbidden" page than a regular (Edge) user.

Reply 3 of 6, by red-ray

Posted on Today, 13:14

red-ray Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1963
Joined: 2019-05-21, 07:08
Location: England

jmarsh wrote on Today, 12:46:
I assume this is an attempt at blocking bots but a bot is more likely to know to switch its user-agent when confronted with a random "forbidden" page than a regular (Edge) user.

Yes, I suspect the same. Either way whatever was changed does more harm than good as I now suspect most of the site "users" are BOTs and feel a sensible solution is needed.

Reply 4 of 6, by The Solutor

Posted on Today, 14:31

The Solutor Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 270
Joined: 2026-09-09, 16:30

jmarsh wrote on Today, 12:46:

If the user-agent reports both Chrome/154.0.0.0 and Edg/154.0.0.0, it gets blocked. If it doesn't include Edg/154.0.0.0 it passes.

I assume this is an attempt at blocking bots but a bot is more likely to know to switch its user-agent when confronted with a random "forbidden" page than a regular (Edge) user.

Likely some AI antispam plugin for the forum engine, I saw such kind of weird effects on other sites.

Still playing for the UA workarounds the problem.

Here Vivaldi 5.7 (chrome 108) works perfectly), slightly older releases than the current one, say 8.1 (chrome 152 or so) are blocked.

Same Vivaldi version on different OS say Windows v.s. Linux may work on the former and blocked on the latter, with no apparent logic, which leads to AI.

Reply 5 of 6, by red-ray

Posted on Today, 17:40

red-ray Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1963
Joined: 2019-05-21, 07:08
Location: England

I just checked and my default system with Edge 154.0.4258.37 just started working, so I guess the stupidity has been expunged.

I feel that whoever made the change should have tested it with Edge 154.0.4258.37, the default Windows browser.

Reply 6 of 6, by bakemono

Posted on Today, 20:23

bakemono Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 948
Joined: 2018-01-15, 06:56

FACT: user agent filtering has always been dumb and will always be dumb.

Wreckage reimagined on itch: https://90soft90.itch.io/wreckage-dash

Go to top of page Go to top of page

Back to Milliways