Access to website

[Shermans]

I have a website which works perfectly well for me. It has also done so for a third party for several months. However, these last two day, he keeps getting a message “Webpage not found” for some obscure reason. I am not having any difficulties, and I have tested the site repeatedly on 6 different devices with no issue - obviously all using the same ISP. I have had someone from France and someone from Canada try to access it with success. So on the face of it, the problem is not my end.

I suspect that the third party may have been inputting his User Name or Password incorrectly recently - probably upper case letters where it should have been lower case and vice versa. So I have temporarily renamed the .ht access so that no user name is required. But he claims it makes no difference, and he still cannot access the website.

So either his cache is corrupt, or for some reason he has been locked out because he has mis-typed his password too often. Could anyone tell me if the Infinityfree folder security might place a marker on his cache, for instance, to prevent him seeing the website - I really doubt it.

I have told him to empty his browser cache to solve the problem. But I do not think he is capable of that. And he is really quite aggressive about it.

What does occur to me is that my website at present is still in a state of development. I make changes to the code sometimes, and I wonder whether it is possible that those changes could cause his cache to lose its way ? I cannot understand why, because I have my own domain which has 301 forwarder to my Infinityfree site at the top level, which I have not changed recently. Can anyone suggest any reason why changes to the HTML code below the entry level might impact his cache to stop him even finding the website at all ?

Finally, I do not suppose that there anything else I can do either to remotely clear his cache for him (hardly likely) or to stop a third party’s cache becoming corrupted ? It is quite bizarre.

[Greenreader9]

@Shermans

So either his cache is corrupt, or for some reason he has been locked out because he has mis-typed his password too often. Could anyone tell me if the Infinityfree folder security might place a marker on his cache, for instance, to prevent him seeing the website - I really doubt it.

I don’t believe Infinity does this.

@Shermans

I have told him to empty his browser cache to solve the problem. But I do not think he is capable of that. And he is really quite aggressive about it.

Well, you somehow need to inform him that this is the problem and that the site will not work for him unless he does this.

@Shermans

Finally, I do not suppose that there anything else I can do either to remotely clear his cache for him (hardly likely)

Well, you can use a program like “Team Viewer” or “Google Remote Desktop”, and access him computer remotely to do this.

@Shermans

or to stop a third party’s cache becoming corrupted ?

Well, you can add a meta no-cache tag on all the web pages of the website, or add lines to your .htaccess file to prevent caching, but his cache would have to be cleared before this would take effect.

Hope this helps!

[Admin]

We don’t have any rate limits on authentication on your website. After all, we don’t control the code on your site, so we can’t reliably determine which pages are login pages and how they should be protected.

@Shermans

However, these last two day, he keeps getting a message “Webpage not found” for some obscure reason.

Could you third party perhaps share a screenshot of what he sees?

Cache could indeed be one problem. The exact message “Webpage not found” doesn’t ring a bell as being from our system, but it could be that your website produces that message, something at the end of the third party (like a proxy) produces the message or that a different message is being produced entirely but he interpreted it as “webpage not found”.

@Shermans

I do not think he is capable of that. And he is really quite aggressive about it.

Hoo boy, those are the fun ones. Adamant it’s your fault and that you should intuitively know what the issue is so you can snap your fingers and have it fixed instantly.

I can’t tell you what is the “right” way to deal with people like that. I usually say that I want to help them but need their help to do so and repeat the request for action/information.