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NilsC

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Posts posted by NilsC

  1. Posted · Report reply

    Well i don't want to make my own server i just want to make SMF to work !!!!! can anyone help ??

    <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

    First of all... did you upload anything? second of all if you uploaded it did it go in the correct place with the correct settings. When I go to your website I see the Welcome TO Astahosp page. That tells me you 1 didn't upload to the right place or 2 you didn't configure what you uploaded correctly.

    http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

    http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/index.html

     

    So give me the name of a html file you uploaded and the path you uploaded it to. (It don't have to be any of the files from the smf, just a testpage)

     

    Where did you upload the files to? did you put the in the "public_html" like you are supposed to?

     

    Nils

  2. Posted · Report reply

    Robots meta tags, do we need them. What good do they do and what does it control.

     

    “Robots Meta Tag” are used to control if you want a spider or a bot to index a html page or not. You can give permission to index your whole site and the spider will crawl all your pages.

     

    This is a great way to control bots and spiders if you don’t have access to the root directory and robots.txt file.

     

    Some search engines (not all) fully obey the “Robots Meta Tag”.

     

    What is the format of “Robots Meta Tag” and where do I put it on my site?

     

    The “Robots Meta Tag” are placed in your HTML document in the HEAD section, its not case sensitive. The format are easy and very simple to understant.

    Here Is an example on how to set the statement up (case does not matter)

    <HTML>
<HEAD>
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX,NOFOLLOW">
<TITLE>...</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
...

    The previous statement lets spiders and bots know that this web-page is of limit, if the statement is in your index.html file it means the whole site is off limits.

     

    The four metatag options for this is set in the content part of the statement. They are:

    index

    noindex

    follow

    nofollow

    What does the options mean and how do we use them...

    First was index.

    This tell the spider/bot that it’s OK to index this page

     

    Second is noindex

    Spider/bot see this and don’t index any of the content on this page.

     

    Third is follow

    This let the spider/bot know that it’s OK to travel down links found on this page.

     

    Last it’s the nofollow

    It tells the spider/bot not to follow any of the links on this page.

     

    So the combination of the statements tell the spider what it can do. If you use this to control the spider/bot make sure you don’t ask it to follow links and the only page you are linked to have a noindex statement.

    What are the combinations and what do they control:

    <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="INDEX,FOLLOW">

    This statement tell the spider/bot that it’s OK to index the page and follow all links.

    <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX,FOLLOW">

    Here you tell the spider/bot that it’s not OK to index but OK to follow any links on the page.

     

    <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="INDEX,NOFOLLOW">

    Here it’s OK to index this page and NOT permitted to follow the links.

     

    <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX,NOFOLLOW">

    Here you tell the spider/bot to stay away from all content and all links

     

    There are 2 global statements and if I remember right the syntax are as follows. (Plese check this before you use it because I have never used this setup so I can’t vouch for it’s validity)

     

    <META NAME="ROBOTS" ALL=INDEX,FOLLOW>

    , and

    <META NAME="ROBOTS" NONE=NOINDEX,NOFOLLOW>

     

    So depending on how you use the statements in each page you can control spiders and bots and the access they have. If a spider or bot hits your html page and there is no robots.txt or “Robots Meta Tag” what are the defaults. There are articles that say the predefined default is INDEX and FOLLOW. One search engine that fully obeys to “Robots Meta Tag” is Inktomi and Inktomi’s default is INDEX and NOFOLLOW. So it’s important to setup the “Robots Meta Tag” correctly to get your web site indexed by all spider/bot that you want to crawl down your web site.

     

    This is all for now,

    If anyone have more information on the global statements please add them so this will be complete 

     

    Nils

  4. Posted · Report reply

    Start posting, look for your "Hosting credits" to go over 3 or 5 (not sure) and your account will be unsuspended. You should continue to post regularly or your account will be suspendended again. Try to keep your account up because everytime it's unsuspended it puts an extra load on the server.

    You should read this post also: support those who support you!!!

    Nils

    *** Topic closed ***

    No issue, just post and follow the rules.

  7. Posted · Report reply

    Do all bots read this file, Yes and No, all compliant bots and spiders read this file.

    Same answer, if they are compliant they follow the rules.

    Unless the HTML editor have a "text edit feature" that put "Unix line endings" at the end of the file bots and spiders may not be able to read. (EditPad Lite, freeware have a setting for this)

    All bots are not like, there are bots / spiders that are not conforming. One example that I hate, they are called "spam harvesters" they do not follow the rules and will continue down all your pages collecting email addresses. That is why I'm a member of the "HoneyPot" project. Since conforming bots/spiders follow the rules and dont harvest from a file/directory that is on the "Disallow" list you know that only "BAD" bots will harvest data from the spamtrap. Looking in the logfiles you can now identify new User-Agents that are bad or identify themselves as users(browsers) An example is one of the most active spamharvesters that operate theit bots from hijacked computers in Netherland, their bots/spiders identify themself as "Netscape 3.0 Compatible (WhatsNew Robot)"and you can see details here Spam Harvest bot

     

    Hope this helped.

    Nils

  8. Posted · Report reply

    Since we have such a huge interest in this subject I'm going to expand on this. And just to inform those of you who think I have a stake in any of OpaQue's ventures and are looking to make a profit. I'm a volunteer, look up my profile and you see when I logged on as a n00b to Xisto. I took an interest in the forum and started bugging the Admin. and Moderators with issues that I thought could be solved. I guess I was enough of a pain to be a moderator, so I could fix the stuff I was complaining about. In the short time I have posted to this community I have seen some good posts, some great and some that were just plain lazy.There is no huge profit made here, and the reason this is offered is due to OpaQue and what he experienced trying to find a free host, and I think a lot of you have experienced the same. You have a site up and one day you go there and it's a black hole, what happened to all your files and content. What prevents this from happening here? It's safe to say that we as users prevent it from happening by the support we give. Are we friends here, I doubt it. We are here because we are looking for free hosting. Is that a harsh statement, I don't think s. It's an honest observation on my part and I think most of us look at it that way if we are honest.OK, so why should I take any interest, I have my site. I pop in once or twice a week to put the mandatory posts so I can keep the hosting credits up high enough so my site is not shut down. Nothing wrong with that either, that is what's required. So you forgot to post because your web-site was going so well and you had so much fun there that the hosting credits trickled down to zero and your site is blocked. What do you do, come back and post some more. Maybe help out and answer a question or do you whine and post that you need your site up and please unblock me I'll post the required posts just unblock me. Maybe you didn't know that the site had changed and that it's now hosting credit driven. What kind of statement is that on your part? It tells me that you are not here enough to see what's going on and you are NOT supporting those who support you. I have a suggestion to make and it will affect you only if your site is blocked due to post credits going to zero, now you need 3 hosting credits for the site to unlock and be visible again. What if the change made it so the next time your credits hit zero the amount of hosting credits needed would be 6. Because 3 credits multiplied by 2 times shut down equal 6 hosting credits needed. Third time 9 credits and three strikes you’re out so I wouldn’t go there.I’m done with the rant and I only have one thing to say. I was surprised that the only response I received was from another volunteer(ed) Moderator. And do not be surprised if you start a post with help or have help in the subject line and the only post you see from me is a link to this post. I don’t mind helping and I know there are others who volunteer time and effort on their posts and tutorials. You know who you are and this rant is not toward you. I have heard some excuses that made fall off the chair laughing because they where so far removed from what this site is about.Thanks to all who read this far,At least you took the time to listen to my rant.Nils

  9. Posted · Report reply

    Powernap, it beats caffeine and sugar when you need to stay awake and work for a long time. If you ever drove from Florida to Maine in a Tractor Trailer you had to lear this. If you are so tired that you can't keep your eyes open but you have to finish the paper. Get a tin plate or a pot +something+ that would be noicy when you dropped a key chain or handful of change on them. Sit in your chair and lean your head on the table, see where ot put the plate or pot so that when you fall aslep you will drop the keys or change or both on top of them. As long as you hold onto the keys/coins you are still awake, the second you fall asleep you will relax and drop them waking yourself up. This will give you the ability to go on for 2 - 4 - or 6 more hours...I know it works, I have used it driving non-stop from Florida to CT and I used it when it took from Friday to Tuesday to rebuild a crashed server with corrupt data and full rebuild...Try it, it works better than caffeine alone.Nils

  11. Posted · Edited by NilsC (see edit history) · Report reply

    I just logged onto cpanel, no problem Make sure your capslock are off and that num-lock is on if you have numbers in your password.If it fails from the popup box cancel out and try from the webpage, make sure your webpage have the field on the bottom that let you resend the password. If that is missing, you are in the wrong area.nils[Added]connecting from a library computer, seems like it's an issue with that computer since everyone else could log on.No problem on Xisto, ***TOPIC CLOSED ***

  12. Posted · Report reply

    Search engines look in the "root" directory for robots.txt. This file first tell the spider / bot (called "User-agent" from now on) what files it can harvest and the folders it can harvest from. This is called "The Robots Exclusion Standard".

     

    The format (syntax) of the robots.txt file has to be followed. It consists of records that have 2 fields. The first is the "User-agent Line" the second is one or more "Disallow Line(s)"

     

    Syntax is <field> ":" <value>

     

    You should create the text in UNIX line ender mode. Good text editors or one of the Linux line editors work.

     

    ***WARNING***


    Do not use your HTML editor to create the robots.txt field unless it have a "text mode" to edit in. Notepad can be used if your FTP client have


    First we talk about the "User Agents"

     

    We have all seen "Googlebot" who hangs out here enough to be a Moderator so we use that as an example :P

    The useragent line specifies the bot that this record is for:

     

    User-agent: Googlebot

     

    or you can specify all bots/spiders using wildcard "*":

     

    User-agent: *

     

    There are lists of all known User-agents on the net and you can check your log files to find User-agents that hit your site.

     

    Now comes the second part of the record, the "Disallow"

     

    It may have one or more lines depending on how much restriction you need. It's called "Disallow" because you allow all useragents to harvest all files and folders unless you specify otherwise. This example tells useragents that they are not allowed to harvest from the file my_email.html:

     

    Disallow: my_email.html

     

    To tell the useragents that a directory is off limit you have to use this format:

     

    Disallow: /cgi-bin/

     

    Now useragents (conforming bots and spiders) will stay out of that directory.

     

    Can I use wildcards when setting up the rules? In a way you can because if you use:

     

    Disallow: /private

     

    This would block /private.html and /private/index.html and any other files receding in the /private/ folder. Don't put disallow: alone on a line, because the blank space is interpreted as "good to go, no restrictions" unless that is what you are trying to do.

     

    This brings us to the next step because we as "professional" web designers put comments on everything we do so we can figure out what was going on when we wrote this file. You can put comments in the robots/txt file by starting the comment with #. One word of caution, put the comment on a line by itself because a lot of useragents don't interpret white-space. The:

    "Disallow: /images/ #donât need to see my wedding pictures".

    Will not stop all useragents from harvesting from the /images/ directory because they read this as:

    "Disallow: /image/#donâtneedtoseemyweddingpictures"

    and will go on into the /images/ directory. So put the comment on the next line after the disallow statement.

     

    A couple of examples to round out this tutorial:

     

    In my web-site here at Xisto I use the simplest form of the robots.txt file because I use the web-site for testing concepts and don't need it harvested. You can see what it looks like here: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

     

    #First exampleUser-agent: *Disallow: /#This keeps all robots out (the setting I use now)#Second exampleUser-agent: *Disallow:#This allows the useragent to harvest all files and folders.#Third exampleUser-agent: *Disallow: /images/Disallow: /cgi-bin/Disallow: /my_mail.html#This will block all boots from the files and folders inside#the images and cgi-bin folder. The file my_mail.html will#not be harvested.#Fourth exampleUser-agent: AnthillDisallow: /pricelist/#This will block the Anthill useragent from accessing your#pricelist folder and all files in that directory. (Anthill#is used to gather price-information automatically from online#stores. Support for international versions.)#Fifth exampleUser-agent: linklookerDisallow: /#This is a new bot, that is not registered so who know what#the data is collected for.
    List on known bots and spiders with detailed information and description.

     

    If you are allowing some bots but not all then make sure you list the bots you allow first then the deny.

    #Allow googlebot, msnbot, and askjeeves to harvest all files and folders.User-agent: googlebotDisallow:User-agent: msnbotdisallow:User-agent: askjeevesDisallow:#The rest of the bots and spiders are blockedUser-agent: *Disallow: /

    This are a few examples of how a simple robots.txt file is setup, there are a lot of complicated configurations out there and even some sites that have put the useragent and disallow statement backward.

     

    There are a lot of good tutorials on robots.txt and you can do a search on Google to find them. Here is a link to TheBigCrawl â checking robots.txt files for errors.

    If you took the time to create a robots.txt file, take the time to check it :P"Robots.txt checker :P

     

    Hope this is to some help.

     

    Nils

  13. Posted · Report reply

    Please read the TOS and you will find the answer .

    <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

    Rudy, that is about the best reply I have seen today.

     

    And here we have another truth... ;)

    Please note this line " Xisto.com has a zero tolerance policy for the use of its network for the posting of messages or commercial advertisements, which violate the rules, regulations, FAQ or charter of any newsgroups or mailing list. "

    Rudy, thank you! ;)

    PM an admin if this don't seem clear to you.

     

    If you are wondering and have questions like the first poster, wouldn't it be smart to send a PM to an Admin or a Moderator instead of starting guesses and rumors.

     

    Did anyone else figure out the answer or is Rudy the only one??

     

    Nils

  15. Posted · Report reply

    the host/address "ftp.astahost.com" is not the right thing to have.

    You must use"ftp.yoursubdomain.astahost.com"

    <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

    Redsox58 is correct, or you can use:

    THE FOLLOWING ARE VALID FTP ADDRESS which you can use to access FTP :-

     

    1> 69.50.168.69

    2> ftp.ABC.astahost.com [ where ABC is your subdomain ]

    3> ftp.YOUDOMAIN.com [ If you have registered your DOMAIN with Us ]

     

    NOTE : THE FTP PASSWORD AND CPANEL PASSWORD ARE SAME!!!


    Thanks Redsox58

    Nils

  16. Posted · Report reply

    OK, I’m not sure how to word this post but I’m going to give it a try!

     

    We have free hosting here, or we wish to get free hosting. So the issue is, who pays the bill.

     

    The answer is we do by supporting this site and referring others here or to trap 17.

    Part of the support is the posting requirement and a lot of you has asked “why do we have to post so much”. We don’t have to post that much, but we need to have quality posts. Your hosting credits tell you how long you can stay away if you have to, it don’t mean you have to stay away that long.

    Why are some of the topics set so we don’t get post or hosting credit? That is because this site expects you to contribute your knowledge in topics that will expand the user base here. If you are just looking for free hosting, go to trap 17 and start posting there. The topics are not so heavy when it comes to computer knowledge and you have lighter forums were you can get post count in topics that don’t count here.

     

    I need more space, bandwidth, email addresses. If that is you, continue reading.

     

    For those who wish to have a web-site but don’t have time to post, use the paid option. If you know someone who are looking for stable hosting at a very good price, refer them to the partner site Paid web hosting solutions. They can then enjoy the same options that “you” the hosted members have here. For $19.95 a year they will have access to 150mb of disk space and 3072mb bandwidth/month Unlike the limitations on email addresses they will have unlimited email.

     

    OK, here is another option. You have friends, families, co-workers who know you are an “expert” web-designer and they ask you to help them setup a web-site. Then you build the web-site, and tell them that you can have it hosted for $19.95 a year. If it’s a small site you can you may be able to get away with the $9.95 a year package.

     

    If you are an up and coming web-designer that are looking to start out with your own business but doesn’t have the money to spend on servers and dedicated data lines. Approach the people that asked you to look at, improve, build a site for them and tell them that you for a fee will build and host a web-site for them. If they agree to this proposition, you need to discuss the cost and set a price for your services and the hosting space. Outline what they are receiving for this price and that they need to supply you with the content going up on the site. When you know what they are looking for and you calculated out the price, let them know that any changes they make to the design or layout can change the cost. When the negotiations are finalized you have to ask for some money up front to create their site. This is normally 1/3 of the agreed upon money now before you start working on the web-site. If you are hosted here and have some space, use it do develop the framework for their site. When you have the layout and framework ready, show it to the customer and have them approve on color scheme, image layout and do any changes they ask for that are within the scope you outlined. When they agree that it looks the way they want get the second 1/3 of the money and make sure they know that they have a deadline to get site content and images to you. If they don’t follow up and supply you with the content you do not work on it and any money up front are yours.

    Here comes the beauty of this scheme, use the money to buy hosting space and you are on your way. If you have 2 or 3 projects to start out with then you can get one of the larger packages. This will give you room to host your own site and other sites. If they need a domain name, ask them to buy one or calculate it into the price and you buy it for them and they lease it from you.

     

    Now you have space and bandwidth to spare and you can dedicate more time on creating.

     

    When the site is ready developed and ready to go live you have the customer look at the site and approve it, when they approve you get the last 1/3 of the money and when the transaction is done you move the site to your hosting space.

     

    You need to specify that this hosting arraignment is on a yearly base and they would have to pay keep it up after one year and that the cost may go up if your hosting cost go up.

     

    This is my contribution on how can I help Xisto.com provide others and me with free hosting. Now you need to add your suggestions to how you think this can be accomplished. I love the fact that my space is ad-free and that the ads here in the forum are not overpowering the content of this site.

     

    Thank you

    Nils

  17. Posted · Report reply

    Google's algorithm is funky that way. I guess you are ranked based on who know you... and who links to you.I use robots.txt for my test sited blocking all good bots so they don't start indexing a page that is in the development stage. google and msn and the good bots respect this. I had one spam harvest bot continue down the path and harwest the spamtrap email addresses that I have in all my web-pages.HoneyPots works wonders when it comes to identify the bad guys and their spiders / bots.Nils

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