08 October 2012

Most 'HTTP 404' Are External Errors

The last action on Monday, Monday is to determine:-

  • Are there errors being reported on the server log files?

The last time I looked at stats for the site was for a post on my World Chess Championship Blog, Anand - Gelfand Wrapup, and the last general stats were for Google Likes Me Why Exactly. For the month of September, my server recorded close to 2200 'not found' (HTTP 404) errors. Most of the errors were outside of my control, with many of those related to hackers probing the site for security weaknesses.

I found a few errors that could be fixed easily and made the necessary changes. One of those was a 'page not found' problem and the rest were isolated 'image not found' errors. I also found a few errors on subjects I wasn't familar with. The most frequent were looking for files with names like

  • apple-touch-icon.png

but there were also a fair number of requests for

  • crossdomain.xml

If you're interested, a web search will give you more info on what these files are used for. Another broken link that appeared a few times came from Bridgebase.com, Cheating at Chess Is Bridge next? The page they wanted was 1978 Karpov - Korchnoi Title Match : Highlights, but someone mistyped the address.

What's next on the agenda for Mondays? I'll start by looking at Chess History on the Web : Support material.

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