XF 2.3 403 Error for Links of Hidden Profiles

[SelamT]

Hi,

If a user group is blocked from viewing member profiles, or if a user has blocked their profile from being seen by other users, they are redirected to a 403 error page.
Unfortunately, this results in thousands of erroneous links in the form of "broken links" in the analytics.
Is there a solution to this issue?

Thanks,

 

[Chromaniac]

This addon was nice for this purpose. Seems to have been removed.

D

Thread 'MemberLinks remover [Deleted]'

Jul 20, 2022

0815 submitted a new resource:

MemberLinks remover - Remove the member links for guests (username/Avatar)

With this add-on you can completely remove the member links for guests + an option of a ToolTip overlay with further info.

Simple but effective.

Read more about this resource...

• Deleted member 232995
• Replies: 34
• Forum: Add-on releases [2.x]

 

[SelamT]

Thank you for your participation in the subject. I wish the developers had a comment.

 

[SelamT]

Are the developers thinking about a solution to this problem?

 

[Paul B]

Which HTTP response code do you think should be served for pages you are forbidden from accessing?

 

[Anatoliy]

Which HTTP response code do you think should be served for pages you are forbidden from accessing?

I guess links to those pages shouldn't be displayed to those who are not allowed to see them.

 

[SelamT]

Instead of returning an error page, it should not be difficult to return an information page and make it readable.
at least the link will work and not error.
For example:
"this user has hidden their profile etc"
What do you think?

 

[Anatoliy]

Instead of returning an error page, it should not be difficult to return an information page and make it readable.
at least the link will work and not error.
For example:
"this user has hidden their profile etc"
What do you think?

so you just want to replace all those 403 errors in your report with 301? )

 

[SelamT]

No, I want these pages to be accessible.
if permissions are granted, xenforo should list the information at the bottom, etc. but if permissions are not granted, instead of an error page, just an informational message that the page is hidden by the user or site admin.
at least the url will not give an error.

 

[Old Nick]

"this user has hidden their profile etc"

That's the case...

 

[SelamT]

That's the case...

Yes, but since this page is unreachable by google etc, it shows up as a broken url error at work.

 

[Anatoliy]

No, I want these pages to be accessible.

so they would return response code 200?

 

[SelamT]

I apologize, I'm not very familiar with the code.
Only when I have my site analyzed, thousands of broken links are lowering my score.
I'm looking for a remedy for this

 

[Anatoliy]

That's the case...

You are talking about how pages should look like, but Paul B asked you about HTTP response code.
Answer his question please.

 

[SelamT]

For example, when I visit XenForo as a visitor, a user profile opens.
But when I open my own site as a visitor and click on a profile, I get a "login or registration" page.
What am I missing?

 

[Old Nick]

Yes, but since this page is unreachable by google etc, it shows up as a broken url error at work.

But that's how it works, not only on XenForo, a page inaccessible to a robot returns an error code 403. That's it, there is nothing else to say or do. It doesn't break your site, it doesn't impact your SEO, it shouldn't even worry you. Honestly, before worrying about all the data you find in the GSC, take an interest in what they mean, you will sleep better that way.

 

[SelamT]

Which HTTP response code do you think should be served for pages you are forbidden from accessing?

I don't want to comment on the redirect code of the page. I'm just asking how or if there is a way to make the page accessible in any way.

 

[Old Nick]

You are talking about how pages should look like, but Paul B asked you about HTTP response code.
Answer his question please.

He asks to @SelamT not me. And its question was ironic... HTTP works well by returning a 403 when the page is inaccessible...

 

[Anatoliy]

But when I open my own site as a visitor and click on a profile, I get a "login or registration" page.

that's probably because you set "don't show user profiles to guests" in ACP

 

[Paul B]

I'm just asking how or if there is a way to make the page accessible in any way.

Allow guests to view whichever pages are returning 403's, in this case member profiles.