It is no secret that bad things sometimes happen to good web sites. When this happens on your web hosting account, it is often shown as a HTTP error. Each problem that could happen with a web site, has an HTTP error code associated with it, which is suppose to tell you what the problem is. The problem is that they are not really translated into something the general public can understand.
Have no fear though, because I am going to give you five of the most common HTTP errors and what they really mean.
500 Internal Server Error
This is your general purpose error message from the server say, “Hey… none of the other messages really fit here, so we are just going to tell you something screwed up, please try again!”. It could be coming up because the site in question is overloaded with requests, or it could be a system admin trip over the power cord.
404 Not Found
Hey, that isn’t there – so go away is the general message you should get when you see a 404 error code. Probably the most famous error code, if they were ranked by popularity. The requested resource could not be found but may be available again in the future… if your lucky.
403 Forbidden
The 403 error is telling you, that you really are not suppose to be there. It is kind of like the 401 error code, except this time you didn’t even have the chance to try to log in to view the files. You are just not allowed, go away, you are not suppose to be trying to look at that.
400 Bad Request
When you get this HTTP error, it usually means your browser access the page in the wrong way, or somehow your request to view the page was corrupted along the way. The signal got lost, confused and started looking for a magic leprechaun, and totally forget about your request to view that site.
401 Unauthorized
With this web page error code, you see it when you put in the wrong user name or password when trying to log into a protected area. For example, you were trying to log into that ex-girlfriends photo collection to see if she had deleted all the pictures of you. Since you got the 401 error, you’ll never be able to see she simple edited your face out and replaced it with a headshot of Bill, that vampire guy, from True Blood.
Have another HTTP error that has you stumped? Leave a comment, and perhaps we will do a round two of these geek to regular speak HTTP error translations.
Now when most people think about surfing via a proxy, they are talking about doing it for privacy reasons. Proxy sites can also be used for troubleshooting problems between yourself and the server your web site is hosted on.
Tom notices his web site isn’t coming up. He goes to his favorite proxy site, and tries browsing from there, and it does come up. This tells him that there is a problem between himself and the hosting server, but there is not a problem between other people and the hosting server.
I have web hosting advice, tips, tutorials and more for everybody. From those CEOs that get the big comfy chairs in the high-rises across the country the common web hosting man (or woman) on the street. No matter if you are starting your first web site, or your running you hundredth web site, join us now for a little web hosting education and entertainment.
You might be aware of it, or you might not – however you are already doing cloud hosting. Do you check your e-mail via Gmail? Do you share your photos via Flickr?
I can see it now, a cybernetic system administrator being sent from the year 2029 to warn us all about the impending doom that will happen if you do not listen to this week’s edition of the Web Hosting Show. If you skip this week’s podcast, the army of artificially intelligent computer-controlled machines bent on the extermination of the human race will win. You wouldn’t want to be the one responsible, would you?
Should Web Hosts Twitter?
There are a great number of web hosts using Twitter for social communication, support and marketing. If you get any big group of web hosts geeks together though, on this topic, the argument usually goes one of two ways. Either people are really for it, or they are really against it.
For those of you who may not know, Twitter is a micro-blogging service that lets you post message under 140 characters online to your own page, (like the great and wonderful twitter.com/mitchkeeler).
Let us take a look at both sides of the argument.
Wasting your time? Some may say that your time is better served doing one on one support with customers, rather than virtually pimping your goods on Twitter. Others might also not really understand what Twitter is all about, since it is highly referenced as that site where you type what you are doing, such as “about to mow the lawn” or “I’m really bored”. There is a good side to this coin too though.
A helpful marketing and support tool? I have seen a lot of tweets that pretty much can be summed up as “_____ sucks”. Now I ask you, wouldn’t it be handy to be able to go out and communicate with that person if they think you suck, and ask why? Twitter can be used as a quick and easy customer service tool. Also, posting news about your web hosting company, links to your blog articles, or even coupons and deals can lead to a lot of new eyeballs seeing those, and coming into your digital empire. Think of it as one more proverbial driveway they can drive into, to get to your services.
My final opinion on the matter would be to go for it. I think that it always helps to get your name and brand out there in every way possible. I would really be interested to hear what you think though – do you think web hosts should tweet on Twitter?