PlaymoFriends

General => News => Topic started by: GrahamB on April 29, 2023, 07:37:04

Title: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: GrahamB on April 29, 2023, 07:37:04
Nearly a week ago, I was using PlaymoDB, then I got a 'Forbidden' message and could get no further access, except to pages cached in my history. I tried for several days, could not connect. Then the day before yesterday, I was able to connect, visited a handful of pages, then got the Forbidden message again. No access since then.

Is it just me (some sort of firewall? I know Heather has had problems in the past with people hogging bandwidth, through linking to her site. Maybe I am triggering something by being a heavy user, though my visits are only intermittent)? Or is this a general problem?
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: tahra on April 29, 2023, 08:32:05
The forbidden message usually happens to me when I am INVESTIGATING something - I am a very heavy middle-click user (you know, open in a new tab) - and after a couple I start getting those...  I believe it may be that there are too many requests in a short amount of time?

Though... playmoDB is not updated in a long time... maybe Heather should look into a way to let others update it somehow? or send her the data in a "importable" format...
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: StJohn on April 29, 2023, 10:21:37
Happens to me also, intermittently. I suspect it gets triggered by my repeat visits to the same part, but cannot be sure. It always stops again, after some time. It hasn't occurred with me recently (= last couple of weeks).

Getting the DB back on track/updated/secured for the future would be awesome and of the utmost importance. Not sure how to approach this - I get the impression that Heather is very protective of her grandiose masterpiece.
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: playmofire on April 29, 2023, 20:04:39
I've had lots of tabs open but never experienced this.
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: GrahamB on April 30, 2023, 08:38:11
Thanks for the replies. Is anyone having difficulty accessing the site NOW?
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: playmofire on April 30, 2023, 08:52:41
Just clicked on playmodb in bookmarks and all OK.  Searched on 3789 and came up OK, as did link to Playmobil site for plans.
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: GrahamB on April 30, 2023, 09:37:25
Thanks Gordon. I think it is me, well my server address, which is maybe triggering some sort of protection. When I attempted access by phone, using the phone network rather than WiFi, I was able to open PlaymoDB pages without problem. Now I am using a proxy server and my tablet is linking fine. Frustrating, but probably a sign of the popularity of PlaymoDB if Heather has had to protect it in this way- legitimate users get caught up the same way as inconsiderate users.

And I am still getting the message '403 Forbidden Sorry, page forbidden OR timed out. If you can normally access this page, please try again later' even on the proxy server. For example, when I search for 'rotor' from the homepage, I get results, but if I search for 'tail rotor' I consistently get the 403 Forbidden message. But 'helicopter tail rotor' works fine, so it's nothing to do with the length of the search string! Something strange going on there!

So I think there are two problems, access to the website being blocked and the 403 error message thing.
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: klickyklack on April 30, 2023, 11:20:07
I'm pretty sure I've had this happen to me in the past with PlaymoDB, but it was only for a short time & then everything was back to normal again (it's fine for me currently).  Probably a stupid question, but have you tried turning it off & on again? (rebooting your router & seeing if there's any change)
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: GrahamB on April 30, 2023, 12:47:50
Not a silly question! But yes, thjat was the first thing I tried. Also cleared cache etc. The only thing which worked was using a different IP address, hence the proxy server worked (but only for a while) and now I'm using a VPN....

I still can't search for 'tail rotor' though..  :-[
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: playmofire on April 30, 2023, 12:56:23
Not a silly question! But yes, thjat was the first thing I tried. Also cleared cache etc. The only thing which worked was using a different IP address, hence the proxy server worked (but only for a while) and now I'm using a VPN....

I still can't search for 'tail rotor' though..  :-[

What do you want to know about tail rotor, Graham, and I'll search for you.
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: tigana123 on April 30, 2023, 21:09:06
I would be more than interested if Heather would let us know what are her plans for PlaymoDB
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: Klickteryx on April 30, 2023, 22:28:07
Never had that problem and I used the site a couple of days ago too. If the site is updated then I'd like to see the search string option shortened to three characters so you can search for things like 'hat' and 'cap' which currently you can't.

Sort of unrelated, does anyone know if there is a child klicky with black short sleeved arms other than the one that comes in 6891?
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: GrahamB on May 01, 2023, 08:38:07
Thanks Gordon, but I think I worked out what I needed to know. I'm using that search string as a test now, because it consistently throws up the 403 error message, however I connect to PlaymoDB and it puzzles me why!
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: playmofire on May 01, 2023, 08:56:34
Graham, I've just tried searching on tail rotor and get the same 403 message.  Strange.
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: klickyklack on May 01, 2023, 08:56:52
Never had that problem and I used the site a couple of days ago too. If the site is updated then I'd like to see the search string option shortened to three characters so you can search for things like 'hat' and 'cap' which currently you can't.

Sort of unrelated, does anyone know if there is a child klicky with black short sleeved arms other than the one that comes in 6891?

With you on the 3 character search

Child klickys with short black sleeves &  the red-brown skintone or any?

Red-brown:
30 10 3820
30 11 2020
30 10 2270
k7849a

Other skintones
k7482a
30 10 3460


Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: klickyklack on May 01, 2023, 08:59:35
Graham, I've just tried searching on tail rotor and get the same 403 message.  Strange.

Same with the 403, but "rotor" works & brings up 50 results Inc 27 for "tail rotor"
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: klickyklack on May 01, 2023, 09:14:11
Even if you click "tail rotor" at the bottom of the page here (https://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/showpart.pl?partnum=30%2003%201990) you get the 403, but if you click on the French or German language search they're fine.



Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: tahra on May 01, 2023, 17:10:39
Graham, I've just tried searching on tail rotor and get the same 403 message.  Strange.

Same!  ???  :o
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: GrahamB on May 01, 2023, 17:46:16
That is the point I am making. Why should the search string 'tail rotor' cause a universal 403 error message? Bizarre!
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: Klickteryx on May 01, 2023, 21:16:58
With you on the 3 character search

Child klickys with short black sleeves &  the red-brown skintone or any?

Red-brown:
30 10 3820
30 11 2020
30 10 2270
k7849a

Other skintones
k7482a
30 10 3460

Thankyou!

How did you search for this?
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: klickyklack on May 02, 2023, 11:55:10
Thankyou!

How did you search for this?

YW! Went to 6891 > 30 10 3670 > arms black/red-brown skintone

For the others I searched for kids with arm style then narrowed down further by sex & most common hair colours (black, brown, blond, orange) & quickly skimmed through for black sleeves. May be others I missed.
Title: Re: Is PlaymoDB down?
Post by: playmofire on May 02, 2023, 14:19:55
I have found that you can get round the more than 3 characters limit by searching for caps, hats, etc.