Problem with Google search of DU? Seems to be resolved

[muriel_volestrangler]

Last edited Sun Dec 23, 2012, 06:01 PM - Edit history (1)

Using the Google 'site search' box at the top right, I am consistently getting, for any search:

403. That’s an error.

Your client does not have permission to get URL /custom?q=%22muriel_volestangler%22&sitesearch=democraticunderground.com&sa=Search!&domains=democraticunderground.com&client=pub-7805397860504090&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A11&hl=en&ad=n9&num=10&siteurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.democraticunderground.com%2Fsearchresults.html%3Fq%3D%2522skip%2Bintro%2522%26sitesearch%3Ddemocraticunderground.com%26sa%3DSearch%2521%26domains%3Ddemocraticunderground.com%26client%3Dpub-7805397860504090%26forid%3D1%26ie%3DISO-8859-1%26oe%3DISO-8859-1%26cof%3DGALT%253A%2523008000%253BGL%253A1%253BDIV%253A%2523336699%253BVLC%253A663399%253BAH%253Acenter%253BBGC%253AFFFFFF%253BLBGC%253A336699%253BALC%253A0000FF%253BLC%253A0000FF%253BT%253A000000%253BGFNT%253A0000FF%253BGIMP%253A0000FF%253BFORID%253A11%26hl%3Den from this server. (Client IP address: (deleted))

We apologize for your inconvenience, but this request could not be processed.

Do others get the same problem?

[NYC_SKP]

1. I got the same results as you.

I searched for "god" and then for "pussy", (cats and their darned mind control) and got the same result as you!

First time I've had this problem, it worked earlier today!

[Coyotl]

2. Never. But try this workaround

Use regular search and add: site:democraticunderground.com

as one of your search terms,. it is the delimiter code.

[Make7]

3. csziggy just had a thread about that issue in Meta.

He self-deleted but had posted a similar error message.

The Google search works fine for me from FF16 on W7. I haven't tried other browsers or operating systems yet (why would I if it works?). Maybe people having the same problem can report what browser/OS they are using to see if there is some common link.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. I'm using FF12 on W7, so not that different from you

and it would seem strange for a highly used feature like this to suddenly become dependent on a recent browser upgrade.

DU is, I believe, a cluster of servers; I wonder if it's something to do with which server we are each directed to? I presume the search request goes via a DU server, since the results have to be put in a DU frame.

[Make7]

6. Well, I guess if it used to work on your setup and now it doesn't...

... it is unlikely that it is on your side. I'm in the U.S. Pacific Time Zone, so perhaps it does have something to do with what server DU is coming from for other people. Maybe you could try replacing the www of the web address on the search results page to the alternates (sync, upload, election, betterment, metamorphosis) to see if they work any differently.

As a last resort, people could even go to Google's website.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. The name change doesn't help

though when I get the error screen back, it has reset the first section to 'www'.

[Make7]

10. It looks like you are sending more info to Google than I am.

When I do a successful Google search from DU, the GET request my computer makes to Google is the highlighted part, the lighter text is absent.

[div class="excerpt" style="word-wrap:break-word; margin-left: 1em !important; border: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius: 0.4615em; box-shadow: 3px 3px 3px #999999;"]Your client does not have permission to get URL [font style="background-color:#bfbfbf;"]/custom?q=%22muriel_volestangler%22&sitesearch=democraticunderground.com&sa=Search!&domains=democraticunderground.com&client=pub-7805397860504090&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A11&hl=en&ad=n9&num=10[/font][font style="color:#444444;"]&siteurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.democraticunderground.com%2Fsearchresults.html%3Fq%3D%2522skip%2Bintro%2522%26sitesearch%3Ddemocraticunderground.com%26sa%3DSearch%2521%26domains%3Ddemocraticunderground.com%26client%3Dpub-7805397860504090%26forid%3D1%26ie%3DISO-8859-1%26oe%3DISO-8859-1%26cof%3DGALT%253A%2523008000%253BGL%253A1%253BDIV%253A%2523336699%253BVLC%253A663399%253BAH%253Acenter%253BBGC%253AFFFFFF%253BLBGC%253A336699%253BALC%253A0000FF%253BLC%253A0000FF%253BT%253A000000%253BGFNT%253A0000FF%253BGIMP%253A0000FF%253BFORID%253A11%26hl%3Den[/font] from this server. (Client IP address: (deleted))
It looks like data of the referring page was appended to the request. I have noticed this behavior with Google searches on their website before, perhaps that is what is happening here now causing problems. It also looks like the second part is possibly truncated (the [font style="color:#444444;"]&ad=n9&num=10[/font] part is missing). I always thought that referring page info was just used for tracking how searches related to each other, I wouldn't have thought it would make the actual search data not parse properly.

I'm not sure how that extra info is making it into the request from DU - seems more like a Google issue than a DU one though. It also could be related to which Google servers your request ends up getting routed to - although I can't see any way to influence that.

I don't use the search bar on DU, I always go to Google's site - primarily because I have NoScript blocking javascript from Google so the search results from within DU just shows a blank page.

So until the problem gets fixed, you at least know where to find Google.

[Make7]

11. So I have discovered how you can make it work.

I have FireFox set to not send any referrer information. You can change your setting by opening an about:config page and searching for network.http.sendRefererHeader. The default is 2. Changing it to 1 (only send info when clicking on links) or 0 (never send info) should make the Google search work from DU pages.

Whether changing that will mess up how other sites work for you is something you'll have to monitor. You can always set it back if you don't like how it works.

Why the Google search is suddenly acting differently, I don't know. But until it gets resolved, you know an easy workaround.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Hmm - next morning. Now, the search results come back, with or without that change

but the DU frame (that used to give the list of forums and groups down the left, and had been a little out of date - it showed "Help and Meta-Discussion", and, I think, gave the DU tabs and 'my profile' etc. links at the top), has now gone. Which is fine by me, since I didn't often feel the need to go to forums or groups directly from there - I just go to the search results. Whether it's what admin want, I don't know.

[Make7]

13. They rewrote the code to bring up the results on Google's website...

... instead of within a frame on a DU "search results" page. Which is nice for me because the frame required some JavaScript from Google [font style="font-size:0.8462em;"](which I have disabled by default)[/font] to display results, but the redirect to their site works without JavaScript - that saves me a couple steps when I want to search DU.
[div style="width:100%; height:1.31em; border-bottom: solid 1px #bfbfbf;"]
[div style="margin-left:3.2em; text-indent:-3.2em;"]ETA - you might want to edit your thread title to indicate this issue has been resolved.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. Well, resolved in a way - looking at the page source

it's surrounded by comments saying "TEMP Google Search" (though I admit I hadn't checked that before - I suppose it's possible that it's been 'temp' for months now).

But I guess that would show admin are aware of it, anyway.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

5. Just started this morning. I use it frequently when looking

for an existing thread on a subject of interest.

Using Chrome on MAC OSX

[Honeycombe8]

7. I get the same. It used to work. IE9 on W7. nt

[freshwest]

8. Thought it was a site traffic issue, it goes down at a certain level. DU seemed slow last night.