Help Requested Redirects don't work (and some tips for known XF bugs)

Not a bug but why haven't you kept the original forum folder and used a redirect mod meaning all old links will continue to work? https://xenforo.com/community/resources/vbulletin-4-x-url-redirection.120/

I'm not an expert but I do have 4 XenForo licenses and 3 active forums so if there's any questions feel free to message me.

EDIT: Also the "Share This Page" sidebar is known to increase site loading times, I would suggest to remove that.

EDIT 2: The color/colour changer on the shoutbox is to far near the top (common issue with taigachat) to fix goto /admin.php?appearance/ search for .xenForoSkin .taigachat_bbcode_color click on dark_taigachat.css and add "margin-top: 6px;" (without quotes) to .xenForoSkin .taigachat_bbcode_color (find by searching it with ctrl + f) and it'll make it lower to match the other buttons. Once fixed it'll look like this: http://i.imgur.com/5rDwJuj.png

- Demon/Damien

 

The color swatch image is right by the top of the button.

Current button (second in):


The fix I posted:

 

I tried to my bet the redirect fix, I will probably have to offer a bounty on this one.

 

When you done the convert did you select "Retain imported content IDs"? If you're unsure load up phpMyAdmin or whichever program you use and see if there is a table named "archived_import_log"? as I believe this is needed to get the vB4 redirects working.

I'm also not looking for any bounty so if this does help just put it back into the site please.

 

I did.

 

Strange. They should have worked then. There was a second guide on XenForo.com not sure if this'll help you or not.

First one for vB4 url's: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/vbulletin-4-x-url-redirection.120/
Second one: https://xenforo.com/help/import-redirection/

Hopefully you can fix this.

 

Great to see the site back. I was going to say the same thing - All your inbound links are dead until the redirect rules are fixed. I'm sure your google webmaster tools reports are going bananas.

e.g.
http://assemblergames.com/forums/sh...e-GD-ROM-emulation-happen-quot-Facebook-group
should redirect to
http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/lets-make-gd-rom-emulation-happen-facebook-group.39733/

It's just a small generic rule needed to
match /forums/showthread.php?<match this number>-blah and 301 redirect it to /l/threads/blah.<matched number>/ (xenforo will then automatically do a final redirect from blah.<matched number> to the friendly url

 

Hi Assembler, here are the rewrite rules required. Put these to the top of your rewrilte rules list:

#redirect old post URLs to new site
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^([0-9]+)(.*)$
RewriteRule ^forums/showthread.php$ /l/threads/%2\.%1\/? [R=301,L]

#Optional - comment out the below rule to do a catchall redirect for any requests for the old /forums/ and just redirect to the new home page /l/
#RewriteRule ^forums([a-z/.]*) /l/ [R=301,L]

Paste in those rules to under the line "RewriteEngine On" in either your .htaccess or apache site conf file, reload apache (sudo service httpd reload) then open a new private tab and click this link to confirm it redirects: http://assemblergames.com/forums/sh...e-GD-ROM-emulation-happen-quot-Facebook-group
Let me know if you have any problems at all.

 

Not working.

We have plesk panel which has it's own apache settings.

I put the .htaccess modifications in, saved and then restarted httpd. Didn't work.

I then went to plesk an added the rewrite rules there, didn't work.

 

Ok, I put the .htaccess in the domain root, http dir, and in the forum folder.

Seems to work now!!

 

Now I just need a fix for the https links...

 

Not sure how to fix the https sorry only use http myself. Anyway it doesn't seem like you have a valid SSL Certificate currently as I got a warning. If you need one and nobody donates I'll send some cash next Thursday so you can get one. Are you with Enom or Namecheap? If NC the PositiveSSL one would be fine for here I think. (https://www.namecheap.com/security/ssl-certificates/domain-validation.aspx)

 

Can you give an example of a dead https link and I'll do a rule for that too?

Are there any other dead links flagged in google webmaster tools?

 

Just use the link from your above post and change http:// to https:// (believe all links worked the same here)

 

Here is the redirect fix for the old member URLs. Place this above or in between the other two rules and reload apache. (it must be above the "catch all" rule as otherwise the catch all rule will run first)

#redirect old member page URLs to new site
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^([0-9]+)(.*)$
RewriteRule ^forums/member.php$ /l/members/%2\.%1\/? [R=301,L]

Test by opening this link in a private/incognito tab:
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/member.php?78240-IsometricMode


Regarding SSL, the problem is the SSL cert on the site is not valid. You can get a cheap one for 3x years from www.ssls.com though.
Assembler do you have access to a mailbox for administrator"AT"assemblergames.com? If so, I'll buy the cert for you if you want. You would just have to keep an eye on the administrator mailbox and follow the instructions from the commodo SSL request email.

When your SSL cert is installed think about redirecting the entire site to the https version as it gives a better google ranking and is safer for the visitors.
There is a more to consider for the SSL (and security in genera) e.g. appropriate SSL ciphers (+all the various apache/server hardening techniques).

 

Redirect works!

The issue we had last time is the ssl we own is for assemblergames.com. It is not a wildcard cert, so it won't work on www.assemblergames.com. If I configure it for www, then the opposite effect happens.

At least this was how it was for vbulletin.

 

You can force www. mode by adding this to the .htaccess file.

Code:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]

(Not sure of one for https sadly. )

This will force www. to be the main and loading http://assemblergames.com will auto redirect all urls to www.

It's also better for site SEO and google will rank the site better.