KNOWN ISSUE:Sites blocking URL check resulting in false broken links

1. 78

   EricDockettposted 10 years ago

   I just found a (!) warning on one of my Hubs, due to two broken links to my own Hubs. Clicking on the links led to 404 error pages. But the pages the links were supposed to go to still exist, and are still published and featured. It seems the links should have been good.
   
   I went into the Hub and re-linked my pages. It appears the links had become corrupted somehow, with extra text in there that didn't add up to the correct url.
   
   My Hub appears okay now, but I'm just posting this in case it is a symptom of another issue and HP wants to look into it further, or in case it happens to other Hubbers.
   
   Here is the Hub that had the issue:
   
   http://ericdockett.hubpages.com/hub/Bes … allon-Tank
   
   Both linked Hubs were Editor's Choice, if that matters.

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   1. 69

      Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I checked your account and currently do not see any broken links identified in your Hubs.  There is a delay before these links are rechecked.
      You can see the exact links on the broken links page when they are identified.
      http://hubpages.com/my/hubs/broken-links
      You can email us at team@hubpages.com if you have any further questions.

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      1. 78

         EricDockettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         You wouldn't see any broken links because I fixed them. This happened again today, as I posted below.
         
         But I think maybe it would have been more helpful if I had just copied the messed-up link and sent it to you in an email so you could see what I mean.
         
         If it happens again I'll do that, if it's okay.

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   2. 0

      calculus-geometryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The exact same thing happened to me a while back.  I went to fix a broken link that I know I inserted correctly and when I checked the HTML the url had been corrupted in a weird way.  I can't remember exactly how it was changed, but a lot of extra stuff was added. 
      
      I didn't bother filing a bug report because it was one isolated incident and I knew HP would just tell me it was my fault, but I'm glad to see someone else is having the same issue.

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   3. 69

      Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      We have determined that some sites are blocking our attempts to verify URLs resulting in a small subset of Hubs indicating a broken link in error.
      
      If you see such a notification, you can check the URL using a site like this one and if it is returning a valid HTTP code, then you can disregard the broken links indicator.
      
      Use to check URL:
      http://tools.seobook.com/server-header-checker/

      replyreport
2. 83

   Titiaposted 10 years ago

   I had the same thing happening, a broken link message to one of my still existing other hubs. Can't show it because I reinstalled the link.

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3. 68

   Beaddoodlerposted 10 years ago

   I've had that happen once.  Had no idea how the link got corrupted, but I changed it back to the correct text and it's working fine now. It wasn't to one of my hubs though.

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4. 78

   EricDockettposted 10 years ago

   I saw this issue again on two of my Hubs  this morning. Once again, I fixed the messed-up links and now they are fine.
   
   This is obviously a bug. I am not editing these links beforehand. If I had edited them a week or so ago I'd assume I had made a mistake and entered them incorrectly, but they've been there a long time. Most of them were added months ago, and now suddenly show up as broken links.
   
   Once again, they are all links pointing to my own Editor's Choice Hubs.
   
   It's not a hard fix for me when this happens, but who knows how many visitors end up on 404 pages before I see the (!). And, if search engines crawl the pages while the links or broken, that  aint good.
   
   It sure does seem like something odd is going on.

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5. 61

   The Examiner-1posted 10 years ago

   Perhaps you received this message simply because a computer could not read it. They are very touchy.

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   1. 78

      EricDockettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Not sure I understand what you mean. The link was wrong when I looked at it. It had extra words that didn't belong there. That is why it was correctly identified as a broken link. What I don't know is why or how it got that way.

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      1. 61

         The Examiner-1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Usually it begins where the link begins. Even if the link fixed itself, your 'copy' will still need to be repaired.

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6. 80

   colorfuloneposted 10 years ago

   I had a broken links warning this morning on a hub. BTW, I love how HP highlights those links so they are easy to find. It was to another article of mine that I deleted about a week ago. So, all is well there.
   
   But, there was another link on the hub that I checked and it directed me to my HubPage Feed with an odd looking URL (wish I had saved it to show here now).  --- There does seem to be a bug.

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   1. 70

      Kristen Howeposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I've just gotten a broken link ! error message for my spring health hub for the Local Harvest's CSA. It seems to cross it out or highlight it, when I fix it. It's the right link.  But it's still listed on my hub. Any ideas on how to fix it?

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      1. 69

         Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I checked your account and do not currently see any broken links indicated.
         Where you able to edit the Hub and address the broken link?

         replyreport
7. 70

   Kristen Howeposted 9 years ago

   There was one this morning. I fixed it and edited the capsule and retested it. Now it seems good to go. I was. I don't know why it was broken. Strange. Thanks!

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