We're aware that there is an issue with 403 errors and formatting

[EarlG]

The two errors are likely related. The 403 error means that our firewall is blocking your connection to DU (this happens from time to time and usually clears itself up within an hour or so).

If you're able to access the site but the formatting is all screwed up, that's likely because the firewall is not blocking your connection to the server where the HTML page exists, but the firewall IS blocking your connection to the server where the stylesheet exists. (This file tells your browser how the DU page should be laid out and if it can't load, the formatting will disappear.)

We're looking into this, but we are hopeful that it will clear up soon.

[hlthe2b]

1. i had problems yesterday but all is fine today. Curious.

[AllaN01Bear]

2. had cloudflare issues outputting to du lots of lag but nothing on dus end .

mainly intermediary hops.

[TexasTowelie]

3. I'm closing my browser which also deletes my cache and cookies, then relaunching it.

I have to log into my account (DU and any others), but it fixes the formatting issue immediately. This works well on a desktop, it might be more difficult on other devices.

[asiliveandbreathe]

4. Thank you..403 cleared for me just now..

[greatauntoftriplets]

5. Weird, it's working fine for me.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. I almost never have any problems connecting to DU.

Could it be that I'm always connecting on a computer, not a phone?

[Nittersing]

7. Yeah

My formatting issue just started today. It was fine first thing this morning...

[TwilightZone]

8. Might just be a coincidence, but I noticed that...

https://democraticunderground.com generates the 403, but

https://www.democraticunderground.com does not.

At least, for the moment.

[PufPuf23]

9. Experienced intermittent periods where DU would load slowly or fail to load

and say had no internet connection in recent days.

But today avatar would not load (sunflower) when posted and tried to reload that avatar and several other DU-provided avatars with no success. rats.

[Cha]

10. I don't know what any of

those terms mean but yesterday I had a couple of times when I just got the word Forbidden on the otherwise blank page.. No "403" for me.

One was trying to access a PM, the other was for a post. I just opened another Window and it was good to go.

Mahalo

ETA~ Oh & right now my avatar isn't showing up.

[2naSalit]

11. It cleared up for me after about an hour...

Just as suggested.

[RussBLib]

12. Lucky me

I have had zero problems, using an Android phone with a Chrome browser. My computer using Microsoft Edge browser has also been stable.

Did anyone think about turning it off and back on?

Sorry.

[Random Boomer]

13. Style sheet issue in the Upload subdomain

For what it is worth, when the styling disappeared from my view of DU, I took a look at the page HTML.

The file path for the CSS goes to a subdomain. When I load that URL into a browser, I get a 404 error:
https://upload.democraticunderground.com/styles/style-main.css

However, when I change the file path to your DU domain, the style sheets pop right up.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/styles/style-main.css

Since that time, it's a crap shoot whether or not the site is styled when I log in. Most of the time, the styles are MIA, every once in awhile they snap into place.

Unfortunately, the site pages are pretty unreadable without the CSS. Sigh. I'll keep waiting and hoping for this to resolve.

[radius777]

15. Clearing DU's site cookie worked for me,

logged back in and formatting back to normal. Using Firefox on PC.

To clear the site cookie in Firefox: click the lock icon in the address bar, then click 'clear cookies and site data'.

Then close browser, reopen browser, goto DU and log back in with your password.

[ancianita]

16. Is 403 still the case in June 2024, when I'm still seeing it when I just try to post inside a thread? What's going on?

I've got a good network connections, good apple macbook air w updated Safari browser, but this happens almost every other day with my thread posts.

Help?

[ancianita]

17. Still? A few hours later on the same thread but not any other?

I posted and previewed on this thread and the text showed. So I figured I wasn't on "Ignore," which was the only reason I thought one might encounter a 403 pop-up.

https://www.democraticunderground.com

So I continued posting. Then when I finished I got the 403 Forbidden again.

What can be done to solve this??