Hi Sharky. You should add your website to your profile so it shows up when you post! I'm going to guess that it's more than just feedback that is failing - like maybe even permalinks are broken now?

What the cartoon guys are doing is setting all internally generated link URLs to the "pretty" versions instead of the "params" version. They have slightly different opinions on what is the exact best combination for SEO stuff, but all agree "looks like folders" is better than "uses params".

But first let's find and fix the issue so that we know what we're working on yah? What you need to do is change the settings the cartoon people set for you to the "looks like params" version instead of the "looks like folders" version and see if that fixes the internally generated link. Like, you want the "?this=that&foo=bar" instead of "/that/bar/" option. I suspect this will fix your issue, meaning we can move on to making pretty URLs work on your server.

I forget if the Zend optimizer thing is what you need here or not. I think it is so you should check your phpinfo page and see what your Zend engine is. I think you need to be greater than 1.3 IF IF IF the Zend thing is related to this problem. But yeah I totally forget what problem saying zend several times fixes so let's move on to something else. Oh and do search the forums for zend and/or optimizer and/or engine and see if you can find something intelligent, which of course means exclude whatever I've written because all I ever write is "I have no idea what this means" :)

I think it's actually "mod_rewrite" that you have to look at. The easy answer there, which is actually tricky and potentially deadly but certainly easy, is to see if your host has made a file called .htaccess in your root level installation. It is important to make sure you not bonk that file IF your host provided it to you because some of your cpanel settings write into that file. Anyway then you look at the file called "sample.htaccess" that b2evolution provided. There you will see a bit that is supposed to make pretty URLs work, which you will want to add to your existing .htaccess file.

# CLEAN URLS:
# If you're using Apache 2, you may wish to try this if clean URLs don't work:
# AcceptPathInfo	On

So you want to add one itty bitty line to your existing .htaccess file, but do always have 7 backups of this file because it is magical and likes to piss you off if you don't have backups.

AcceptPathInfo	On

Or maybe it's something else entirely?

I'm a dork. I forgot to add my website in the last post. It is in my profile now.

Thanks for responding EdB. This is a lot to digest let me digest and I will post soon.

http://www.thechumslick.com

I don't know what I did in the SEO section but my feedback seems to we working now.

As for all the other stuff...

I use bluehost.

So I went into my file manager over there and I do a search for .htaccess

It says that there is a file there in my publichtml folder but when I try to click on it it says no record found. I do have the sample.htaccess though.

Currently I'm seeing internal links with the "uses params" method, which is almost 100% absolutely going to work.

Can you download the .htaccess file from your host? I hardly ever go through the host tools for file access, preferring instead to use an FTP program such as FileZilla or the Firefox addon called FireFTP. Sometimes your host's file manager system will allow you options to see and edit different files so you might want to see if such a thing is available to you.

Or hey cut to the chase and tell your host you want pretty URLs and that you think adding "AcceptPathInfo On" will get you there, so could they add it or could they tell you how you can download your .htaccess file so you can edit it and upload it again.

The thing is if you use host tools to do stuff like ban IP addresses or have addon domains or stop image hotlinking it is probably writing the important bits into your .htaccess file, so you don't want to simply rename sample.htaccess as .htaccess because then you will lose everything you set up with your host.

Once you finally have the file on your desktop don't be too surprised if your favorite non-document editor has a hard time with a file with such a weird name. Just save it as bob.htaccess then rename it, or upload it and rename it on your server.

I am going to look into getting this .htaccess

I just changed the php configuration with my host from PHP4 to PHP5. Does that mean anything?

LOL

I'm such a dork. There was a checkmark box that said show hidden files and when I check it all of a sudden .htaccess appears like magic.

This is all that is in it though:

# Use PHP5 as default
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php5 .php

<Files 403.shtml>
order allow,deny
allow from all
</Files>

deny from 58.65.232.169
deny from 195.242.214.212
deny from 195.242.215.30
deny from 209.85.108.5
deny from 58.65.232.170
deny from 74.208.12.50
deny from 72.232.189.218
deny from 70.49.69.73
deny from 70.86.222.122
deny from 195.225.177.3
deny from 195.225.177.40
deny from 195.225.178.20
deny from 195.225.178.19
deny from 195.225.178.21

This just looks like some spam that I blocked once upon a time.

I am a super-turbo poster.

My .htaccess file now looks like this

# Use PHP5 as default
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php5 .php

AcceptPathInfo On

<Files 403.shtml>
order allow,deny
allow from all
</Files>

deny from 58.65.232.169
deny from 195.242.214.212
deny from 195.242.215.30
deny from 209.85.108.5
deny from 58.65.232.170
deny from 74.208.12.50
deny from 72.232.189.218
deny from 70.49.69.73
deny from 70.86.222.122
deny from 195.225.177.3
deny from 195.225.177.40
deny from 195.225.178.20
deny from 195.225.178.19
deny from 195.225.178.21

Cool. I reckon next step is to upload that then set one or more of the SEO options to "use the pretty looks like folders" options and see if it actually helps.

It didn't work.

What's next?

I added the line into my .htaccess file and it still won't let me do pretty URLs.

What else can I try now guys?

Bummer. Have you talked to your host about this?

Bluehost is my host. I guess I have to contact them on monday...hmmm

Check your PM yah? When I visit your phpinfo page and mine I see on mine that I have a block for "Apache" with a section for "Loaded Modules" that happens to include "mod_rewrite". I do not see the same block on your phpinfo file, and nowhere do I find any mention of mod_rewrite (which by the way is one of the ugliest words I have ever typed). So anyway I would be saying to my host "hey what's up with this mod_ugly_word stuff and how come I ain't got it and how come I can't have pretty URLs like all the webs that get to wear big boy pants?" or something like that.

Check this out. This is an online chat I just had with Bluehost.

You can send this chat session to your email for future reference. Please specify which email address you would like to send it to.

Your Email
Name: Sharky
Web Site: Bluehost
Department: Scripting Questions (PHP/Perl/RoR/etc.)
Question: my main domain is summeroftheshark.com but I am inquiring about my subdomain thechumslick.com

Jake [10:06:52 PM]: Welcome to our real-time support chat. I am answering more then one chat session at once so please be patient.. How can I help you today?
Sharky [10:06:52 PM]: my main domain is summeroftheshark.com but I am inquiring about my subdomain thechumslick.com
Jake [10:07:01 PM]: ok
Sharky [10:08:13 PM]: I am having trouble setting up pretty urls for my blog on thechumslick.com
Jake [10:09:27 PM]: "pretty urls" what do you mean by that ?
Sharky [10:11:15 PM]: clean urls are like this
[10:11:19 PM]: E-g: http://www.thechumslick.com/2006/12/31/post-title
[10:12:06 PM]: Not like this E-g: http://www.thechumslick.com/?title=post-title&more=1
Jake [10:15:37 PM]: ok you can use the redirect tool in the cpanel to redirect http://www.thechumslick.com/?title=post-title&more=1
[10:15:39 PM]: to
[10:15:47 PM]: http://www.thechumslick.com/2006/12/31/post-title
[10:15:54 PM]: no other way
[10:16:02 PM]: redirect http://www.thechumslick.com/2006/12/31/post-title
[10:16:03 PM]: to
[10:16:07 PM]: http://www.thechumslick.com/?title=post-title&more=1
[10:16:23 PM]: but this will still show http://www.thechumslick.com/?title=post-title&more=1 in the end.
[10:16:41 PM]: you cant change the path of that file or it will not work
Sharky[10:17:08 PM]: Is it because it is a subdomain
Jake [10:18:07 PM]: no its cause its the path use by that script.
Sharky [10:20:23 PM]: If you look at any blog with any traffic they use "extra-path: year, month & day" they do not use "parems" with question marks in the middle. Google does not like that.
[10:21:14 PM]: When I switch my blog to "extra path" I use B2evo I get errors when anyone clicks on feedback or each post individually
Jake [10:21:38 PM]: not sure what to tell you. this is not our issue, that path is make by the script your using who ever designed it makes that not us.
[10:21:55 PM]: this is out of our realm of support.
Sharky [10:22:38 PM]: This has something to do with Zend and .htaccess doesn't it?
Jake [10:23:39 PM]: no.
Sharky [10:24:07 PM]: Okay, I will go back to the guys at b2evo then and see what they have to say.
Jake [10:25:33 PM]: Thank you for contacting our Live Chat. If you have additional questions, many answers can be found through our Knowledgebase. If you have other issues arise please let us know. Remember our World Class Support is just a click away!

Have a nice day! Jake.

Obviously I trust you guys more than them...What do you make of this?

bluehost support wrote:

Piss off

:roll:

I'm afraid it won't be easy to get through to them that the script is quite capable of making and resolving "clean" or "pretty" urls. The option exists to downgrade to "ugly" or "uses params" URLs only because not all servers support pretty URLs. Does bluehost provide automatic installation of 2.4.1? If so then straight out of the box they are providing a feature that fails so you can easily pin it back on them with that little tidbit. In other words, IF they give you 241 through like Fantastico then it will simply not work and you've done nothing but use their tools.

I sure do hope one of the smart people jump in here real soon cuz I'm in over my head and surrounded by ... it's a type of fish ... has teeth and stuff ... minnows? No that ain't it... guppies? No that ain't it either. Oh yeah: piranha!

Are you into them for a yearly contract? If so how much will you be out when you move? I had one experience with them as my host. I forget the details, but I instantly joined the ranks of those who simply gave them money so I could learn personally how bad they [url=http://wonderwinds.com/weblog.php/2006/04/08/bluehost_sucks_ass]suck[/url].

Anyway in the short term (a) let's hope someone else jumps in here and (b) I'd try again pointing out how the script is capable of producing and resolving IF the server supports and (c) shop around. Sorry friend, but that's all I got for ya.

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY!

I have been working on this crap for hours...inspired by the Yoda that is EdB.

No thanks to Bluehost!

Okay. I have a "sort of" solution.

This is my new .htaccess file cribbed and edited from sample.htaccess.

# Use PHP5CGI as default
AddHandler fcgid-script .php
FCGIWrapper /usr/local/cpanel/cgi-sys/fcgiwrapper .php

<Files 403.shtml>
order allow,deny
allow from all
</Files>

deny from 58.65.232.169

deny from 195.242.214.212

deny from 195.242.215.30

deny from 209.85.108.5

deny from 58.65.232.170

deny from 74.208.12.50

deny from 72.232.189.218

deny from 70.49.69.73

deny from 70.86.222.122

deny from 195.225.177.3

deny from 195.225.177.40

deny from 195.225.178.20

deny from 195.225.178.19

deny from 195.225.178.21

AcceptPathInfo On

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^ index.php

Then I changed my URL settings in blog backoffice to "Default blog in index.php"

Do I like having my blog show up "www.thechumslick.com/index.php" ?

Not really.

But I do get pretty URLs now.

I now have three new questions...well, two new questions and the old one.

1. Do you see any problems this www.thechumslick.com/index.php will cause?

2. Will this improve or hurt my SEO?

3. Does anyone know how to help me out with my original question since Bluehost is not being responsible.

Thanks in advance.

Fantastico is always a couple of version behind. But bluehost have their own installer now called "Simple Scripts" that you will find under "software" on your control panel.

It can install version 2.4.1 and it should definitely make it work out of the box, as it does for most bluehost users. Here is b2evo 2.4.1 installed that way on my test bluehost account:
http://www.rhumcakes.com/simplescripts/

As you can see it handles clean urls out of the box.

If for some reason it still doesn't work on your account after using simple scripts then you can definitely tell them it is within THEIR REALM of support. You ca give them the URL above as proof that it normally should work on a bluehost account.

I used simple scripts and now my entire site crashed, I am taking Xanax and attempting to restore a backup...

My blog is now dead. Only the sample b2evo blog is showing. I am going to wander onto a freeway now.

Apparently when I used simple scripts it installed a new version of b2evo. I tried to at least use my old database in the new installation and it didn't help at all. Now I can't even get into backoffice as my old login is invalid.

Help...

I hope you all like my panic attacks.

Okay, I worked it out.

This was the problem:

* the tables prefix (gets placed before each b2evo table name),
* use this to have multiple installations in one DB.
*
* @global string $tableprefix
*/
$tableprefix = 'evo_';

There was no 'evo_" before it was blank so it wasn't recognizing my database

I hope you all still listen to me when I need help...LOL.

Now for a much deserved beer...

Love, Sharky