What has happened to the unblinkingeye site?

[chuckroast]

Surely it wouldn't normally be written into the HTML? Or is this actually what you normally get if you use a website builder, or get someone else to do it? (My only experience is of coding my own webpages.)

There is typically waaaay more than HTML driving a modern website. In particular, there is usually a great deal of dependence on third party services to render a page.

 

[koraks]

Surely it wouldn't normally be written into the HTML? Or is this actually what you normally get if you use a website builder, or get someone else to do it? (My only experience is of coding my own webpages.)

What your browser displays is HTML. So whatever you see on your screen is somehow in the HTML that's served to your browser and/or generated dynamically as you're viewing the page. The question is how this HTML is generated. This can be done in a static way as we did in the 1990s, and it's indeed how most of the main content of ublinkingeye was originally made. However, in that static content there's also in this case a number of places where dynamic content is embedded.

Now, I've paused my adblocker and refreshed the website a number of times and I don't get any gambling ads, but that may be due to the fact that those are illegal presently where I live, so I'm less likely to get that sort of content. Which means I can't reproduce the Russian gambling ads stuff you seem to be seeing, but to give an example, let's have a look at this bit of embedded content:

As you can see, it won't render for me, possibly for the reason indicated above. Let's have a closer look at the white iframe with the error message:

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=unblinkingeye&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=2880467144&asins=2880467144&linkId=bdef1605ce4d0fdbd389490cfc81aec9&show_border=false&link_opens_in_new_window=false&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff">
</iframe>

As you can see, this iframe is supposed to populate itself with content from Amazon's ad system. It's possible that in your case, the content renders fine and in that case, it would also pop up in the DOM which you're inspecting using the 'inspect' function (or similar) in your browser.

There is typically waaaay more than HTML driving a modern website.

Well, yes. But the HTML as such really isn't the thing; that's just the stuff that shows up. What happens under the hood is where the complexity is. In part this is client-side processing that happens mostly in JavaScript, which you can trace down and dive into if you have plenty of time. But there's also generally a lot of server-side processing going on; sometimes this results in quasy-static content being served (classic PHP generated server-side, for instance), but today, most websites use 'live' content with the browser continuously interacting through something like e.g. AJAX with a server backend. The frameworks used for this can be exceedingly complex and only a small part is visible to the typical end-user (which of course is by design).

 

[snusmumriken]

This is a snippet of what I'm talking about:

 

[koraks]

yeah, that's typical of badly-behaved ads on a website that's not very solidly set up/managed to begin with. What essentially happens is that the ad JavaScript that runs on the client machine modifies the HTML that's originally served to the client. Any self-respecting webmaster would report such ads to their ad partner (amazon and/or google in this case) so they would be taken down.

Anyway, we're now in the territory of philosophizing about badly maintained websites and malicious ad systems, exacerbated possibly by weak or missing client-side security. That's a different issue from the connection problems that @pentaxuser reported. For you @snusmumriken the main advice at this point is to ensure that you use a secure browser (e.g. FireFox) that is kept up to date with basic security settings enabled as the browser would by default have.

 

[snusmumriken]

yeah, that's typical of badly-behaved ads on a website that's not very solidly set up to begin with. What essentially happens is that the ad JavaScript that runs on the client machine modifies the HTML that's originally served to the client. Any self-respecting webmaster would report such ads to their ad partner (amazon and/or google in this case) so they would be taken down.

Anyway, we're now in the territory of philosophizing about badly maintained websites and malicious ad systems, exacerbated possibly by weak or missing client-side security. That's a different issue from the connection problems that @pentaxuser reported.

Sorry for the digression. I agree that @pentaxuser's problem is most likely related to his browser not supporting some aspect of security. I looked at the structure of the website out of curiosity, simply to see whether there was anything obvious related to security that was unique to this website. Obviously enough, I don't have any expertise. I guess certification and HTTPS are implemented at the domain level, not in the code.

 

[Rick A]

I was doing a bit of research this afternoon and wanted to look at the above site. I tried the link in the site I was on, then tried my own bookmark and finally Googled it Everytime I got the same notice of "403 Forbidden

Has it folded and been removed ? It was sometime ago that I last tried it

Thanks

pentaxuser

I get the same result when I'm using my laptop running Win8, my desktop runs Win11 and it pops right up, no problem.

 

[Don_ih]

When you install the last version of Chrome that runs on Win7 and Win8 - which is Chrome 109 - you get this result visiting unblinking eye:

Install firefox.

 

[chuckroast]

I get the same result when I'm using my laptop running Win8, my desktop runs Win11 and it pops right up, no problem.

Win8 is also deprecated

 

[titrisol]

no problem in firefox or opera (Win 7)

 

[pentaxuser]

Windows 7 really doesn't have anything to do with this. Websites in general don't care what OS runs on the machine that the client uses. The risks of an outdated OS are on the client's side, not so much the server's side.


This can sometimes helps if the problem is specifically related to SSL. There's no indication here that this is the case. However, many browsers are now starting to categorically block non-SSL traffic at least on public networks.

Thanks koraks What you have said in the first part of your quote above is what I had intuitively thought So if it unlikely to be Win7 that is causing the problem what might it be and what might I try to fix it?

Is it now more likely to be the use of Google which no longer gives support for Win7 as others have suggested or something else

I have had similar problems with some websites. My solution is to remove the security tag from the https: address. This is how I handle it: Click the link so it populates the address bar, then go up to the "https://***" part of the address ad edit out the "s"-- that is -- change it to "http://***" and hit the enter key. That will usually process the URL and the site will open. As near as I can tell, there are no visible side effects to doing this if you are just browsing. I'm not sure how this will affect the security if you are ordering items, or exchanging emails, etc.

Not saying this will work for your problem, but it's a simple process to test and keep in mind for future, similar problems.

GT

I tried this or so I think but typing in the address leaving out the "s" and entering takes me to the https which of course give me the 403 Forbidden

It seems that I cannot alter the address and get other than its https address

Maybe I am not doing it right?

pentaxuser

 

[pentaxuser]

Those having trouble may wish to browse the Internet Archive's archive of the site:

Unblinking Eye - photography, darkroom, alternative process, historic photographic processes, travel

Thanks for this It is the very welcome and obvious fallback solution should all others fail

Once I clicked on it, I couldn't see any way to bookmark the link so what do I need to do

Thanks

pentaxuser

 

[koraks]

Is it now more likely to be the use of Google which no longer gives support for Win7 as others have suggested or something else

I'd try the fix recommended by @Don_ih
And while Win7 as such may not be the problem here, I would still recommend moving away from it for use on a machine that's connected to the internet. You're inherently vulnerable to online attacks and having such an old OS that no longer receives security patches removes a line of defense.

 

[murdockhendrix]

Hi @pentaxuser I would suggest you drop an email to the webmaster of the site. Let him/her know what you're error message is when you try to access the page. On the bottom of one of the webpages (the About page) is this link: webmaster@unblinkingeye.com Hope this helps,

 

[pentaxuser]

Hi @pentaxuser I would suggest you drop an email to the webmaster of the site. Let him/her know what you're error message is when you try to access the page. On the bottom of one of the webpages (the About page) is this link: webmaster@unblinkingeye.com Hope this helps,

Thanks but is the link to which you refer within the unblinkingeye website so that I have to get into the site to one of its pages ( the About page) in order to contact the webmaster? If so, I cannot open the site which is of course the nub of the problem

If as a complete internet ignoramus I have misunderstood what you have said, can you xeplain as simply as possible how I contact the webmaster?

Thanks

pentaxuser

 

[koraks]

Thanks but is the link to which you refer within the unblinkingeye website

In the message you quoted there's an email address. You could send an email to that address. No need to visit the site. I assume you know how to send and receive emails, right?

 

[AnselMortensen]

Maybe it started blinking?

 

[Galen Tieszen]

Thanks koraks What you have said in the first part of your quote above is what I had intuitively thought So if it unlikely to be Win7 that is causing the problem what might it be and what might I try to fix it?

Is it now more likely to be the use of Google which no longer gives support for Win7 as others have suggested or something else



I tried this or so I think but typing in the address leaving out the "s" and entering takes me to the https which of course give me the 403 Forbidden

It seems that I cannot alter the address and get other than its https address

Maybe I am not doing it right?

pentaxuser

Thanks koraks What you have said in the first part of your quote above is what I had intuitively thought So if it unlikely to be Win7 that is causing the problem what might it be and what might I try to fix it?

Is it now more likely to be the use of Google which no longer gives support for Win7 as others have suggested or something else



I tried this or so I think but typing in the address leaving out the "s" and entering takes me to the https which of course give me the 403 Forbidden

It seems that I cannot alter the address and get other than its https address

Maybe I am not doing it right?

pentaxuser

Don't enter the address, it will revert to the "https:" -- click the link then go up and edit the "s" out and hit enter. I've had best luck by clicking the link then editing the address. If this doesn't work then I guess this method won't work with your problem.

Thanks koraks What you have said in the first part of your quote above is what I had intuitively thought So if it unlikely to be Win7 that is causing the problem what might it be and what might I try to fix it?

Is it now more likely to be the use of Google which no longer gives support for Win7 as others have suggested or something else



I tried this or so I think but typing in the address leaving out the "s" and entering takes me to the https which of course give me the 403 Forbidden

It seems that I cannot alter the address and get other than its https address

Maybe I am not doing it right?

pentaxuser

 

[Galen Tieszen]

Don't enter the address manually, it will revert to the "https:" -- click the link then go up to the address bar, click it, and edit the "s" out and hit enter. I've had best luck by clicking the link then editing the address. If this doesn't work, then I guess this method won't work with your problem.

 

[pentaxuser]

I was still puzzled by Galen's explanation so was about to ask him to explain it again but first decided to try typing unblinkingeye just once into the address bar and lo and behold it opened it!

I re-bookmarked the site and came out of it then tried the freshly bookmarked site and it worked

First thing today I cleared my all browsing date including cookies but then later tried to access unblinkingeye without success and later still even tried unsuccessfully Galen's method or what I thought was what Galen was trying to tell me what to do without success

Then a few minutes ago I did as I described in my first sentence and for some reason that I cannot work out it has worked

If my browsing and cookie clearance was the thing that fixed the issue then how has it taken nearly 8 or more hours to work or has something been done at the unblinkingeye end recently that has cured the problem irrespective of any of my actions ie. the fix at the website end would have happened anyway, had I done no browsing data and cookie clearance?

So astonished am I that I just clicked on the bookmarked site again to see if it was still accessible and it was!

pentaxuser

 

[koraks]

It's magic.

Honestly, there's no telling what may have changed on their end, your end as well as the routing in-between.

 

[Don_ih]

Honestly, there's no telling what may have changed on their end, your end as well as the routing in-between.

Which means it may stop working again at any time.

 

[pentaxuser]

It's magic.

Honestly, there's no telling what may have changed on their end, your end as well as the routing in-between.

Thanks, that about sums it up, koraks

It's still working as of about 2 mins ago so here's hoping it continues

pentaxuser

 

[koraks]

@Don_ih Definitely. This will remain unpredictable unless/until the owner of the website decides to do some structural work on it. Which I suspect will never happen as it's probably a decent enough, albeit rather modest cash cow as it is.

 

[Don_ih]

Probably more like a cash goat.

 

[pentaxuser]

Just a bit of somewhat irrelevant curiosity on my part but wasn't someone or maybe several saying that they could access it but it was full of ads for gambling etc? I have none of that but I do have an internet security package that seems to stop all of that kind of thing so maybe that explains it ?

pentaxuser