Errors in custom_avatar folder

[barry1947]

Hi Team,
Sorry to be a pest, I have around 25,000 errors reported this month in my analytics report.
Any good idea's on how to deal with this issue please.
Many thanks in advance.
Best regards,
Barry.

[Arantor]

What type of errors? The error message would help... without that, it's hard to tell you what to do to fix it...

[barry1947]

Hi There Arantor,
Many thanks for your prompt reply.
The Errors are not being shown in the Error Messages or anywhere else in the SMF system as far as I can tell.
The Report is from my ISP.
Here is the first page of the report.

01/08/2024 - 31/08/2024
PAGE                                           IMPRESSIONS
/custom_avatar/avatar_84_1409824846.png           10,240
/resources/demos/style.css                   9,172
/custom_avatar/avatar_149_1656936080.png   2,786
/robots.txt                                   2,507
/custom_avatar/avatar_66_1519727862.png           1,849
/index.php                                   1,769
/custom_avatar/avatar_1128_1698960970.png   1,514
/custom_avatar/avatar_197_1414847254.png   1,367
/custom_avatar/avatar_233_1413605038.png   1,147
/custom_avatar/avatar_603_1488035953.png   605
Total   32,956

So that suggests to me that the first .png has been in error 10,240 times and has caused an error to be logged with my ISP that number of times. Of course I could be wrong and I can say that with complete confidence as I have been wrong before
Best Regards,
Barry.

[Kindred]

And??

Do those files Exist at that location?

You would need to find out what pages are generating the calls for those missing files.

However,  since most of those files are all custom avatars, I'm not sure why this would be an smf problem.  Those are not smf core files.


The robots.txt is easy. Create one.... but that's not provided with smf.

The resources/demo/style.css is your own file, not smf.

Thev only one that is snf is index.php -- and if that one is not found then your sure won't load... so that's a host problem, not an smf problem



But wait...
Those are not errors as provided...
That's an impression report.
That's how many times those files have been accessed.

[shawnb61]

I don't see an error listed. 

That looks like an impressions report on the custom avatar subfolder - which is odd, but not an error report.

I'd look for an error listed, 404, 403, something like that.

I'd also confirm that custom avatars look ok for those folks.  Pretty sure that first # is the user ID.  Go look up those users.

[Arantor]

I was going to assume this is some crawled report of files and that it's holding onto and trying to visit avatars for users that have since changed their avatar (thus changing the filename)

I'm still not sure what the *error* is though.

[barry1947]

Hi There Arantor,
Once again. many thanks for your prompt reply.
I have found a reference to the first file with the 10,000+ errors and it is stored in the file smf_attachments. smf_ is my prefix for the smf files in mysql.
The custom_avatar folder appears to be referenced by several php files and maybe the most significant is load.php.
This may yet not be an SMF issue but it is strange that my ISP kicks this out to me in their monthly analytics report. I have not seen anything like this from them before.
Best regards,
Barry.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

You have still not actually shared with us, what the error is? What is it that your report is actually counting - And why?
It is completely normal for any web server to actually log errors, especially 404 errors, and usually that is no cause for concern.
All it means is that someone tried to access an URL which is not actually available on the server. This is normal, expected even.

[barry1947]

Hi There Aleksi,
Sorry that I have no further info on what the Error may be.
All I know is that I have an analytics report from IONOS with these errors. That the file does not exist and a reference to the file is in the Attachments Table. I am dealing with it for now by copying the blank.png file and naming it the same as the missing file.
So as you say it is to be expected then I guess it is not a problem and I will close this down.
Many thanks and Best Regards,
Barry.

[Kindred]

The thing is -- if that list above is file not found counts,  then you need to talk to your host,  because index.php is on that list -- and your forum will notc work at all without index.php

If it is calling a missing avatar -- then it's probably related to a bad avatar update or a deleted user account

But the list that you have says only "impressions"
That term is usually used to refer to SERVED FILES, not missing files