Cannot link to my files, nor access site through FTP client software

Username epiz_24922104 [r-families.]

Hi,
Since December of 2019, InfinityFree has hosted my website (185.27.134.219) without complaint. This summer I noticed that links to my files are no longer working – e.g., my signature image pointed to in my emails. In fact, all images that I link to in my emails or HTML documents do not show up. As I said, this is a resent phenomenon. Also, my FTP client (CoreFTP [x64]) no longer connects to the site [Can’t establish connection]. However, I can upload files via InfinityFree’s File Manager. Also, I can access the files on my site directly from my browser. It appears there are two issues affecting my site. I’m hoping you can direct me on how they can be corrected. Thank you.

Hello

It looks like you provided half a domain name, can you post the entire thing?

6 Likes

Looking at the account, I think this is r-families.com.

Are you sure that this is a recent phenomenon? Because this issue sounds like exactly like what you would expect from this security system.

In short, it’s normal that images hosted with us don’t work elsewhere, because we provide a website hosting service, not a file sharing service.

“Can’t establish connection” could mean anything. I know that FileZilla can produce quite detailed logs, but I’ve never used CoreFTP.

Can you please explain this in more detail? Which URL did you use to access the files directly, what did you see before and what do you see now?

5 Likes

Answering in order:

  • Yes, r-families.com
  • Yes, this recent. Besides using my signature gif in documents on the site, I also refer to it at the end of
    my e-mails. I have been doing this for a couple of years. Somewhere around June or July it stopped appearing. Also, I frequently embed portions of documents I’ve written in my emails as reference. These frequently have images that no longer appear in the email. As I said, this used to work.
  • I’ll switch to FileZilla and see what happens.
  • Entering the URL of my site + folder + file in my browsers address window accesses my files without problem.

So it appears you security system is preventing my signature gif from appearing in my emails, along with other files. Thank you for the information. I’m sure I can come up with a work-around for my signature file and embedded documents.

If I have any further problems with the FTP program I will contact the forum. I appreciate the assist.

1 Like

For embedding you gif in the email, you have two options. Convert your gif to a data url, which you can Google and you’ll find one, or by using a MIME-attachment. I’ll link a guide below to show you how to do that with PHPMailer.

4 Likes

Maybe it’s an update of your email client (soft) or mail server that then blocks images to protect the person’s privacy who reads mail.

Because if, for example, you watch requests for an X image on your website,
then you can find out the IP of the person who reads the mail, as well as of course whether he has read it at all.

In the same way, spam confirms that an email address exists and that someone is opening it,
that’s why external images are blocked, because otherwise if you open the images (allow their download) then 10+ new spams will come to you.

Pictures (signatures) should be directly embedded in the mail
rather than calling them via the http/s protocol.

5 Likes

Thank you for your response and suggestion. Converting the gif to a data url was exactly what I was considering. I’ve done it for other images in the past. I’ll look into a MIME-attachment.

Thanks again.

1 Like

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