Rootsweb Freepages FTP inaccessible?

[arthurk]

I have been able to access via FileZilla using the SFT protocol. However, I am blocked from using a browser to access my site or any other including Rootsweb support to discover if this block is real or fake. It appears that a company called Cloudfare is involved.

Colin - are you still able to access your site via FileZilla/SFTP? If so, are you using the settings on this page:

https://support.rootsweb.com/s/article/Retiring-and-Migrating-Portions-of-RootsWeb

And when you said your browser is blocked, was that for ordinary browsing (and it may have been a Cloudflare issue, now resolved)? Or do you have a way to get FTP/SFTP access via a browser?

I've had a reply from support, but this is taking too much time and effort and I'm beginning to think it will be best simply to ask them to delete the site.

[ColinUSA]

Yes, I use those settings. No, I don't have a way to get FTP/SFTP access via a browser. If I go to my site too frequently then Cloudfare blocks my access but gives it back if I stop for a while. My goal is to simply clean up my site before it gets archived.  How long has it been since you were able to log in?  I vaguely recall that Ancestry had everyone reset their passwords after all the trouble they were having with the Rootsweb mailing lists. That feels like three or four years ago.

[arthurk]

Thanks, Colin.

My goal is to simply clean up my site before it gets archived.

Mine too - for me it was going to be a single page giving details of the alternative location. But is SFTP working for you now?

How long has it been since you were able to log in?

Apparently I last updated the site on 16 April 2022. I thought it was more recent than that, but it's probably that time has been flying while I've been getting on with research; at a suitable point I was planning to do a major update all at once, and that point has kept getting put off.

[arthurk]

I've at last had a reply that doesn't suggest the fault is entirely at my end. This is what they say:

We apologize that you're still unable to log in to your webpage. We believe that your trying to access the webpage in UK, RootsWeb has been a US only property website, therefore, servers outside the US has been blocked.

We suggest that you may use a VPN server in US and please connect to the Rootsweb servers using FileZilla immediately. Please let us know if this fix the issue.

We hope this helps and we apologize for any inconvenience the situation may have caused.

Disregarding for a moment that my last message to them asked them simply to delete the site as I no longer felt it was worth making an effort with it, is anyone else aware of this? And did Rootsweb/Ancestry tell you about this change?

I don't use a VPN and don't at present need one for anything else, though I think my Norton subscription would allow me to use theirs. However, it's one more hassle, and something new to have to work out how to use, and it seems like they've messed it up and I'm the one who has to sort it out. 

[arthurk]

Finally I got through to them. I pointed out that their first two replies had pinned the blame on me using the wrong password or having the wrong firewall or SFTP settings, and it wasn't until the third one that they mentioned that they now required non-US users to access the server via a VPN.

(I'm still not totally convinced that that's true, as it's not mentioned on their webpage about archiving the sites, and it certainly hasn't been communicated to site managers. But I am convinced that the fault was at their end rather than mine.)

Anyway, I told them that I had no need for a VPN, so as a result of their action in cutting off my access to the server they were expecting me to spend time and possibly money finding a suitable VPN, installing its software and learning how to use it, all for a single job that would take a matter of seconds to complete.

I reminded them that I'd already asked them to delete my site and they hadn't yet complied, and that I knew they were able to do this (they'd already deleted my wife's, as she requested this separately while I was still trying to get some sense out of "support"), and after a few days mine was gone too. But why did they have to make it so difficult?

If they hadn't shut me out I'd probably have left them a page with some names, dates and locations, and some clues as to where to find the site I was still maintaining. Now they have nothing.

[Jared1968]

I'm very sorry you did not get this issue resolved. I and others have also begun to experience the same problem that you had. I haven't been able to successfully connect to the freepages server since last Tuesday, Oct. 10.  I am pretty sure the problem is on their end.  RootsWeb support has suggested various things that might be causing the problem, but none of them apply in my case. They even suggested using a VPN, which is not a difficult for me since I have McAfee and can turn on McAfee's VPN whenever I need to -- but using a VPN did not resolve the issue. Anyway, since I'm in the U.S. and have a U.S. internet provider, RootsWeb should not be blocking me.  I'm also in contact with another freepages user who is experiencing the exact same problem, and it appeared at the same time with him as it did with me.

I do hope this issue can be resolved. I want to finish updating just three of my webpages before the website passwords are disabled in early 2024. For me, though, it seems early 2024 may be coming early -- unless I can get the folks at RootsWeb to find out what the(ir) problem is.

[arthurk]

I'm sorry you've been having problems too. In my case, since I have a copy of the site elsewhere it was fairly easy to decide to ditch the one at Rootsweb, but without that I'd have been feeling very let down.

Interesting that the VPN didn't work - though I suspect 'interesting' may not be the word you'd use. 

[bbp]

Greetings:   For over a week I have been going back and forth with Rootsweb Support team on why I cannot access my 3 websites via Filezilla FTP to their server.  I am in the process of migrating 3 large websites over to USGenWeb server before the cut-off date in Jan 2024.  After 6 emails, they finally confirmed that users still have access to their webpages but as of today, I still cannot access. They requested my IP address and a Filezilla snapshot which I sent.  In addition, I explained to them that the issue is not unique to me and that there are online blogs in which several users are experiencing the same problem.  I am surprised with all this time which has passed, there is not a more global investigation on the issue but responding as if this is still a one-on-one case?   I am using the most current version of Filezilla and have no problems uploading info to USWebGen server.  My feel is that it is indeed a ROOTSWEB server problem.

[Jared1968]

Well, I have great news. Tonight when I checked to see if I could connected to the freepages server, I was prompted to install a FileZilla update first. I did so, and then I was immediately able to connect to the freepages server.

Whatever got fixed, I'm VERY grateful.