Anybody else getting a Chrome warning against coming here? The popup I overlaid over my home page screenshot says I don’t have HTTPS, which I clearly do.
So in addition to f***ing my numbers on their algorithm and censoring my content (the whole reason I escaped Blogspot and started this blog), are they warning people away?
Nope, this is your hosting error. You offer both HTTP and HTTPS… but you didn’t turn on the option that automatically transfers HTTP requests to the HTTPS side. So if someone specifically goes to the HTTP side, he gets a warning that it isn’t secure. Should be easy to fix.
But I did not specifically go to the HTTP side. I accessed the site from my bookmark and it directs to HTTPS.
A visitor’s web browser negotiates with your web hosting software to set up a path to request and display web pages via either “hyper text transfer protocol” or the newer “hyper text transfer protocol secure.” One protocol or the other is (should be?) selected as the default in the software at both ends. If someone who is looking to connect with your site just types in “waronguns.com” with neither protocol specified, whatever default is set in their web browser is going to be specified in their request submitted to your web hosting software. Most of the web has now settled on the more secure https protocol as the default but the older, less secure, http is still an option in many cases. Regardless of what default the visitor specifies or their browser chooses for them, there likely is an option on your hosting software to steer the negotiation between their browser and your hosting software to https, sometimes nicely and sometimes not, and many sites do that as a way to steer the visitor into the more secure option. In order to do https, your site will need to get, and occasionally renew, a digital security certificate, that is required to use SSL (secure socket layer) and prove to the world that your site is who you say you are.
Then again, some sites refuse to do the older http as a way to harden their site and let the chips fall where they may.
All of this is a PITA for those like you who would like to just provide a site without getting down into the yucky parts. You have at least two options. One is to RTFM and learn a bit more about what goes on under the covers of your hosting software. The other is to consult with someone who mucks about with TCP/IP and the nuts and bolts of web hosting for a living.
Some times you just have to break down and call a plumber.
I am not a “web weenie.” Nor did I ever play one on television. However, I am familiar with the top layer of some of this stuff by being exposed to it over the years. Regardless, there is much, much more to it than you ever wanted to know. Grab the headache reliever of your choice and take a look here:
https://aws.amazon.com/compare/the-difference-between-https-and-http/
Then I would suggest one or both of these books. I’d start with the first. You probably won’t need the second. But both have good stuff that will help you understand and communicate with anyone you might get to help with the fix.
https://www.amazon.com/Web-Hosting-Dummies-Peter-Pollock/dp/1118540573
https://www.amazon.com/TCP-IP-Dummies-Candace-Leiden/dp/0470450606
All I can tell you is that when I go to the HTTP side with Safari, I get the error, and when I go to the HTTPS side I don’t. Turning on the transfer switch is easy and may solve your Chrome problem simply by making it impossible even to access the HTTP side. I don’t use enemy software when there is any choice at all.
No warning here. I am on a desktop HP, Windows 10, and Firefox.
Similar setup, Windows 10, Firefox, but running on a Lenovo T470 laptop. No warnings.
Also checked an HP Prodesk running Ubuntu 20.04 with Firefox. No warnings.
I’m starting to get a suspicion it’s something in going on in the Chrome browser.
Your readers David are a lovely, brainy lot and I’m here to enjoy their thoughtful discourse and raise my IQ to approach David Codrea and Elon Musk echelon heights.
There’s still quite a little ways for me to go so I’ll continue to hang around here.
I also run Firefox and a clone (sort of) Waterfox and a browser based on Firefox called Palemoon. I have not seen that when I come to your site.
I don’t use chrome just because it is a Google product.