[Forum] showthread.php and forumdisplay.php not following .htaccess redirect

[hilary]

Hi everyone,

This is an issue I have seen a few times on the forums - but still can't seem to find answers.

We have the following code in our .htaccess

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]

Note: The 'RewriteEngine On' was declared earlier in the file.

We have the forum in a sub-directory, and the .htaccess with the rule is in the root directory.

All other parts of the site are following the redirect - but the forum pages are not.

I should also mention that when you try to visit the forum at domain.com.au/forum/showthread.php..... - the page enters an infinite loop and doesn't actually properly load.

What could be causing this? Are there settings in admincp that I need to fix?

Thanks,
hilary

[Mark.B]

Why are you redirecting these files?
Other than when using mod_rewrite friendly URLs, vB4 does not need an .htaccess file. We can't support any custom redirects.

[hilary]

Hi Mark,

We are redirecting domain.com.au to www.domain.com.au.

These are seen as two different URL's by Google - and we would like to send everyone to the www - for the purpose of optimising SEO.

Apart from the redirect not working - what would cause the threads to just keep loading?

It's only when you leave the www. off that it enters the loop.

Thanks

[ozzy47]

I use this, and have not seen any loops.

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.MYSITE.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://MYSITE.com/$1 [L,R=301]

[hilary]

Hi ozzy47,

Thanks for that. I feel like something is happening on the forum before it gets a chance to look at the .htaccess - which can't be the case because it should be looking at the .htaccess first.

I just don't know why or how it gets into the loop.

I watched the logs when this happens, and it just keeps requesting the page.

Thanks

[hilary]

UPDATE

Found an old script in a header include file that was redirecting the page based on the subdomain - somehow this was causing URL's with no www to get stuck in a loop while trying to resolve the URL.

After removing the script, the page loaded - however the .htaccess redirect from the root still wasn't taking effect (non www to www)

After placing the redirect rule into the forum directories .htaccess the page redirect correctly.

So I'm not sure why it wouldn't follow the roots .htaccess - but hey, it's working.

[donald1234]

The above code is for directing www. to non www., you should use this

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^yoursite\.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.yoursite.com$1 [R=301,L]

for nonwww. to www.