Anybody know what is going on with Palmpedia?

[James B]

For weeks now unable to to access as I am given a warning its security certificate is expired and it is unsafe to visit.

Anyone know anything about this or if it going to be fixed at some point?

[TheMadScientist]

I have a work around.  I only use the "California" index.  If you click on this, top left, pull that down, click on world, 4th choice on the left is Palm Encyclopedia for the world, see if that works.

http://www.palmpedia.net/palmsforcal/Category:Palm_Genera

Edited April 5, 2022 by TheMadScientist

[iDesign]

I've noticed this as well. Seems to be an SSL certificate (https) issue, but there are two workarounds I've found...

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1) Change URL from "https" to "http"
Let's say you're wanting info on "Dypsis ambositrae". If you go to Google and search that term plus "palmpedia" it will indeed take you to the right page, but it's the "https" version: https://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/Dypsis_ambositrae / Try changing that URL to the "http" version (no "s") and it usually works. In this case the URL would be http://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/Dypsis_ambositrae 

* You can also do this with the main URL... In other words, use http://www.palmpedia.net/ (http), not https://www.palmpedia.net/ (https). If it gives you a warning click "ignore" and proceed (since we know palmpedia isn't a malicious website).

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2) Use "Wayback Machine"
If the site is truly not working (and you absolutely have to get palm info that very second), another geeky workaround is to use something called "wayback machine" to view a historical version of the page. For example, let's assume the "http" version of this page isn't working either. My next steps would be...
- Type "Wayback Machine" in Google, which takes you to https://archive.org/web/
- Put the URL you want to view in the search field. For example http://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/Dypsis_leptocheilos
- You'll see a calendar with colored circles showing dates available in the archive. Click on one of the colored circles, then the link that shows up.
- This will bring you to a historical version of the page. Photos don't always load, but at least you can read the text.
- Note that you may need to try both the "http" & "https" versions of the URL in Wayback Machine.

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Hope that helps someone desperate for the amazingly-helpful info Palmpedia provides!

* Note for whomever manages the Palmpedia site... your SSL certificate expired on 2/19/2022, which is what is likely causing these technical issues. If you contact your hosting company they can usually fix the cert for you. I seem to recall this happening a year ago as well, so perhaps ask your hosting company if they can set your SSL certificate to "auto-renew" (since SSL renewal happens every year). Hope that's helpful, and thank you again to everyone involved in created this wonderful website.

[Darold Petty]

We all recognize that Palmpedia is a project of our Moderator, Dean Ouer, right ?

I am so digitally illiterate that my wife must help me, even with my gmail account.  We use an entry level Dell desktop PC, Windows 10 and Chrome.  I can access all parts of Palmpedia, the only warning is a small exclamation point within a triangle that says ' not secure'.  Is this a problem for me ?

[iDesign]

16 minutes ago, Darold Petty said:

We all recognize that Palmpedia is a project of our Moderator, Dean Ouer, right ?

I am so digitally illiterate that my wife must help me, even with my gmail account.  We use an entry level Dell desktop PC, Windows 10 and Chrome.  I can access all parts of Palmpedia, the only warning is a small exclamation point within a triangle that says ' not secure'.  Is this a problem for me ?

I’m not a cyber security specialist but do make websites, and personally feel it’s safe to click “proceed” and “ignore” on any warnings with this site. I wouldn’t do that with unknown websites, but *should* be fine to visit palmpedia via the insecure (http) version of the URL.

Best solution of course would be for Dean to renew the SSL Cert (and set to auto-renew, or mark his calendar to manually renew it each year). but thought I’d share the “change https to http” workaround in the meantime. Going through the CA version of the site as @TheMadScientist suggested also takes you to the http version of the site, though you’ll have to still manually change the URL on some of the pages (since some of the links are to the https version).

And thank you so VERY much Dean for putting the Palmpedia site together... What an amazing gift to the palm collecting community!

[Darold Petty]

Thanks !

[IHB1979]

Access to Palmpedia is free, hosting, domain and SSL costs are not. Consider making a donation by clicking the "donate now" button on the left navigation bar.  I'm sure Dean would appreciate that.

[WaianaeCrider]

51 minutes ago, IHB1979 said:

Access to Palmpedia is free, hosting, domain and SSL costs are not. Consider making a donation by clicking the "donate now" button on the left navigation bar.  I'm sure Dean would appreciate that.

Ageee.  I made a donation I think back in January and plan to do  so again next Jan.

[mike in kurtistown]

From Hawaii Island. Desktop, Windows 10 and Chrome like Darold. From time to time, I find that trying to get into Palmpedia leads to a indefinite circling of the loading signal in the upper left corner of the screen on my desktop. But it never lasts more than a day. Also, I permanently bookmark the Palmpedia site, and choose the species I am interested in from the site's own search mechanism, though that doesn't help when the site is unavailable.

[PalmsandLiszt]

On 4/5/2022 at 4:13 PM, iDesign said:

Note for whomever manages the Palmpedia site... your SSL certificate expired on 2/19/2022, which is what is likely causing these technical issues. If you contact your hosting company they can usually fix the cert for you.

HTTPS is working at the moment (I am using the HTTPS Everywhere addon and getting no warnings), so perhaps this has now been fixed. I have noticed, though, over the past 6 months or so the site frequently seems to be unreachable; maybe the host is just not very reliable/has lots of server issues. Archive.org is a very good suggestion I hadn't thought of.

[ZPalms]

I just ignore and proceed anyway cause I know it's trusted and can access all the things